Sword-bearer

“ I drive back the horses on their haunches from the lofty seat of my thin-flanked Abjer, and with the blade of my sword Dhami, at whose edge flow the waves of death over the enemy. This day will I exhibit my ardent soul with my Indian sword, and I will meet the chests of the horse with my thrusts. I will establish the market of war in its field on the top of my steed, in the protection of my country. My sword is my father, and the spear in my hand is my father’s brother; and I am the son of my day in the heights of the deserts. ”

“ Pipe, and harp, and clash of battle-axe accompanied the war-songs of the warriors as they rode past in the rain; prancing stallions often added their notes to the din. There was a continual glitter of sword, pike, and javelin; a glare of saffron robes and purple cloaks—woaded limbs and faces. Here and there bronze lance-heads and bronze axes showed themselves, mingled with primitive, leaf-shaped swords of bronze, stone hammers, and hide-covered shields of wicker. Horse and man bristled with tough yew-bows and sheaves of arrows ”

“ For that instant it almost seemed as though she looked at him not as a man who was there because he was interested in her, but as a tool that a workman finds ready to his hand, a sword a soldier finds conveniently placed so that he can use it. ”

“ He carried a sword, a spear, a round shield of steel burnished like a mirror, and wore at his right side a mattacuslash, or long Scottish arm-pit dagger.
John of Harpidale, Thorolf Starkadder, and others, all similarly armed, leaped noisily ashore, with helmets and hauberks ringing, and brandished their swords in token of greeting to the people, and to express joy on treading their native soil again. ”

“ So the one excuse for a complete protection of the body vanished, and from the crowd of ancient armour-cracking weapons, mace, hammer, flail, and such like, the sword rose paramount. More lightly clad, the horseman could ride swifter, move his limbs with greater freedom. ”

“ The sword, the spear, and the buckler, are the national weapons, and the first is girded to the loins of every male subject in the kingdom, be his profession what it may. Barely two feet in length, and highly curved, it rather resembles a sickle than an implement of war. It serves equally at the banquet and in the field; but being firmly lashed to the right side, protrudes most incommodiously behind, and is not to be detached from the scabbard unless by much grunting and personal exertion. ”

“ You put your sword into the hands of recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness, and, when your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands, you will find its edge chipped and its point broken. ”

“ Having thus finished off his head, your savage clasps around his neck various strings of beads; or collars of iron or copper wire, polished to the point of glitter; puts on a half-dozen armlets and leglets of the same; ties on a narrow bead belt, in which is thrust a short sword; anoints himself all over with reddened castor oil until he glistens and shines in the sun; rubs his legs with white clay and traces patterns therein; seizes his long-bladed spear, and is ready for the city. Oh, no! I forgot—and he probably came near doing so—his strip of 'Mericani. ”

“ The point of this spear is frequently without iron—only sharpened and hardened by being held in the fire—and with this in his left hand, and his short sword in the right, the hunter advances with confidence upon his formidable adversary. ”

“ The robust iron-worker advanced upon his adversary, describing with his weapon a figure-of-eight so lusty, so rapid, and to which the vigor of his wrist lent such force that, encountering the sword at the moment when the ex-colonel was about to lunge, the iron bar broke down the latter's guard, and descended heavily upon his skull. ”

“ The warrior hurled his spear and it went over the young man's head. And the young man then hurled his spear in turn and it struck fair upon the centre of the warrior's shield. Then the young man drew his sharp sword that by his flank hung great and strong. But by some magic the warrior had recovered his spear; and as the young man came forward he hurled it again, and it drove through the neck of the young man at the joint of his armor, and he fell in the dust. After that the sun was darkened; and in a moment more I was looking into an empty blackness. ”

“ Thus we learn that from the remotest times even to our own day, the northern warrior has esteemed his sword the most sacred emblem of military honour. In later ages the leaders of medieval chivalry gave names to their favoured weapons, the Trobadours celebrated their virtues with all the extravagance of Romaunt fable, and still the soldier's favourite sword is laid on his bier when his comrades bear him to his rest. ”

