‘Then I commend my soul to Jesus Christ, and to the God of Sinai, in whose cause I perish.’ So saying, Tancred shot the Arab in the red kefia through the head, and with his remaining pistol disabled another of the enemy. This he did, while he and his band were charging, so suddenly and so boldly, that those immediately opposed to them were scattered. There was a continuous volley, however, from every part of the defile, and the scene was so involved in smoke that it was impossible for Tancred to see a yard around him; still he galloped on and felt conscious that he had companions, though the shouting was so great that it was impossible to communicate. The smoke suddenly drifting, Tancred caught a glimpse of his position; he was at the mouth of the defile, followed by several of his men, whom he had not time to distinguish, and awaited by innumerable foes. ‘Let us sell our lives dearly!’ was all that he could exclaim. His sword fell from his wounded arm; his horse, stabbed underneath, sank with him to the ground. He was overpowered and bound. ‘Every drop of his blood,’ exclaimed the leader of the strange Arabs, ‘is worth ten thousand piastres.’ CHAPTER XXX. _Plans for Rescue_ ‘WHERE is Besso?’ said Barizy of the Tower, as the Consul Pasqualigo entered the divan of the merchant, about ten days after the departure of Tancred from Jerusalem for Mount Sinai. ‘Where is Besso? I have already smoked two chibouques, and no one has entered except yourself. I suppose you have heard the news?’ ‘Who has not? It is in every one’s mouth.’ ‘What have you heard?’ asked Barizy of the Tower, with an air of malicious curiosity. ‘Some things that everybody knows,’ replied Pasqualigo, ‘and some things that nobody knows.’ ‘Hah, hah!’ said Barizy of the Tower, pricking up his ears, and preparing for one of those diplomatic encounters of mutual pumping, in which he and his rival were practised. ‘I suppose you have seen somebody, eh?’ ‘Somebody has been seen,’ replied Pasqualigo, and then he busied himself with his pipe just arrived. ‘But nobody has seen somebody who was on the spot?’ said Barizy. ‘It depends upon what you mean by the spot,’ replied Pasqualigo. ‘Your information is second-hand,’ observed Barizy. ‘But you acknowledge it is correct?’ said Pasqualigo, more eagerly. ‘It depends upon whether your friend was present----’ and here Barizy hesitated. ‘It does,’ said Pasqualigo. ‘Then he was present?’ said Barizy. ‘He was.’ ‘Then he knows,’ said Barizy, eagerly, ‘whether the young English prince was murdered intentionally or by hazard.’ ‘A--h,’ said Pasqualigo, whom not the slightest rumour of the affair had yet reached, ‘that is a great question.’