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diff --git a/old/61014-0.txt b/old/61014-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 41bb76f..0000000 --- a/old/61014-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11475 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Zarah the Cruel, by Joan Conquest - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Zarah the Cruel - - -Author: Joan Conquest - - - -Release Date: December 25, 2019 [eBook #61014] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ZARAH THE CRUEL*** - - -E-text prepared by Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/zarahcruel00conq - - - - - -ZARAH THE CRUEL - - - * * * * * * - -BY THE SAME AUTHOR - - DESERT LOVE - LEONIE OF THE JUNGLE - THE HAWK OF EGYPT - - * * * * * * - - -ZARAH THE CRUEL - -by - -JOAN CONQUEST - -Author of “Desert Love,” “Leonie of the Jungle,” -“The Hawk of Egypt.” - - - - - - -New York -The Macaulay Company - -Copyright, 1923, by -The Macaulay Company - -Printed in the U. S. A. - - - - - TO - - BETTY C—— OF C—— - - TO WHOM I AM INDEBTED FOR - SO MUCH OF THIS BOOK - - - - -ZARAH THE CRUEL - - - - -PROLOGUE - - “_Narrower than the ear of a needle._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -The Holy Man, motionless, gaunt, his eyes filled with the peace of Allah, -the one and only God, stood afar off, outlined against the moonlight, -watching two horsemen fleeing for their lives across the desert. - -Pursued by a band of Arabs which hunted them for murder done in the far, -fair City of Damascus and had hunted them throughout the Peninsula, -they headed for the Mountains of Death towering in the limitless sands -of the burning desert and cut off from the world by the silvery belt of -quicksands which surround them completely. - -Uninhabited by beast or human being within the memory of man and the -memory of his fathers, and his fathers’ fathers, yet did the wandering -story-teller, as he flitted from town to village, from Bedouin camp to -verdant oasis, make song or story of the legend which has clung to the -pile of volcanic rock throughout the centuries. - -A story which either moved the listener to shouts of derisive, -unbelieving laughter or held him still, lost in wonderment and dreams. - -A legend recounted in this day of grace by the Arabian story-teller to -Bedouins, sitting entranced under the stars or the moon, yet which had -been inscribed upon a highly decorated vellum by the Holy Palladius in -the fifth century of our Lord, which record of early holy church was -lost in the burning and sacking of a famous library in the more Christian -times of the last ten turbulent years. - -The story of a miraculous light, which, so read the vellum, led the Holy -Fathers across the sands of death, over which they did most safely pass, -to find within the mountains the further miracle of fresh, sparkling -water, palm groves of luscious _kholas_ dates, stretches of _durra_ and -grass, coarse enough to be woven into shirts, with which to replace, in -the passing of the years, the shirts of hair which covered the attenuated -bodies of the thirty-odd early Christian Fathers. - -There, within the secret oasis, so went the legend, the holy men who -fled the temptations and persecutions of the world and sought safety and -salvation in penance and pilgrimage, built a monastery to the glory of -God, and there, so it was to be supposed, they must have died, with the -exception of one, who, following the casting of lots, had been sent forth -from the miraculous oasis upon a mission to acquaint the Holy Palladius -of the community’s whereabouts. - -The vellum had witnessed the Holy Father’s safe arrival at his journey’s -end, but of his return to the Sanctuary, as was the poetical name given -the place by the renowned Palladius, there had been no mention. - -A fair legend to endure throughout the passing of the centuries, a sweet -story in a land of thirst and death and dire privation, a tantalizing -word-picture to those who knew the shifting sands to be impassable. - -The Holy Man pondered upon the legend as he watched the horsemen tearing -towards the quicksands and certain death, then, with the beads of Mecca -slipping between his fingers, turned and continued his pilgrimage due -south, the south where the wind blows hottest and the sands burn the -sandal from off even holy feet. - -And Mohammed-Abd, accused of the murder of a wealthy, flint-hearted -usurer in the fair, far City of Damascus, turned to the handsome youth -who, loving him as a brother, had helped him to escape, so far, from the -vengeance of the flint-hearted usurer’s relatives. - -“The mare faileth, Boy of the Wondrous Eyes! I fear a spear or a bullet -shall find its home in her body, or in mine, before she reaches yonder -mass of rocks.” - -Yussuf laughed and turned in his seat and looked back, shading the -beautiful, almond-shaped, long-lashed eyes which had earned him his -nickname and had got him into more trouble even than usually befalls a -handsome youth in the Arabian Peninsula. - -“There is the length of many spears yet between us, brother. Lie upon -the neck of Lulah, the mare, so that the wind of her great speed be not -counted against her. The swiftest mare in all Nejd, yet in endurance of -but little count. Behold is there a light at the foot of the mountains -moving this way and that way? Perchance ’tis one who lives amongst the -rocks and who watches with intent to succour us. Allah be praised that -the sands lie flat under our horses’ feet, though by the wool! would He -be thrice praised if, in His mercy and compassion, He were to twist the -feet of the horses which follow us and so break their riders’ necks.” - -The mountains seemed within spear-length, the quicksands showed one with -the desert, silvery, smooth, when the mare stumbled just as a bullet -whistled past, singeing the streaming mane. - -She was up on her dainty, unshod feet upon the instant, racing for safety -with the last effort of her gallant heart, when Mohammed-Abd turned and -yelled defiance at his pursuers. - -“_Ista’jil!_” he yelled, “_Ista’jil!_” - -Everyday words, which merely mean “make haste,” but destined to become a -battle cry which, in after years, struck terror in the hearts of those -who heard it, from Oman to Hajaz. - -In reply came a volley of firing, mixed with derisive and insulting -words, lost in the din of shouting and hoofs upon the sand. - -“Follow me, brother!” shouted Yussuf, as he pressed his mare with his -knees. - -Ahead a greenish light danced this way and that, backwards and forwards, -and to it Yussuf rode his mare, with Mohammed-Abd close upon his heels. - -They followed the will-o’-the-wispish light formed by the gas floating -above the quicksands, mixing with the wind when it blew from the south, -and fled upon the narrow path over which it danced. A path formed -perchance by the top of some mountain chain thrusting through the desert; -hidden throughout the centuries by the inch or so, not more, of sand -which overlapped it from the treacherous, seething, ever-moving sea of -death; a way to safety discovered to the Holy Fathers and the fugitives -before the law by Allah the merciful, the one and only God. - -Over it they passed safely, with, if they had but known it, barely the -breadth of a hand to spare, upon either side of the exhausted mare; they -slipped from the saddle and pulled the panting beasts back into the -shadows just as, with much triumphant shouting and firing of rifles, the -pursuing Arabs, riding in a straight line, plunged, yelling, screaming, -down into the quicksands’ suffocating depths. - -The miracle of the fifth century had been