"Not if he be wise," said Ulric, but he bade his men lie down and rest, keeping watches.
Then spoke to him the Jew Abbas:
"I will tell thee a thing. Me they may have thought to ransom. I know not. But they will be here at the dawn to lie in wait for a company that cometh from Tiberias with much merchandise. Thou mayest be sure that, if thou slayest them not, then thou and all of thine are to be slain."
"That I may well believe," said the jarl, "but they who slay Saxons may count their men and we will count how many remain."
"So be it," said Abbas. "Thou art a tall one. But thou, Ben Ezra, come hither and commune with me."
So went they apart and they talked much together in the old Hebrew tongue, and it seemed to the jarl that these two Jews might be of kin to each other, so many names did they speak of men and of women and of places.
"I will trust Ben Ezra," he thought, "but of this Abbas I shall know more at another time. I would see the sun upon his face before I can read its meaning."
Then came around him and Sigurd all the other Saxons asking curiously concerning all these things which had taken place. They asked about the tower and the plain and the mountains until they were satisfied.
"Thou art a prudent jarl," said Tostig the Red, "but I would rather fight lions than to be hidden away among the hills like a wolf. Are there not cities to be seen, and wonderful places? I like not deserts."
"We came out to see the world," said Knud the Bear. "O jarl, there might be excellent fighting if we go in the right direction."