Moreover, all about us lie precipices, over one of which we might fall."
"But they will pursue us," pleaded Rosamund.
"Not until they have light to see by," answered Masouda, "or at least we must take the risk, for to go forward would be madness.
Sit down and rest a while, and let the horses drink a little and eat a mouthful of gra.s.s, holding their reins in our hands, for we and they may need all our strength before to-morrow"s sun is set.
Sir Wulf, say, are you much hurt?"
"But very little," he answered in a cheerful voice; "a few bruises beneath my mail--that is all, for Lozelle"s sword was heavy. Tell us, I pray you, what happened after we rode away from the castle bridge."
"This, knights. The princess here, being overcome, was escorted by the slaves back to her chambers, but Sinan bade me stay with him awhile that he might speak to you through me. Do you know what was in his mind? To have you killed at once, both of you, whom Lozelle had told him were this lady"s lovers, and not her brothers. Only he feared that there might be trouble with the people, who were pleased with the fighting, so held his hand.
Then he bade you to the supper, whence you would not have returned; but when Sir Wulf said that he was hurt, I whispered to him that what he wished to do could best be done on the morrow at the wedding-feast when he was in his own halls, surrounded by his guards.
""Ay," he answered, "these brethren shall fight with them until they are driven into the gulf. It will be a goodly sight for me and my queen to see.""
"Oh! horrible, horrible!" said Rosamund; while G.o.dwin muttered:
"I swear that I would have fought, not with his guards, but with Sinan only."
"So he suffered you to go, and I left him also. Before I went he spoke to me, bidding me bring the princess to him privately within two hours after we had supped, as he wished to speak to her alone about the ceremony of her marriage on the morrow, and to make her gifts. I answered aloud that his commands should be obeyed, and hurried to the guest-castle. There I found your lady recovered from her faintness, but mad with fear, and forced her to eat and drink.
"The rest is short. Before the two hours were gone a messenger came, saying that the Al-je-bal bade me do what he had commanded.
""Return," I answered; "the princess adorns herself. We follow presently alone, as it is commanded."
"Then I threw this cloak about her and bade her be brave, and, if we failed, to choose whether she would take Sinan or death for lord. Next, I took the ring you had, the Signet of the dead Al-je-bal, who gave it to your kinsman, and held it before the slaves, who bowed and let me pa.s.s. We came to the guards, and to them again I showed the ring. They bowed also, but when they saw that we turned down the pa.s.sage to the left and not to the right, as we should have done to come to the doors of the inner palace, they would have stopped us.
""Acknowledge the Signet," I answered. "Dogs, what is it to you which road the Signet takes?" Then they also let us pa.s.s.
"Now, following the pa.s.sage, we were out of the guest house and in the gardens, and I led her to what is called the prison tower, whence runs the secret way. Here were more guards whom I bade open in the name of Sinan.
"They said: "We obey not. This place is shut save to the Signet itself."
""Behold it!" I answered. The officer looked and said: "It is the very Signet, sure enough, and there is no other."
"Yet he paused, studying the black stone veined with the red dagger and the ancient writing on it.
""Are you, then, weary of life?" I asked. "Fool, the Al-je-bal himself would keep a tryst within this house, which he enters secretly from the palace. Woe to you if he does not find his lady there!"
""It is the Signet that he must have sent, sure enough," the captain said again, "to disobey which is death."
""Yes, open, open," whispered his companions.
"So they opened, though doubtfully, and we entered, and I barred the door behind us. Then, to be short, through the darkness of the tower bas.e.m.e.nt, guiding ourselves by the wall, we crept to the entrance of that way of which I know the secret. Ay, and along all its length and through the rock door of escape at the end of which I set so that none can turn it, save skilled masons with their tools, and into the cave where we found you. It was no great matter, having the Signet, although without the Signet it had not been possible to-night, when every gate is guarded."
"No great matter!" gasped Rosamund. "Oh, G.o.dwin and Wulf! if you could know how she thought of and made ready everything; if you could have seen how all those cruel men glared at us, searching out our very souls! If you could have heard how high she answered them, waving that ring before their eyes and bidding them to obey its presence, or to die!"
"Which they surely have done by now," broke in Masouda quietly, "though I do not pity them, who were wicked. Nay; thank me not; I have done what I promised to do, neither less nor more, and--I love danger and a high stake. Tell us your story, Sir G.o.dwin."
