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.




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