h, sir knight,' replied Walter, frankly, 'I sigh for the green
fields and the oak forests of my native land; and, therefore, I would
fain embark with the army of King Louis, and return to Europe.'

'As you will, sir squire,' said Bisset, a little mortified: 'albeit, I
cannot but deem that you are not moved so much by the desire to visit
your native land, as to be near to a certain noble demoiselle, on whose
gratitude you have some claims. Well, on my life, I blame you not; for
at your age I might have felt as you do, and, mayhap, lived to repent my
delusion. But, be it known to you that, as matters stand, the Sultan of
Damascus has intimated that he will permit any of the pilgrims to visit
Jerusalem. Now, have you the courage--for courage will be needed--to
enter the Holy City, held as it is by fierce Saracens, and kneel at the
Holy Sepulchre?'

'By Holy Katherine, sir knight!' exclaimed Walter, bluntly, 'you must
hold me excused. Happy, indeed, should I deem myself in the privilege of
kneeling at the Holy Sepulchre, even at the cost of much labour and
fatigue. But these are not the days of Godfrey and the Baldwins; and I
care not to trust to the tender mercies of Bibars Bendocdar and his
Mameluke myrmidons. I will not needlessly put my head again into the
lion's mouth.'

'And what say you on the point, my gay and puissant warrior?' asked
Bisset, turning to Guy Muschamp.

'Oh,' answered Guy, merrily, 'as says the good Walter, so say I, neither
to Jerusalem nor to Constantinople do I go. I have a father and mother
and kindred at home, whose faces I long to see. Wherefore, I go to
England, and to no other place.'

Walter Espec sighed, as he was in the habit of doing, at the mention of
kindred, and gave himself up to painful reminiscences.

'Sir knight,' said he, addressing Bisset, after a long silence, 'deem
you that my lost brother can be in the hands of him who is known as the
Old Man of the Mountains?'

'What!' exclaimed Bisset, 'rearing as an assassin? The saints
forefend!'

'It is strange,' said Walter, after a pause, 'that I have begun to hope
better things; for, as I lay asleep last night, methought I saw him in
the flesh, and that he looked high and brave, and that he told me how
the blessed Katherine had preserved him from evil.'

'May your dream be realised ere we depart from this holy land, good
Walter!' said Guy, with sympathy.

'Amen,' added Bisset, earnestly. 'More unlikely things have come to
p