246 DOYLE
But though the red be given, Have we not more to do?
These were not stirred by anger,
Nor yet by lust made bold; Renown they thought above them,
Nor did they look for gold. To them their leader's signal
Was as the voice of God : Unmoved, and uncomplaining,
The path it showed they trod.
As, without sound or struggle,
The stars unhurrying march, Where Allah's finger guides them,
Through yonder purple arch, These Franks, sublimely silent,
Without a quickened breath, Went in the strength of duty
Straight to their goal of death.
'If I were now to ask you
To name our bravest man, Ye all at once would answer,
They called him Mehrab Khan. He sleeps among his fathers,
Dear to our native land, With the bright mark he bled for
Firm round his faithful hand.
'The songs they sing of Rustum Fill all the past with light;
If truth be in their music, He was a noble knight.
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