"Not so!" shouted also Knud the Bear. "He is a good archer. I will cut off the hand that is laid upon him."
"So will I," said Tostig, and his seax was in his hand quickly.
There the matter ended, but Ben Ezra talked with Ulric apart.
"I send Lysias to Jerusalem," he said. "With him I send a jewel to the chief priest and another to the captain of the temple. We will pass over to Gilboa. Thence we will go over the Jordan, at the middle ford. Afterward we will go down to the wilderness of Judea. In that hiding place no search can find us, as I have often told thee, and it is near Jerusalem on the east."
"We are a score of men without Lysias," said Ulric. "Shall we march now?"
"Come thou first with me," said Ben Ezra. "Not with so much treasure may we cross to Gilboa lest we lose it all on the way. I have found a cave in Carmel. Here will we leave the precious stones save a few. I swear to thee by my god that I will keep faith with thee."
"I swear not," said Ulric, "for I know not of an oath with a true companion. Faith of a son of Odin cannot be broken. It is a tryst of blood between me and thee."
"Better than any oath," said Ben Ezra. "Knowest thou not, O heathen jarl, that thou hast covenanted in the name of thy god, whom thou callest thy father?"
"Odin!" exclaimed Ulric. "So it is. He would be angry with me forever if I failed thee in this matter. It is well to beware of provoking the gods. See to it that thou anger not thine own."
They walked away together, none following. Not far to go was it before the Jew stood still and looked around him.