He rode
on a little way farther, and there was a very steep path, turning back,
round the highest peak, and presently he looked down into a small, high
valley, below which the narrow way led down to the pleasant place
through which he had first ridden, and he saw that a great army could
easily be destroyed there by a small one lying in ambush. He could see
quite plainly the dead Seljuks lying as they had fallen, and from far
and near the great vultures and the kites were sailing down from the
crags, while the ravens and crows that followed his killing day by day
were flying, and settling, and hopping along the ground, and flying
again to the places of death.
He rode back to his men, driving the guide before him; and the man
feared for his life continually, and reeled in the saddle as if he were
drunk. But Gilbert knew that a man well frightened was a man gained for
what he wanted, so when he had threatened to cut off his hands and put
out his eyes and leave him to die among the rocks if he tried to
misguide the army again, he let him live. Then he sent ten men back to
lead the host on the following day, and he remained in the pass to keep
it until the vanguard should be in sight. He bade his messengers tell
the King that for his life he must not go into the broad valley, though
it looked so fair and open.
Now the Seljuks whom he had met were all dead but one young man; but
there were many of them, some five thousand, encamped in a great
hiding-place surrounded by rocks, on the other side of the pass.
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