The Brethren

  Chapter Fifteen: The Flight to Emesa

  Then came the weariest time of waiting the brethren had everknown, or were to know, although at first they did not feel it solong and heavy. Water trickled from the walls of this cave, andWulf, who was parched with thirst, gathered it in his hands anddrank till he was satisfied. Then he let it run upon his head tocool its aching; and Godwin bathed such of his brother's hurtsand bruises as could be come at, for he did not dare to removethe hauberk, and so gave him comfort.

  When this was done, and he had looked to the saddles andtrappings of the horses, Wulf told of all that had passed betweenhim and Lozelle on the bridge. How at the first onset his spearhad caught in the links of and torn away the head-piece of hisfoe, who, if the lacings had not burst, would have been hurled todeath, while that of Lozelle struck his buckler fair andshattered on it, rending it from his arm. How they pushed pasteach other, and for a moment the fore hoofs of Smoke hung overthe abyss, so that he thought he was surely sped: How at the nextcourse Lozelle's spear passed beneath his arm, while his,striking full upon Sir Hugh's breast, brought down the blackhorse and his rider as though a thunderbolt had smitten them, andhow Smoke, that could not check its furious pace, leapt overthem, as a horse leaps a-hunting: How he would not ride downLozelle, but dismounted to finish the fray in knightly fashion,and, being shieldless, received the full weight of the greatsword upon his mail, so that he staggered back and would havefallen had he not struck against the horse.

  Then he told of the blows that followed, and of his last thatwounded Lozelle, shearing through his mail and felling him as anox is felled by the butcher: How also, when he sprang forward tokill him, this mighty and brutal man had prayed for mercy, prayedit in the name of Christ and of their own mother, whom as a childhe knew in Essex: How he could not slaughter him, being helpless,but turned away, saying that he left him to be dealt with byAl-je-bal, whereupon this traitorous dog sprang up and strove toknife him. He told also of their last fearful struggle, and how,shaken as he was by the blow upon his back, although the point ofthe dagger had not pierced his mail, he strove with Lozelle, manto man; till at length his youth, great natural strength, and theskill he had in wrestling, learnt in many a village bout at home,enabled him to prevail, and, while they hung together on theperilous edge of the gulf, to free his right hand, draw hisponiard, and make an end.

  "Yet," added Wulf, "never shall I forget the look of that man'seyes as he fell backwards, or the whistling scream which camefrom his pierced throat."

  "At least there is a rogue the less in the world, although he wasa brave one in his own knavish fashion," answered Godwin."Moreover, my brother," he added, placing his arm about Wulf'sneck, "I am glad it fell to you to fight him, for at the lastgrip your might overcame, where I, who am not so strong, shouldhave failed. Further, I think you did well to show mercy, as agood knight should; that thereby you have gained great honour,and that if his spirit can see through the darkness, our deaduncle is proud of you now, as I am, my brother."

  "I thank you," replied Wulf simply; "but, in this hour oftorment, who can think of such things as honour gained?"

  Then, lest he should grow stiff, who was sorely bruised beneathhis mail, they began to walk up and down the cave from where thehorses stood to where the two dead Assassins lay by the door, thefaint light gleaming upon their stern, dark features. Ill companythey seemed in that silent, lonely place.

  The time crept on; the moon sank towards the mountains.

  "What if they do not come?" asked Wulf.

  "Let us wait to think of it till dawn," answered Godwin.

  Again they walked the length of the cave and back.

  "How can they come, the door being barred?" asked Wulf.

  "How did Masouda come and go?" answered Godwin. "Oh, question meno more; it is in the hand of God."

  "Look," said Wulf, in a whisper. "Who stand yonder at the end ofthe cave--there by the dead men?"

  "Their spirits, perchance," answered Godwin, drawing his swordand leaning forward. Then he looked, and true enough there stoodtwo figures faintly outlined in the gloom. They glided towardsthem, and now the level moonlight shone upon their white robesand gleamed in the gems they wore.

  "I cannot see them," said a voice. "Oh, those dead soldiers--whatdo they portend?"

  "At least yonder stand their horses," answered another voice.

  Now the brethren guessed the truth, and, like men in a dream,stepped forward from the shadow of the wall.

  "Rosamund!" they said.

  "Oh Godwin! oh Wulf!" she cried in answer. "Oh, Jesu, I thankThee, I thank Thee--Thee, and this brave woman!" and, casting herarms about Masouda, she kissed her on the face.

