be our force.
Our great Sheikh would have come in person with ten thousand men, were
not your wilderness here fit only for Giaours.'

'Tell the young chief,' said the Sheikh to Baroni, 'that I am his
brother, and will shed the last drop of my blood in his service, as I am
bound to do, as much as he is bound to give me ten thousand piastres for
the journey, and ask him what he wishes.'

'Demand to know distinctly what these men want,' said Tancred to Baroni,
who then conferred with them.

'They want your lordship,' said Baroni, 'whom they call the brother
of the Queen of the English; their business is clearly to carry you to
their great Sheikh, who will release you for a large ransom.'

'And they have no feud with the Jellaheens?'

'None; they are strangers; they come from a distance for this purpose;
nor can it be doubted that this plan has been concocted at Jerusalem.'

'Our position, I fear, is fatal in this defile,' said Tancred; 'it
is bitter to be the cause of exposing so many brave men to almost
inevitable slaughter. Tell them, Baroni, that I am not the brother of
the Queen of the English; that they are ridiculously misled, and that
their aim is hopeless, for all that will be ransomed will be my corpse.'

Sheikh Hassan sat on his horse like a statue, with his spear in his hand
and his eye on his enemy; Baroni, advancing to the strange horsemen, who
were in position about ten yards from Tancred and his guardian, was soon
engaged in animated conversation. He did all that an able diplomatist
could effect; told lies with admirable grace, and made a hundred
propositions that did not commit his principal. He assured them very
heartily that Tancred was not the brother of the Queen of the English;
that he was only a young Sheikh, whose father was alive, and in
possession of all the flocks and herds, camels and horses; that he had
quarrelled with his father; that his father, perhaps, would not be sorry
if he were got rid of, and would not give a hundred piastres to save his
life. Then he offered, if he would let Tancred pass, himself to go with
them as prisoner to their great Sheikh, and even proposed Hassan and
half his men for additional hostages, whilst some just and equitable
arrangement could be effected. All, however, was in vain. The enemy had
no discretion; dead or alive, the young Englishman must be carried to
their chief.

'I can do nothing,' said Baroni, returning; 'there is something in all
this which