Look at yonder forts and at
the folk like the tempestuous sea with its clashing billows.
Indeed the infidels out-number us a hundred times and we cannot
be sure but that some spy may inform them that we are without a
leader. Verily, we are in peril from these enemies, whose number
may not be told and whose extent is limitless, especially in the
absence of King Zoulmekan and his brother Sherkan and the
illustrious Vizier Dendan. If they know of this, they will be
emboldened to attack us in their absence and will cut off us to
the last man; not one of us will escape alive. So it is my
counsel that we each take ten thousand horse and repair to the
hermitage of Metrouhena and the Meadow of Meloukhna in quest of
our brothers and our chiefs. If thou follow my counsel, it may be
we shall be the cause of their deliverance, in case they be hard
pressed by the infidels; and if not, no blame will rest on me.
But, if we go, it were well that we return quickly, for suspicion
is part of prudence." The other fell in with his counsel; so they
chose twenty thousand horse and set out for the hermitage by
cross roads.
To return to Dhat ed Dewahi. As soon as she had delivered
Zoulmekan and his companions into the hands of the infidels, she
mounted a swift horse, saying to the Christians, "I mean to
rejoin the Muslim army before Constantinople and contrive for
their destruction; for I will tell them that their chiefs are
dead, and when they hear this, their alliance will be dissolved
and their confederation broken up and their host dispersed.
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