  Masouda pushed her back, and said, in a voice that was almostharsh: "It is not fitting, Princess, that your pure lips shouldtouch the cheek of a woman of the Assassins."

  But Rosamund would not be repulsed.

  "It is most fitting," she sobbed, "that I should give you thankswho but for you must also have become 'a woman of the Assassins,'or an inhabitant of the House of Death."

  Then Masouda kissed her back, and, thrusting her away into thearms of Wulf, said roughly:

  "So, pilgrims Peter and John, your patron saints have brought youthrough so far; and, John, you fight right well. Nay, do not stopfor our story, if you wish us to live to tell it. What! You havethe soldiers' horses with your own? Well done! I did not credityou with so much wit. Now, Sir Wulf, can you walk? Yes; so muchthe better; it will save you a rough ride, for this place issteep, though not so steep as one you know of. Now set theprincess upon Flame, for no cat is surer-footed than that horse,as you may remember, Peter. I who know the path will lead it.John, take you the other two; Peter, do you follow last of allwith Smoke, and, if they hang back, prick them with your sword.Come, Flame, be not afraid, Flame. Where I go, you can come," andMasouda thrust her way through the bushes and over the edge ofthe cliff, talking to the snorting horse and patting its neck.

  A minute more, and they were scrambling down a mountain ridge sosteep that it seemed as though they must fall and be dashed topieces at the bottom. Yet they fell not, for, made as it had beento meet such hours of need, this road was safer than it appeared,with ridges cut in the rock at the worst places.

  Down they went, and down, till at length, panting, but safe, theystood at the bottom of the darksome gulf where only the starlightshone, for here the rays of the low moon could not reach.

  "Mount," said Masouda. "Princess, stay you on Flame; he is thesurest and the swiftest. Sir Wulf, keep your own horse Smoke;your brother and I will ride those of the soldiers. Though notvery swift, doubtless they are good beasts, and accustomed tosuch roads." Then she leapt to the saddle as a woman born in thedesert can, and pushed her horse in front.

  For a mile or more Masouda led them along the rocky bottom of thegulf, where because of the stones they could only travel at afoot pace, till they came to a deep cleft on the left hand, upwhich they began to ride. By now the moon was quite behind themountains, and such faint light as came from the stars began tobe obscured with drifting clouds. Still, they stumbled on tillthey reached a little glade where water ran and grass grew.

  "Halt," said Masouda. "Here we must wait till dawn for in thisdarkness the horses cannot keep their footing on the stones.Moreover, all about us lie precipices, over one of which we mightfall."

  "But they will pursue us," pleaded Rosamund.

  "Not until they have light to see by," answered Masouda, "or atleast 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 andeat a mouthful of grass, holding their reins in our hands, for weand 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 fewbruises beneath my mail--that is all, for Lozelle's sword washeavy. Tell us, I pray you, what happened after we rode away fromthe castle bridge."

  "This, knights. The princess here, bei
ng overcome, was escortedby the slaves back to her chambers, but Sinan bade me stay withhim awhile that he might speak to you through me. Do you knowwhat 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 herbrothers. Only he feared that there might be trouble with thepeople, who were pleased with the fighting, so held his hand.Then he bade you to the supper, whence you would not havereturned; but when Sir Wulf said that he was hurt, I whispered tohim that what he wished to do could best be done on the morrow atthe wedding-feast when he was in his own halls, surrounded by hisguards.

  "'Ay,' he answered, 'these brethren shall fight with them untilthey are driven into the gulf. It will be a goodly sight for meand my queen to see.'"

  "Oh! horrible, horrible!" said Rosamund; while Godwin muttered:

  "I swear that I would have fought, not with his guards, but withSinan only."

  "So he suffered you to go, and I left him also. Before I went hespoke to me, bidding me bring the princess to him privatelywithin two hours after we had supped, as he wished to speak toher alone about the ceremony of her marriage on the morrow, andto make her gifts. I answered aloud that his commands should beobeyed, and hurried to the guest-castle. There I found your ladyrecovered from her faintness, but mad with fear, and forced herto eat and drink.

  "The rest is short. Before the two hours were gone a messengercame, saying that the Al-je-bal bade me do what he had commanded.

  "'Return,' I answered; 'the princess adorns herself. We followpresently alone, as it is commanded.'