“ In the field pennons are attached to the lances, and the standard-bearers carry eagles. 204The action begins with missiles, slings, darts, and arrows; the mace and spear then play their part, and the Sword is never absent. The warriors—who appear on foot or horseback, with gorgeous caparisons, in chariots or swimming with floats of inflated skins—wear helmets of many shapes, crested, crescented, capped with the fleur-de-lys and perfectly plain; some are close-fitting with ear-flaps, the common skull-cap (namms) of Ancient Egypt, and the Indian Kan-top. ”

“ At this time the Sword was not only the Queen of Weapons, but the weapon paramount between man and man. Then, advancing by slow, stealthy, and stumbling steps, the age of gunpowder, of ‘villanous saltpetre,’ appeared upon the scene of life. Gradually the bayonet, a modern modification of the pike, which again derives from the savage spear, one of the earliest forms of the arme blanche, ousted the Sword amongst infantry because the former could be combined with the fire-piece. ”

“ All their pieces are fired with match, and they make excellent gun-powder. They use also lances, swords, and targets, and bows and arrows. Their swords are made crooked like faulchions, and very sharp; but, for want of skill in tempering, will break rather than bend; wherefore our sword-blades, which will bend and become straight again, are often sold at high prices. I have seen horsemen in this country, thus accoutered, carrying as it were a whole armory at once; a good sword by their sides, under which a sheaf of arrows; on their back a gun fastened with belts, a buckler on their shoulders ”

“ When the boy blossoms into a warrior he is equipped with a spear having a blade thirty inches long, a short sword, and a knob-stick; the latter intended for throwing at an advancing enemy, or crushing the skull of a disabled one on the ground. ”

“ They must needs lose their stirrups, so that they both fall to the ground, and the horses run off across the field. Though smitten with the lances, they are quickly on their feet again, and draw their swords from the scabbards. With great fierceness they attack each other, and exchange great sword blows, so that the helmets are crushed and made to ring. Fierce is the clash of the swords, as they rain great blows upon neck and shoulders. ”

“ The fence and clash of weapons consequent on modern swordsmanship, in which the sword [Pg 349] is made to supply both offensive and defensive arms, was altogether incompatible with weapons of cast bronze, liable to shiver like glass at a violent blow. Experience would soon teach the old swordsman the true use of his weapon; and so long as he had only to contend with neighbouring tribes equally armed, he would deem his graceful leaf-shaped sword and his massy spear of bronze the perfect models of a warrior's arms. ”

“ Here and there was an old sword or a pistol that had seen service in the Thirty years’ War; but most of the men carried very efficient axes,—an excellent weapon against a tree, and not a bad one with a bear in close conflict, if such a thing ever does take place in a skal; but the fact is, the beasts on these occasions are so completely cowed, that they rarely, if ever, show fight. ”

“ Spears, no longer of any use, are flung aside, the dagger and sword taking their place, and gleaming in the sunshine as they are raised against the foe. Blood begins to flow copiously on either side. Here two warriors are holding each other at bay at arms’ length, each trying to pierce his adversary’s heart with his sword; there two [233] others are locked in a murderous embrace, stabbing at each other with their daggers, or trying to crack each other’s skulls with the stone amulet alluded to above.
TUAREG HORSEMAN.
At last one side wavers, inferior in strength or in numbers to the other. ”

“ Now he conducted her through his armouries where he kept his weapons and weapons for his fighting men and all panoply of war. There he showed her swords and spears, maces and axes and daggers, orfreyed and damascened and inlaid with jewels; byrnies and baldricks and shields; blades so keen, a hair blown against them in a wind should be parted in twain; charmed helms on which no ordinary sword would bite. And Juss said unto the Queen, “Madam, what thinkest thou of these swords and spears? ”

