em,' said Baroni; 'I saw
from the first it was not a common foray. These people know everything.
They will send immediately to Besso; they know he is your banker, and
that if you want to build the Temple, he must pay for it, and unless
a most immoderate ransom is given, they will carry us all into the
interior of the desert.'

'And what do you counsel?'

'In this, as in all things, to gain time; and principally because I
am without resource, but with time expedients develop themselves.
Naturally, what is wanted will come; expediency is a law of nature.
The camel is a wonderful animal, but the desert made the camel. I have
already impressed upon the great Sheikh that you are not a prince of
the blood; that your father is ruined, that there has been a murrain for
three years among his herds and flocks; and that, though you appear to
be travelling for amusement, you are, in fact, a political exile. All
these are grounds for a reduced ransom. At present he believes nothing
that I say, because his mind has been previously impressed with contrary
and more cogent representations, but what I say will begin to work when
he has experienced some disappointment, and the period of re-action
arrives. Re-action is the law of society; it is inevitable. All success
depends upon seizing it.'

'It appears to me that you are a great philosopher, Baroni,' said
Tancred.

'I travelled five years with M. de Sidonia,' said Baroni. 'We were in
perpetual scrapes, often worse than this, and my master moralised upon
every one of them. I shared his adventures, and I imbibed some of his
wisdom; and the consequence is, that I always ought to know what to say,
and generally what to do.'

'Well, here at least is some theatre for your practice; though, as far
as I can form an opinion, our course is simple, though ignominious.
We must redeem ourselves from captivity. If it were only the end of
my crusade, one might submit to it, like Coeur de Lion, after due
suffering; but occurring at the commencement, the catastrophe is
mortifying, and I doubt whether I shall have heart enough to pursue my
way. Were I alone, I certainly would not submit to ransom. I would
look upon captivity as one of those trials that await me, and I would
endeavour to extricate myself from it by courage and address, relying
ever on Divine aid; but I am not alone. I have involved you in this
mischance, and these poor Englishmen, and, it would seem, the brave
Hassan and his tribe