The ground within
was made hard and level, the loose stones and other impediments being
carefully removed. There were two entrances, east and west, well guarded
and strongly fenced with wooden-bars about seven feet high, so that a
horse might not leap over. The tents of the warriors were fancifully
decorated, every one having his shield newly emblazoned and hung out in
front, where the pages and esquires watched, guarding vigilantly these
sacred treasures. Nothing was heard but the hoarse call of the trumpet,
the clank of mail, and the prancing of horses, pawing and eager for the
battle.
Long before the appointed hour the whole city was in motion. Isabella,
too, whose bright eyes had not closed since the first gleam had visited
her chamber, was early astir. An ugly dream, it is said, troubled her.
Though of ripe years, yet, as we have noticed before, love had not yet
aimed his malicious shafts at her bosom, nor even tightened his
bowstring as she tripped by, defying his power; so that the dream, which
in others would appear but as the overflowing of a youthful and ardent
imagination, seemed to her altogether novel and unaccountable, raising
up new faculties, and endowing her with a train of feelings heretofore
unknown.
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