And if he didn't come back, there were others to take his place.
The Old Man of the Mountain always kept one hundred and one assassins and four hundred and four women to tend them.
Now when the caravan of the Polos had come to rest for the day, the Old Man of the Mountain put out white, not black magic, and he drew Marco Polo to the castle as a magnet draws a needle.

And Marco Polo galloped up to the Castle in the waning moon, and the Old Man looked down on him from the battlements and stroked his long white beard.
"Do you know me, Marco Polo ?" "I know you and I have no fear of you, Old Man of the Mountain." "And why have you no fear of me, Marco Polo ?" "Because the cross of the Lord Jesus is between me and harm.

Because it protects me night and day." "I know Eesa ben-Miriam," said the Old Man.

"He was a great prophet.
But whether he would have protected you from me, we will differ about that.

I've often thought of you, Marco Polo, and you coming this way.
I could have used you in my work of keeping the kings and chieftains of the world in fear and subjection." "Then why am n't I in your garden, Old Man of the Mountain ?" "The four most beautiful women in the world are in my garden.