  "Then I threw this cloak about her and bade her be brave, and, ifwe failed, to choose whether she would take Sinan or death forlord. Next, I took the ring you had, the Signet of the deadAl-je-bal, who gave it to your kinsman, and held it before theslaves, who bowed and let me pass. We came to the guards, and tothem again I showed the ring. They bowed also, but when they sawthat we turned down the passage to the left and not to theright, as we should have done to come to the doors of the innerpalace, they would have stopped us.

  "'Acknowledge the Signet,' I answered. 'Dogs, what is it to youwhich road the Signet takes?' Then they also let us pass.

  "Now, following the passage, we were out of the guest house andin the gardens, and I led her to what is called the prison tower,whence runs the secret way. Here were more guards whom I badeopen in the name of Sinan.

  "They said: 'We obey not. This place is shut save to the Signetitself.'

  "'Behold it!' I answered. The officer looked and said: 'It isthe very Signet, sure enough, and there is no other.'

  "Yet he paused, studying the black stone veined with the reddagger and the ancient writing on it.

  "'Are you, then, weary of life?' I asked. 'Fool, the Al-je-balhimself would keep a tryst within this house, which he enterssecretly from the palace. Woe to you if he does not find his ladythere!'

  "'It is the Signet that he must have sent, sure enough,' thecaptain said again, 'to disobey which is death.'

  "'Yes, open, open,' whispered his companions.

  "So they opened, though doubtfully, and we entered, and I barredthe door behind us. Then, to be short, through the darkness ofthe tower basement, guiding ourselves by the wall, we crept tothe entrance of that way of which I know the secret. Ay, andalong all its length and through the rock door of escape at theend of which I set so that none can turn it, save skilled masonswith their tools, and into the cave where we found you. It was nogreat matter, having the Signet, although without the Signet ithad not been possible to-night, when every gate is guarded."

  "No great matter!" gasped Rosamund. "Oh, Godwin and Wulf! if youcould know how she thought of and made ready everything; if youcould have seen how all those cruel men glared at us, searchingout our very souls! If you could have heard how high she answeredthem, waving that ring before their eyes and bidding them to obeyits 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; Ihave done what I promised to do, neither less nor more, and--Ilove danger and a high stake. Tell us your story, Sir Godwin."

  So, seated there on the grass in the darkness, he told them oftheir mad ride and of the slaying of the guards, while Rosamundraised her hands and thanked Heaven for its mercies, and thatthey were without those accursed walls.

  "You may be within them again before sunset," said Masoudagrimly.

  "Yes," answered Wulf, "but not alive. Now what plan have you? Toride for the coast towns?"

  "No," replied Masouda; "at least not straight, since to do so wemust pass through the country of the Assassins, who by this day'slight will be warned to watch for us. We must ride through thedesert mountain lands to Emesa, many miles away, and cross theOrontes there, then down into Baalbec, and so back to Beirut."

  "Emesa?" said Godwin. "Why Saladin holds that place, and ofBaalbec the lady Rosamund is princess."

  "Which is best?" asked Masouda shortly. "That she should fallinto the hands of Salah-ed-din, or back into those of the masterof the Assassins? Choose which you wish."

  "I choose Salah-ed-din," broke in Rosamund, "for at least he ismy uncle, and will do me no wrong." Nor, knowing the case, didthe others gainsay her.

  Now at length the summer day began to break, and while it wasstill too dark to travel, Godwin and Rosamund let the horsesgraze, holding them by their bridles. Masouda, also, taking offthe hauberk of Wulf, doctored his bruises as best she could withthe crushed leaves of a bush that grew by the stream, havingfirst washed them with water, and though the time was short,eased him much. Then, so soon as the dawn was grey, having drunktheir fill and, as they had nothing else, eaten some watercressthat grew in the stream, they tightened their saddle girths andstarted. Scarcely had they gone a hundred yards when, from thegulf beneath, that was hidden in grey mists, they heard the soundof 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 theedge of dreadful precipices which in the gloom it would have beenimpossible to pass, till at length they reached a great tableland, that ran to the foot of some mountains a dozen miles ormore away. Among those mountains soared two peaks, set closetogether. To these Masouda pointed, saying that their road ranbetween them, and that beyond lay the valley of the Orontes.While she spoke, far behind them they heard the sound of menshouting, although they could see nothing because of the densemist.

  "Push on," said Masouda; "there is no time to spare," and theywent forward, but only at a hand gallop, for the ground wasstill rough and the light uncertain.

