blessing of Jacob be upon thee! canst thou tell
me aught of her safety?"

"It was she, then," said the yeoman, "who was carried off by the proud
Templar, when he broke through our ranks on yester-even. I had drawn my
bow to send a shaft after him, but spared him even for the sake of the
damsel, who I feared might take harm from the arrow."

"Oh!" answered the Jew, "I would to God thou hadst shot, though the
arrow had pierced her bosom!--Better the tomb of her fathers than the
dishonourable couch of the licentious and savage Templar. Ichabod!
Ichabod! the glory hath departed from my house!"

"Friends," said the Chief, looking round, "the old man is but a Jew,
natheless his grief touches me.--Deal uprightly with us, Isaac--will
paying this ransom of a thousand crowns leave thee altogether
penniless?"

Isaac, recalled to think of his worldly goods, the love of which, by
dint of inveterate habit, contended even with his parental affection,
grew pale, stammered, and could not deny there might be some small
surplus.

"Well--go to--what though there be," said the Outlaw, "we will not
reckon with thee too closely. Without treasure thou mayst as well hope
to redeem thy child from the clutches of Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, as
to shoot a stag-royal with a headless shaft.--We will take thee at the
same ransom with Prior Aymer, or rather at one hundred crowns lower,
which hundred crowns shall be mine own peculiar loss, and not light upon
this worshipful community; and so we shall avoid the heinous offence of
rating a Jew merchant as high as a Christian prelate, and thou wilt
have six hundred crowns remaining to treat for thy daughter's ransom.
Templars love the glitter of silver shekels as well as the sparkle
of black eyes.--Hasten to make thy crowns chink in the ear of De
Bois-Guilbert, ere worse comes of it. Thou wilt find him, as our scouts
have brought notice, at the next Preceptory house of his Order.--Said I
well, my merry mates?"

The yeomen expressed their wonted acquiescence in their leader's
opinion; and Isaac, relieved of one half of his apprehensions, by
learning that his daughter lived, and might possibly be ransomed, threw
himself at the feet of the generous Outlaw, and, rubbing his beard
against his buskins, sought to kiss the hem of his green cassock. The
Captain drew himself back, and extricated himself from the Jew's grasp,
not without some marks of contempt.

"Nay, beshrew thee, man, up with thee! I am