Avoid ye, avoid ye! Down with
Mahound, Termagaunt, and all their adherents!"--So saying, he
pulled from under his shaggy garment a sort of flail or jointed
club, bound with iron, which he brandished round his head with
singular dexterity,
"Thou seest thy saint," said the Saracen, laughing, for the first
time, at the unmitigated astonishment with which Sir Kenneth
looked on the wild gestures and heard the wayward muttering of
Theodorick, who, after swinging his flail in every direction,
apparently quite reckless whether it encountered the head of
either of his companions, finally showed his own strength, and
the soundness of the weapon, by striking into fragments a large
stone which lay near him.
"This is a madman," said Sir Kenneth.
"Not the worse saint," returned the Moslem, speaking according to
the well-known Eastern belief, that madmen are under the
influence of immediate inspiration. "Know, Christian, that when
one eye is extinguished, the other becomes more keen; when one
hand is cut off, the other becomes more powerful; so, when our
reason in human things is disturbed or destroyed, our view
heavenward becomes more acute and perfect.
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