language and yet more violent assault to which he had been
subjected, "I pray thee, good Hamako, to beware how thou dost again urge
thy privilege over far; for though, as a good Moslem, I respect those
whom Heaven hath deprived of ordinary reason, in order to endow them
with the spirit of prophecy, yet I like not other men's hands on the
bridle of my horse, neither upon my own person. Speak, therefore, what
thou wilt, secure of any resentment from me; but gather so much sense
as to apprehend that if thou shalt again proffer me any violence, I will
strike thy shagged head from thy meagre shoulders.--and to thee, friend
Kenneth," he added, as he remounted his steed, "I must needs say, that
in a companion through the desert, I love friendly deeds better than
fair words. Of the last thou hast given me enough; but it had been
better to have aided me more speedily in my struggle with this Hamako,
who had well-nigh taken my life in his frenzy."

"By my faith," said the Knight, "I did somewhat fail--was somewhat tardy
in rendering thee instant help; but the strangeness of the assailant,
the suddenness of the scene--it was as if thy wild and wicked lay had
raised the devil among us--and such was my confusion, that two or three
minutes elapsed ere I could take to my weapon."

"Thou art but a cold and considerate friend," said the Saracen; "and,
had the Hamako been one grain more frantic, thy companion had been slain
by thy side, to thy eternal dishonour, without thy stirring a finger in
his aid, although thou satest by, mounted, and in arms."

"By my word, Saracen," said the Christian, "if thou wilt have it in
plain terms, I thought that strange figure was the devil; and being of
thy lineage, I knew not what family secret you might be communicating to
each other, as you lay lovingly rolling together on the sand."

"Thy gibe is no answer, brother Kenneth," said the Saracen; "for know,
that had my assailant been in very deed the Prince of Darkness, thou
wert bound not the less to enter into combat with him in thy comrade's
behalf. Know, also, that whatever there may be of foul or of fiendish
about the Hamako belongs more to your lineage than to mine--this Hamako
being, in truth, the anchorite whom thou art come hither to visit."

"This!" said Sir Kenneth, looking at the athletic yet wasted figure
before him--"this! Thou mockest, Saracen--this cannot be the venerable
Theodorick!"

"Ask himself, if thou wilt not believe me," an