  When they had covered some six miles of the distance between themand the mountain pass, the sun rose suddenly and sucked up themist. This was what they saw. Before them lay a flat, sandyplain; behind, the stony ground that they had traversed, andriding over it, two miles from them, some twenty men of theAssassins.

  "They cannot catch us," said Wulf; but Masouda pointed to theright, where the mist still hung, and said:

  "Yonder I see spears."

  Presently it thinned, and there a league away they saw a greatbody of mounted soldiers--perhaps there were four hundred.

  "Look," she said; "they have come round during the night, as Ifeared they would. Now we must cross the path before them or betaken," and she struck her horse fiercely with a stick she hadcut at the stream. Half a mile further on a shout from the greatbody of men to their right, which was answered by another shoutfrom those behind, told them that they were seen.

  "On!" said Masouda. "The race will be close." So they began togallop their best.

  Two miles were done, but although that behind was far off, thegreat cloud of dust to their right grew ever nearer till itseemed as though it must reach the mouth of the mountain passbefore them. Then Godwin spoke:

  "Wulf and Rosamund ride on. Your horses are swift and can outpacethem. At the crest of the mountain pass wait a while to breathethe beasts, and see if we come. If not, r
ide on again, and God bewith you."

  "Ay," said Masouda, "ride and head for the Emesa bridge--it canbe seen from far--and there yield yourselves to the officers ofSalah-ed-din."

  They hung back, but in a stern voice Godwin repeated:

  "Ride, I command you both."

  "For Rosamund's sake, so be it," answered Wulf.

  Then he called to Smoke and Flame, and they stretchedthemselves out upon the sand and passed thence swifter thanswallows. Soon Godwin and Masouda, toiling behind, saw them enterthe mouth of the pass.

  "Good," she said. "Except those of their own breed, there are nohorses in Syria that can catch those two. They will come toEmesa, have no fear."

  "Who was the man who brought them to us?" asked Godwin, as theygalloped side by side, their eyes fixed upon the ever-nearingcloud of dust, in which the spear points sparkled.

  "My father's brother--my uncle, as I called him," she answered."He is a sheik of the desert, who owns the ancient breed thatcannot be bought for gold."

  "Then you are not of the Assassins, Masouda?"

  "No; I may tell you, now that the end seems near. My father wasan Arab, my mother a noble Frank, a French woman, whom he foundstarving in the desert after a fight, and took to his tent andmade his wife. The Assassins fell upon us and killed him and her,and captured me as a child of twelve. Afterwards, when I grewolder, being beautiful in those days, I was taken to the harem ofSinan, and, although in secret I had been bred up a Christian bymy mother, they swore me of his accursed faith. Now you willunderstand why I hate him so sorely who murdered my father and mymother, and made me what I am; why I hold myself so vile also.Yes, I have been forced to serve as his spy or be killed, who,although he believed me his faithful slave, desired first to beavenged upon him."

  "I do not hold you vile," panted Godwin, as he spurred hislabouring steed. "I hold you most noble."

  "I rejoice to hear it before we die," she answered, looking himin the eyes in such a fashion that he dropped his head before herburning gaze, "who hold you dear, Sir Godwin, for whose sake Ihave dared these things, although I am nought to you. Nay, speaknot; the lady Rosamund has told me all that story--except itsanswer."

  Now they were off the sand over which they had been racing sideby side, and beginning to breast the mountain slope, nor wasGodwin sorry that the clatter of their horses' hoofs upon thestones prevented further speech between them. So far they hadoutpaced the Assassins, who had a longer and a rougher road totravel; but the great cloud of dust was not seven hundred yardsaway, and in front of it, shaking their spears, rode some of thebest mounted of their soldiers.

  "These horses still have strength; they are better than I thoughtthem," cried Masouda. "They will not gain on us across themountains, but afterwards--"

  For the next league they spoke no more, who must keep theirhorses from falling as they toiled up the steep path. At lengththey reached the crest, and there, on the very top of it, sawWulf and Rosamund standing by Flame and Smoke.

  "They rest," Godwin said, then he shouted, "Mount! mount! The foeis close."

  So they climbed to their saddles again, and, all four of themtogether began to descend the long slope that stretched to theplain two leagues beneath. Far off across this plain ran a broadsilver streak, beyond which from that height they could see thewalls of a city.

  "The Orontes!" cried Masouda. "Cross that, and we are safe." ButGodwin looked first at his horse, then at Masouda, and shook hishead.

  Well might he do so, for, stout-hearted as they were, the beastswere much distressed that had galloped so far without drawingrein. Down the steep road they plunged, panting; indeed at timesit was hard to keep them on their feet.

