Free Swords From the Desert by Harold Lamb Page B

she had brought dates and a pomegranate and barley cakes, and when I had twice refused them, she leaned closer to look into my eyes.
    "I have given Khutb, the gray courser, to eat, and why not thee, 0 Badawan?"
    So I began to eat slowly, and she leaned chin on hands to watch the gleam of the new moon behind the barrier of cypresses, and listen to the clong-clang of the bell.
    "The Greeks yonder," she said after awhile, "pray for the overthrow of the Franks. But the Franks will take the city, and then there will be a new emperor."
    I thought of Menas, who had talked with a captain of the iron men.
    "There be fifteen thousand Franks and some few Venetians without-there be two hundred thousand Greeks and mercenaries within these walls."
    "Are they one at heart? What happened today?"
    I told her and she became thoughtful. Twice a hundred thousand men behind such walls are not easily overcome, and it was ever the fault of the iron men to venture onward foolishly.
    "My father was castellan of Edessa," she said. "More than one onset and onfray have I seen. I do not think these treacherous Greeks will stand before the lances of the Crosses on open ground. I would well to be upon the walls-"
    Perhaps she was lonely, perhaps excited by hope of the morrow, because she told me how she longed for the coming of the Crosses. The Lord Richard de Brienne had joined the iron men, she had heard, and she was to become his wife.
    This paladin of the Franks had tarried once at Edessa-for her father kept open hall and was well content with company and song of minstrels. At that time Irene had been no more than a stripling; eager to follow the hawk, and to ride forth with her father, who was one of the wisest of the Franks.
    The Lord Richard had looked twice upon her and had asked her for his wife, and the father of Irene had said that a year must pass before she was of age for marriage.
    So the warrior of the Cross had fared forth after plighting his word to the damosel, and straightaway Irene forgot dogs and hawks and the loves of childhood for love of him-and she had waited more than the year, for her father was slain, and his followers and servants and his feudal hall were lost to her. For that is the law of Frankistan.
    Aye, four years passed, and she heard of the deeds of her lord in Syria and Jerusalem yet saw him not. Edessa had fallen to my people and the Nazarene priests had sent her to the protection of the patriarch of Constantinople. She had brought with her the gray horse, Khutb, the betrothal gift of the Lord Richard.
    All this was clear, not by her words alone, but by her voice and the eagerness in her. In this barbarian girl there was no deceit.
    "How is he to be known, this Ricard," I asked.
    "He is prouder than other men and his eyes shine when he speaks. His hair is black and his skin is dark, and he is taller even than thee, 0 Khalil."
    How was I to learn aught from this? It seemed to her that Richard of Brienne was verily a saint in chain mail, guileless as a boy, grave and courteous to all who met with him. His blue eyes were without fear-
    "What device bears he on his shield?"
    "No device, save a red cross. If ye seek him, 0 Badawan-" she tossed her head valiantly-"look for him in the heart of the onset. Wilt thou draw sword against him, for the gray horse?"
    "It may have been written," I said, and upon the words I heard a scraping near at hand, as of a scabbard tip or spear butt.
    In another moment I felt assured that a man was breathing heavily within an arrow's flight.
    Darkness had fallen, and the gleam of moon and stars revealed little under the trees. I touched the girl Irene upon the shoulder and whispered to her.
    "Go thou into the house. There is danger."
    She made no sound of fright, but rose swiftly and ran lightly over the bridge, into the stone dwelling. By then I felt that there were more than three who crept up on me. Eh, they were heavy men and the wood was dark. But they could see me at the edge of the