e is as fleet as a dromedary."

In fact, the task was a difficult one, for though the reverend guide
stopped from time to time, and waved his hand, as if to encourage them
to come on, yet, well acquainted with all the winding dells and passes
of the desert, and gifted with uncommon activity, which, perhaps, an
unsettled state of mind kept in constant exercise, he led the knights
through chasms and along footpaths where even the light-armed Saracen,
with his well-trained barb, was in considerable risk, and where the
iron-sheathed European and his over-burdened steed found themselves in
such imminent peril as the rider would gladly have exchanged for the
dangers of a general action. Glad he was when, at length, after this
wild race, he beheld the holy man who had led it standing in front of
a cavern, with a large torch in his hand, composed of a piece of wood
dipped in bitumen, which cast a broad and flickering light, and emitted
a strong sulphureous smell.

Undeterred by the stifling vapour, the knight threw himself from
his horse and entered the cavern, which afforded small appearance of
accommodation. The cell was divided into two parts, in the outward of
which were an altar of stone and a crucifix made of reeds: this served
the anchorite for his chapel. On one side of this outward cave the
Christian knight, though not without scruple, arising from religious
reverence to the objects around, fastened up his horse, and arranged him
for the night, in imitation of the Saracen, who gave him to understand
that such was the custom of the place. The hermit, meanwhile, was busied
putting his inner apartment in order to receive his guests, and there
they soon joined him. At the bottom of the outer cave, a small aperture,
closed with a door of rough plank, led into the sleeping apartment of
the hermit, which was more commodious. The floor had been brought to a
rough level by the labour of the inhabitant, and then strewed with white
sand, which he daily sprinkled with water from a small fountain which
bubbled out of the rock in one corner, affording in that stifling
climate, refreshment alike to the ear and the taste. Mattresses, wrought
of twisted flags, lay by the side of the cell; the sides, like the
floor, had been roughly brought to shape, and several herbs and flowers
were hung around them. Two waxen torches, which the hermit lighted,
gave a cheerful air to the place, which was rendered agreeable by its
fragrance and coolne