In the morning the door opened, and a black slave led him into the
garden, which was surrounded by a very high and lofty wall. It was
large, and full of trees and flowers, and far more beautiful than any
garden that Cuthbert had seen in his native land. There were various
other slaves at work; and an Arab, who appeared to be the head of the
gardeners, at once appointed to Cuthbert the work assigned to him. A
guard of Arabs with bow and spear watched the doings of the slaves.
With one glance round, Cuthbert was assured that escape from this
garden, at least, was not to be thought of, and that for the present
patience alone was possible. Dismissing all ideas of that kind from his
mind, he set to work with a steady attention to his task. He was very
fond of flowers, and soon he became so absorbed in his work as almost to
forget that he was a slave. It was not laborious--digging, planting,
pruning and training the flowers, and giving them copious draughts of
water from a large fountain in the center of the garden.
Pages:
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231