" Then Kanmakan went in to his mother and took leave of
her, after which he girt on his sword and donned turban and
chin-band and mounting his horse Catoul, rode through the streets
of Baghdad, till he reached the gate of the city. Here he found
his comrade Subbah ben Remmah going out, who, seeing him, ran to
his stirrup and saluted him. He returned his greeting, and Subbah
said to him, "O my brother, how camest thou by this steed and
sword and clothes, whilst I up to now have gotten nothing but my
sword and target?" Quoth Kanmakan, "The hunter returns not but
with game after the measure of his intent. A little after thy
departure, fortune came to me: so now wilt thou go with me and
work thine intent in my company and journey with me in this
desert?" "By the Lord of the Kaabeh," replied Subbah, "from this
time forth I will call thee nought but 'My lord!'" Then he ran on
before the horse with his sword hanging from his neck and his
budget between his shoulder-blades, and they pushed on into the
desert four days' space, eating of the gazelles they caught and
drinking of the water of the springs. On the fifth day, they came
in sight of a high hill, at whose foot was a Spring encampment
and a running stream. The knolls and hollows were filled with
camels and oxen and sheep and horses, and little children played
about the cattle-folds. When Kanmakan saw this, he was right glad
and his breast was filled with joy; so he addressed himself to
battle, that he might take the camels and the cattle, and said to
Subbah, "Come, let us fall upon this good, whose owners have left
it unguarded, and do battle for it with near and far, so haply it
may fall to our lot and we will share it between us.
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