to proceed in silence, or with
a muttered curse upon their prophet, as they passed the post of some
more zealous Crusader. At length the last barriers were left behind
them, and the party formed themselves for the march with military
precaution. Two or three horsemen advanced in front as a vanguard;
one or two remained a bow-shot in the rear; and, wherever the ground
admitted, others were detached to keep an outlook on the flanks. In this
manner they proceeded onward; while Sir Kenneth, looking back on the
moonlit camp, might now indeed seem banished, deprived at once of honour
and of liberty, from the glimmering banners under which he had hoped
to gain additional renown, and the tented dwellings of chivalry, of
Christianity, and--of Edith Plantagenet.

The Hakim, who rode by his side, observed, in his usual tone of
sententious consolation, "It is unwise to look back when the journey
lieth forward;" and as he spoke, the horse of the knight made such a
perilous stumble as threatened to add a practical moral to the tale.

The knight was compelled by this hint to give more attention to the
management of his steed, which more than once required the assistance
and support of the check-bridle, although, in other respects, nothing
could be more easy at once, and active, than the ambling pace at which
the animal (which was a mare) proceeded.

"The conditions of that horse," observed the sententious physician, "are
like those of human fortune--seeing that, amidst his most swift and easy
pace, the rider must guard himself against a fall, and that it is when
prosperity is at the highest that our prudence should be awake and
vigilant to prevent misfortune."

The overloaded appetite loathes even the honeycomb, and it is scarce
a wonder that the knight, mortified and harassed with misfortunes and
abasement, became something impatient of hearing his misery made, at
every turn, the ground of proverbs and apothegms, however just and
apposite.

"Methinks," he said, rather peevishly, "I wanted no additional
illustration of the instability of fortune though I would thank thee,
Sir Hakim, for the choice of a steed for me, would the jade but stumble
so effectually as at once to break my neck and her own."

"My brother," answered the Arab sage, with imperturbable gravity, "thou
speakest as one of the foolish. Thou sayest in thy heart that the sage
should have given you, as his guest, the younger and better horse, and
reserved the old