and not far behind it, was being
pitched by the Arab camp-setters. The Master saw and remembered
Godwin's vision of the dead Templars.

"Is it there that you mean to murder me, traitor and wizard?" he
asked.

Then rage took hold of Godwin and he answered him:

"Were it not for your plight, here and now I would thrust those
words down your throat, as, should we both live, I yet shall hope
to do. You call us traitors. Is it the work of traitors to have
charged alone through all this host until our horses died beneath
us?"--he pointed to where Smoke and Flame lay with glazing
eyes--"to have unhorsed Saladin and to have slain this prince in
single combat?" and he turned to the body of the emir Hassan,
which his servants were carrying away.

"You speak of me as wizard and murderer," he went on, "because
some angel brought me a vision which, had you believed it,
Templar, would have saved tens of thousands from a bloody death,
the Christian kingdom from destruction, and yonder holy thing
from mockery," and with a shudder he glanced at the Rood which
its captors had set up upon a rock not far away with a dead
knight tied to its black arms. "You, Sir Templar, are the
murderer who by your madness and ambition have brought ruin on
the cause of Christ, as was foretold by the count Raymond."

"That other traitor who also has escaped," snarled the Master.

Then Saracen guards dragged him away, and they were parted.

By now the pavilion was up and Saladin entered it, saying:

"Bring before me the king of the Franks and prince Arnat, he who
is called Reginald of Chatillon."

Then a thought struck him, and he called to Godwin and Wulf,
saying:

"Sir Knights, you know our tongue; give up your swords to the
officer--they shall be returned to you--and come, be my
interpreters."

So the brethren followed him into the tent, where presently were
brought the wretched king and the grey-haired Reginald de
Chatillon, and with them a few other great knights who, even in
the midst of their misery, stared at Godwin and Wulf in
wonderment. Saladin read the look, and explained lest their
presence should be misunderstood:

"King and nobles, be not mistaken. These knights are my
prisoners, as you are, and none have shown themselves braver
to-day, or done me and mine more damage. Indeed, had it not been
for my guards, within the hour I should have fallen beneath the
sword of Sir Godwin. But as they know Arabic, I have asked them
to ren