explained at last. - -An hour later, when the stars shone down upon a scene of perfect peace, -Yussuf laughed and pulled at the spear hurled by an Arab in one last -effort of revenge before sinking to his death. - -It did not move. Stuck fast between two rocks it remained for all time, a -sign to mark the commencement of the only means of communication between -the Sanctuary and the pitiless, burning desert. - -“Methinks we are no better off, brother. If, by the grace of Allah, we -find again the hidden path by which we crossed this sea of death, yet -have we neither drop of water nor date-stone left with which to stifle -the pangs of hunger and thirst, of which we surely die if we move not -from this ledge of rock.” - -He looked up to the top width of a great V which cleft the mountains -half-way down the side, and from the narrowest point of which there -seemed to stretch a path to where the spear marked the beginning of the -secret path. - -Then he stretched his hand and touched the rock behind the spear, and -with finger upon cracked lips softly called Mohammed-Abd, who came -quickly upon tiptoe. - -“Let us go warily, brother, yet let us go in search of those who inhabit -the heart of the mountains, so that they help us in our need.” - -They passed their fingers over the rough cross hacked in the rock as a -sign of his return by the Christian who, in the fifth century, had been -sent upon a mission to the Holy Palladius; then, hobbling the mares, -crept in the shadows from rock to rock, up the path leading to the -narrowest point of the great cleft, which made the one opening in the -mountains, slitting them to a spot midway between the foot and crest. - -Famished and almost crazed with thirst, the two men hid in blackest -shadow, listening for a sound, peering for a sight of those who had -marked the way up with rough crosses cut upon the rocks; then, alert, -apprehensive, stopping to listen at every yard, crept noiselessly to the -opening of the cleft. Through it they passed like shadows, and on down -a steeper, broader path to a great plateau, on the edge of which they -stopped, staring in amazement. - -“A mirage!” whispered Mohammed-Abd in hoarse tones, then, crouching, ran -across the plateau and fell upon his knees and to his full length upon -the bank of a sparkling, rushing river. - -Whence came the unknown, miraculous water? It flowed from the eastern -side of the mountains; it twisted in the shape of a big S in the middle -of the fertile plain; it disappeared through a narrow cleft in the -western side with the thundering, rushing sound of water falling into -space. - -The waters of the Wadi Hanifa which flow through Woshim and Ared more or -less abundantly, according to the season, have so far not been traced -after they disappear in the fertile district of Yemama. Do they flow -below the surface to the Persian Gulf? or on into the terrible desert, -to be absorbed in the ever greedy sand? Are these the waters which show -above ground for a few blessed yards in the secret heart of the Mountains -of Death, cut off by the quicksands from the needy sons of the desert who -depend upon the scanty, brackish water of deep wells, and vapours carried -uncertainly on certain winds from the Persian Gulf, and which are lost -once they pass above the _hamads_, those red-hot, dust-laden, scorching, -terrible limestone plains? - -Or does a subterranean river flow through the bowels of some chain of -mountains stretching below the surface of the Peninsula from sea to sea, -wrapped in the desert sand? - -Maybe! - -And may not the short mountain ranges dotted throughout Arabia’s deserts -be the topmost peaks of that great hidden chain, and the miraculous -waters hidden in the Mountains of Death be part of that lost river, -escaping through its prison walls in the one spot where the rocks have -been worn, during the centuries, by the rush and the fret of the waters -below and the wind and the storm above? - -Fantastic theory. And yet who knows? Who will ever know? - -But there it is, and doubtlessly there it always will be, forming an -inaccessible oasis, with sweet water and groves of date palms, and -stretches of wheat and barley descended from the grain sown from the -Holy Fathers’ scanty store centuries ago; a quiet spot, with cotton -shrubs and vines, coffee plants and _durra_, climbing gentle slopes -covered in rich, coarse grass, and herbs and flowers of every kind which -spring from the seeds blown upon the wind or carried by the birds which -swarm where water is to be found. - -“No mirage, brother,” whispered Yussuf. “Yet must we go warily, with eyes -in our heads and hands upon our weapons, for methinks the inhabitants -hide and spy upon us from the rocks, waiting the fortunate moment to fall -upon us.” - -He passed his hand over the first of a short flight of steps leading -down to the water and worn smooth by the passage of holy feet. “By the -marks upon the steps there is much going and coming, and a good harvest -about us. Food for the eating and for the drinking, water, the beverage -prescribed for man by Mohammed the prophet of Allah, the one and only -God.” He touched the amulet of good luck which hung about his neck and -lay quite still, his hand upon his friend’s arm, looking about him -in the shadows and up at the birds of all sizes which, disturbed by -the intrusion, flew distractedly in every direction. “Stay thou here, -brother. I will drink a while, then will I go and fetch thee dates, and -if I meet the inhabitants of this corner of Paradise, set in the midst of -suffering, will ask of them hospitality—if they be friendly—or the way -back across the hidden path by which we entered if they prove otherwise, -quickening their tongues, if there be hesitation, with this.” - -He loosened the broad, crooked dagger in his cummerbund, and, descending -the rough steps, threw himself down to drink until he came wellnigh -to bursting. Replete, he rose and walked apart some feet and looked -around him and stood amazed, overcome by a strange awe, then, beckoning -Mohammed-Abd who drank at the river’s edge, crept like a shadow across -the plateau and up a steep flight of steps made by the laying of -boulders one upon the other. - -The ruins of the monastery, which had been hidden from the fugitives by a -great mass of jutting rock which swept down almost to the water’s edge, -lay silent, forsaken, upon the natural terraces of the mountainside. In -the strong black-and-white shadow and moonlight the rough walls showed -no sign of the devastating hand of time, and hid the remains of roofs -which, from want of repair, had at last caved in and fallen upon the -rock floors. The windows of the cells, thirty in all, showed like black -patches painted upon a grey background; thirty doorways gaped desolate; -the dust of ages covered stones worn by the passing to and fro of bare -feet, some more, some less, according to the span of years allotted to -each holy man. - -How had the holy men worked? How had they built to the glory of God with -no other implements than their hands and the strength of their muscles -and their vows? - -The walls of the cells, the chapel and the refectory were two feet thick -and built of pieces of granite of various sizes, fitted together in -rough, mosaic fashion; they had stood throughout the centuries just as -they had been put together, without loss of a single stone, just as the -trunks of palms, rough-hewn by patience and sharpened stones, had stood, -in ones or in columns, to support the roofs composed of other trunks of -palms, laid crosswise and covered in laced leaves. - -Later was discovered a place, high upon the mountainside, to