So, seated there on the gra.s.s in the darkness, he told them of their mad ride and of the slaying of the guards, while Rosamund raised her hands and thanked Heaven for its mercies, and that they were without those accursed walls.
"You may be within them again before sunset," said Masouda grimly.
"Yes," answered Wulf, "but not alive. Now what plan have you? To ride for the coast towns?"
"No," replied Masouda; "at least not straight, since to do so we must pa.s.s through the country of the a.s.sa.s.sins, who by this day"s light will be warned to watch for us. We must ride through the desert mountain lands to Emesa, many miles away, and cross the Orontes there, then down into Baalbec, and so back to Beirut."
"Emesa?" said G.o.dwin. "Why Saladin holds that place, and of Baalbec the lady Rosamund is princess."
"Which is best?" asked Masouda shortly. "That she should fall into the hands of Salah-ed-din, or back into those of the master of the a.s.sa.s.sins? Choose which you wish."
"I choose Salah-ed-din," broke in Rosamund, "for at least he is my uncle, and will do me no wrong." Nor, knowing the case, did the others gainsay her.
Now at length the summer day began to break, and while it was still too dark to travel, G.o.dwin and Rosamund let the horses graze, holding them by their bridles. Masouda, also, taking off the hauberk of Wulf, doctored his bruises as best she could with the crushed leaves of a bush that grew by the stream, having first washed them with water, and though the time was short, eased him much. Then, so soon as the dawn was grey, having drunk their fill and, as they had nothing else, eaten some watercress that grew in the stream, they tightened their saddle girths and started. Scarcely had they gone a hundred yards when, from the gulf beneath, that was hidden in grey mists, they heard the sound of horse"s hoofs and men"s voices.
"Push on," said Masouda, "Al-je-bal is on our tracks."
Upwards they climbed through the gathering light, skirting the edge of dreadful precipices which in the gloom it would have been impossible to pa.s.s, till at length they reached a great table land, that ran to the foot of some mountains a dozen miles or more away. Among those mountains soared two peaks, set close together. To these Masouda pointed, saying that their road ran between them, and that beyond lay the valley of the Orontes.
While she spoke, far behind them they heard the sound of men shouting, although they could see nothing because of the dense mist.
"Push on," said Masouda; "there is no time to spare," and they went forward, but only at a hand gallop, for the ground was still rough and the light uncertain.
When they had covered some six miles of the distance between them and the mountain pa.s.s, the sun rose suddenly and sucked up the mist. This was what they saw. Before them lay a flat, sandy plain; behind, the stony ground that they had traversed, and riding over it, two miles from them, some twenty men of the a.s.sa.s.sins.
"They cannot catch us," said Wulf; but Masouda pointed to the right, where the mist still hung, and said:
"Yonder I see spears."
Presently it thinned, and there a league away they saw a great body of mounted soldiers--perhaps there were four hundred.
"Look," she said; "they have come round during the night, as I feared they would. Now we must cross the path before them or be taken," and she struck her horse fiercely with a stick she had cut at the stream. Half a mile further on a shout from the great body of men to their right, which was answered by another shout from those behind, told them that they were seen.
"On!" said Masouda. "The race will be close." So they began to gallop their best.
Two miles were done, but although that behind was far off, the great cloud of dust to their right grew ever nearer till it seemed as though it must reach the mouth of the mountain pa.s.s before them. Then G.o.dwin spoke:
"Wulf and Rosamund ride on. Your horses are swift and can outpace them. At the crest of the mountain pa.s.s wait a while to breathe the beasts, and see if we come. If not, ride on again, and G.o.d be with you."
"Ay," said Masouda, "ride and head for the Emesa bridge--it can be seen from far--and there yield yourselves to the officers of Salah-ed-din."
They hung back, but in a stern voice G.o.dwin repeated:
"Ride, I command you both."
"For Rosamund"s sake, so be it," answered Wulf.
Then he called to Smoke and Flame, and they stretched themselves out upon the sand and pa.s.sed thence swifter than swallows. Soon G.o.dwin and Masouda, toiling behind, saw them enter the mouth of the pa.s.s.
"Good," she said. "Except those of their own breed, there are no horses in Syria that can catch those two. They will come to Emesa, have no fear."