The Saracens were within a bow-shot, and coming like the wind,--lances levelled, scimetars brandished, and burnouses flying,--when Olvir drew Al-hatif and raised the blade overhead. Instantly a rustling, tinkling sound swept over the wedge behind him. Slingers raised their slings; bowmen notched their arrows.
Then the king's voice rang out like a trumpet: "Hold, men, on your lives! Down with your weapons!"
But the vikings looked to their earl. The blade still glittered above his bright figure, and they stood waiting, heedless of the Frank.
"By the King of Heaven!" swore Karl; only to pause and stare with his courtiers. At a word from Olvir, Liutrad had sent a dart curving high through the air. The missile flashed down and stuck upright in the dry ground, over a hundred paces distant. Fifty yards farther, it would have fallen upon the head of Kasim Ibn Yusuf.
Whatever had been the purpose of the Arab, he saw how fully the Northern giants were prepared to meet him, and he understood on the instant the menace of the dart. The shaft was yet quivering from its fall when he flung up his hand and uttered a piercing cry.
A hundred voices caught up the wild note and shrieked it back to their owner's swiftly following fellows. Up went the levelled lance-tips, sinewy hands drew hard on the bridle-reins, and the mass of flying horsemen came to a halt within the space of a few yards.
As the Saracens came to a stand, Karl forced a way through the close-set ranks of the vikings, his cheeks flushed and eyes flashing angrily.
"Way!" he commanded. "Ho; aside, men! Give heed, Lord Olvir!"
Olvir half wheeled Zora and faced the angry king as the white stallion leaped clear of the foremost vikings. For a moment Karl glared down on the Northman, his powerful features stern with the dark menace of offended majesty. Olvir, who had looked only for praise of his ready defence, drew himself up, and met the king's stare with a bitter smile.
Look and bearing alike goaded Karl to fury. He grasped the hilt of his sword, and his great body quivered. But the spasm passed. He bent forward and said coldly: "How is this, Dane? Neither you nor your followers give ear to my command."