the edge -of which boulders, both great and small, had evidently been pushed and -hurled to the rocks below, to be smashed to bits, out of which bits -doubtlessly had been picked the pieces necessary to the task of building. - -How many years had it taken to build the chapel? How much strength to -carry the square slab, which had formed the altar, up the mountainside -and to prop it upon four supports? How much patience to build up the -pointed _façade_ and to pluck out the stones from the middle until a -clear cross, formed by space, showed against the blazing sky or the -star-studded velvet of the night? - -Why had they built? For joy? For penance? The latter probably, for the -buildings, which spread terrace above terrace, must have far outreached -the need of the holy men. - -For many minutes Yussuf stood staring up at this mystery of the desert, -and then, slowly, step by step, pulled by the strength of the unknown, -halting to listen, hastening to gain the shadows, climbed the rough steps -and reached the chapel door. - -He stood staring down at the floor littered with stones and across to the -altar, before which lay a skull, gleaming in a shaft of moonlight. Making -the sign to scare away evil spirits, he stepped across the holy place, -though not for a king’s ransom would he have touched the white bones of -Father Augustine, the last of the holy men, who had laid himself down to -die before the altar, upon which had been roughly chipped a cross. - -“Christians!” whispered Yussuf, slipping the rosary of Mecca between his -fingers. “Infidels!” - -Like a great cat he crept out of the place and up the steps leading to -the thirty cells, where, upon the stone floors, showed the marks made -by the holy men who had fled the world and the luxury of soft beds. He -climbed yet twelve steps more to the refectory, where thirty stones, more -or less flat, stood in the circle the holy men had formed for meals or -recreation; and up again to other buildings, both great and small, built -to what purpose it will never be known; then fled the silent, deserted -place, slipping, stumbling down the steps to the plateau, where waited -his friend. - -Side by side, warily, noiselessly, they climbed to the tombs, high -up upon the western flank, natural caves, upon the floors of which -twenty-nine holy men slept the long sleep, each underneath a mound of -stone. - -They lay there now, for all that is known, waiting for the last trump to -call them back across the quicksands of time. - -They sleep peacefully, undisturbed, for ruthless, savage as were the -men who ultimately threw in their lot with Mohammed-Abd, criminals and -outlaws every one, from every province and every tribe in the Peninsula, -yet they respected the solemnity of that Christian burial ground and left -the sleeping forms in peace. - -And just as the first sunbeam slid over the mountaintops, filling the -rocky bowl with golden light, the two men adopted the place as home. - -An impregnable stronghold; a natural fortress in a waste place; a land of -dates and water, upon which a man or many men could subsist for lack of -better or more tasty nutriment; a citadel surrounded by a sea of death, -yet connected with _terra firma_ by a path of rock, which as a foundation -cannot be bettered. - -“ ... for if we have safely followed in the path of the thirty who sleep -yonder,” argued Mohammed-Abd, looking up to the tombs in the rocks bathed -in the glory of the sunrise; “why should not yet another thirty, fleeing -before the law, and even thrice times thirty, come safely through the -hungry sands? If two horses escaped the death, why should not two camels, -with their feet as big and soft as the heart of one who leans unduly -to the affections, cross that path, and, with violent lamentations and -much urging, make their way down yon rocky road? And if two, why should -not thirty of their brothers and sisters follow as safely, with thirty -Nejdeen stallions and mares, as nimble as goats upon their dainty feet, -behind them? And are we so weak that we could not carry sheep and goats, -in young, across our saddle bows, so that they multiply in this place of -plenty?” He looked up and around, stretching wide his arms. “Is there not -place for man and beast and many of each? And are we not, O my brother, -bidden by the Great Prophet to succour those in distress, are we not?” - -In such-wise did Mohammed-Abd, the ambitious outlaw, with Yussuf as his -right hand, become the head of as daring a gang of brigands as had ever -swept the highways of the desert. - -And all went well with him, his harvests yielding abundantly, his wealth -accumulating, his people and cattle waxing fat and multiplying throughout -the years, until he took unto himself a wife, who died on bearing him a -daughter. - - - - -CHAPTER I - - “_From the afternoon it will appear if the night will be - clear._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Zarah the Cruel leaned on the wall which surrounded the chapel of the -monastery, built by early Christians in the fifth century, and looked -down at two dogs fighting upon the plateau near the water’s edge. - -Twenty years had passed since Sheikh Mohammed-Abd, so called by his men, -who adored him, had adopted the natural stronghold in a desert waste -as home, naming it the Sanctuary, unwitting that he poached upon the -poetical tendencies of the long dead Holy Palladius; fifteen years since -he had taken to wife Mercedes, the beautiful Spaniard, the arrogant -daughter of an impoverished Spanish grandee, who, made prisoner as she -journeyed on business bent across the Arabian Peninsula in the company -of her high-born and feckless father, had condescended to marry the -notorious robber-sheikh in exchange for the liberty of her progenitor and -the safe conduct of himself and his retinue out of the country. She had -condescended to marry him, but in the secret places of her passionate, -adventurous heart she had come most truly to love him, so that the years -preceding the birth of their daughter had been years of happiness; years -in which, although the raids upon caravans and peoples had been as fierce -and bloody as before, the lot of the prisoners had been considerably -lightened, until those who had not the wherewithal to pay the ransom -demanded had come to sing as they set about their tasks of herding -cattle, tending harvests, or working to strengthen and beautify the ruins -upon the mountainside. Those who had the means, or friends altruistic -enough to raise the ransom, had paid it and taken their departure with a -distinct feeling of regret in their hearts. - -Many had thrown in their lot with the outlawed chief, whilst the -physically undesirable had been liberated at once and sent packing on the -homeward track, so that harmony had reigned in the strange place and the -welfare of the brotherhood had increased a hundredfold. - -Three years later Mercedes died, leaving in her stead a woman-child, -upon whom the Sheikh poured out the adoration of his stricken heart. A -strange, quiet woman-child, who had neither cried nor laughed as she had -lain in her father’s arms, staring past him out of tawny, opalescent eyes. - -And as she grew, beautiful, cruel, and as relentless as the desert to -which she belonged, so did unrest and fear and passion grow in the -erstwhile happy community, until women ran and seized their children so -that her shadow should not fall upon them, prisoners shrank at sight or -sound of her, and the men, hating her in their hearts yet hypnotized by -her beauty and her great daring, whispered amongst themselves as they -questioned the one, the other, as to the next whim or new