Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/197

 man, I accept thy offer. Few are those on earth who would have risked so much for a poor slave. Come, then, thou art the man I have long waited for."

Silently they left the wood and stole to the waggoner's hut. The horse was tied to a tree, saddled and bridled. Noren sprang on the steed, helped Jelekha to sit behind him, and passed his leather belt tightly round her waist. Without another word the steed and riders crept out of the precincts of Agra in complete darkness.

When they were out in the open fields Noren spurred his horse and swept past dewy corn-fields and slumbering villages. He avoided the main road, and whenever he saw a watch-fire under the trees in the far distance he took a long circuit to escape notice. The moon would be up in a couple of hours, but the most perilous half of the journey would be finished before that time.

The long canter was unbroken by a single whispered word. Not once did Noren turn backwards to cheer his fair companion by word or sign, but the fiery girl needed no cheering. Coiling her left arm round the waist of her deliverer like a cord of steel, she held her dirk in her strong right hand as she peered through the darkness with her snake-like, glistening eyes. Her untied hair streamed in the air, and her frame shook with excitement. Few would have chosen such a companion for a midnight ride; none would have ventured to whisper love to such a maiden with the naked steel in her hand.

Mile after mile was cleared at a gentle canter in the light of the stars. Occasionally a village dog barked at the silent wayfarers, and once only by a wayside Dharamsala the glistening of muskets in the