CHAPTER XIII 



A VISIT TO THE PRINCE 



Worthy fellows . . . most sinewy sword-men. 



AWs Well that Ends Well. 



Please to enter in the castle. 



King Richard II. 



The magic influence and fame of our letters of recom- 

 mendation spread to a near-by post, and decided the 

 Cossacks on duty that they were our guardians and 

 must go along with us. A batch of six sat their horses 

 patiently, waiting for us to emerge. 



We accepted the posse of dustmakers with as good 

 grace as possible, and they at once set to work on 

 illustrating the equestrian entertainment known as 

 the djigitovka, own cousin to the Somali dibaltig, save 

 that in this case swords and not spears formed the 

 basis of the affair. 



First, the six dashed in a compact bunch to our front, 

 raising a curtain of dust, then to our flank, with a 

 feint of attacking a powerful enemy, parrying mythical 

 blows on their falchion swords, curveting round and 

 round us, and the whole lot of us travelling hke beings 

 possessed. Pandemonium let loose ! One intrepid 

 warrior stood on his head, the horse going at a hand 

 gallop the while, then curved over like a bit of stretched 



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