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