"Nay," she urged; "I burn to reach the mountain top for a peep into the land of Bactria, and to know, perchance, if my lord still battleth there. Come, Huzim, lest I leave a faithful friend behind."
The servant shook his head and galloped after her, yet his hope came back again when the middle of the plain was reached and naught was seen save a watchful kite that swung in the blue above. Then Habal wheeled on the backward trail, and barked. From the forest left behind came a score of riders who spread to right and left, then lashed their mounts and advanced in a ragged line.
"'Tis even as I feared," growled Huzim beneath his breath. "Speed thee, mistress! We yet may win to the hills in time."
But ere they had ridden twenty paces he was fain to draw his rein, for out from a fringe of woods ahead another band appeared, to spread as the first had spread, with an aim of closing in upon the fugitives. The Indian unslung his bow, casting about him for a spot wherein to halt and hold his foes at bay, but Semiramis smiled upon him and took command.
"Be not a child," she whispered. "Your shafts are useless, for these our enemies outnumber us, and our steeds are spent. Obey me and speak no word."
She drew her bridle, shielded her eyes from the sunlight's glare, then waved her hand and dashed full speed toward the Bactrian troop.
"In the name of the gods—!" gasped Huzim, spurring after her; but she laughed and, once more waved her hand.
Now the horsemen, marveling at the strangeness of this move, drew rein upon the slope and waited till their quarry came to them. Outposts they were whom Oxyartes set beyond the mountains, to watch all roads, to cut off messengers, and to bring report of armies or of food-trains coming out from Nineveh.
"Ho, friends!" laughed Semiramis, pausing in their midst and speaking in the Bactrian tongue, a deal of which she had learned from Menon while in Syria. "For the moment I feared ye were a herd of Assyrian swine. Who leadeth here?"
A Bactrian youth dismounted and stepped before her, his fellows gathering in a close-packed ring.