Harold Lamb

“ Jade scattered upon the floor, and an ivory table——”
“Nay, it is hidden.”
“Beneath a mosque. A hundred men might search every mosque in Bokhara for a twelvemonth and find naught. They could dig until they wearied their loins. Only one way leads to it.”
Osman's thin arms clutched his stomach in uncontrollable excitement.
“Ai-a, there are blue sapphires and chains of rose pearls! Diamonds that could put to shame the light of the sun lie there in darkness—for how long?”
“Have you seen it?”
Robert's lean face was attentive. ”

“ He looked amused at the ignorance of the knight who had never heard of carrier pigeons or water clocks or naphtha.
“Lo,” went on Osman agreeably, “the seal of fate is on the foreheads of the accursed Mongols. They can not complete their causeway, and their horses can not leap the wall elsewhere. Your skill will save Bokhara, for the three days will soon be at an end. And then—” he hesitated—“what reward will be yours?”
Robert merely glanced at him inquiringly, carelessly at first, then attentively. Osman's hand shook and the pupils of his eyes were dark ”