We are his sponsors, and demand that he be assigned to our care."
"That is, you refuse the certain means offered to recover him?"
said Richard.
"Not so," said the Grand Master, recollecting himself. "If the
Soldan useth lawful medicines, he may attend the patient in my
tent."
"Do so, I pray thee, good brother," said Richard to Saladin,
"though the permission be ungraciously yielded.--But now to a
more glorious work. Sound, trumpets--shout, England--in honour
of England's champion!"
Drum, clarion, trumpet, and cymbal rung forth at once, and the
deep and regular shout, which for ages has been the English
acclamation, sounded amidst the shrill and irregular yells of the
Arabs, like the diapason of the organ amid the howling of a
storm. There was silence at length.
"Brave Knight of the Leopard," resumed Coeur de Lion, "thou hast
shown that the Ethiopian may change his skin, and the leopard his
spots, though clerks quote Scripture for the impossibility. Yet
I have more to say to you when I have conducted you to the
presence of the ladies, the best judges and best rewarders of
deeds of chivalry.
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