Harold Lamb

“ May Allah not prosper his coming!”
“What words are these words, O Hassan?” reproved the wazir. “Am I not the slave of Muhammad, and was not he——”
“A slave himself, O most generous of lords,” quoth Hassan, bending ear to lute again, “when he was my age and caught the eye of a woman.”
Somebody mouthed a gibe about the eyes of women, and the assemblage laughed. Osman struck upon a silver gong that hung by his side; and the overseer of the slaves bellowed to the rowers, who brought the barge about and headed down the river into the heart of the lighted city. ”

“ Your sword is more eloquent than your tongue; keep silence and listen, for Bokhara breeds more gossip than a dunghill vermin. Take these matters to heart, chiefly:
Osman is only lip-loyal to the Shah. The treasurer is the companion of Muhammad's mother, Turkhan khatun, who holds the allegiance of the Kankalis, who in turn are the backbone of the Kharesmian host. Osman secretly poisoned the ameer who commanded the garrison of Bokhara, and would do away with the council of the imams, who are the Moslem elders. The Shah fears him, the imams hate him. ”

“ Loitering crowds sighted them and stared at the two Franks, spitting and clenching their hands on perceiving the dark robe of the priest. Robert thought that surely Babylon could not have been a greater place than this.
At a bronze gateway Osman's escort halted, and the master of revelry hastened to his side. The man had sobered perceptibly.
“Lord and hadji," he muttered earnestly, “do not stumble with the foot of recklessness upon the pit of misfortune. The maid was to be sent to the palace of the Shah with the other women captives. Will you dare take her within your dwelling?” ”

“ The girl was lifted to the barge, and he took advantage of the respite to search for and find a narrow roll of parchment that lay near his feet. Putting this in his girdle, he helped the patriarch out of the boat and followed, rendered dizzy by the sudden movement but finding his limbs steadier than he had thought.
“So this is the champion of the Franks,” observed one of the Moslems about Osman, “who named himself the Lion and clawed Inalzig, the bahator, to death with a score of warriors at the Gates. Shall we match the lion with a man-eating tiger?” ”

“ Jackals—sons of jackals and sires of dissension! Yield up the Franks and seek thy pay in the appointed day and place! Am I a hireling to be affronted by slaves in the hour that Allah decreed for pleasuring? ”

“ Without a weapon in his hand and a horse between his knees, he was restless; and often he found himself thinking of the girl who had come with the pilgrims to seek the Holy Sepulcher and had been led to Bokhara. Father Evagrius talked of her after his fashion, blaming no one for her fate.
“When all is told,” the knight observed thoughtfully, “is not her state better here than on the roads of Palestine?” ”

“ Osman's tower proved to be the highest of the many minarets and cupolas of Bokhara—higher even than the emperor's palace, as Robert observed the next morning. Moreover in the open square and market-places near the tower were the tents of several thousand Kankalis—easily distinguished by their black cloaks and trappings.
Beyond the mosques and academies were the tents and picket-lines of a host of mounted warriors. Where the caravan roads led into the gates of Bokhara's wall other pavilions were pitched. ”

“ Glancing from the embrasure, Robert shook his head.
“Could you see the vast city and its wall, twice the height of Jerusalem's—aye, and the array of Moslems passing in and out upon the roads, you would not talk of hope. We have been brought hither like beasts for the eyes of the emperor to scan. Nay, Evagrius, 'twere folly to deceive ourselves. If the maid and the yeoman were free, and I, and we had horses—could we ride over these walls? ”