Page:Marion Crawford - Khaled.djvu/78

 and wearied?' she asked. 'Surely you will take a fever and die before you have followed the Shammars so far as two days' journey.'

'My wounds are slight, and I am not weary,' Khaled answered. 'When the smith has heated the iron in the forge, does he wait until it is cold before striking?'

'But think also of the soldiers, who have striven hard, and cannot thus go out upon a great expedition without preparation as well as rest.'

'I will take those whom I can find. And if they will go with me, it is well. But if not, I will go alone, and they and the rest will follow after.'

'It is summer, too,' said Zehowah, keeping him back. 'Is this a time to go out into the northern desert? Both men and beasts will perish by the way.'

'Has not Allah bound every man's fate about his neck? And can a man cast it from him?'

'I know not otherwise, but if heat and hunger and thirst do not kill the men, they will certainly destroy the beasts, whose names are not recorded by Asrael, and who have no destiny of their own.'

'You hinder me,' said Khaled. 'And yet you do not know how many of the Shammar may be yet lurking within a day's march of the city, slaying your people, burning their houses and destroying their harvest. Let me go. Will you love me better if I stay?'

'You will be the better able to get the victory.'