pilgrimage, lies on the
bed of sickness."

"Christian," said Sheerkohf, "here I have five arrows in my
quiver, each feathered from the wing of an eagle. When I send
one of them to my tents, a thousand warriors mount on horseback
--when I send another, an equal force will arise--for the five, I
can command five thousand men; and if I send my bow, ten thousand
mounted riders will shake the desert. And with thy fifty
followers thou hast come to invade a land in which I am one of
the meanest!"

"Now, by the rood, Saracen," retorted the Western warrior, "thou
shouldst know, ere thou vauntest thyself, that one steel glove
can crush a whole handful of hornets."

"Ay, but it must first enclose them within its grasp," said the
Saracen, with a smile which might have endangered their new
alliance, had he not changed the subject by adding, "And is
bravery so much esteemed amongst the Christian princes that thou,
thus void of means and of men, canst offer, as thou didst of
late, to be my protector and security in the camp of thy
brethren?"

"Know, Saracen," said the Christian, "since such is thy style,
that the name of a knight, and the blood of a gentleman, entitle
him to place himself on the same rank with sovereigns even of the
first degree, in so far as regards all but regal authority and
dominion. Were Richard of England himself to wound the honour of
a knight as poor as I am, he could not, by the law of chivalry,