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Updated: June 29, 2025
Under the black canopy of the night perils are either forgotten or terribly alive. Mine were forgotten. The darkness I galloped into led me to freedom and friends. Yes, and success, which I had not dared to hope and scarcely even to dream of. Hussin rode first, with me at his side. I turned my head and saw Blenkiron behind me, evidently mortally unhappy about the pace we set and the mount he sat.
We'll have to give Hussin time ... I wish to heaven it could be tonight. He was silent again for a bit, and then he said: 'I believe the best time would be the third night, the eve of the Revelation. She's bound to leave me alone that night. 'Right-o, I said. 'It won't be much fun sitting waiting in this cold sepulchre; but we must keep our heads and risk nothing by being in a hurry.
At ordinary times I have no doubt there were sentries, but Sandy and Hussin had probably managed to clear them off this end for a little. Anyhow he saw nobody as he crossed the road and dived into the snowy fields. He knew very well that he must do the job in the twelve hours of darkness ahead of him.
As I descended I heard, thin and faint and beautiful, like the cry of a wild bird, the muezzin from the minarets of Erzerum. When I dropped through the trap the others were awake. Hussin was setting food on the table, and viewing my descent with anxious disapproval. 'It's all right, I said; 'I won't do it again, for I've found out all I wanted.
It was very evident that if they kept up the chase we should be caught, for Blenkiron was about as useful on a roof as a hippo. Presently we came to a big drop, with a kind of ladder down it, and at the foot a shallow ledge running to the left into a pit of darkness. Hussin gripped my arm and pointed down it. 'Follow it, he whispered, 'and you will reach a roof which spans a street.
Darkness had fallen thick by this time, and we took some bad tosses among the bogs. When Hussin and Peter overtook us they found a better road, and presently we saw a light twinkle in the hollow ahead.
The Companion his name sounded like Hussin had travelled the road before and told me what the places were, but they conveyed nothing to me. All morning we wriggled through a big lot of troops, a brigade at least, who swung along at a great pace with a fine free stride that I don't think I have ever seen bettered.
We were straining for it, but the snow clogged us, and our enemies were very close behind. Then I was awakened by a figure at my side. 'Get ready, my lord, it said; 'it is the hour to ride. Like sleep-walkers we moved into the sharp air. Hussin led us out of an old postern and then through a place like an orchard to the shelter of some tall evergreen trees.
We were stuck in the middle of Asia Minor with no means of conveyance, for to get a new axle there was as likely as to find snowballs on the Congo. It was all but dark and there was no time to lose. I got out the petrol tins and spare tyres and cached them among some rocks on the hillside. Then we collected our scanty baggage from the derelict Studebaker. Our only hope was Hussin.
Blenkiron bestrode the Arab, being the heaviest, and Peter and I had the screws. My worst forebodings were soon realized, and Hussin, loping along at my side, had an easy job to keep up with us. We were about as slow as an ox-wagon. The brutes were unshod, and with the rough roads I saw that their feet would very soon go to pieces.
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