Page:Artabanzanus (Ferrar, 1896).djvu/87

Rh and artillery. They swept past in dense masses, knights arrayed in glittering steel, paladins in chain armour, and proud barons in golden helmets and nodding plumes, with drawn swords in their hands, which flashed in the firelight. There were white-faced men among them, men who seemed to be sorry they had ever been born; and men with swarthy faces whose eyes sparkled with the eager anticipation of battle and mortal defiance of their foes. Clouds of heavy and light cavalry appeared to be forming on the field for actual fight. Battalions of infantry continued to issue from the castles and palaces, and took up their positions here and there. Some were clothed in the old military style of Greece and Rome, and were armed in the same fashion. Many presented the appearance of mediaeval hosts, and many more the modern panoply and pageantry of war. Troop after troop of horse artillery came thundering along, halting and unlimbering their guns, waiting and watching for the signal to open fire. The great conquerors and generals of the world dispersed themselves over the field, each with his brilliant staff. My obliging friend at the Demon's palace who wanted to clean my boots was no doubt right when he said there would be a million of men in arms on that field of blood.

I shaded my eyes with my hand, and said inwardly, 'Oh, blessed God! was it for this that all those undying souls were born? Where are the weeping mothers of these unhappy beings? For whose pleasure do they now renew their oft-repeated combats? Who is the author of all this fearful wickedness?' I stole a glance at the being who was sitting by my side. His grape-shot eyes were fixed in a glassy immovable stare, his rabbit-trap mouth grinding with the snaps of a galvanic battery, like the teeth of a wolf ravenous for food.

At that moment the fierce charges of horse began to be