434 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



long tail, like some untamed and kingly creature of 

 the desert ; his veins starting out in sharp relief, his 

 broad chest and beautiful limbs spotted with foam, 

 and his long mane, that would have swept the ground, 

 streaming like a banner in the sea-breeze. 



For a moment the startled Strasolda gazed alter- 

 nately, and in wild and mute amazement, at Antonio 

 and the stranger ; but all doubt and hesitation were 

 dispersed in an instant by the well-remembered and 

 impassioned tones, the martial bearing and Moslem 

 garb of Ibrahim, whose captive she had been before 

 she saw him in the cavern. 



Leaping from his saddle and circling her slender 

 waist with his arm, he addressed her in those accents 

 of truth and passion which go at once to the heart 



" Heroic daughter of Dansowich ! thou art the 

 bright star of my destiny, the light of my soul ! 

 Thou must be mine ! Come, then, to my heart and 

 home ! Gladden with thy love the life of Ibrahim, 

 and he will give thee truth unfailing and love with- 

 out end." 



Strasolda did not long hesitate. Already prepos- 

 sessed in favour of the young and noble - minded 

 Moslem ; her allegiance to the Christian powers and 

 faith weakened by the treachery of Austria ; her 

 people degraded into robbers ; a soldier's daughter, 

 and keenly alive to the splendours of martial gallantry 

 and glory ; an orphan, too, and desolate can it be 

 wondered at if she surrendered, at once and for ever, 



