The young Saracens went forth with much shouting, a gay prancing of the horses underneath them and a marvellous flourishing of spears above them, but they learned more wisdom in their half hour’s communion with the German than the Emir, in a long life of counselling, had been able to bestow upon them. The two-handed sword they now met for the first time, and the acquaintance brought little joy to them. Count Herbert, the leader of the invaders, did no shouting, but reserved his breath for other purposes. He spurred his horse among them, and his foes went down around him as a thicket melts away before the well-swung axe of a stalwart woodman. The Saracens had little fear of death, but mutilation was another thing, for they knew that they would spend eternity in Paradise, shaped as they had left this earth, and while a spear’s thrust or a wound from an arrow, or even the gash left by a short sword may be concealed by celestial robes, how is a man to comport himself in the Land of the Blest who is compelled to carry his head under his arm, or who is split from crown to midriff by an outlandish weapon that falls irresistible as the wrath of Allah! Again and again they threw themselves with disastrous bravery against the invading horde, and after each encounter they came back with lessened ranks and a more chastened spirit than when they had set forth. When at last, another counsel of war was held, the young men kept silence and waited for the smiling Emir to speak. “If you are satisfied that there are other things to think of in war than the giving and taking of blows I am prepared to meet this German, not on his own terms but on my own. Perhaps, however, you wish to try conclusions with him again?” The deep silence which followed this inquiry seemed to indicate that no such desire animated the Emir’s listeners, and the old man smiled benignly upon his audience and went on. “There must be no more disputing of my authority, either expressed or by implication. I am now prepared to go forth against him taking with me forty lancers.” Instantly there was a protest against this; the number was inadequate, they said. “In his fortieth year our Prophet came to a momentous decision,” continued the Emir, unheeding the interruption, “and I take a spear with me for every year of the Prophet’s life, trusting that Allah will add to our number, at the prophet’s intervention, should such an augmentation prove necessary. Get together then the forty _oldest_ men under my command. Let them cumber themselves with nothing in the way of offence except one tall spear each, and see that every man is provided with water and dates for twenty days’ sustenance of horse and man in the desert.” The Emir smiled as he placed special emphasis on the word “oldest,” and the young men departed abashed to obey his orders.