"Think better, for the love of Christ, my Duke!" pleaded Mary, making to fall on her knees. But Godfrey had spoken; and Richard spoke too and very gently:—
"Sweet wife, you will find heaven no darksome place. Please God I shall be good enough sometime to see you there." Then he turned to Iftikhar, his poise high, his voice hard. "Go back, my lord, uncover the pit, unchain the fiends, lead on your devils! Yet know that the first foe that crosses this threshold will see my wife's dead body!"
"Dear Son of God!" cried Mary, "will you throw your lives away? Musa, you are wise, plead with them."
But the Spaniard, who had been playing a part equal to the others, turned at his post by the stairway, and salaamed after his fashion.
"I have heard my brother and Cid Godfrey. Allah indeed pity us, if we yield the Star of the Greeks!"
Richard raised Trenchefer.
"Now, Iftikhar Eddauleh!" commanded he, "again—begone! Or, unarmed as you are, I kill you!"
The Egyptian knew by his foe's eye it was no idle boast; he knew also that prayers were futile upon the three.
"Brave cavaliers," said he, with a bitter smile, "I can do nothing for you. Wonderful are your Frankish swords and that of Cid Musa. But you shall feel a cimeter that will test their temper, be it never so keen."
He was gone, and disappeared behind the band of Ismaelians who eyed the Franks from a safe distance down the passage. Mary saw him vanish, and turned first to Musa, then to Godfrey, then to Richard, and kissed the first two on the forehead, her husband on the lips.