punishment her -ungovernable temperament would invent. - -For an Arabian she was well educated. Vain as a peacock, she forced -herself, loathing it the while, to take advantage of every opportunity of -learning which presented itself, solely with the object of shining before -the men, who, with, the exception of one nicknamed the Patriarch, were as -illiterate as most Arabs are. - -A learned Armenian, a Spaniard and a Frenchman, made prisoners through -an injudicious display of wealth, had each had the sentence of heavy -ransom commuted to that of two years’ instruction to the Sheikh’s almost -ungovernable daughter. - -The Jew had taught her to read and to write whilst thoroughly -appreciating his robber-host’s hearty hospitality; the Spaniard had -taught her his language and the dances of his country whilst enjoying -the wild life he had led between lessons; the Frenchman had taught her -his language and the use of the foils, and had asked for her hand in -marriage, to be thoroughly surprised at a blunt refusal. - -She read everything she could get hold of, lining the reconstructed -walls of two cells, which had once echoed the prayers and witnessed the -austerities of the holy monks, with books brought by caravan from the -port of Jiddah. She could eat quite nicely with a knife and fork and -manipulate a finger napkin with some dexterity, but showed a preference -for her fingers—which she wiped upon the carpet or by digging them into -the hot sand—and her splendid white teeth for the process of separating -meat from bone. - -From her father she undoubtedly came by her magnificent horsemanship and -surpassing skill in the use of weapons of self-defence. - -He delighted in her physical training, spending hours with her either in -a room which had been fitted up as a gymnasium after the counselling of -the Frenchman; or on the plateau, pitting her skill with spear, rifle -and revolver against that of youths of her own age; or away in the -desert riding with the magnificent horses for which he had become famous -throughout the Peninsula. - -Trained to a hair, with a ripple of muscle under the velvety, creamy -skin which the sun barely bronzed, she could, at last, throw an unbroken -horse with any of her father’s followers, or ride it bare-back out into -the mystery of the terrible desert, heedless of its efforts to dismount -her, driving it farther and farther with little golden spurs until, with -its pride shattered and its heart almost broken, she would race it back, -utterly spent, to the shade of the mountains. - -She joined the enthusiastic men in the sports they got up amongst -themselves to pass the monotony of leisure hours, or hunted with them for -the sheer joy of killing, laughing with delight when she brought down -ostrich or gazelle, firing at carrion for the sole purpose of keeping her -hand in, leaving the birds to die where they fell. - -Born and bred in the heat of the tropics, which hastens the physical -development of both sexes in the Eastern races, she was almost full grown -upon her twelfth birthday. She inherited the beauty of her mother, save -for the colour of her hair, which rioted over her head in short curls and -flamed like the setting sun, and the colour of her eyes, which shone like -a topaz in the moonlight or as the storm-whipped desert, according to the -violence or moderation of her mood. Through the Andalusian strain in her -mixed blood she had come by her perfect hands and feet and teeth, and to -the same source was she a thousand times indebted for the grace of her -movements and gait and the assurance of her pose. - -Her father’s tenacity was abnormally developed in her. It had helped him -to cling to life in the first turbulent years in the desolate Sanctuary; -it helped her to beat down his almost indomitable will over matters both -great and small, until, save for an occasional outburst of authority, he -was as wax in her slender hands. Of his great-heartedness, his charity -towards the needy—for whom he so often robbed the wealthy, with much -violence and bloodshed—his justice and understanding, she had not one -particle in her heart of stone, as she had not a glimmer of the humour -and tenderness which had served to balance her mother’s arrogance and -passionate nature. - -In her, the crossing of the races, exaggerating the defects, minimizing -the merits of her parentage, had resulted in a terrible streak of cruelty -which roused a fierce hatred in heart of man and beast. - -Virile, ambitious, relentless, she was cursed from birth by the strength -of her dual nationality. - -Driven, beaten, horses did her bidding, but had never been known to -answer to her call; dogs hated her instinctively, but feared her not one -bit; her arm still showed, would always show, the marks of Rādi’s teeth -when, from an incredible distance, the greyhound bitch leapt upon her to -revenge the death, by drowning, of one pup which had angered the girl by -its continual whimpering. For her life she dared not visit the kennels -unattended. - -She had tried, but had failed to bring about the fall of Yussuf of the -Wondrous Eyes, who loved the Sheikh as a brother, and would have laid -down his life for him if he had so desired. - -She hated him for his beauty, for his indifference towards her, for -the love he inspired in animals—Rādi, the famous greyhound; Lulah, the -fastest mare; Fahm, the priceless dromedary, were all his. - -Allah! how she hated him! - -He responded to her hate with a hate transcending that of his own dog, -the maddened bitch; he had hated her blindly from the very beginning—for -causing the death of the woman who had brought such happiness to his -friend; for usurping her place and his place in the Sheikh’s heart; -for her cruelty, her tyranny, her utter disregard of the happiness and -welfare of others. - -He set himself to thwart the child in every possible way and upon every -possible occasion—craftily, so that none should point to him as the -author of the contretemps which so strangely and so frequently befell her. - -From the day she could understand until the dawn of her tenth birthday -misfortune after misfortune fell upon her, until those who met her, -covertly made the gesture, used all the world over, to avert the evil -eye; whilst the Sheikh tore his beard in secret as he tried to elucidate -the mysteries of the dead mare, the broken spears, the disappearance, -almost within sight of the Sanctuary, of an entire caravan laden with -gifts for her, and other calamities which had befallen his offspring, in -whom, blinded as unfortunately are so many doting parents, he saw no -fault. - -But when the sun rose on the anniversary of Zarah’s tenth year of life, -Yussuf’s hate, as is the wont of unbridled passions, turned back upon -him, whilst tragedy followed close upon his heel as he wended his way to -the Hall of Judgment by one of the many paths he had made, in his love -of solitude, amongst the rocks. Mohammed-Abd looked up at the handsome -face and smiled into the wondrous eyes which looked down into his in such -splendid friendliness and bade him sit beside him on the carpet, upon -which were spread gifts of gold and silver, ivory and glass and silk, to -celebrate the festival. - -“Zarah would ride thy mare Lulah in the _gazu_ this night, little -brother. Behold would she be well mounted when gaining the title of -_Hadeeyah_ by leading the men to the attack, even as did Ayesha, the wife -of Mohammed, the Prophet of Allah, the one and only God.” - -“She would ride Lulah?” replied Yussuf slowly, ignoring the girl -entirely, intentionally, so as to rouse her anger. “Lulah, descendant of -the mare that brought thee