Precious and beautiful trophies were they, but alas! their world-wide fame had cost no less than life to many thousands of his race.
Shining in all their magnificence lay these mated crescents, gently curved and softly rounded.

It was upon _these_ that the eyes of the field-cornet were bent.
Ay, and bent too with an eagerness unusual in his glance.

His lips were compressed, his chest was visibly heaving.

Oh! there was a world of thoughts passing through the mind of Von Bloom at that moment.
Were they painful thoughts?
The expression of his face told the contrary.

The cloud that all that day sat perched upon his brow had vanished.