"In the name of the Prophet, then, why did you leave it?"

"Indeed, your Highness, I have often asked myself that question of late
and found but insufficient answer."

"If I give you back your sword, which not I, but the demon Thirst
captured from you, will you pledge me your word that you will draw it
no more against those of my faith, but will return to your own land,
safe escort being afforded you to the great sea where you can take
ship?"

"As I have fought for ten years, and have come no nearer Jerusalem than
where I now stand, I am content to give you my word in exchange for my
sword, and the escort you promise."

And thus it came about that Count Herbert von Schonburg, although still
a young man, relinquished all thought of conquering the Holy Land, and
found himself one evening, after a long march, gazing on the placid
bosom of the broad Rhine, which he had not seen since he bade good-bye
to it, a boy of twenty-one, then as warlike and ambitious, as now, he
was peace loving and tired of strife. The very air of the Rhine valley
breathed rest and quiet, and Herbert, with a deep sigh, welcomed the
thought of a life passed in comforting uneventfulness.

"Conrad," he said to his one follower, "I will encamp here for the
night. Ride on down the Rhine, I beg of you, and cross the river where
you may, that you may announce my coming some time before I arrive. My
father is an old man, and I am the last of the race, so I do not wish
to come unexpectedly on him; therefore break to him with caution the
fact that I am in the neighbourhood, for hearing nothing from me all