At length the
last barriers were left behind them, and the party formed
themselves for the march with military precaution. Two or three
horsemen advanced in front as a vanguard; one or two remained a
bow-shot in the rear; and, wherever the ground admitted, others
were detached to keep an outlook on the flanks. In this manner
they proceeded onward; while Sir Kenneth, looking back on the
moonlit camp, might now indeed seem banished, deprived at once of
honour and of liberty, from the glimmering banners under which he
had hoped to gain additional renown, and the tented dwellings of
chivalry, of Christianity, and--of Edith Plantagenet.
The Hakim, who rode by his side, observed, in his usual tone of
sententious consolation, "It is unwise to look back when the
journey lieth forward;" and as he spoke, the horse of the knight
made such a perilous stumble as threatened to add a practical
moral to the tale.
The knight was compelled by this hint to give more attention to
the management of his steed, which more than once required the
assistance and support of the check-bridle, although, in other
respects, nothing could be more easy at once, and active, than
the ambling pace at which the animal (which was a mare)
proceeded.
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