tant charge entrusted to him.

"Beware, Saracen," he said; "methinks our host's imagination wanders
as well on the subject of names as upon other matters. Thy name is
Sheerkohf, and he called thee but now by another."

"My name, when in the tent of my father," replied the Kurdman, "was
Ilderim, and by this I am still distinguished by many. In the field, and
to soldiers, I am known as the Lion of the Mountain, being the name my
good sword hath won for me. But hush, the Hamako comes--it is to warn us
to rest. I know his custom; none must watch him at his vigils."

The anchorite accordingly entered, and folding his arms on his bosom as
he stood before them, said with a solemn voice, "Blessed be His name,
who hath appointed the quiet night to follow the busy day, and the calm
sleep to refresh the wearied limbs and to compose the troubled spirit!"

Both warriors replied "Amen!" and, arising from the table, prepared to
betake themselves to the couches, which their host indicated by waving
his hand, as, making a reverence to each, he again withdrew from the
apartment.

The Knight of the Leopard then disarmed himself of his heavy panoply,
his Saracen companion kindly assisting him to undo his buckler and
clasps, until he remained in the close dress of chamois leather, which
knights and men-at-arms used to wear under their harness. The Saracen,
if he had admired the strength of his adversary when sheathed in steel,
was now no less struck with the accuracy of proportion displayed in his
nervous and well-compacted figure. The knight, on the other hand, as, in
exchange of courtesy, he assisted the Saracen to disrobe himself of his
upper garments, that he might sleep with more convenience, was, on his
side, at a loss to conceive how such slender proportions and slimness of
figure could be reconciled with the vigour he had displayed in personal
contest.

Each warrior prayed ere he addressed himself to his place of rest. The
Moslem turned towards his KEBLAH, the point to which the prayer of each
follower of the Prophet was to be addressed, and murmured his heathen
orisons; while the Christian, withdrawing from the contamination of the
infidel's neighbourhood, placed his huge cross-handled sword upright,
and kneeling before it as the sign of salvation, told his rosary with
a devotion which was enhanced by the recollection of the scenes through
which he had passed, and the dangers from which he had been rescued, in
the course of t