Dost thou not travel thitherward--thou of all men?"
"Even now I hasten, lest my unworthy eyes should fail to behold the
deliverance of that Holy Sepulchre whence my designation is taken.
We will travel together, so will thy journey be safer, for these
Turks hang like carrion upon the skirts of the grand army."
"Blithely do I accept thine offer. I would not willingly perish in
some obscure skirmish when the gates of Jerusalem are as the gates
of heaven before me, and I shall present my preserver to my father.
Are you ill again--I fear me--"
"It is nothing. Earthly feelings must not be permitted to mingle
with our sacred call."
"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.
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