and a dagger; a long crooked scimitar hung at his side; and instead
of shoes and slippers, large boots decked his feet, bordered at the
top by a wide stripe of white cloth, on which were depicted blue
flowers and other ornaments. His head was graced by a handsome
turban.

At half-past two o'clock the horses arrived. I swung myself boldly
upon my Rosinante, called on my good angel to defend me, and away we
started, slowly at first, over stock and stone. My joy was
boundless when I found that I could sit steadily upon my horse; but
shortly afterwards, when we broke into a trot, I began to feel
particularly uncomfortable, as I could not get on at all with the
stirrup, which was continually slipping to my heel, while sometimes
my foot slid out of it altogether, and I ran the risk of losing my
balance. Oh, what would I not have given to have asked advice of
any one! But unfortunately I could not do so without at once
betraying my ignorance of horsemanship. I therefore took care to
bring up the rear, under the pretence that my horse was shy, and
would not go well unless it saw the others before it. My real
reason was that I wished to hide my manoeuvres from the gentlemen,
for every moment I expected to fall. Frequently I clutched the
saddle with both hands, as I swayed from side to side. I looked
forward in terror to the gallop, but to my surprise found that I
could manage this pace better than the trot. My courage brought its
reward, for I reached the goal of our journey thoroughly shaken, but
without mishap. During the time that we travelled at a foot-pace, I
had found leisure to contemplate the scenery around us. For half
the entire distance we ride from one valley into another; as often
as a hill is reached, there is a limited prospect before the
traveller, who has, however, only to turn his head, and he enjoys a