safely across the path so many moons ago?” - -As it happened, Zarah did not mind if she rode mare or stallion in her -first raid upon a caravan which had been reported as travelling, heavily -laden, towards Hutah. - -Foiled, up to that very moment, in all her efforts to break or bend the -man she hated with all her heart, she was making one last effort to -triumph over him. - -Incapable of understanding the friendship between the men, -under-estimating Yussuf’s strength of character, believing, in her -colossal vanity, that he was merely the victim of a petty jealousy roused -by her beauty and her power over the Sheikh, she had decided to make her -request before her father upon a day when, so she thought, no one would -dare refuse her anything. - -“Yea! little brother,” replied Mohammed-Abd, “the fastest mare in all -Arabia!” - -Knowing nothing whatever about fortune telling, and merely to plague the -girl, Yussuf, slowly and with an irritating nonchalance, drew certain -signs upon the floor, then spoke, as Fate, who held the strings by which -they were hobbled to their destinies, dictated. - -“I see Lulah flying across the desert sands,” he whispered, “at dawn, -with death upon her back. She flees for her life, with hate, revenge, -hard upon her heels. She stumbles, there is ... nay! I see no more. ’Tis -hidden in the mists of time. But death, death with a crown of red above -her snow-white face, rode her, with hate upon her heels.” - -He looked across at Zarah, who, ridden with superstition, and totally -unaware that he was fooling her, leant far back upon her cushions, one -hand extended, with fingers spread against disaster, the other clutching -an amulet of good luck hanging about her neck. - -He smiled at her terror and shrugged his shoulders, spreading his hands, -palm uppermost, as though to protest against such signs of weakness. The -action, the look in the wonderful eyes, acted as a spur upon the girl, -goading her to maddest wrath. With a mighty effort she controlled herself -and leaned far forward, eyes blazing, her lips drawn back in a snarl of -hate. - -“What has death to do with me?” she cried. “Verily dost thou croak like a -bird of prey. I say that I will ride Lulah, the black mare, _thy_ mare, -as far as anything in the Sanctuary can be thine, who art but a servant. -Hearest thou? I ride Lulah, the black mare!” - -“Behold! have I ears to hear thy words, and eyes to see thy face -distorted in anger! Yet I say that thou shalt _not_ ride the mare.” - -The men who sat in the body of the hall smoking or drinking coffee whilst -listening to the dispute, nudged each other at the sudden, tense silence -which fell between the two. - -“A golden piece, Bowlegs, to the dagger in thy belt that trouble befalls -before the coffee grows cold within the cups,” whispered the Patriarch, -whose benign exterior covered a heart given entirely to gambling. - -Bowlegs, who had gained his unpoetical sobriquet on account of his lower -limbs, which had become almost circular through his infantile desire -to run before he could crawl, laid his dagger on the carpet beside the -golden piece. - -“Nay! Not to-day. Fall the trouble will between the two who love each -other as love the cat and dog, but not upon the tiger-cub’s day of -festival—hist—she speaks.” - -“And why shall I not ride the black mare?” - -Zarah spoke slowly, clearly, whilst the Sheikh looked from the one to the -other in grief and anxiety. - -“Because she is in foal!” - -It was a lie, the girl knew it was a lie, the Sheikh knew it was a lie, -as he leaned forward and tried to catch her hand. - -He was too late. - -“Liar!” she screamed. “Accursed liar!” she screamed again, as she seized -a heavy, cut-glass bowl and hurled it in Yussuf’s face, against which -it smashed to pieces, cutting it to ribbons, a thousand needle-pointed -splinters of glass putting out for ever the light of the wondrous eyes. - - * * * * * - - “_The box went in search of the lid until it met with - it._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -The mistaken love of friends saved him, though would it have been far -kinder to have let him close his blinded eyes in the last long sleep, -from which he would perchance have wakened with a clearer vision and a -better understanding. - -“The will of Allah? Does our brother live or die? Speak quickly lest I -pinch thy windpipe ’twixt thumb and finger.” - -Some many days later the renowned herbalist procured from Hutah, in -the Hareek Oasis, by the simple process of kidnapping, and brought, -blindfolded, by swiftest camel to the curing of the sick man, looked up -at Al-Asad, the gigantic Nubian. - -“He lives,” replied the wizened old man, gently removing the Nubian’s -slender fingers from about his scraggy throat. “But would have died long -ere my advent if it had not been for the tender ministrations of yon -woman Namlah and her son, smitten with dumbness.” - -Al-Asad nodded as he looked to where Namlah, the busy, who had tended the -sick man day and night, stretched out pieces of soft white muslin to dry, -with the help of her son. - -“Aye, verily has she a heart made for mothering. Two apples has she, one -for each eye. Two sons, though which one she loves the most we do not -know. The one who is gifted with speech and is slow of wit, or the dumb -one with a mind like yonder sparkling water? Hey! Namlah! thou busy ant, -wilt give thy boy to the herbalist so that he acquires much learning in -medicine?” - -Namlah clutched her dumb boy to her heart. - -“I will kill him, or her, who takes one of mine from me!” she shrilled, -taking off the amulet of good luck from about her own neck to hang it -round her son’s. “The jewels, the fair name, yea! even the eyes canst -thou take from a woman, but her manchild, never!” - -She spat in the direction of the dwelling where slept the girl upon -whom she waited sometimes as body-woman, whereupon the Nubian laughed -good-naturedly, bidding her keep a hold upon her tongue. - -“Yea! but verily,” said the unsuspecting herbalist, “does the Sheikh’s -daughter need a whip across her shoulders.” - -“And thou thy tongue pulled forth by the roots!” - -Al-Asad, who loved the Sheikh’s daughter with all the strength of his -fierce nature, made an ineffectual grab at the terrified old man as he -shot like a rabbit down the rocky path; then laughed and looked up to -where the girl slept, and fell a-dreaming of the day when, now that -Yussuf was out of the running, he might perchance, by right of force, -step into the Sheikh’s shoes upon his death, to rule the leaderless men -and to wed the fatherless daughter. - -The wounds healed, the fever abated, yet for many days, feigning -weakness, tended by the dumb youth whom he christened “His Eyes,” Yussuf -lay planning revenge for his loss of sight. - -Distraught with pain, unable to control his thoughts in the agony of his -wounds, he finally decided to leave it to time, which did not mean that -he murmured _Kismet_ in the quiet watches of the everlasting night which -had fallen upon him. - -The Oriental submits uncomplainingly to sickness, misfortune and death, -but he sees to it that his revenge is of his own fashioning and one that -will, if possible, descend unto the furthest generation. - -He left his sick bed a seemingly humble, repentant, and forgiving soul, -blaming himself for the disaster and promising to make amends for past -misdemeanour—seemingly; for not for one single moment of the dreary days -and pain-filled, sleepless nights did the thought of revenge leave his -tortured mind. Bereft of the joys of hunting and the daily thrills which -make part of a marauder’s life, he wandered by day, ever guarded