will challenge him to mortal combat on the spot."--p. 16.]

'And I,' observed Walter, calmly, 'have no dread of the kind; and I am,
heart and soul, bent on the holy enterprise; albeit, I reck little of
caravans of camels, or veiled women. But my heart yearns for that far
land; for there it is that I am like to hear tidings of him I have lost.
Ah! credit me, brave Guy, that you, and such as you, little know what it
is to be alone in this world, without kith or kindred, or home, and how
saddening is the thought, ever crossing my mind, that one, near and
dear, does live; and--and--'

He paused, bent his brow, clenched his hand, and cast his eyes on the
ground, as tears streamed down his cheek.

'Good Walter, dear Walter,' said Guy, yielding to sympathy till he was
almost equally affected; 'droop not, but be of good cheer. Forget not
that we are brothers-in-arms, that I am your friend, your true and sworn
friend; and I will aid your search. Nay, I know what you are going to
say; but you do me wrong. I will not waste time in looking at the camels
and the veiled women, of whom palmer and pilgrim tell; but I will go
straightway with you to the palace of the caliph; and, if he refuse to
render you justice, I will challenge him to mortal combat on the spot.
So again I say, be of good cheer.'

Walter Espec smiled mournfully. His enthusiasm was not, in reality, less
than that of his companion. But he had none of the gaiety, and little of
the buoyant spirit, which enabled Guy Muschamp to make himself, at all
times and seasons, a favourite in castle hall and lady's bower. 'I fear
me, brave Guy,' said Walter, after a brief silence, 'that the caliph is
too great a potentate to be dealt with as you would wish. But, come what
may, I am sworn to laugh at danger in the performance of a duty. My
dreams, awake and asleep, are of him who is lost; and I fantasied last
night,' added he, lowering his voice, 'that my mother stood before me,
as I last saw her when living, and implored me, in the name of St.
Katherine, the patron saint of the Especs, to fulfil my vow of rescuing
her lost son from captivity and from the enemies of Christ.'

'Oh, fear not, doubt not, good Walter,' cried Guy, with enthusiasm; 'it
must, it shall, be done; and then we can go and conquer a principality,
like Tancred, or Bohemund of Tarentum, or Count Raymond of St. Giles,
and other old heroes.'

'Even the crown of Jerusalem may not be beyond our grasp, if fortune