ass.'

And, in truth, such a result was not altogether impossible; for at that
moment Walter Espec and Osbert Espec were both within the walls of Acre.
But Walter was preparing to embark for Europe; and Osbert was on the eve
of setting out for the castle of Kakhow, not to return for many days.
But the stars had decreed that they were to meet.

CHAPTER XLI.

A SUDDEN DISCOVERY.

IT was evening, and shadows were closing over Acre. But the scene thus
presented was fair to behold. The sky was richly coloured, the setting
sun painted the landscape in brilliant hues, the wind sighed among the
palms and lofty sycamores, and the waves of the Mediterranean murmured
against the white walls and on the Syrian shore.

Walter Espec sat in the lodgings of Bisset, hard by the palace occupied
by the King of France, and he was alone. Bisset had been summoned to
attend the king; Guy Muschamp had gone to visit his kinsman, the Lord of
Joinville; and Walter, left with his own thoughts, was reclining on a
couch, and resting his head against a window, with his eyes fixed on the
citizens who passed before him, on their way to breathe the air in the
gardens outside the walls, when he was aroused by the tramp of cavalry,
and the approach of a body of warriors, whose white mantles over their
armour, and whole appearance, indicated that they were military monks.
Walter's curiosity was aroused, and he shouted to make inquiries of a
portly citizen who was passing at the moment, and who, as Walter knew,
as a confirmed gossip.

'Good citizen,' said he, 'these are warrior monks, and yet they neither
wear the habit of the Templars nor the Hospitallers. Canst tell me what
knights they be who come along so proudly?'

'In faith can I, sir squire,' answered the citizen; 'and blithely will I
do so. These be the knights of St. Katherine, of Mount Sinai; and they
are brave men in hours of danger; albeit, like other Orders, overmuch
given to amassing wealth, and more intent on keeping it than keeping the
vows of their Order.'

'Thanks, good citizen,' said Walter, laughing heartily, as Crusaders
generally did when reminded of the faults of the military monks. 'And,
to requite your courtesy, I admonish you to speak in a whisper when you
say aught in dispraise of Templars or Hospitallers; for you must be a
bolder man than I pretend to be, if you fear not to provoke their
enmity.'

'Gramercy for your warning, young squire,' replied the citizen, a