It seemed to him short-sighted policy that in the hour of his departure on a perilous quest he should disable himself in both arms.

But Sholto MacKim was not the youth to question an order.

He lifted the sword in his left hand, and with a strong ungraceful motion struck with all his might.
At first he thought that he had missed altogether.

There was no tingling in his arm, no jar when the blade should have encountered the iron.

But the Countess was examining the centre of the hoop.
"I have missed," said Sholto.
"Come hither and look," she said, without turning round.
And when he looked, lo, the thick iron had been cut through almost without bending.