The shock of the hurtling metal
was mingled with indescribable roars and death rattles. Profiting by the
terror of the survivors, and fearing that Balkis might be injured,
he seized her in his arms and fled with her through the silence and
darkness of the lonely byways. The stillness of night enveloped
the earth, and the fugitives heard the clamour of the women and the
carousers, who pursued them at haphazard, die away in the darkness. Soon
they heard nothing more than the sound of dripping blood as it fell from
the brow of Balthasar on the breast of Balkis.

"I love you," the queen murmured.

And by the light of the moon as it emerged from behind a cloud the
king saw the white and liquid radiance of her half-closed eyes. They
descended the dry bed of a stream, and suddenly Balthasar's foot slipped
on the moss and they fell together locked in each other's embrace.
They seemed to sink forever into a delicious void, and the world of
the living ceased to exist for them. They were still plunged in the
enchanting forgetfulness of time, space and separate existence, when at
daybreak the gazelles came to drink out of the hollows among the stones.

At that moment a passing band of brigands discovered the two lovers
lying on the moss.

"They are poor," they said, "but we shall sell them for a great price,
for they are so young and beautiful."

Upon which they surrounded them, and having bound them they tied them to
the tail of an ass and proceeded on their way.

The black man so bound threatened the brigands with death. But Balkis,
who shivered in the cool, fresh air of the morning, only smiled, as if
at something unseen.

They tramped through frightful solitudes until the heat of mid-day made
itself felt. The sun was already high when the brigands unbound their
prisoners, and, letting them sit in the shade of a rock, threw them some
mouldy bread which Balthasar disdained to touch but which Balkis ate
greedily.

She laughed. And when the brigand chief asked why she laughed, she
replied:

"I laugh at the thought that I shall have you all hanged."

"Indeed!" cried the chief, "a curious assertion in the mouth of a
scullery wench like you, my love! Doubtless you will hang us all by aid
of that blackamoor gallant of yours?"

At this insult Balthasar flew into a fearful rage, and he flung himself
on the brigand and clutched his neck with such violence that he nearly
strangled him.

But the other drew his knife and plun