"It is cowardly to shrink from him before I know him."
"Have no fear of him--but of yourself. A wise man trembleth at his own strength."
"Tell me, Abraham--does the seed of Rustir know men? Do they know good and evil?"
"Yes, for Rustir knew my master."
"And has Glani ever bowed his head for any man saving for me?"
"He is a stubborn colt. Aye, he troubled me!"
"But I tell you, Abraham, he came to the hand of Benjamin!"
The old man blinked at the master.
"Then there was something in that hand," he said at last.
"There was nothing," said David in triumph. "I saw the bare palm."
"It is strange."
"You are wrong. Admit it."
"I must think, David."
"Yes," said the master kindly. "Here is my hand. Rise, and come with me to your house."
They went slowly, slowly up the terrace, Abraham clinging to the arm of the master.
"Also," said David, "he has come for only a little time. He will soon be gone. Speak no more of Benjamin."
"I have already spoken almost enough," said Abraham. "You will not forget."
_CHAPTER SIXTEEN_
Although David was smiling when he left Abraham, he was serious when he turned from the door of the old man. He went to Connor"s room, it was empty. He summoned Zacharias.
"The men beyond the mountains are weak," said David, "and when I left him a little time since Benjamin was sighing and sleepy. But now he is not in his room. Where is he, Zacharias?"
"Shakra came into the patio and neighed," Zacharias answered, "and at that Benjamin came out, rubbing his eyes. "My friend," said he to me, and his voice was smooth--not like those voices--"
"Peace, Zacharias," said David. "Leave this talk of his voice and tell me where he is gone."
"Away from the house," said the old man sullenly.
The master knitted his brows.
"You old men," he said, "are like yearlings who feel the sap running in their legs in the spring. You talk as they run--around and around.
Continue."
Zacharias sulked as if he were on the verge of not speaking at all. But presently his eye lighted with his story.
"Benjamin," he went on, "said to me, "My friend, that is a n.o.ble mare."
""She is a good filly," said I.
""With a hundred and ten up," said Benjamin, "she would make a fast track talk.""
"What?" said David.
"I do not know the meaning of his words," said the old servant, "but I have told them as he said them."
"He is full of strange terms," murmured David. "Continue."
"He went first to one side of Shakra and then to the other. He put his hand into his coat and seemed to think. Presently he stretched out his hand and called her. She came to him slowly."
"Wonderful!"
"That was my thought," nodded Zacharias.
"Why do you stop?" cried David.
"Because I am talking around and around, like a running yearling," said Zacharias ironically. "However, he stood back at length and combed the forelock of Shakra with his fingers. "Tell me, Zacharias," he said, "if this is not the sister of Glani?""
"He guessed so much? It is strange!"
"Then he looked in her mouth and said that she was four years old."
"He is wise in horses, indeed."
"When he turned away Shakra followed him; he went to his room and came out again, carrying the saddle with which he rode Abra. He put this on her back and a rope around her neck. "Will the master be angry if I ride her?" he asked.
"I told him that she was first ridden only three months before to-day, and that she must not be ridden more than fifty miles now in a day.
"He looked a long time at me, then said he would not ride farther than that. Then he went galloping down the road to the south."
"Good!" said the master, and sent a long whistle from the patio; it was pitched as shrill and small as the scream of a hawk when the hawk itself cannot be seen in the sky.
Zacharias ran into the house, and when he came out again bringing a pad Glani was already in the patio.
David took the pad and cinched it on the back of the stallion.
"And when Shakra began to gallop," said Zacharias, "Benjamin cried out."
"What did he say?"