"May Allah
prosper thee upon the voyage."
"Have I thv leave to go?"
"A moment yet. There is my son Marzak. He is approaching manhood, and
it is time he entered the service of Allah and the State. It is my
desire that he sail as thy lieutenant on this voyage, and that thou be
his preceptor even as I was thine of old."
Now here was something that pleased Sakr-el-Bahr as little as it pleased
Marzak. Knowing the bitter enmity borne him by the son of Fenzileh he
had every cause to fear trouble if this project of Asad's were realized.
"As I was thine of old!" he answered with crafty wistfulness. "Wilt
thou not put to sea with us to-morrow, 0 Asad? There is none like thee
in all Islam,, and what a joy were it not to stand beside thee on the
prow as of old when we grapple with the Spaniard."
Asad considered him. "Dost thou, too, urge this?" quoth he.
"Have others urged it?" The man's sharp wits, rendered still sharper by
his sufferings, were cutting deeply and swiftly into this matter. "They
did well, but none could have urged it more fervently than I, for none
knows so well as I the joy of battle against the infidel under thy
command and the glory of prevailing in thy sight. Come, then, my lord,
upon this enterprise, and be thyself thine own son's preceptor since
'tis the highest honour thou canst bestow upon him."
Thoughtfully Asad stroked his long white beard, his eagle eyes growing
narrow.
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