  "They will reach the plain--no more," said Godwin, and Masoudanodded.

  The descent was almost done, and not a mile behind them thewhite-robed Assassins streamed endlessly. Godwin plied his spursand Masouda her whip, although with little hope, for they knewthat the end was near. Down the last declivity they rushed, tillsuddenly, as they reached its foot, Masouda's horse reeled,stopped, and sank to the ground, while Godwin's pulled up besideit.

  "Ride on!" he cried to Rosamund and Wulf in front; but theywould not. He stormed at them, but they replied: "Nay, we willdie together."

  Masouda looked at the horses Flame and Smoke, which seemed butlittle troubled.

  "So be it," she said; "they have carried double before, and mustagain. Mount in front of the lady, Sir Godwin; and, Sir Wulf,give me your hand, and you will learn what this breed can do."

  So they mounted. Forward started Flame and Smoke with a long,swinging gallop, while from the Assassins above, who thought thatthey held them, went up a shout of rage and wonder.

  "Their horses are also tired, and we may beat them yet," calledthe dauntless Masouda. But Godwin and Wulf looked sadly at theten miles of plain between them and the river bank.

  On they went, and on. A quarter of it was done. Half of it wasdone, but now the first of the fedai hung upon their flanks nottwo hundred yards behind. Little by little this distancelessened. At length they were scarcely fifty yards away, and oneof them flung a spear. In her terror Rosamund sobbed aloud.

  "Spur the horses, knights," cried Masouda, and for the first timethey spurred them.

  At the sting of the steel Flame and Smoke sprang forward asthough they had but just left their stable door, and the gapbetween pursuers and pursued widened. Two more miles were done,and scarce seven furlongs from them they saw the broad mouth ofthe bridge, while the towers of Emesa beyond seemed so close thatin this clear air they could discern the watchmen outlinedagainst the sky. Then they descended a little valley, and lostsight of bridge and town.

  At the rise of the opposing slope the strength of Flame and Smokeat last began to fail beneath their double burdens. They pantedand trembled; and, save in short rushes, no longer answered tothe spur. The Assassins saw, and came on with wild shouts. Nearerand nearer they drew, and the sound of their horses hoofs beatingon the sand was like the sound of thunder. Now once more theywere fifty yards away, and now but thirty, and again the spearsbegan to flash, though none struck them.

  Masouda screamed to the horses in Arabic, and gallantly did theystruggle, plunging up the hill with slow, convulsive bounds.Godwin and Wulf looked at each other, then, at a signal, checkedtheir speed, leapt to earth, and, turning, drew their swords.

  "On!" they cried, and lightened of their weight, once more thereeling horses plunged forward.

  The Assassins were upon them. Wulf struck a mighty blow andemptied the saddle of the first, then was swept to earth. As hefell from behind him he heard a scream of joy, and struggling tohis knees, looked round. Lo! from over the crest of the riserushed squadron upon squadron of turbaned cavalry, who, as theycame, set their lances in rest, and shouted:

  "Salah-ed-din! Salah-ed-din!"

  The Assassins saw also, and turned to fly--too late!

  "A horse! A horse!" screamed Godwin in Arabic; and presently--how he never knew--found himself mounted and charging with theSaracens.

  To Wulf, too, a horse was brought, but he could not struggle toits saddle. Thrice he strove, then fell backwards and lay uponthe sand, waving his sword and shouting where he lay, whileMasouda stood by him, a dagger in her hand, and with her Rosamundupon her knees.

  Now the pursuers were the pursued, and dreadful was the reckoningthat they must pay. Their horses were outworn and could not flyat speed. Some of the fedai were cut down upon them. Somedismounted, and gathering themselves in little groups, foughtbravely till they were slain, while a few were taken prisoners.Of all that great troup of men not a score won back alive toMasyaf to make report to their master of how the chase of hislost bride had ended.

  A while later and Wulf from his seat upon the ground saw Godwinriding back towards him, his red sword in his hand. With him rodea sturdy, bright-eyed man gorgeously apparelled, at the sight ofwhom Rosamund sprang to her feet; then, as he dismounted, ranforward and with a little cry cast her arms about him.

/>   "Hassan! Prince Hassan! Is it indeed you? Oh, God be praised!"she gasped, then, had not Masouda caught her, would have fallen.

