David made no response.
The slave returned, and his voice murmured softly, as though the matter
were of no concern: "The Nubians--from the Palace." In an instant he was
gone again.
"Kaid had not faith in thee," Harrik said grimly. "But see, infidel
though thou art, thou trustest me, and thou shalt go thy way. Take them
with thee, yonder jackals of the desert. I will not go with them. I did
not choose to live; others chose for me; but I will die after my own
choice. Thou hast heard a voice, even as I. It is too late to flee to the
desert. Fate tricks me. 'The lions are loosed on thee'--so the voice said
to me in the night. Hark! dost thou not hear them--the lions, Harrik's
lions, got out of the uttermost desert?"
David could hear the distant roar, for the menagerie was even part of the
palace itself.
"Go in peace," continued Harrik soberly and with dignity, "and when Egypt
is given to the infidel and Muslims are their slaves, remember that
Harrik would have saved it for his Lord Mahomet, the Prophet of God."
He clapped his hands, and fifty slaves slid from behind the velvet
curtains.
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