They waited quietly till it should please him to come to close quarters, which he did without delay.

I have said that he was a man of few words.

But the Children of the King were not like Calabrian boys, children though they were.

Their wolfish teeth were very white as they waited for him with parted lips, and there was an odd blue light in their eyes which is not often seen south of Goth-land.
They were but twelve and ten years old, but they could fight already, in their small way, and had tried it many a time with shepherd lads on the hill-side.

But Don Pietro despised children and aimed a blow at Ruggiero's right shoulder.