Here the thieves stopt.
"We go with you no farther," said they; "it were not safe that we should
do so.--Remember the warning you have received--keep secret what has
this night befallen you, and you will have no room to repent it--neglect
what is now told you, and the Tower of London shall not protect you
against our revenge."
"Good night to you, kind sirs," said Gurth; "I shall remember your
orders, and trust that there is no offence in wishing you a safer and an
honester trade."
Thus they parted, the outlaws returning in the direction from whence
they had come, and Gurth proceeding to the tent of his master, to whom,
notwithstanding the injunction he had received, he communicated the
whole adventures of the evening.
The Disinherited Knight was filled with astonishment, no less at the
generosity of Rebecca, by which, however, he resolved he would not
profit, than that of the robbers, to whose profession such a quality
seemed totally foreign. His course of reflections upon these singular
circumstances was, however, interrupted by the necessity for taking
repose, which the fatigue of the preceding day, and the propriety
of refreshing himself for the morrow's encounter, rendered alike
indispensable.
The knight, therefore, stretched himself for repose upon a rich couch
with which the tent was provided; and the faithful Gurth, extending
his hardy limbs upon a bear-skin which formed a sort of carpet to the
pavilion, laid himself across the opening of the tent, so that no one
could enter without awakening him.