Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/90

70 each a thousand horse and ride in different directions, in quest of his daughter. So they mounted forthright and departed; whilst the princess’s mother clad herself and her women in black and strewed ashes and sat weeping and lamenting.

Meanwhile Gherib and the princess journeyed on ten days, and on the eleventh day, a cloud of dust appeared in the distance and rose to the confines of the sky; whereupon Gherib called the Amir of the Persians and bade him go and learn the cause thereof. ‘I hear and obey,’ replied he and pricked his charger, till he came within the cloud of dust, where he saw folk and enquired of them. Quoth they, ‘We are of the Benou Hettal and are questing for plunder; our Amir is Semsam ben Jirah and we are five thousand horse.’ The Persian returned in haste and told Gherib, who cried out to his men and to the Persians, saying, ‘Don your arms!’ They did as he bade them and presently up came the Arabs, shouting, ‘Booty! Booty!’ Quoth Gherib, ‘God confound you, O dogs of Arabs!’ Then he set spurs to his horse and drove at them in valiant wise, shouting, ‘God is most great! Ho for the faith of Abraham the Friend, on whom be peace!’ And there befell between them a sore battle and great was the clash of arms and the din of the mellay; nor did they leave fighting, till the day fled and the darkness came, when they drew off from one another.

Then Gherib numbered his men and found that five of the Benou Kehtan had fallen and three-and-seventy of the Persians; but of the Benou Hettal they had slain more than five hundred horse. As for Semsam, he alighted and sought neither food nor sleep, but said, ‘In all my life I never met such a fighter as this youth! Anon he fights with the sword and anon with the mace: but to-morrow I will go forth and defy him to single combat and cut off these Arabs.’ Now, when Gherib returned to his