by “His -Eyes,” around and about the buildings of the monastery and over the rocks -amongst which they had been built; at night he lay, until the coming of -the dawn he could not see, thinking, planning, discarding, to think and -plan again. - -The second sight of the blind, through touch and auditory nerve, came to -him swiftly, until, at length, sure-footed as a goat, he passed where no -other would have dared to place a foot; of a truth, there did not seem to -be rock, or precipice, or height round, through, or over, which he could -not lead one safely; nor human whom he could not designate by the sound -of his, or her, footfall on sand or rock. - -It approached the uncanny even in the blind, bringing with it a certain -respect from others, who, thinking him possessed of a _djinn_ or evil -spirit of the desert, left him alone, with the exception of Mohammed-Abd -and the half-caste Nubian, who loved him only one whit less than they -loved the girl who had blinded him. - -Refusing all aid, even that of “His Eyes,” he passed days in discovering -and establishing the exact position of the narrow path which stretched -through the quicksands up to the foot of the mountain. Day after day, -night after night, in the cool of sunrise or sunset, in the peace of -star or moonlight, or in the noonday heat, he followed the edge of the -quicksands upon his knees, feeling and digging, until one noon his -slender fingers found that for which they searched. He turned his face -to the sun, and, sure-footed as a goat, picked his way, step by step, -backwards, feeling, feeling with his toes, across the quaking bog to the -spear stuck fast between two rocks. - -There he passed the blazing hours, registering the location of the path -by the lay of the sun upon the rocks and his mutilated face; and never -once, afterwards, did he fail by day to find his way, unaided, either -going out or coming in, across the narrow way. - -He crossed to the desert at night upon the back of either one or the -other of the two animals he loved to ride, and which, with the help of -“His Eyes” and much patience, he trained to negotiate the path without -fear and without help of guiding hand or knee. - -During the training, Lulah, spoilt and sensitive, had wellnigh lost -her life more times than could be numbered; whereas Fahm, the black -dromedary, ambled indifferently across the dangerous path as though its -great, cushioned feet trod the desert sands. - -A magnificent beast, this black _hejeen_ of Oman. - -Brainless as a sheep, swift as the wind, as enduring as it was -obstinate, it was worth the price of many blood-red rubies on account of -its colour, and had fallen to Yussuf as his share of the spoil resultant -upon a sanguinary and none too successful attack upon a caravan of camels -belonging to the great Sheikh Hahmed, the Camel King. - -And with it all he waited, patiently and with the Oriental’s fatalism, -throughout the years, for his revenge upon Zarah the Arabian. - -Subtle, crafty, determined that by his hand alone should punishment fall -upon her, he had argued with and beseeched the Sheikh and his fellow-men -to spare her. Even upon the night of the disaster had he whispered, -between the cut lips held together by the hour in Namlah’s tender -fingers—had whispered in urgent entreaty, until the men, crowding about -his couch, thinking him crazed with fever, touched their foreheads as -they looked at each other and made oath upon the beard of the Prophet to -do so. - -They had thought him crazed with fever then, thereafter they ever thought -him slightly mad. - -They would touch their foreheads when he spoke gently of the girl, and -would shake their heads when he questioned them closely about the suitors -who, afire with the tales of her beauty and her wealth, came themselves -or sent emissaries laden with gifts, piled high on camel back, to ask her -hand in marriage. - -They thought him slightly mad, whereas, if they could but have seen into -his sane and cunning mind, they would have understood that his interest -in the girl’s marriage had root in a great fear that he would so be -cheated of his revenge. - -But Zarah, exceeding proud of the European blood in her veins, had no -wish to wed at an age when European girls were still at school, neither -had she the slightest intention of becoming one of the four wives which -Mohammed the Prophet in his wisdom, knowing the weakness of character -and want of self-control in man, allotted unto the male sex. So that -Yussuf sighed in relief as each suitor, blindfolded, was led back across -the path by which, blindfolded, he had come, and, laden with gifts, set -upon the homeward track. - -Actively, he knew he could do nothing in revenge until Fate whispered in -his ear, but in a hundred ways, a hundred times a day, he made the girl’s -life a burden to her. - -He refused to cover his face, which was no fit sight for man or woman, -and took to haunting her, craftily withal, so that it seemed that by mere -chance his shadow fell so often upon the path she trod. - -She had no escape from him. - -If she passed in a crowd he picked out her footfall; when the place was -full of the sound of the neighing of horses and the barking of dogs, he -could hear her coming, and, quick and silent as a beast of prey, sliding, -slipping, holding by his hands, would reach the spot where, knowing the -turns and twists of every path, he knew that she must pass; he would -stand or sit without movement, staring at her out of sightless orbits, -whilst she, believing him ignorant of her presence, would pass swiftly, -silently, with averted head and fingers spread against misfortune. - -He stood close behind her in the shadows, wrapped in the Bedouin cloak, -as she leaned on the wall watching the fight between the dogs, one of -which had been accepted as a gift by the rejected suitor who, at that -moment, made his adieux to the Sheikh in the Hall of Judgment. - -In the depths of the girl’s startling eyes shone a merciless light; an -amused smile curved the beautiful, scarlet mouth; she clapped her hands -covered in jewels, and, jogged by Fate, laughed aloud at the despair of -the groom who had allowed the dogs to escape from the kennels. - -Jaw locked in jaw, bleeding, exhausted, the dogs were fighting to the -death, but they sprang apart when the sound of the girl’s laughter was -brought to them on the evening breeze and crouched, glaring upwards, -ruffs on end, growling, the anger of the moment forgotten in their hatred -of the woman. - -Furious at the dogs’ display of hatred in front of the attendant, -consumed with a desire to punish them, Zarah turned to run up the steps -leading to the Hall of Judgment where were stacked the weapons of defence. - -“Thy spear!” she shouted to a youth who came towards her from the men’s -quarters. - -She seized it from him and leapt upon the wall, standing straight and -beautiful, her white draperies blown against her by the evening breeze. -She paid no attention to the shouting of the groom; instead, she took -careful aim and laughed as the spear, flashing like silver in the sun -rays, sped downwards and buried itself in the flank of the greyhound -which had been accepted as a gift by her father’s guest. - -Her vanity appeased, she turned away, neither did she look back as she -mounted the steps to her own dwelling. - -Had she but glanced over her shoulder she might have taken a warning from -the terrible look of satisfaction on blind Yussuf’s face. - -“‘The little bird preens the breast, while the sportsman sets his net.’” -He laughed to himself as he muttered the proverb, and passed on into the -shadows and out of sight. