Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/90

 And I saw again their eyes, and again they pressed me sorely,

Till I put my care on the Lord, the Lord God the Creator,

And all my load on him, the Prophet, the Muhajer.

And I feared they were so many lest they should take or slay me,

Yet trusted I the Lord, who is a Lord of mercy.

But about the hour of the Doha there came at me a horseman,

And he cried out, " I am he, the son of Agheyli Jaber,

Suliman men me call, the bravest of the bravest."

And he shouted to me, "O slave, is it thou, thou thief of horseflesh ?

Thou who smitest our people, and makest naught of our great ones ?

Show us here thy courage. Get thee to the fight, thou dark one."

And 1 charged on him like a lion, a lion roused to the seizing,

And before my wrath he fled, nor found I one to withstand me.

Nor stayed he of his running till at the tents of the women,

Even the tent of Alia hers with the plaited tresses.

And I pressed him close behind, and drove him to the tent ropes,

And Alia came out, crying, " May the great God thee