'If he be alive, he will be impaled,' responded a sentinel.
'If dead, the carcass will be given to the dogs,' rejoined the captain;
'that is the practice.'
'Bostenay will be hung,' said the sentinel.
'And his niece, too,' answered the captain.
'Hem!' said the sentinel. 'Hassan Subah loves a black eye.'
'I hope a true Moslem will not touch a Jewess,' exclaimed an indignant
black eunuch.
'They approach. What a dust!' said the captain of the gate.
'I see Hassan Subah!' said the sentinel.
'So do I,' said the eunuch, 'I know his black horse.'
'I wonder how many dirhems old Bostenay is worth,' said the captain.
'Immense!' said the sentinel.
'No plunder, I suppose?' said the eunuch.
'We shall see,' said the captain; 'at any rate, I owe a thousand to old
Shelomi. We need not pay now, you know.'
'Certainly not,' said the black eunuch. 'The rebels.'
A body of horsemen dashed forward. Their leader in advance reined in his
fiery charger beneath the walls.
'In the name of the Prophet, who is that?' exclaimed the captain of the
gate, a little confused.
'I never saw him before,' said the sentinel, 'although he is in the
Seljuk dress. 'Tis some one from Bagdad, I guess.
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