“Four full days have gone by.  Let us ask our hostess if she has any news for us,” said Wulf as they walked back to the inn.

“Ay, we will ask her,” answered Godwin.

As it chanced, there was no need, for when they entered their chamber they found Masouda standing in the centre of it, apparently lost in thought.

“I have come to speak with you,” she said, looking up.  “Do you still wish to visit the Sheik Al-je-bal?”

They answered “Yes.”

“Good.  I have leave for you to go; but I counsel you not to go, since it is dangerous.  Let us be open with one another.  I know your object.  I knew it an hour before ever you set foot upon this shore, and that is why you were brought to my house.  You would seek the help of the lord Sinan against Salah-ed-din, from whom you hope to rescue a certain great lady of his blood who is your kinswoman and whom both of you—­desire in marriage.  You see, I have learned that also.  Well, this land is full of spies, who travel to and from Europe and make report of all things to those who pay them enough.  For instance—­I can say it, as you will not see him again—­the trader Thomas, with whom you stayed in this house, is such a spy.  To him your story has been passed on by other spies in England, and he passed it on to me.”

“Are then you a spy also, as the porter called you?” asked Wulf outright.

“I am what I am,” she answered coldly.  “Perhaps I also have sworn oaths and serve as you serve.  Who my master is or why I do so is naught to you.  But I like you well, and we have ridden together—­ a wild ride.  Therefore I warn you, though perhaps I should not say so much, that the lord Al-je-bal is one who takes payment for what he gives, and that this business may cost you your lives.”

“You warned us against Saladin also,” said Godwin, “so what is left to us if we may dare a visit to neither?”

She shrugged her shoulders.  “To take service under one of the great Frankish lords and wait a chance that will never come.  Or, better still, to sew some cockle shells into your hats, go home as holy men who have made the pilgrimage, marry the richest wives that you can find, and forget Masouda the widow, and Al-je-bal and Salah-ed-din and the lady about whom he has dreamed a dream.  Only then,” she added in a changed voice, “remember, you must leave the horses Flame and Smoke behind you.”

“We wish to ride those horses,” said Wulf lightly, and Godwin turned on her with anger in his eyes.

“You seem to know our story,” he said, “and the mission to which we are sworn.  What sort of knights do you think us, then, that you offer us counsel which is fitter for those spies from whom you learn your tidings?  You talk of our lives.  Well, we hold our lives in trust, and when they are asked of us we will yield them up, having done all that we may do.”

“Well spoken,” answered Masouda.  “Ill should I have thought of you had you said otherwise.  But why would you go to Al-je-bal?”