spring what fruit it will bear in the harvest."

"I doubt of your knowledge, and defy you to the proof."

"Defy me not, Sir Squire," said Hayraddin Maugrabin. "I can tell you
that, say what you will of your religion, the Goddess whom you worship
rides in this company."

"Peace!" said Quentin, in astonishment, "on thy life, not a word
farther, but in answer to what I ask thee.--Canst thou be faithful?"

"I can--all men can," said the Bohemian.

"But wilt thou be faithful?"

"Wouldst thou believe me the more should I swear it?" answered
Maugrabin, with a sneer.

"Thy life is in my hand," said the young Scot.

"Strike, and see whether I fear to die," answered the Bohemian.

"Will money render thee a trusty guide?" demanded Durward.

"If I be not such without it, no," replied the heathen.

"Then what will bind thee?" asked the Scot.

"Kindness," replied the Bohemian.

"Shall I swear to show thee such, if thou art true guide to us on this
pilgrimage?"

"No," replied Hayraddin, "it were extravagant waste of a commodity so
rare. To thee I am bound already."

"How?" exclaimed Durward, more surprised than ever.

"Remember the chestnut trees on the banks of the Cher! The victim whose
body thou didst cut down was my brother, Zamet the Maugrabin."

"And yet," said Quentin, "I find you in correspondence with those very
officers by whom your brother was done to death, for it was one of
them who directed me where to meet with you--the same, doubtless, who
procured yonder ladies your services as a guide."

"What can we do?" answered Hayraddin, gloomily. "These men deal with us
as the sheepdogs do with the flock, they protect us for a while, drive
us hither and thither at their pleasure, and always end by guiding us to
the shambles."

Quentin had afterwards occasion to learn that the Bohemian spoke truth
in this particular, and that the Provost guard, employed to suppress
the vagabond bands by which the kingdom was infested, entertained
correspondence among them, and forbore, for a certain time, the exercise
of their duty, which always at last ended in conducting their allies
to the gallows. This is a sort of political relation between thief and
officer, for the profitable exercise of their mutual professions, which
has subsisted in all countries, and is by no means unknown to our own.

Durward, parting from the guide, fell back to the rest of the retinue,
very little satisfied with the character of Hayraddin, an