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Updated: May 27, 2025
"I tell thee, O father of Marzak, that I should hail it gladly. Why, hear me now. Thou settest store by deeds, not words. Tell me, then, is it the deed of a True-Believer to waste substance upon infidel slaves, to purchase them that he may set them free?" Asad moved on in silence. That erstwhile habit of Sakr-el-Bahr's was one not easy to condone.
Thou to become a fighter upon the seas! I would that Allah had stricken me dead ere I begat me such a son as thou!" Marzak recoiled before the fury of words that he feared might be followed by yet worse. He dared make no answer, offer no excuse; in that moment he scarcely dared breathe. Meanwhile Rosamund in her eagerness had advanced until she stood at Sakr-el-Bahr's elbow.
Submissive to the laws as the meanest of his subjects, Asad dismounted and passed on foot into the sok. He came to a halt by the well, and, facing the curtained penthouse, he blessed the kneeling crowd and commanded all to rise. He beckoned Sakr-el-Bahr's officer Ali who was in charge of the slaves of the corsair's latest raid and announced his will to inspect the captives.
Sakr-el-Bahr's sea-hawks called upon him, reminding him of their fidelity and love, and asking could he repay it now by dooming them all thus to destruction. "Have faith in me!" he answered them. "I have never led you into aught but victory. Be sure that I shall not lead you now into defeat on this the last occasion that we stand together." "But the galleon is upon us!" cried Vigitello.
Sakr-el-Bahr's arm swung up a second time. "Thou dog!" he roared, and then checked, perceiving that Lionel appeared to have swooned. He turned and bellowed for Vigitello and his mates in a voice that was hoarse with passion. Vigitello came at a run, a couple of his men at his heels. "Unshackle me this carrion, and heave it overboard," was the harsh order.
"I neither know nor care," Asad cut in. "Whatever it may be, it should be as naught when set against my will." Then he discarded anger for cajolery. He set a hand upon Sakr-el-Bahr's stalwart shoulder. "Come, my son. I will deal generously with thee out of my love, and I will put thy refusal from my mind." "Be generous, my lord, to the point of forgetting that ever thou didst ask me for her."
"Ay, thou'lt choose invisible marks, and wherever the arrow enters thou'lt say 'twas there! An old trick, O Marzak. Go cozen women with it." "Then," said Marzak, "we will take instead the slender cord that binds the bale." And he levelled his bow. But Sakr-el-Bahr's hand closed upon his arm in an easy yet paralyzing grip. "Wait," he said. "Thou'lt choose another mark for several reasons.
Canst thou better such a shot?" His eyes, upon Sakr-el-Bahr's face, watching it closely, observed the pallor by which it was suddenly overspread. But the corsair's recovery was almost as swift. He laughed, seeming so entirely careless that Marzak began to doubt whether he had paled indeed or whether his own imagination had led him to suppose it.
Sakr-el-Bahr's feelings as he considered Rosamunds's white face in the fading light were most oddly conflicting. Dismay at what had befallen and some anxious dread of what must follow were leavened by a certain measure of relief. He realized that in no case could her concealment have continued long.
He, too, must be delivered up to me. His name was Oliver Tressilian." Instantly, unhesitatingly, came the answer "Him, too, will I surrender to you upon your sworn oath that you will then depart and do here no further hurt." Rosamund caught her breath, and clutched Sakr-el-Bahr's arm, the arm that held the lantern. "Have a care, mistress," he bade her sharply, "or you will destroy us all."
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