  The Emir looked at her, her long hair loose, her face stained,her veil torn, but still clad in the silk and gleaming gems withwhich she had been decked as the bride-elect of Al-je-bal. Thenlow to the earth he bent his knee, while the grave Saracenswatched, and taking the hem of her garment, he kissed it.

  "Allah be praised indeed!" he said. "I, His unworthy servant,thank Him from my heart, who never thought to see you livingmore. Soldiers, salute. Before you stands the lady Rose of theWorld, princess of Baalbec and niece of your lord, Salah-ed-din,Commander of the Faithful."

  Then in stately salutation to this dishevelled, outworn, butstill queenly woman, uprose hand, and spear, and scimitar, whileWulf cried from where he lay:

  "Why, it is our merchant of the drugged wine--none other! Oh! SirSaracen, does not the memory of that chapman's trick shame younow?"

  The emir Hassan heard and grew red, muttering in his beard:

  "Like you, Sir Wulf, I am the slave of Fate, and must obey. Benot bitter against me till you know all."

  "I am not bitter," answered Wulf, "but I always pay for my drink,and we will settle that score yet, as I have sworn."

  "Hush!" broke in Rosamund. "Although he stole me, he is also mydeliverer and friend through many a peril, and, had it not beenfor him, by now--" and she shuddered.

  "I do not know all the story, but, Princess, it seems that youshould thank not me, but these goodly cousins of yours and thosesplendid horses," and Hassan pointed to Smoke and Flame, whichstood by quivering, with hollow flanks and drooping heads.

  "There is another whom I must thank also, this noble woman, asyou will call her also when you hear the story," said Rosamund,flinging her arm about the neck of Masouda.

  "My master will reward her," said Hassan. "But oh! lady, whatmust you think of me who seemed to desert you so basely? Yet Ireasoned well. In the castle of that son of Satan, Sinan," and hespat upon the ground, "I could not have aided you, for there hewould only have butchered me. But by escaping I thought that Imight help, so I bribed the Frankish knave with the pricelessStar of my House," and he touched the great jewel that he wore inhis turban, "and with what money I had, to loose my bonds, andwhile he pouched the gold I stabbed him with his own knife andfled. But this morning I reached yonder city in command of tenthousand men, charged to rescue you if I could; if not, to avengeyou, for the ambassadors of Salah-ed-din informed me of yourplight. An hour ago the watchmen on the towers reported that theysaw two horses galloping across the plain beneath a doubleburden, pursued by soldiers whom from their robes they took to beAssassins. So, as I have a quarrel with the Assassins, I crossedthe bridge, formed up five hundred men in a hollow, and waited,never guessing that it was you who fled. You know the rest--andthe Assassins know it also, for," he added grimly, "you have beenwell avenged."

  "Follow it up," said Wulf, "and the vengeance shall be better,for I will show you the secret way into Masyaf--or, if I cannot,Godwin will--and there you may hurl Sinan from his own towers."

  Hassan shook his head and answered:

  "I should like it well, for with this magician my master also hasan ancient quarrel. But he has other feuds upon his hands," andhe looked meaningly at Wulf and Godwin, "and my orders were torescue the princess and no more. Well, she has been rescued, andsome hundreds of heads have paid the price of all that she hassuffered. Also, that secret way of yours will be safe enough bynow. So there I let the matter bide, glad enough that it hasended thus. Only I warn you all--and myself also--to walk warily,since, if I know aught of him, Sinan's fedais will henceforth dogthe steps of every one of us, striving to bring us to our ends bymurder. Now here come litters; enter them, all of you, and beborne to the city, who have ridden far enough to-day. Fear notfor your horses; they shall be led in gently and saved alive, ifskill and care can save them. I go to count the slain, and willjoin you presently in the citadel."

  So the bearers came and lifted up Wulf, and helped Godwin fromhis horse--for now that all was over he could scarcely stand--andwith him Rosamund and Masouda. Placing them in the litters, theycarried them, escorted by cavalry, across the bridge of theOrontes into the city of Emesa, where they lodged them in thecitadel.

  Here also, after giving them a drink of barley gruel, and rubbingtheir backs and legs with ointment, they led the horses Smoke andFlame, slowly and with great trouble, for these could hardlystir, and laid them down on thick beds of straw, tempting themwith food, which after awhile they ate. The four--Rosamund,Masouda, Godwin, and Wulf--ate also of some soup with wine init, and after the hurts of Wulf had been tended by a skilleddoctor, went to their beds, whence they did not rise again fortwo days.