nneth,
with that sullen and lowering port which seems to say, "I know thee, but
I will hold no communication with thee." But his purpose was defeated
by the Northern Knight, who moved forward directly to him, and accosting
him with formal courtesy, said, "My Lord de Vaux of Gilsland, I have in
charge to speak with you."

"Ha!" returned the English baron, "with me? But say your pleasure, so it
be shortly spoken--I am on the King's errand."

"Mine touches King Richard yet more nearly," answered Sir Kenneth; "I
bring him, I trust, health."

The Lord of Gilsland measured the Scot with incredulous eyes, and
replied, "Thou art no leech, I think, Sir Scot; I had as soon thought of
your bringing the King of England wealth."

Sir Kenneth, though displeased with the manner of the baron's
reply, answered calmly, "Health to Richard is glory and wealth to
Christendom.--But my time presses; I pray you, may I see the King?"

"Surely not, fair sir," said the baron, "until your errand be told more
distinctly. The sick chambers of princes open not to all who inquire,
like a northern hostelry."

"My lord," said Kenneth, "the cross which I wear in common with
yourself, and the importance of what I have to tell, must, for the
present, cause me to pass over a bearing which else I were unapt to
endure. In plain language, then, I bring with me a Moorish physician,
who undertakes to work a cure on King Richard."

"A Moorish physician!" said De Vaux; "and who will warrant that he
brings not poisons instead of remedies?"

"His own life, my lord--his head, which he offers as a guarantee."

"I have known many a resolute ruffian," said De Vaux, "who valued his
own life as little as it deserved, and would troop to the gallows as
merrily as if the hangman were his partner in a dance."

"But thus it is, my lord," replied the Scot. "Saladin, to whom none will
deny the credit of a generous and valiant enemy, hath sent this
leech hither with an honourable retinue and guard, befitting the high
estimation in which El Hakim [The Physician] is held by the Soldan, and
with fruits and refreshments for the King's private chamber, and such
message as may pass betwixt honourable enemies, praying him to be
recovered of his fever, that he may be the fitter to receive a visit
from the Soldan, with his naked scimitar in his hand, and a hundred
thousand cavaliers at his back. Will it please you, who are of the
King's secret council, to cause these camels to