noon
Meantime , his slender stock of money had melted away , the rather that he did not pursue any of the ordinary modes by which the followers of the Crusade condescended to recruit their diminished resources at the expense of the people of Palestine -- he exacted no gifts from the wretched natives for sparing their possessions when engaged in warfare with the Saracens , and he had not availed himself of any opportunity of enriching himself by the ransom of prisoners of consequence . The small train which had followed him from his native country had been gradually diminished , as the means of maintaining them disappeared , and his only remaining squire was at present on a sick-bed , and unable to attend his master , who travelled , as we have seen , singly and alone . This was of little consequence to the Crusader , who was accustomed to consider his good sword as his safest escort , and devout thoughts as his best companion . Nature had , however , her demands for refreshment and repose even on the iron frame and patient disposition of the Knight of the Sleeping Leopard ; and at noon , when the Dead Sea lay at some distance on his right , he joyfully hailed the sight of two or three palm-trees , which arose beside the well which was assigned for his mid-day station . His good horse , too , which had plodded forward with the steady endurance of his master , now lifted his head , expanded his nostrils , and quickened his pace , as if he snuffed afar off the living waters which marked the place of repose and refreshment . But labour and danger were doomed to intervene ere the horse or horseman reached the desired spot . As the Knight of the Couchant Leopard continued to fix his eyes attentively on the yet distant cluster of palm-trees , it seemed to him as if some object was moving among them .