The weight of the man had sunk him down deep into the soft cushion, so that there was nothing of him to be seen save the folds of the bell-shaped cloak, the red jewel, and the head.

He looked like a coiled-up snake; the dark and glittering eyes also were those of a snake.

Of his features, in the deep shade of the canopy and of the wide black turban, they could see nothing.
The aspect of this figure was so terrible and inhuman that the brethren trembled at the sight of him.

They were men and he was a man, but between that huddled, beady-eyed heap and those two tall Western warriors, clad in their gleaming mail and coloured cloaks, helm on brow, buckler on arm, and long sword at side, the contrast was that of death and life..