Harold Lamb

“ The slaves struck out wildly, and defended themselves with fingers and teeth after they were thrown to the deck. It was more difficult to break down the wooden bars that had been built into place without any door as far as Demid could see. He tore down a damask hanging within the lattice, and stared in silence at the treasure of the galley.
At the end of the cabin and raised above it by several steps was a large recess made comfortable with silk rugs, draperies of cloth sewn with gold, and pillowed couches.
“Women!” Balaban’s voice was exultant. ”

“ Twice he cut powerfully at Michael’s head, and twice the curved blade slithered off the rapier that moved only in tiny circles before his eyes.
“Reload your hand-guns, dog brothers,” snarled Ayub over his shoulder to his men who pressed close behind him.
Michael studied the eyes of his foeman, and when the reis lunged three inches of steel passed into his knotted forearm, and withdrew, all in the same instant. Pain maddened the Moslem who began to slash fiercely, yet as he did so, felt the burning dart of the rapier point into his biceps. ”

“ That is the best way.”
“Nay, kunak, she is our passport to Aleppo.”
That night Ayub in common with the other Cossacks drank heavily, for Demid had given leave. But, though he sought enlightenment in wine, he did not grasp what Demid had in mind. How could a woman serve as a safe-conduct? His experience had been otherwise.
“It can not be,” he remarked after long brooding to Togrukh. “If she had been a horse, that would be well, because a horse can be managed even at sea, and, besides, is worth more than a woman. Even our ataman can not make any good come out of a woman on a journey.” ”

“ Michael made out the tall mast, with the clewed-up lateen sail, the hanging pennons and burgees; he could hear the low voices of men in the lookout over the beak of the galley, mingled with the tinkle of a guitar from the poop where colored lanterns gleamed. A figure passed slowly back and forth along the bridge above the slaves, snoring on their benches. ”

“ Togrukh or Balaban could have told the girl that the Cossack had a habit of never repeating an order; nor, once given, did he change the order. Experience had taught them the value of obeying Demid at once, and discussing the wherefore later. But Lali had come from a narrow world where her sisters were mistresses of numberless slaves. Slaves themselves, they often ruled the Moslem men through beguilement and flattery. ”

“ Balaban shrugged.
“I have a mind to it. One cast of the dice——”
“For the bearer, the seguro is a death warrant.”
Now the mind of the Levantine read into this response that Michael valued the paper and would not hazard it. So his desire for it grew the more. Time pressed and he spoke under his lip. “Hearken, O Aga—leader of warriors— You and I have our feet in the same path. If the Cossacks are cut up we must look to ourselves. I can serve you, and you me.” ”

“ WHEN the Great Bear, glittering overhead, indicated midnight, the Cossacks embarked. All the clumsy arquebuses were left with the horse guard, and Demid gave command that no pistol was to be fired until they gained the galley’s deck; he himself took one of the caiques, the long skiffs, that were to approach the stern—Togrukh the other. Ayub, with ten warriors guided the third skiff toward the bow of the Turkish ship and with him went Michael. ”

“ Before his mind’s eye appeared his home in the fens, the stone house with the thatched roof, the bare-footed, long-tressed maids who served him and his, the fold of the countryside listening to the prayers of the old priest—the mist of the sea, and within the house a glowing fire, a nuggin of spirits—talk of other days, over the clay pipes—a comfortable pension from the British king, who would have made him deputy over his clan. ”

“ In the world of this child, the person of Mustapha and all that belonged to him was sacred. She had her share of the instinctive wisdom of her race and sex where men were concerned, and had decided against flattering Demid. Moreover, she had the pride of her birth.
“I will not. You will be torn in pieces.”
“First, Lali, bring that tabouret and set out whatsoever you have.” ”

“ The runway, serving as a platform for the! overseers, was wide enough for only one man to wield a weapon, and the first Moslem who faced Ayub set his back to the mast around which the bridge ran. The big Cossack swept aside the warden’s steel and hewed back. Biting into the man’s ribs, the heavy blade turned down, ground through the spine and sank to the hip bone on the other side.
Michael, at Ayub’s shoulder, saw the doomed Moslem actually fall apart, his body dropping over upon the slave’s bench, his legs twisting on the runway. ”

“ He glanced sidewise at Demid who sat near them, apparently asleep, his back against a side of a hut, his sword across his knees. The Cossack chief understood Balaban perfectly, and knew that the howling had been from bands of Tatars who had hit upon their trail at times and pursued, with out coming up with the swift-moving warriors. The first stage of the journey had been made safely.
“Aye,” resumed Balaban, “on horses the brethren do well enough. ”

“ May the —— fly away with me, but I thought your sconce had been cracked by a simitar, so long were you below. Aye, that would have been better than this, for your writs would not be covered up by a petticoat.”
A smile curved Demid’s thin lips. Ayub had a deep conviction that all women were witches—the more beautiful, the more dangerous.
“You wall be safe from my men who have seen that you serve me,” he said gravely to the flushed girl. “Meanwhile, consider this, Lali. Our road leads to Aleppo, and thither we will take you. ”