Part 24 (1/2)
”On your head be it,” he answered shortly.
The dark fell, and by the light of the great lantern at their prow they saw the white seas hiss past as they drove sh.o.r.ewards beneath bare masts. For they dared hoist no sail.
All that night they pitched and rolled, till the stoutest of them fell sick, praying G.o.d and Allah that they might have light by which to enter the harbour. At length they saw the top of the loftiest mountain grow luminous with the coming dawn, although the land itself was still lost in shadow, and saw also that it seemed to be towering almost over them.
”Take courage,” cried Lozelle, ”I think that we are saved,” and he hoisted a second lantern at his masthead--why, they did not know.
After this the sea began to fall, only to grow rough again for a while as they crossed some bar, to find themselves in calm water, and on either side of them what appeared in the dim, uncertain light to be the bush-clad banks of a river. For a while they ran on, till Lozelle called in a loud voice to the sailors to let the anchor go, and sent a messenger to say that all might rest now, as they were safe. So they laid them down and tried to sleep.
But Rosamund could not sleep. Presently she rose, and throwing on her cloak went to the door of the cabin and looked at the beauty of the mountains, rosy with the new-born light, and at the misty surface of the harbour. It was a lonely place--at least, she could see no town or house, although they were lying not fifty yards from the tree-hidden sh.o.r.e. As she stood thus, she heard the sound of boats being rowed through the mist, and perceived three or four of these approaching the s.h.i.+p in silence, perceived also that Lozelle, who stood alone upon the deck, was watching their approach. Now the first boat made fast and a man in the prow rose up and began to speak to Lozelle in a low voice. As he did so the hood fell back from his head, and Rosamund saw the face. It was that of the spy Nicholas! For a moment she stood amazed, for they had left this man in Cyprus; then understanding came to her and she cried aloud:
”Treachery! Prince Ha.s.san, there is treachery.”
As the words left her lips fierce, wild-looking men began to scramble aboard at the low waist of the galley, to which boat after boat made fast. The Saracens also tumbled from the benches where they slept and ran aft to the deck where Rosamund was, all except one of them who was cut off in the prow of the s.h.i.+p.
Prince Ha.s.san appeared, too, scimitar in hand, clad in his jewelled turban and coat of mail, but without his cloak, shouting orders as he came, while the hired crew of the s.h.i.+p flung themselves upon their knees and begged for mercy. To him Rosamund cried out that they were betrayed and by Nicholas, whom she had seen. Then a great man, wearing a white burnous and holding a naked sword in his hand, stepped forward and said in Arabic:
”Yield you now, for you are outnumbered and your captain is captured,” and he pointed to Lozelle, who was being held by two men while his arms were bound behind him.
”In whose name do you bid me yield?” asked the prince, glaring about him like a lion in a trap.
”In the dread name of Sinan, in the name of the lord Al-je-bal, O servant of Salah-ed-din.”
At these words a groan of fear went up even from the brave Saracens, for now they learned that they had to do with the terrible chief of the a.s.sa.s.sins.
”Is there then war between the Sultan and Sinan?” asked Ha.s.san.
”Ay, there is always war. Moreover, you have one with you,” and he pointed to Rosamund, ”who is dear to Salah-ed-din, whom, therefore, my master desires as a hostage.”
”How knew you that?” said Ha.s.san, to gain time while his men formed up.
”How does the lord Sinan know all things?” was the answer; ”Come, yield, and perhaps he will show you mercy.”
”Through spies,” hissed Ha.s.san, ”such spies as Nicholas, who has come from Cyprus before us, and that Frankish dog who is called a knight,” and he pointed to Lozelle. ”Nay, we yield not, and here, a.s.sa.s.sins, you have to do not with poisons and the knife, but with bare swords and brave men. Ay, and I warn you--and your lord--that Salah-ed-din will take vengeance for this deed.”
”Let him try it if he wishes to die, who hitherto has been spared,” answered the tall man quietly. Then he said to his followers, ”Cut them down, all save the women”--for the Frenchwoman, Marie, was now clinging to the arm of Rosamund--”and emir Ha.s.san, whom I am commanded to bring living to Masyaf.”
”Back to your cabin, lady,” said Ha.s.san, ”and remember that whate'er befalls, we have done our best to save you. Ay, and tell it to my lord, that my honour may be clean in his eyes. Now, soldiers of Salah-ed-din, fight and die as he has taught you how.
The gates of Paradise stand open, and no coward will enter there.”
They answered with a fierce, guttural cry. Then, as Rosamund fled to the cabin, the fray began, a hideous fray. On came the a.s.sa.s.sins with sword and dagger, striving to storm the deck.
Again and again they were beaten back, till the waist seemed full of their corpses, as man by man they fell beneath the curved scimitars, and again and again they charged these men who, when their master ordered, knew neither fear nor pity. But more boatloads came from the sh.o.r.e, and the Saracens were but few, worn also with storm and sickness, so at last Rosamund, peeping beneath her hand, saw that the p.o.o.p was gained.
Here and there a man fought on until he fell beneath the cruel knives in the midst of the circle of the dead, among them the warrior-prince Ha.s.san. Watching him with fascinated eyes as he strove alone against a host, Rosamund was put in mind of another scene, when her father, also alone, had striven thus against that emir and his soldiers, and even then she bethought her of the justice of G.o.d.
See! his foot slipped on the blood-stained deck. He was down, and ere he could rise again they had thrown cloaks over him, these fierce, silent men, who even with their lives at stake, remembered the command of their captain, to take him living. So living they took him, with not a wound upon his skin, who when he struck them down, had never struck back at him lest the command of Sinan should be broken.
Rosamund noted it, and remembering that his command was also that she should be brought to him unharmed, knew that she had no violence to fear at the hands of these cruel murderers. From this thought, and because Ha.s.san still lived, she took such comfort as she might.