Читать книгу The House of Islâm онлайн

32 страница из 64

Summer broke at length, with thunder, lightning, and a tremendous downpour. Rain fell in sheets for the space of five days. When at last the sky cleared, there was a new cold taste in the air; a torrent thundered in the gorge beneath the town; green plants began to shoot among the rocks. In a little while the hill of ruins became starred all over with blossoms of the crocus and the cyclamen.

Then Hassan was absent all day long, scouring the hills with his men, armed to the teeth. Each evening he spent in cleaning and polishing his beloved weapons.

One night he came in with eyes of joy.

“The Bedû, O beloved! I have seen the Bedû! Their tents blacken a dell not two hours distant. Their herds roam at large. They will come hither for the accustomed tribute. Ah, thy brother is a devil! To-morrow and, it may be, the next day also, I abide in the house with thee. Dost wonder why? Ah, that is a secret!”

Two days later, as Shems-ud-dìn sat meditating beneath a fig tree on the hill of ruins, shrouded horsemen came riding out of the east. His eyes made out twenty of them, each armed with a long lance whose point glanced in the sunlight, each well mounted on a prancing steed. Then, remembering the veiled words of Hassan relative to the tribute, he descended in haste to the town.