grapple the Saracen was
saved by his agility and presence of mind. He unloosed the sword-belt,
in which the Knight of the Leopard had fixed his hold, and, thus eluding
his fatal grasp, mounted his horse, which seemed to watch his motions
with the intelligence of a human being, and again rode off. But in the
last encounter the Saracen had lost his sword and his quiver of arrows,
both of which were attached to the girdle, which he was obliged to
abandon. He had also lost his turban in the struggle. These
disadvantages seemed to incline the Moslem to a truce: he approached the
Christian with his right hand extended, but no longer in a menacing
attitude.

"There is truce betwixt our nations," he said, in the _lingua franca_
commonly used for the purpose of communication with the Crusaders;
"Wherefore should there be war betwixt thee and me? Let there be peace
betwixt us."

"I am well contented," answered he of the Couchant Leopard; "but what
security dost thou offer that thou wilt observe the truce?"

"The word of a follower of the Prophet was never broken," answered the
Emir. "It is thou, brave Nazarene, from whom I should demand security,
did I not know that treason seldom dwells with courage."

The Crusader felt that the confidence of the Moslem made him ashamed of
his own doubts.

"By the cross of my sword," he said, laying his hand on the weapon as he
spoke, "I will be true companion to thee, Saracen, while our fortune
wills that we remain in company together."

"By Mohammed, Prophet of God, and by Allah, God of the Prophet," replied
his late foeman, "there is not treachery in my heart towards thee. And
now wend we to yonder fountain, for the hour of rest is at hand, and the
stream had hardly touched my lip when I was called to battle by thy
approach."

The Knight of the Couchant Leopard yielded a ready and courteous assent;
and the late foes, without an angry look or gesture of doubt, rode side
by side to the little cluster of palm trees.

Scott: "The Talisman."

The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,--
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings,--
But merc