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - “_If thou wert to see my luck, thou wouldst trample it - underfoot._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Insolently indifferent Zarah stood, some hours later, in the Hall of -Judgment waiting for the verdict to be passed. - -In outraging her father’s hospitality by killing the dog accepted as -a gift by the guest beneath his roof, she had committed the one sin -unforgivable to the Arab. - -The hospitality of the Arab to-day is as great and as genuine as in the -days of Ishmael and Joktan—of either the one or the other he is supposed -to be the direct descendant. - -Three days is the prescribed limit to the Arab’s bounteousness on behalf -of the stranger within the gates, though, if the guest’s company prove -agreeable it will doubtlessly be offered for a period extending over -weeks, or months, or even years. In any case, however, the three days’ -limit is never strictly adhered to, even if there be but little sympathy -between host and guest, and once the latter has eaten an Arab’s salt -he can count himself as absolutely safe for roof and sustenance, until -courtesy or necessity bids him to move on. The Arab may hate the very -sight of his guest and loathe his habits and disagree entirely with his -views on life, but, whilst aching to see his back, will patiently bear -with him and offer him of his best; he may be longing to know whence his -guest came and whither he goes, but not a question will he ask if the -stranger should not see fit to enlighten him as to his movements; and a -traveller can most assuredly feel at ease about his precious life and -belongings as long as he is under an Arab’s roof—as guest. - -An Arab will give his life for you if you have broken bread with him, -and under the same conditions he will not touch a button or a biscuit -belonging to you, even though he may be wellnigh starving and dressed in -rags himself. - -The Emeer, or ruler, of one of the Wahhabee provinces had come in -person, though secretly, to ask for the hand of the girl, the fame of -whose beauty had been spread throughout the Peninsula by prisoners -who had worked or paid their way back to freedom. He had not come -straightforwardly, because, even in Arabia, the powers that be, -however insignificant, do not openly deal with outlaws. His offer to -include Zarah amongst his wives and to give her all that she might -wish for—within reason—had been refused, not because he already had -three wives and various lesser lights of the harem, who were known to -fight between themselves like cats, or because he was of middle age and -inclined to rotundity, but just because Zarah already had everything -she could wish for, within reason and without, and had no intention of -marrying without love. - -He had proffered his gifts and had accepted his host’s in return, and his -eyes had glistened at the sight of the slender beauty of the greyhound -which, within an hour of his departure, had been killed by his host’s -daughter. - -The Sheikh had many greyhounds; in fact, a pair had been substituted for -the one killed, but that was not the point; the dead dog having been -accepted had become the guest’s property, therefore it had also become -sacred in the eyes of the host and the host’s family and servants. - -The severest sentence, ofttimes that of death, is passed upon those who -break the Arab’s law of hospitality, so that Zarah stood, beautiful, -insolent, alone, in the Hall of Judgment waiting to hear what punishment -the two, so deeply wounded in their pride, would mete out to her. - -And as she stood, knowing the power of her beauty, therefore fearing -naught, she looked indolently round the room, once a monk’s refectory, -and thought in her greedy heart of how it would be decorated to enhance -her power when once she reigned supreme. - -The Sheikh’s taste was rather primitive and inclined more to the useful -than to the ornamental. Prisoners had worked upon the rock floor until -the surface had been made smooth, and upon it had been thrown skins of -the small, ferocious tiger, the panther, the Nejd wolf, and other wild -beasts of the Peninsula, with rugs woven from camel’s hair, patterned in -different colours. - -Great brass bowls, full of water, stood upon the thirty stools of stone, -once used by the holy men as seats, now ranged against the walls upon -which hung weapons of every sort, calibre and age, either honestly bought -in towns or lifted in a raid. Lances or throwing spears, heavy and light, -swords, knives, daggers ornamented with every conceivable device, and -firearms of most genuine antiquity, even match-lock or flint-guns, which, -however, should not be treated with contempt when in the hands of the -Bedouin. He is a splendid marksman, no matter what the age of the weapon -he may handle. - -The Sheikh and his men were magnificently armed, wealth and craft having -procured them their hearts’ delight in the shape of the most up-to-date -rifles and revolvers, which they loved a good deal more than their wives -and almost as much as their sons. - -The two men sat on cushions upon a dais at the end of the hall, the -guest, in the place of honour upon the Sheikh’s left hand, looking -down, perplexed, uneasy, at the beautiful girl who stood so superbly -indifferent just below them. - -She had dressed for the occasion. - -A _Banian_ or Indian merchant, taken prisoner one time, had introduced -and taught the men’s wives and daughters how to manipulate the _sari_. -Zarah had learned from them and had acquired a knack of winding yards -upon yards of stuff about her slender person, as far down as her ankles -and back again to her lissom waist, where she stuffed the ends in. She -had wrapped yards of some glittering, yellow material around her this -day, tightly enough to outline her superb figure but not to impede her -movements as she walked upon her toes and from her hips in a manner -insolent beyond words. Her beautiful arms and neck were bare, her small -feet shod in golden sandals; she wore no jewels and looked young and -innocent and altogether harmless until she looked up and sideways into -the guest’s eyes. - -She sighed a little and clasped her hands just above her heart of flint -and looked down again, well content, believing that the love-stricken man -would be on her side whatever punishment her outraged father should feel -inclined to pass upon her in his terrible wrath. - -“My heart is broken, my pride shattered, the law of my fathers’ fathers -set at naught by thee, O my daughter!” said the Sheikh quietly, as -he sat, torn between a desire to pass the sentence of death upon the -offender and a longing to spare the daughter he loved so much. “Know’st -thou that if my men were to sit in judgment upon thee that they would -drive thee out into the desert to die of hunger and thirst for what thou -hast done to this my guest?” - -Zarah bent her head and stood with hands clasped upon her breast, a -figure of contrition; and it was as well the deluded men were unable -to see the look in her eyes or the twitching of the fingers which were -aching to steal to a very small but very workmanlike automatic she -invariably carried in her girdle. - -“I am at a loss, my daughter. I would not humiliate thee before my men, -who will one day serve under thy ruling because, as the proverb says, -‘Him who makes chaff of himself the cows will eat.’” - -He paused as the guest murmured, “_El hamdoo l’illahy_,” which is the -correct response to the proverb and is translated, “Thanks be to God, -that is not _my_ weakness.” - -There was not a sound as Zarah stood watching the men, nor movement as -the men watched her from