“ He holds his broad Sword in one Hand, and his Lance in the other, and traverses his Ground, leaping from one side of the Ring to the other; and in a menacing posture and look, bids defiance to the Enemy, whom his Fancy frames to him; for there is nothing but Air to oppose him. ”

“ It is a short and small, though formidable weapon, and is not only designed for thrusting rather than striking with,—as a heavy, blunt-pointed sword could alone be used,—but was evidently adapted for a warfare in which the chief tactics of the swordsman consisted in the bold thrust; since no example of a bronze sword has ever been found with a guard, that simple and most natural contrivance for defending the hand from the downward stroke of the foe. ”

“ A second sweep of the same ponderous blade brought down a second warrior, with his right arm half-severed from his body; a third time it was raised; but ere it fell, another javelin, launched by the same aged hand, whizzed through the air, and took effect a little way below the elbow-joint, just where the brassard and the gauntlet met, the trenchant-point414 pierced through between the bones, narrowly missing the great artery, and the uplifted sword sunk harmless! ”

“ The sword is sharpened to the finest degree, and the blade is protected for about six inches above the cross-hilt with thick string, bound tightly round so as to afford a grip for the right hand, while the left grips the hilt in the usual manner. This converts the ordinary blade into a two-handed sword, a blow from which will sever a naked man into two halves if delivered at the waist. It may be imagined that a quick cut from such a formidable weapon will at once divide the hamstring of any animal. ”

“ Those who died on the day of battle, or in any mortal conflict on the side of the victorious party, were to be represented with a drawn sword in their right hand, the shield in their left, their helmet on their head, (which some think ought to be closed and the vizor let down, as a sign that they fell fighting against their enemies) having their coats of arms girded over their armour, and their feet resting on a lion. ”

“ The enemy follows, and if he catches us, we are cut up. Other charges do occur; but this is the common history of cavalry against cavalry, and, in unsuccessful attacks of cavalry, against infantry too. A knowledge of the use of the sword is necessary; for did your enemy believe you ignorant of it, he would not fly; but the weapon itself is rarely used on such occasions. Very few men are slain in their ranks by the bayonet or the sabre. ”

“ Figs. 5 and 6.—Bronze plaque, representing a warrior in centre, turned to his left. He has a beard and a necklace of leopards’ teeth, but no coral choker. He has a high helmet, somewhat in the form of a grenadier cap. Quadrangular bell on neck. Dagger in sheath on right side, and various appurtenances hanging from his dress. He holds a narrow leaf-shaped sword in his right hand over an enemy who has fallen, and who has already a leaf-shaped sword thrust through his body. The victim has a sword-sheath on left side, with broad end, and a peculiar head-dress. ”

“ The chief weapons of these soldiers are the bow and the spear, the sword and fire-arms playing a comparatively subordinate part. Being good riders, they naturally take to the spear, the true weapon of a horseman, and are drilled in the various modes of delivering a thrust, and of avoiding one, the latter feat being performed with a dexterity almost equalling that of a Camanchee Indian. Although they carry fire-arms with them, they really place little dependence on the heavy, clumsy weapons which they use, that require two men to fire them, and generally knock down the firer by the recoil. ”

“ Every man on these occasions is armed, and my master, who ‎always turned his head away whenever a gun was fired, and ‎became pale at the sight of a drawn sword, now appeared with ‎a long carbine slung obliquely across his back, and a crooked ‎sword by his side, whilst a pair of huge pistols projected from ‎his girdle ”

“ It all happened so quickly that even she seemed scarcely to know of her deliverance, till she saw him draw his sword and look round for me.
Then, to draw the combat away from her, I went on to meet him with my club; and before his first onset was done, his sword flew over his head in two pieces. ”

“ We have all read of the miraculous sword in the German fable whose blade was so keen that when, upon a certain occasion, its owner smote a warrior with it from crown to saddle, the warrior nevertheless rode home and was scarcely aware he had been wounded until, upon his wife opening the door, he attempted to embrace her and fell into two pieces. ”