"What do you seek, captains?" he asked courteously.
"A gold armlet that one of us has lost," they answered.
Aziel let his eyes wander on the ground, and not far away perceived the
armlet half-hidden in a tussock of dry grass, where, indeed, it had been
placed.
"Is this the ring?" he asked, lifting it and holding it towards them.
"It is, and we thank you," they answered, advancing to take the
ornament.
The next moment, before Aziel even guessed their purpose, the captains
had gripped him by either arm and were dragging him at full speed
towards their camp. Understanding their treachery and the greatness of
his danger, he cried aloud for help. Then throwing himself swiftly to
the ground, he set his feet against a stone that chanced to lie in their
path in such fashion that the sudden weight tore his right arm from the
group of the man that held him. Now, quick as thought, Aziel drew the
dagger from his girdle, and, still lying upon his back, plunged it into
the shoulder of the second man so that he loosed him in his pain. Next
he sprang to his feet, and, leaping to one side to escape the rush of
his captors, ran like a deer towards the party of Sakon, who had wheeled
round at the sound of his cry.
Ithobal and his men had turned also and sped towards them, but at a
little distance they halted, the king shouting aloud:--
"I desired to hold this foreigner, who is the cause of war between us,
hostage for your daughter's sake, Sakon, but this time he has escaped
me.
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