"I have no home." "How do you guard your property ?" "Excepting the clothes which I wear, and the horse I ride on, I have no property." "Yet you dress gaily, and ride gallantly," said Durward.

"What are your means of subsistence ?" "I eat when I am hungry, drink when I am thirsty, and have no other means of subsistence than chance throws in my Way," replied the vagabond.
"Under whose laws do you live ?" "I acknowledge obedience to none, but an it suits my pleasure or my necessities," said the Bohemian.
"Who is your leader, and commands you ?" "The father of our tribe--if I choose to obey him," said the guide, "otherwise I have no commander." "You are, then," said the wondering querist, "destitute of all that other men are combined by--you have no law, no leader, no settled means of subsistence, no house or home.

You have, may Heaven compassionate you, no country--and, may Heaven enlighten and forgive you, you have no God! What is it that remains to you, deprived of government, domestic happiness, and religion ?" "I have liberty," said the Bohemian "I crouch to no one, obey no one--respect no one--I go where I will--live as I can--and die when my day comes." "But you are subject to instant execution, at the pleasure of the Judge ?" "Be it so," returned the Bohemian, "I can but die so much the sooner." "And to imprisonment also," said the Scot, "and where, then, is your boasted freedom ?" "In my thoughts," said the Bohemian, "which no chains can bind, while yours, even when your limbs are free, remain fettered by your laws and your superstitions, your dreams of local attachment, and your fantastic visions of civil policy.

Such as I are free in spirit when our limbs are chained .-- You are imprisoned in mind even when your limbs are most at freedom." "Yet the freedom of your thoughts," said the Scot, "relieves not the pressure of the gyves on your limbs." "For a brief time that may be endured," answered the vagrant, "and if within that period I cannot extricate myself, and fail of relief from my comrades, I can always die, and death is the most perfect freedom of all." There was a deep pause of some duration, which Quentin at length broke by resuming his queries.
"Yours is a wandering race, unknown to the nations of Europe .-- Whence do they derive their origin ?" "I may not tell you," answered the Bohemian.
"When will they relieve this kingdom from their presence, and return to the land from whence they came ?" said the Scot.
"When the day of their pilgrimage shall be accomplished," replied his vagrant guide.
"Are you not sprung from those tribes of Israel which were carried into captivity beyond the great river Euphrates ?" said Quentin, who had not forgotten the lore which had been taught him at Aberbrothick.
"Had we been so," answered the Bohemian, "we had followed their faith and practised their rites." "What is thine own name ?" said Durward.
"My proper name is only known to my brethren.

The men beyond our tents call me Hayraddin Maugrabin--that is, Hayraddin the African Moor." "Thou speakest too well for one who hath lived always in thy filthy horde," said the Scot.
"I have learned some of the knowledge of this land," said Hayraddin.
"When I was a little boy, our tribe was chased by the hunters after human flesh.