b mixed flour and some white wine.

Next morning at the dawn they rose to see how Flame and Smoke
fared after that journey. Entering the stable, they heard the
sound of a man weeping, and hidden in the shadow, saw by the low
light of the morning that it was the old Arab, who stood with his
back to them, an arm around the neck of each horse, which he
kissed from time to time. Moreover, he talked aloud in his own
tongue to them, calling them his children, and saying that rather
would he sell his wife and his sister to the Franks.

"But," he added, "she has spoken--why, I know not--and I must
obey. Well, at least they are gallant men and worthy of such
steeds. Half I hoped that you and the three of us and my niece
Masouda, the woman with the secret face and eyes that have looked
on fear, might perish in the cleft of the stream; but it was not
willed of Allah. So farewell, Flame, and farewell, Smoke,
children of the desert, who are swifter than arrows, for never
more shall I ride you in battle. Well, at least I have others of
your matchless blood."

Then Godwin touched Wulf on the shoulder, and they crept away
from the stable without the Arab knowing that they had been
there, for it seemed shameful to pry upon his grief. When they
reached their room again Godwin asked Wulf:

"Why does this man sell us those noble steeds?"

"Because his niece Masouda has bid him so to do," he answered.

"And why has she bidden him?"

"Ah!" replied Wulf. "He called her 'the woman with the secret
face and eyes that have looked on fear,' didn't he? Well, for
reasons that have to do with his family perhaps, or with her
secrets, or us, with whom she plays some game of which we know
neither the beginning nor the end. But, Brother Godwin, you are
wiser than I. Why do you ask me these riddles? For my part, I do
not wish to trouble my head about them. All I know is that the
game is a brave one, and I mean to go through with it, especially
as I believe that this playing will lead us to Rosamund."

"May it lead us nowhere worse," answered Godwin with something
like a groan, for he remembered that dream of his which he
dreamed in mid-air between the edges of black rock with the
bubbling foam beneath.

But to Wulf he said nothing of this dream.

When the sun was fully up they prepared to go out again, taking
with them the gold to pay the Arab; but on opening the door of
their room they met Masouda, apparently about to knock upon it.

"Whi