They declared that the camels had consented to go; they anticipated a
prosperous journey; they speculated on what tribes they might encounter.
It required all the consciousness of great duties, all the inspiration
of a great purpose, to sustain Tancred under this sudden separation
from Eva. Much he regretted that it was not also his lot to traverse the
Syrian wilderness, but it was not for him to interfere with arrangements
which he could neither control nor comprehend. All that passed amid
the ruins of this desert city was as incoherent and restless as the
incidents of a dream; yet not without the bright passages of strange
fascination which form part of the mosaic of our slumbering reveries.
At dawn a prisoner, at noon a free man, yet still, from his position,
unable to move without succour, and without guides; why he was captured,
how he was enfranchised, alike mysteries; Tancred yielded without a
struggle to the management of that individual who was clearly master
of the situation. Fakredeen decided upon everything, and no one was
inclined to impugn the decrees of him whose rule commenced by conferring
freedom.
It was only half an hour to sunset. The advanced guard of the children
of Rechab, mounted on their dromedaries, and armed with lances, had
some hours ago quitted the ruins.
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