“There is not a more valiant knight than you living. Your single arm is worth an army. Your judgment is sound, your decision speedy——”
“How much do you expect for this panegyric? I warn you, before you go any further, not to set too high a price on it, as I have a clear estimate of my modest worth.”
“I am in the habit of giving far more than I get, so fear not, but suffer me to proceed. In my youth I was called El Amin—‘the Safe Man.’ I know that I possess a generous soul, and that none can be more loyal than you.”
“This eulogy is evidently the prologue of some treason you are going to ask of me.”
“If it be treason to leave a bad cause for a good one, to renounce attempts which are futile, and to accept good fortune when it is offered, I have, in effect, treason to propose to you.”
“By the Trinity! but you are putting a high price on compliments for which nobody asked you!”
“I swear by the holy mountain—by the temple of pilgrimage—by the vault of heaven and the depths of ocean—that the divine vengeance is about to fall! nothing can delay it. The convulsed skies shall totter! the uprooted mountains shall move! I swear by the resting-place of the star—”
“Of a truth, here is plenty of fine words!” said Roland, shrugging his shoulders. “When we gallant Christian knights make a statement, they believe us without our having to call in the aid of the sky, and sea, and stars.”
“As surely as I overthrew the three idols of Mecca, Lata, Aloza, and Menât, the Christians shall be driven from Spain, and their lands invaded. Their army shall be dispersed, and shall fly shamefully. Their hour is come, and it will be bitter and terrible.”
“I have read all that in the Koran,” answered Roland, who felt his patience failing him. “But that does not say what you want of me, or why you are thus wasting my time. Since the future is revealed to you, and you are so certain of our approaching overthrow, there can be no obstacle to my returning to my post.”