I shall have death,
Or my fair, my lovely
Laid in mine arms.
LAY OF SIGURD.
At a sign from their earl the vikings opened their ranks for the Frank lords, who came pushing to the front, followed by the curious maidens. As Olvir made a place for Rothada's litter close in the rear of her father, Vali Kasim rode forward in advance of his band, with half-a-dozen attendants.
"Look, Lord Olvir!" exclaimed the girl. "What strange, gay warriors; and the beautiful horses! The chief's is like your Zora."
"Her blood-kin,--the swiftest breed in all Arabia," replied Olvir, his eyes fixed upon Kasim Ibn Yusuf.
But the Franks were more interested in the vali's attendants. In their midst the Berbers led three mules, two of which were burdened with packs, while the third bore an unarmed greybeard, whose yellow gown marked him out as a leech.
At a dozen paces from the great Karolah the vali and his followers sprang off and salaamed to the dust; and Kasim, advancing, cried out in broken Frankish: "Blessed be the day that I behold the mighty Karolah! The mountains shake at the tread of his coming; all men rejoice to see his glorious face!"
"We fail to hear them," replied Karl, dryly; and he glanced up at the silent folk on the battlements of the burg.