of this no longer, for the thoughts of the calm, clear, blue
refulgence of a winter's lake, glimmering to stars and moonbeam,
aggravate the horrors of this fiery desert, where, methinks, the
very air which we breathe is like the vapour of a fiery furnace
seven times heated."

The Saracen looked on him with some attention, as if to discover
in what sense he was to understand words which, to him, must have
appeared either to contain something of mystery or of imposition.
At length he seemed determined in what manner to receive the
language of his new companion.

"You are," he said, "of a nation that loves to laugh, and you
make sport with yourselves, and with others, by telling what is
impossible, and reporting what never chanced. Thou art one of
the knights of France, who hold it for glee and pastime to GAB,
as they term it, of exploits that are beyond human power.
[Gaber. This French word signified a sort of sport much used
among the French chivalry, which consisted in vying with each
other in making the most romantic gasconades. The verb and the
meaning are retained in Scottish.] I were wrong to challenge,
for the time, the privilege of thy speech, since boasting is more
natural to thee than truth."

"I am not of their land, neither of their fashion," said the
Knight, "which is, as thou well sayest, to GAB of that which they
dare not undertake--or, undertaking, cannot perfect. But in this
I have imitated their folly, brave Saracen, that in talking to
thee of what thou canst not comprehend, I have, even in speaking
most simple truth, fully incurred the character of a braggart in