98 THE BOY CRUSADERS.

your ancestral blood boiling in your veins. And, in
truth, I marvel not that such should have been the -
case; and yet

‘And yet Well, speak freely. I listen.’

‘Well, my lord,’ continued Walter, ‘I was about
to say that it seemed to me the part of a wise man,
and one so renowned in arms, not to deign to answer
a fool according to his folly.’

‘Doubtless you are right,’ replied the earl. “And
sinful, I feel, and calculated to provoke God’s ven-
geance, would it be to draw the sword against one
marked with the Cross, and engaged, like ourselves, in
this holy war. Nevertheless, my patience may come
to an end, as the patience of better men has done in
such cases. However, a truce to such talk for the pre-
sent; and see that, at daybreak, this renegade is ready
to guide us on our expedition after the caravan; for I
am weary of inactivity, and eager for change of scene.’

Accordingly, preparations for the expedition were
made; and, next morning, Salisbury and his knights
dashed away from Damietta to intercept the caravan
that was reported to be on its way to Alexandria.
For a time they waited patiently at a place where it
was expected to pass. But this mode of spending
time was not much to the taste of men whose spirits
were raised by the novelty of everything around.
Panting for action, Longsword left Walter Espec
with a band of horse and Beltran the renegade to
keep watch, and, at the head of his knights, went
off in quest of adventure.

Hours passed; evening fell and deepened into -

 

 

night; and still neither the caravan nor the warriors