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was moreover painfully conscious of by the smarting of the places on his

wrists and ankles where the cords had been bound that fastened him to the

camel. Goaded, however, by the laughter of the Arabs, he determined once

more to try the experiment of entering this strange sheet of water, which

from some unaccountable cause appeared to him to refuse to allow anybody

to sink in it. This time he swam about for some time, and felt a little

refreshed. When he returned to the shore he soon re-attired himself in

his Bedouin dress, and seated himself a little distance from his captors,

who were now engaged in discussing the materials prepared by themselves.

They made signs to Cuthbert that he might partake of their leavings, for

which he was not a little grateful, for he felt utterly exhausted and

worn out with his cruel ride and prolonged fasting.

The Arabs soon wrapped themselves in their burnouses, and feeling

confident that their captive would not attempt to escape from them, in a

place where subsistence would be impossible, paid no further attention to

him beyond motioning to him to lie down at their side.

Cuthbert, however, determined to make another effort to escape; for

although he was utterly ignorant of the place in which he found himself,

or of the way back, he thought that anything would be better than to be

carried into helpless slavery into the savage country beyond the Jordan.

An hour, therefore, after his captors were asleep he stole to his feet,

and fearing to arouse them by exciting the wrath of one of the camels by

attempting to mount him, he struck up into the hills on foot. All night

he wandered, and in the morning found himself at the edge of a strange

precipice falling abruptly down to a river, which, some fifty feet wide,

ran at its foot. Upon the opposite side the bank rose with equal

rapidity, and to Cuthbert's astonishment he saw that the cliffs were

honeycombed by caves.

Keeping along the edge for a considerable distance, he came to a spot

where it was passable, and made his way down to the river bank. Here he

indulged in a long drink of fresh water, and then began to examine the

caves which perforated the rocks. These caves Cuthbert knew had formerly

been the abode of hermits. It was supposed to be an essentially sacred

locality, and between the third and fourth centuries of Christianity some

20,000 monks had lived solitary lives on the banks of that river. Far

away he saw the ruins of a great monastery, called Mar Saba, which had

for a long time been the abode of a religious community, and which at the

present day is still tenanted by a body of monks. Cuthbert made up his

mind at once to take refuge in these caves. He speedily picked out one

some fifty feet up the face of the rock, and approachable only with the

greatest difficulty and by a sure foot. First he made the ascent to

discover the size of the grotto, and found that although the entrance was

but four feet high and two feet wide, it opened into an area of

considerable dimensions. Far in the corner, when his eyes became

accustomed to the light, he discovered a circle of ashes, and his

conjectures that these caves had been the abode of men were therefore

verified. He again descended, and collected a large bundle of grass and

rushes for his bed. He discovered growing among the rocks many edible

plants, whose seeds were probably sown there centuries before, and

gathering some of these he made his way back to the cavern. The grass

furnished him with an excellent bed, and he was soon asleep.

CHAPTER XV.

A HERMIT'S TALE.

The next day he discovered on his excursions plenty of eatable berries on

the bushes; and now that he had no longer fear of hunger he resolved to

stay for some little time, until his wounds, which had festered badly,

had recovered, before making an attempt to rejoin the Christian army.

One day when employed in gathering berries he was surprised by meeting a

wild-looking figure, who appeared suddenly from one of the caves. It was

that of a very old man, with an extremely long white beard flowing to his

waist; his hair, which was utterly unkempt, fell to the same point. He

was thin to an extraordinary extent, and Cuthbert wondered how a man

could have been reduced to such a state of starvation, with so plentiful

a supply of fruit and berries at hand.

The old man looked at Cuthbert attentively, and then made the sign of the

cross. Cuthbert gave a cry of joy, and repeated the sign. The old man at

once came down from his cavern, and looked at him with surprise and

astonishment, and then addressed him in the French language.

"Are you a Christian truly; and if so, whence do you come?"

Cuthbert at once explained that he had been taken prisoner when with King

Richard's army, and had effected his escape. He also told the old man

that he had been remaining for the last four days in a cave higher up the

stream. The hermit--for he was one--beckoned him to follow him, and

Cuthbert found himself in a cave precisely similar to that which he

himself inhabited. There were no signs of comfort of any kind; a

bed-place made of great stones stood in one corner, and Cuthbert,

remembering the comforts of his own grassy couch, shuddered at the

thought of the intense discomfort of such a sleeping-place. In another

corner was an altar, upon which stood a rough crucifix, before which the

hermit knelt at once in prayer, Cuthbert following his example. Rising

again, the hermit motioned to him to sit down, and then began a

conversation with him.

It was so long since the hermit had spoken to any living being, that he

had almost lost the use of his tongue, and his sentences were slow and

ill-formed. However, Cuthbert was able to understand him, and he to

gather the drift of what Cuthbert told him. The old man then showed him,

that by touching a stone in the corner of his cave the apparently solid

rock opened, and revealed an entrance into an inner cave, which was lit

by a ray of light, which penetrated from above.

"This," he said, "was made centuries ago, and was intended as a refuge

from the persecutors of that day. The caves were then almost all

inhabited by hermits, and although many recked not of their lives, and

were quite ready to meet death through the knife of the infidel, others

clung to existence, and preferred to pass many years of penance on earth

for the sake of atoning for their sins before called upon to appear

before their Maker.

"If you are pursued, it will be safer for you to take up your abode here.

I am known to all the inhabitants of this country, who look upon me as

mad, and respect me accordingly. None ever interfere with me, or with the

two or three other hermits, the remains of what was once almost an army,

who now alone survive. I can offer you no hospitality beyond that of a

refuge; but there is water in the river below, fruits and berries in

abundance on the shrubs. What would you have more?"

