Heroines of the CrusadesBloss, C. A. (Celestia Angenette)
History
Heroines of the Crusades
Bloss, C. A. (Celestia Angenette)
Crusades; Crusades -- Biography; Women -- Biography
particulars concerning the battle he could not learn, except from the
Saracens themselves, who seemed sadly discomfited, and hurried on in
advance of the christian army, through Phrygia and Cilicia, laying waste
the villages, and making a desert of the country through which they
passed. At Tarsus he was separated from his faithful Zaida, and lodged
alone in a Paynim tower, overlooking the Cydnus. Here he pined in
loneliness day by day, gazing through the arrow-slit upon the
never-varying hills, or watching wearily the waterfowl sporting upon the
bosom of the stream. The christian host passed beneath the very walls of
his tower. He distinguished the forms of Robert, and Stephen, and the
Atheling, and the armorial bearings and ensigns of the various detachments
of European chivalry, and he struggled like an imprisoned bird to be
free. He shouted the honored names of the leaders, and the potent war-cry
of the Christians; called on the Saviour, and Mary, and every saint in the
calendar for release; but in vain. The walls of his prison alone echoed
his cry; no ear heard his voice; no eye was lifted towards his lonely
turret. He watched till the last cross disappeared in the distance, and
overwhelmed with despair, sank in agony upon the floor.
"The moon was riding high in heaven when he was awakened by the light
touch of a delicate hand, and the soft voice of Zaida whispered, 'Gilbert!
England!' the only Saxon words he had taught her. He started up, and an
exclamation of joy mounted to his lip. But Zaida, with a warning motion,
imposed silence, and beckoned him to follow her. Silently he tracked his
stealthy way through the mazes of the castle, guided by the vision that
glided on before him, more like a spirit of the air, than a being of
earthly mould, and the young Englishman had dizzy work to follow her down
a rude stone stair, winding to the base of the cliff, where a little skiff
was moored. She motioned him to embark. He obeyed, and turned to place her
by his side. She was gone. Far up the steep he saw the last flutter of her
white robe. He sprang to follow, but a strong arm dashed him to the bottom
of the boat. The rowers bent to their oars, and the little bark glided
noiselessly down the stream."
"Did he rejoin the christian army?" said Adela.
"All along the banks of the river," replied Henry, "he beheld, with
torturing gaze, the watch-fires of the christian camp, and heard the
pass-word repeated by familiar voices, but the pirates, for such they
were, permitted him neither to speak nor move. Reaching the sea of Cyprus,
they put him on board a vessel, and he was conveyed to Brundusium."
"And were these pirates Infidels?" inquired Adela.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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