Half I hoped that you and the three of us and my niece Masouda, the woman with the secret face and eyes that have looked on fear, might perish in the cleft of the stream; but it was not willed of Allah.

So farewell, Flame, and farewell, Smoke, children of the desert, who are swifter than arrows, for never more shall I ride you in battle.

Well, at least I have others of your matchless blood." Then Godwin touched Wulf on the shoulder, and they crept away from the stable without the Arab knowing that they had been there, for it seemed shameful to pry upon his grief.

When they reached their room again Godwin asked Wulf: "Why does this man sell us those noble steeds ?" "Because his niece Masouda has bid him so to do," he answered.
"And why has she bidden him ?" "Ah!" replied Wulf.

"He called her 'the woman with the secret face and eyes that have looked on fear,' didn't he?
Well, for reasons that have to do with his family perhaps, or with her secrets, or us, with whom she plays some game of which we know neither the beginning nor the end.