“But I may introduce you to him?”

“When our work is done—­thou mayest.  The hill of Calvary will be the fitting place, where—­”

Here the knight paused, and was silent for awhile, then said—­“It is night, and night is the time for rest; we must sleep, my young brother in arms, if we would be fit for travel tomorrow.  See, we alone are watchers; our companions are all wrapped in slumber—­save the sentinels, I will but assign the latter their posts and hours, and seek nature’s greatest boon to man.”

Edward of Aescendune would fain have joined in this duty, but the older soldier bade him rest, in a tone of gentle authority which he could not resist.  And the stern warrior drew the embers of the fire, so as to warm the feet of the youth, while he cast a mantle over him to protect him from the heavy dew.

The Knight of the Holy Sepulchre departed upon his rounds, and assigned to the sentinels their posts, after which he returned and lay amidst the sleeping forms beneath the cedars, the branches of which were ever and anon fitfully illumined as some brand fell and caused a flame to arise.  He gazed intently, nay, even fondly, upon the ingenuous face of the sleeping youth.

“How like his mother he is—­what a load his simple tale has removed from my breast!  God, I thank thee! the old house of my fathers yet lives in this boy—­worthier far than I to represent it.”

CHAPTER XXVII.  THE FRIENDS WHO ONCE WERE FOES.

The remainder of the journey of Edward of Aescendune to the camp of the Crusaders before Jerusalem was uneventful.  With such an escort as the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and his well-known band, there was little occasion to dread the onslaught of any of those troops of Turks or Saracens, who hung on the skirts of the Crusading hosts, to cut off the stragglers.

They skirted the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, crossed the Jordan at the fords below, and travelled southwards along its eastern bank.

The reason of this detour was twofold.

First, it was the route taken by the Saviour of mankind, on His last journey to the guilty city which crucified Him; and the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre felt a spiritual satisfaction in tracing the steps of the Redeemer.

Secondly, the direct route had been taken by the host, and, like locusts, they had devoured all the provisions on the way, and scared from their track every edible beast.

From time to time the elder knight pointed out some venerable ruin which tradition—­ever active, if not always truthful—­identified as a resting place of the Divine Wayfarer; but there was little doubt that they crossed the Jordan at the same fords which had been in use in those far-off days, shortly before they entered and passed through the city of ruins, which had once been Jericho.

Then followed the ascent of the rocky way, familiar to the readers of the parable of the “Good Samaritan;” and let me remind my younger friends that even in the days when there were few readers and fewer books, all the leading episodes of our Lord’s life, including His miracles and parables, were oft-told tales {xxviii}.