Then, taking each of them by the hand, she went forward along a smooth incline, till presently they saw the moonlight, and by it discovered that they stood at the mouth of a cave which was fringed with bushes.  Running up from the depths of the gulf below to this opening was a ridge or shoulder of rock, very steep and narrow.

“See the only road that leads from the citadel of Masyaf save that across the bridge,” said Masouda.

“A bad one,” answered Wulf, staring downward.

“Ay, yet horses trained to rocks can follow it.  At its foot is the bottom of the gulf, and a mile or more away to the left a deep cleft which leads to the top of the mountain and to freedom.  Will you not take it now?  By tomorrow’s dawn you might be far away.”

“And where would the lady Rosamund be?” asked Wulf.

“In the harem of the lord Sinan—­that is, very soon,” she answered, coolly.

“Oh, say it not!” he exclaimed, clasping her arm, while Godwin leaned back against the wall of the cave.

“Why should I hide the truth?  Have you no eyes to see that he is enamoured of her loveliness—­like others?  Listen; a while ago my master Sinan chanced to lose his queen—­how, we need not ask, but it is said that she wearied him.  Now, as he must by law, he mourns for her a month, from full moon to full moon.  But on the day after the full moon—­that is, the third morning from now—­he may wed again, and I think there will be a marriage.  Till then, however, your sister is as safe as though she yet sat at home in England before Salah-ed-din dreamed his dream.”

“Therefore,” said Godwin, “within that time she must either escape or die.”

“There is a third way,” answered Masouda, shrugging her shoulders.  “She might stay and become the wife of Sinan.”

Wulf muttered something between his teeth, then stepped towards her threateningly, saying: 

“Rescue her, or—­”

“Stand back, pilgrim John,” she said, with a laugh.  “If I rescue her, which indeed would be hard, it will not be for fear of your great sword.”

“What, then, will avail, Masouda?” asked Godwin in a sad voice.  “To promise you money would be useless, even if we could.”

“I am glad that you spared me that insult,” she replied with flashing eyes, “for then there had been an end.  Yet,” she added more humbly, “seeing my home and business, and what I appear to be,” and she glanced at her dress and the empty cup in her hand, “it had not been strange.  Now hear me, and forget no word.  At present you are in favour with Sinan, who believes you to be the brothers of the lady Rosamund, not her lovers; but from the moment he learns the truth your doom is sealed.  Now what the Frank Lozelle knows, that the Al-je-bal may know at any time—­and will know, if these should meet.