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It was in their full career of victory, and when everything seemed in their power, when they had gained the whole province of Roumelia, which is round about Constantinople, that a terrible reverse befell them. The Sultan then on the throne was Bajazet, surnamed Ilderim, or the Lightning, from the rapidity of his movements.
Then the Emir pointed to the sun, that was not at its zenith: "You are a great warrior: such men do not lie. Go, and if she be borne to me before the sun is half-way sunk toward the west, all the branches of the tribes of Ilderim shall be as your brethren, and bend as steel to your bidding. If not as God is mighty not one man in all your host shall live to tell the tale!"
I want you to understand, if you can, that it was not your friend John Ross-Ellison who did that awful deed. It was a Pathan named Ilderim Dost Mahommed. "The strain of the war has been too much for him. He must have had sunstroke too." "And it is I who will pay the penalty of Ilderim Dost Mahommed's deed.
"Even so I judged thee," said Ilderim; "and as we had eaten salt together, I deemed myself bound to rescue thee from death and contumely. But wherefore lie you still on your couch, since the sun is high in the heavens? or are the vestments which my sumpter-camels have afforded unworthy of your wearing?" "Not unworthy, surely, but unfitting for it," replied the Scot.
"Thy wisdom, good sheik, is of the world; and thou dost forget that it is from the ways of the world we are to be redeemed. Man as a subject is the ambition of a king; the soul of a man for its salvation is the desire of a God." Ilderim, though silenced, shook his head, unwilling to believe. Ben-Hur took up the argument for him.
The faithful fellow gave no sign by which it was possible to infer any knowledge on his part of the relationship so recently admitted between Ben-Hur and Simonides, or of the treaty between them and Ilderim.
What he could not read, he yet could speak; so the old Arab answered, with dignity, "I am Sheik Ilderim." The man's eyes fell; he raised them again, and said, with forced composure, "I heard you had need of a driver for the games." Ilderim's lip under the white mustache curled contemptuously. "Go thy way," he said. "I have a driver." He turned to ride away, but the man, lingering, spoke again.
Ilderim tugged at his beard, and dropped his brows till there was nothing of his eyes but an occasional sparkle of light. Esther scarcely breathed. Iras alone appeared glad.
The passenger is the agent going to dispose of the estate derived from Arrius the duumvir. When the lines of the vessel are cast off, and she is put about, and her voyage begun, Ben-Hur will be committed irrevocably to the work undertaken the night before. If he is disposed to repent the agreement with Ilderim, a little time is allowed him to give notice and break it off.
Ilderim was also recognized and warmly greeted; but nobody knew Balthasar or the two women who followed him closely veiled. The people made way for the party respectfully, and the ushers seated them in easy speaking distance of each other down by the balustrade overlooking the arena. In providence of comfort, they sat upon cushions and had stools for footrests. The women were Iras and Esther.
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