Cuthbert accepted the invitation with thanks; for he thought that even at

the worst the presence of this holy man would be a protection to him from

any Arabs who might discover him.

For three or four days he resided with the hermit, who, although he

stretched his long lean body upon the hard stones of his bed, and passed

many hours of the night kneeling on the stone floor in front of his

alter, yet had no objection to Cuthbert making himself as comfortable as

he could under the circumstances.

At the end of the fourth day Cuthbert asked him how long he had been

there, and how he came to take up his abode in so desolate and fearsome a

place. The hermit was silent for a time, and then said,--

"It is long indeed since my thoughts have gone back to the day when I was

of the world. I know not whether it would not be a sin to recall them;

but I will think the matter over to-night, and if it appears to me that

you may derive good from my narrative, I will relate it to you

to-morrow."

The next day Cuthbert did not renew the request, leaving it to the hermit

to speak should he think fit. It was not until the evening that he

alluded to the subject; and then taking his seat on a bank near the edge

of the river, he motioned to Cuthbert to sit beside him, and began,--

"My father was a peer of France, and I was brought up at the court.

Although it may seem strange to you, looking upon this withered frame,

sixty-five years back I was as bold and comely a knight as rode in the

train of the king, for I am now past ninety, and for sixty years I have

resided here. I was a favourite of the king's, and he loaded me with

wealth and honour. He, too, was young, and I joined with him in the mad

carousals and feastings of the court. My father resided for the most part

at one of his castles in the country, and I, an only son, was left much

to myself. I need not tell you that I was as wild and as wicked as all

those around me; that I thought little of God, and feared neither Him nor

man.

"It chanced that one of the nobles--I need not mention his name--whose

castle lay in the same province as that of my father, had a lovely

daughter, who, being an only child, would be his heiress. She was

considered one of the best matches in France, and reports of her

exceeding beauty had reached the court. Although my allowance from my

father, and from the estates which the king had give me personally,

should have been more than enough for my utmost wants, gambling and

riotous living swallowed up my revenue faster than it came in, and I was

constantly harassed by debt.

"Talking one night at supper with a number of bold companions, as to the

means we should take for restoring our wasted fortunes, some said in jest

that the best plan would be for one of us to marry the beauty of

Dauphiny. I at once said that I would be the man to do it; the ideas was

a wild one, and a roar of laughter greeted my words. Her father was known

to be a stern and rigid man, and it was certain that he would not consent

to give his daughter to a spendthrift young noble like myself. When the

laughter had subsided I repeated my intention gravely, and offered to

wager large sums with all around the table that I would succeed.

"On the morrow I packed up a few of my belongings, put in my valise the

dress of a wandering troubadour, and taking with me only a trusty

servant, started for Dauphiny. It would be tedious to tell you the means

I resorted to to obtain the affections of the heiress. I had been well

instructed in music and could play on the lute, and knew by heart large

numbers of ballads, and could myself, in case of necessity, string verses

together with tolerable ease. As a troubadour I arrived at the castle

gate, and craved permission to enter to amuse its occupants. Troubadours

then, as now, were in high esteem in the south, and I was at once made a

welcome guest.

"Days passed, and weeks; still I lingered at the castle, my heart being

now as much interested as my pride in the wager which I had undertaken.

Suffice it to say, that my songs, and perhaps my appearance--for I cannot

be accused of vanity now in saying nature had been bountiful to me--won

my way to her heart. Troubadours were licensed folk, and even in her

father's presence there was nought unseemly in my singing songs of love.

While he took them as the mere compliments of a troubadour, the lady, I

saw, read them as serious effusions of my heart.

"It was only occasionally that we met alone; but ere long she confessed

that she loved me. Without telling her my real name, I disclosed to her

that I was of her own rank, and that I had entered upon the disguise I

wore in order to win her love. She was romantic, and was flattered by my

devotion. I owned to her that hitherto I had been wild and reckless; and

she told me at once that her father destined her for the son of an old

friend of his, to whom it appeared she had been affianced while still a

baby. She was positive that nothing would move her father. For the man

she was to marry she entertained no kind of affection, and indeed had

never seen him, as she had been brought up in a convent to the age of

fifteen; and just before she had returned thence, he had gone to finish

his education at Padua.

"She trembled when I proposed flight; but I assured her that I was

certain of the protection of the king, and that he would, I was sure,

when the marriage was once celebrated, use his influence with her father

to obtain his forgiveness.

"The preparations for her flight were not long in making. I purchased a

fleet horse in addition to my own, and ordered my servant to bring it to

a point a short distance from the castle gate. I had procured a long rope

with which to lower her down from her lattice to the moat below, which

was at present dry, intending myself to slide after her. The night chosen

was one when I knew that the count was to have guests, and I thought that

they would probably, as is the custom, drink heavily, and that there

would be less fear of any watch being kept.

"The guests arrived just at nightfall. I had feigned illness, and kept my

room. From time to time I heard through the windows of the banqueting

hall bursts of laughter. These gradually ceased; and at last, when all

was still, I, awaiting some time, stole from my room with a rope in my

hand to the apartment occupied by her. A slight tap at the door, as

arranged, was at once answered, and I found her ready cloaked and

prepared for the enterprise. She trembled from head to foot, but I

cheered her to the best of my power, and at last she was in readiness to

be lowered. The window was at a considerable height from the ground; but

the rope was a long one, and I had no fear of its reaching the bottom.

Fastening it round her waist, I began to lower her from the window.

"The night was a windy one, and she swung backwards and forwards as she

went down. By what chance it was I know not,--for I had examined the

rope and found it secure--but methinks in swaying backwards and

forwards it may have caught a sharp stone, maybe it was a punishment

from Heaven upon me for robbing a father of his child--but suddenly I