56
telling me?’ ‘By Allah,’ replied Gherib, ‘it was but that I saw thee wounded and thought to give thee rest.’ Then said Sehim, ‘O my brother, beware of my father!’ and told him how Merdas was abroad with a hundred and fifty men, seeking to kill him. Quoth Gherib, ‘Allah will make his treason to return on his own head.’
Then they set out, to return to the camp, but the night overtook them by the way and they rode on in the darkness, till they drew near the valley where the enemy lay and heard the neighing of horses; whereupon said Sehim, ‘O my brother, my father and his men are ambushed in yonder valley; let us flee from it.’ But Gherib dismounted and throwing his bridle to his brother, said to him, ‘Stay here till I come back to thee.’ Then he went on till he came in sight of the folk, when he saw that they were not of his tribe and heard them name Merdas and say, ‘We will not kill him save in his own land.’ Wherefore he knew that Merdas was their prisoner and said, ‘As Mehdiyeh liveth, I will not depart hence till I have delivered her father, that she may not be troubled!’ Then he sought till he came upon Merdas and found him bound with cords; so he sat down by his side and said to him, ‘God deliver thee, O uncle, from these bonds and humiliation!’ When Merdas saw Gherib, his reason fled and he said to him, ‘O my son, I am at thy mercy: deliver me in right of my fosterage of thee!’ Quoth Gherib, ‘If I deliver thee, wilt thou give me Mehdiyeh?’ ‘O my son,’ answered the Amir, ‘by all that is sacred to me, she is thine to all time!’ So he loosed him, saying, ‘Make for the horses, for thy son Sehim is there:’ and Merdas crept along till he came to his son, who rejoiced in him and gave him joy of his escape.
Meanwhile, Gherib unbound one after another of the prisoners, till he had freed the whole ninety and they were all far from the enemy. Then he sent them their arms
