or--for night and day they were
trebly guarded lest Assassins should creep in--there was no need
for mail. In the fortress of Masyaf, indeed, where they were also
guarded, it had been otherwise. Wulf heard the step of the
sentries on the cemented pavement without, and shook his great
shoulders as though he shivered.

"That sound makes my backbone cold," he said. "For a moment, as
my eyes opened, I thought that we were back again in the guest
chambers of Al-je-bal, where folk crept round us as we slept and
murderers marched to and fro outside the curtains, fingering
their knife-points. Well, whatever there is to come, thank the
Saints, that is done with. I tell you, brother, I have had enough
of mountains, and narrow bridges, and Assassins. Henceforth, I
desire to live upon a flat with never a hill in sight, amidst
honest folk as stupid as their own sheep, who go to church on
Sundays and get drunk, not with hachich, but on brown ale,
brought to them by no white-robed sorceress, but by a
draggle-tailed wench in a tavern, with her musty bedstraw still
sticking in her hair. Give me the Saltings of Essex with the east
winds blowing over them, and the primroses abloom upon the bank,
and the lanes fetlock deep in mud, and for your share you may
take all the scented gardens of Sinan and the cups and jewels of
his ladies, with the fightings and adventures of the golden East
thrown in."

"I never sought these things, and we are a long way from Essex,"
answered Godwin shortly.

"No," said Wulf, "but they seem to seek you. What news of
Masouda? Have you seen her while I slept, which has been long?"

"I have seen no one except the apothecary who tended you, the
slaves who brought us food, and last evening the prince Hassan,
who came to see how we fared. He told me that, like yourself,
Rosamund and Masouda slept."

"I am glad to hear it," answered Wulf, "for certainly their rest
was earned. By St. Chad! what a woman is this Masouda! A heart of
fire and nerves of steel! Beautiful, too--most beautiful; and the
best horsewoman that ever sat a steed. Had it not been for
her--By Heaven! when I think of it I feel as though I loved
her--don't you?"

"No," said Godwin, still more shortly.

"Ah, well, I daresay she can love enough for two who does nothing
by halves, and, all things considered," he added, with one of his
great laughs, "I am glad it is I of whom she thinks so
little--yes, I who adore her as though she were my patron