‘Here are tracks of horses and camels that have entered the valley thus far and not passed through it. They are fresh; let all be prepared.’
‘We are twenty-five men well armed,’ said Baroni. ‘It is not the Tyahas that will attack such a band.’
‘Nor are they the Gherashi or the Mezeines,’ said the Sheikh, ‘for we know what they are after, and we are brothers.’
‘They must be Alouins,’ said an Arab.
At this moment the little caravan was apparently land-locked, the defile again winding; but presently it became quite straight, and its termination was visible, though at a considerable distance.
‘I see horsemen,’ said the Sheikh; ‘several of them advance; they are not Alouins.’
He rode forward to meet them, accompanied by Tancred and Baroni.
‘Salaam,’ said the Sheikh, ‘how is it?’ and then he added, aside to Baroni, ‘They are strangers; why are they here?’
‘Aleikoum! We know where you come from,’ was the reply of one of the horsemen. ‘Is that the brother of the Queen of the English? Let him ride with us, and you may go on in peace.’
‘He is my brother,’ said Sheikh Hassan, ‘and the brother of all here. There is no feud between us. Who are you?’