he most dangerous place for Richard to
approach in all the land. He was, however, exhausted with hunger and
fatigue, and from these and other causes he fell sick, so that he
could proceed no farther. So he went into a small village near the
town, and sent the boy in to the market to buy something to eat, and
also to procure some other comforts which he greatly needed. The
people in the town observed the peculiar dress of the boy, and his
foreign air, and their attention was still more excited by noticing
how plentifully he was supplied with money. They asked him who he was.
He said he was the servant of a foreign merchant who was traveling
through the country, and who had been taken sick near by.

The people seemed satisfied with this explanation, and so they let the
boy go.

Richard was so exhausted and so sick that he could not travel again
immediately, and so he had occasion, in a day or two, to send the boy
into town again. This continued for some days, and the curiosity of
the people became more and more awakened. At last they observed about
the page some articles of dress such as were only worn by attendants
upon kings. It is surprising that Richard should have been so
thoughtless as to have allowed him to wear them. But such was his
character. The people finally seized the boy, and the authorities
ordered him to be whipped to make him tell who he was. The boy bore
the pain very heroically, but at length they threatened to put him to
the torture, and, among other things, to cut out his tongue, if he did
not tell. He was so terrified by this that at last he confessed the
truth and told them where they might find the king.

A band of soldiers was immediately sent to seize him. The story is
that Richard, at the time when the soldiers arrived, was in the
kitchen turning the spit to roast the dinner. After surrounding the
house to prevent the possibility of an escape, the soldiers demanded
at the door if King Richard was there. The man answered, "No, not
unless the Templar was he who was turning the spit in the kitchen." So
the soldiers went in to see. The leader exclaimed, "Yes, that is he:
take him!" But Richard seized his sword, and, rushing to a position
where he could defend himself, declared to the soldiers that he would
not surrender to any but their chief. So the soldiers, deeming it
desirable to take him alive, paused until they could send for the
archduke. The archduke had left the Holy Land and returned h