ITH some ten thousand staring at him, the new Ameer of Bokhara issued his first commands and watched without seeming to do so to see if each were acknowledged—Abdullah finding great amusement thereby.
Robert appointed a conference for the chiefs of the various tribes in the courtyard of the Shah's palace two hours hence. He called the several atabegs within view to him, and sent one to take immediate charge at every gate of the city. The imams he requested to draw up lists of the amount of food in the granaries and the total of the weapons stored in the armories.
From the crowd he picked out the Turkoman beg who had talked about killing him, and the man knelt with quivering cheeks, evidently expecting that he would be given over to torture. Instead he was bade to select a hundred riders and set out to the east to establish an advanced post beyond sight of the city. Other detachments were ordered off, to patrol the river and caravan tracks beyond the walls.
His commands were received with the deepest respect and executed at once. Robert, aware of the mullah at his elbow, turned in his saddle.
“O hadji, is it fitting that the leader of your warriors should stretch his cloak in an alley and have the sky for a roof?”
The keeper of the temple started, eyed the knight keenly a moment and nodded gravely.
“True. A house shall be made ready in the garden quarter by the river, and slaves”
“To this house,” Robert suggested to Osman, “the blind priest and the archer can be sent before the hour is ended.”
The wazir bowed in silence.
“And the Nazarene maid.”
Their eyes met, and the minister of the Shah twisted his fingers in the pearls that hung from his throat.
“Yah khawand! What words are these? In this place? To name a woman before listeners is to shame a follower of the Prophet!”
“Yet, O wazir, I am a Nazarene and a man of my word. If the maid is not placed in this dwelling, unharmed, before the sands have run from the hour-glass I shall open your gate with a thousand spears.”
Osman exchanged glances with the mullah and extended both hands open before him.
“Who am I but the slave of him who has honored you? It shall be as you have said.”
Robert watched him out of sight, well aware that he had made at least one bitter enemy. Turning the long ring on his finger, he studied the massive sapphire, cut in the form of a seal, in the gold setting. Then he raised his head and smiled.
“Here is a riddle, and I would know the answer in true words.”
“Command me,” suggested Abdullah promptly, but Robert shook his head.
“Hadji,” he asked of the mullah, “have you in your house a hamman, a bath where the bathmen are discreet? Then may I be your guest for one-half of the hour?”
Surprized, the mullah signed for him to ride to the rear of the mosque, and Abdullah stared after the two thoughtfully. The boy Hassan approached his horse and peered up mockingly.
“Lick thy palm, O teller of tales. The cup-companion is the favorite of a day and then—the dust of the rose petal remains to the seller of perfume.”
Having launched this shaft the boy darted away and overtook Osman's palanquin at the gate of the wazir's palace, harkening with interest to the low-voiced exclamations of his patron.
“O dog of a mongrel pack! O eater of filth! To claim with a loud tongue what was mine! Son of dishonor and father of foulness! To speak of the maid that would have been mine—aye, before a multitude! O fool and madman—Nazarene, prince of unbelievers—thy grave will be dug by jackals, and dogs will tear it loose again. May the bones of thy mother and thy father's father suffer a like fate.”
Perceiving Hassan awaiting him, Osman mastered his rage somewhat and ordered the singer to run to the dwelling that was being prepared for the Frank, and stint not gold among the slaves selected by the imams for his service. Having confidently expected this command, Hassan made off blithely, for here was a matter dear to his heart, and a quarrel out of which a song might be made to quiet his master in another, more fortunate hour.
OBERT understood the Turkish character well enough to be quite sure that the Shah's ring and the imperial decree would not serve to keep him his command if he failed to enforce his authority by his personality. He did not wish to appear before the chiefs in council until he had learned something about them and the situation in general. To talk with Abdullah would be a mistake, because the Bokharians would conclude that he relied greatly on the minstrel.