"I thank you." And he addressed himself to the two pitiful bandits who remained.
But their eyes were looking beyond him to the door, and their jaws had dropped in terror.

For from outside came the sound of horses' hooves and bridles, and two riders had dismounted and were peering into the hut.
The first was a very mountain of a man, whose conical helmet surmounted a vast pale face, on which blond moustaches hung like the teeth of a walrus.

The said helmet was grievously battered, and the nose-piece was awry as if from some fierce blow, but there was no scar on the skin.

His long hauberk was wrought in scales of steel and silver, and the fillets which bound his great legs were of fine red leather.

Behind him came a grizzled squire, bearing a kite-shaped shield painted with the cognisance of a dove.
"What have we here ?" said the knight in a reedy voice like a boy's.