er, interrupting him, "I have
already said I require not of thee. Guide thee I can; and, it may be,
even in some sort defend thee; since to protect a Jew against a Saracen,
can scarce be accounted unworthy of a Christian. Therefore, Jew, I will
see thee safe under some fitting escort. We are now not far from the
town of Sheffield, where thou mayest easily find many of thy tribe with
whom to take refuge."

"The blessing of Jacob be upon thee, good youth!" said the Jew; "in
Sheffield I can harbour with my kinsman Zareth, and find some means of
travelling forth with safety."

"Be it so," said the Palmer; "at Sheffield then we part, and
half-an-hour's riding will bring us in sight of that town."

The half hour was spent in perfect silence on both parts; the Pilgrim
perhaps disdaining to address the Jew, except in case of absolute
necessity, and the Jew not presuming to force a conversation with a
person whose journey to the Holy Sepulchre gave a sort of sanctity to
his character. They paused on the top of a gently rising bank, and the
Pilgrim, pointing to the town of Sheffield, which lay beneath them,
repeated the words, "Here, then, we part."

"Not till you have had the poor Jew's thanks," said Isaac; "for I
presume not to ask you to go with me to my kinsman Zareth's, who might
aid me with some means of repaying your good offices."

"I have already said," answered the Pilgrim, "that I desire no
recompense. If among the huge list of thy debtors, thou wilt, for my
sake, spare the gyves and the dungeon to some unhappy Christian who
stands in thy danger, I shall hold this morning's service to thee well
bestowed."

"Stay, stay," said the Jew, laying hold of his garment; "something
would I do more than this, something for thyself.--God knows the Jew
is poor--yes, Isaac is the beggar of his tribe--but forgive me should I
guess what thou most lackest at this moment."

"If thou wert to guess truly," said the Palmer, "it is what thou canst
not supply, wert thou as wealthy as thou sayst thou art poor."

"As I say?" echoed the Jew; "O! believe it, I say but the truth; I am
a plundered, indebted, distressed man. Hard hands have wrung from me my
goods, my money, my ships, and all that I possessed--Yet I can tell thee
what thou lackest, and, it may be, supply it too. Thy wish even now is
for a horse and armour."

The Palmer started, and turned suddenly towards the Jew:--"What fiend
prompted that guess?" said he, hastily.

"N