under half-closed lids, the guest with thoughts -of her beauty, the father with fear as to which way his tiger-daughter -would spring. - -“Never has a father been so outraged in his honour as I by thee, O Zarah; -never has a guest been so outraged as mine in all the history of the -race.” The Sheikh plucked at his beard as he spoke, a sure sign of anger, -though his soft voice was not raised one tone by the wrath which surged -within him. “I know not how my guest will look upon that which I am about -to propose, nay! nor if I dare to darken the honour of his house by my -proposition.” - -He looked towards the Emeer, who looked back at him, then sat silent, -watching the girl who swayed a little upon her feet like some golden lily -in the wind. - -“Wilt thou O my guest of whom I crave pardon for the insult put upon thee -by my child,” said the Sheikh at last, “wilt thou take her now, bereft of -all dignity, as wife, to serve their Excellencies thy wives as handmaiden -until the stain upon her honour and my honour be wiped out?” - -There was no doubt as in what direction the tiger-daughter would -literally spring. - -She sprang straight forward, eyes blazing, face distorted with rage, -looking from one man to the other and back as, without waiting to see how -the Emeer would take the suggestion, she flung a proverb of protest at -him. - -“Nay! Nay! Nay!” she screamed. “‘My meat and his meat cannot be cooked in -the same pot!’” - -“Peace, daughter!” said the Sheikh sharply, “lest I drive thee myself -out into the desert to die. All that is mine is my guest’s, my bread, my -horses, my wealth and _thou_, if he will deign to look upon thee.” - -He spoke with the Oriental’s habitual extravagance of speech, but, under -the agony of the blow dealt his pride by his daughter, with the firm -intention of giving all he possessed to the insulted man if by so doing -he could obliterate the stain upon his own name. “Wilt have her, with -jewels and horses and cattle and slaves, O my guest?” - -The Emeer slowly shook his shaven turbaned head. - -The offer was tempting indeed, but the brief insight into the girl’s -character, allied to the memory of the warring factions already -established in his house, had decided him. - -He was getting on in years, with a liking for peace, good food and long -hours of sleep; his line was firmly established, his fortune big enough -to buy or hire maidens for the song or the dance. - -Why run the risk, he had argued to himself during the altercation -between his host and the girl, of keeping a caged tiger which, in all -probability, would maul the household if let loose, when tame cats, using -their claws only upon each other, could be kept safely at large? - -“‘More just than a balance’ art thou, O my brother” he quoted, stroking -his beard, “but not for one thousand _woebe_ filled with gold pieces and -precious stones would I of her.” - -In her fury at the man’s indifference and the insult to her beauty, Zarah -brought her punishment upon herself. - -“Thou wouldst not of _me_!” she stormed, as she stepped back and threw -out her arms. “Of _me_! _Thou_, with thy beard thinning upon thy ageing -face and thy person rounded as a mosque beneath thy belt.” She laughed -shrilly, looking like some trapped, wild beast, with her flashing yellow -eyes and perfect teeth. “Look to thy black slaves for thy cooking, to thy -withered wives for dance and song. I have the blood of the whites in me, -I——” - -“’Tis a pity,” said the Emeer, making a gesture of resignation before the -verbal storm which hurtled about his head. “Yea! ’tis a pity that thou -dost not go to thy mother’s people and so rid our race of one who does it -no honour!” - -“Ah!” softly exclaimed Sheikh Mohammed-Abd, as he let slip the rosary -of Mecca between his fingers. “Well said, O my guest! Thou showest the -way, thou hold’st a torch to lighten my feet in the darkness; through thy -words of wisdom shall peace fall upon my dwelling for a space and the -whip upon the shoulders of she who has disgraced me.” - -The men sat silent, the amber mouthpieces of the _nagilehs_ between their -lips, whilst Zarah, utterly undaunted, filled in the time by smoking -innumerable cigarettes with her back turned to the dais, which childish -and uncontrolled action caused the Emeer to smile in his thinning beard. - -The Arab delights in deliberation and procrastination, and it is wise to -let him talk round and round his subject or, if it please him better, to -sit for long moments, even to the length of an hour, communing with his -thoughts. - -“Yea,” gently said the Sheikh at the end of twenty minutes’ hard -thinking, “it is ordained. Thou, Zarah, O my daughter, shalt go to the -big school in Cairo where attend the daughters of the whites who sojourn -for a while in Egypt, and there shalt thou learn the manners and customs -of thy mother’s people.” - -If he had proposed strangling the girl on the spot she could not have -shown more horror. - -“Thou wilt send me to Cairo,” she cried, flinging round, “_me_, who must -one day, even at thy death, rule in thy stead. Nay! Make not the sign -against the evil day, for die thou _must_. Thou art mad, O my father, -nearing thy dotage or distraught or sick of a fever. What can they do, -these white folk, to make me more than I am? Can they enhance my beauty -by their ugly raiment? Or teach me anything that I do not know about -horses or the dance, or soften my voice by teaching me their language, -which sounds like the hissing of snakes caught in a basket; can they?” - -“Nay! they cannot!” indifferently replied the Sheikh, who was as easy -to move as a pyramid once his mind was set upon a project. “But they -can teach thee to eat even as did thy mother and less like a dog with a -bone between its teeth; also can they drive home the duty of a daughter -towards her father’s guests. For two years shalt thou sojourn amongst the -stranger, then will I marry thee to whomsoever I will, if perchance there -be a man who will look with favour upon one who has so dishonoured the -name of her father.” - -The Emeer, who was thoroughly enjoying the taming of the beautiful shrew, -nodded his head in approval, whereupon the girl’s hand slipped to her -girdle. She was mad with rage, ripe for direst mischief, ready to kill -through the workings of her untutored mind, but she reckoned without the -Sheikh, who had not ruled a band of outlaws for nothing. - -As her hand slipped to her girdle he sprang, and, catching her by the -wrist, flung her to the floor, wrenching the pistol from her fingers, -whilst the Emeer sat unmoved, nodding his turbaned head. - -She was on her feet in an instant, breathless, undaunted, magnificent in -her fury. - -“O _thou_,” she cried, “who thinkest that a woman can be quelled by -threats. Thou canst not even keep me by thy side. I leave this place for -ever to-night, taking with me the men who, in their youth and strength, -love _me_, leaving thee the grey-beards and women and children. O! thou -fool, thou _fool_!” - -She turned and ran swiftly across the hall as the Sheikh clapped his -hands; she stopped dead as two gigantic Abyssinian slaves suddenly -appeared in the doorway to inquire their master’s bidding. - -“Let loose the greyhounds for the night!” curtly commanded the Sheikh. - -The slaves pressed the pink palms of their dusky hands against their -foreheads and turned to go. - -With a mighty effort Zarah played for her position as future ruler of the -two servants, and won. - -“Bring me first my body-women—here—at once!” - -The two slaves stood like graven images for an infinitesimal fraction of -a second, whilst she looked them full in the eyes, then they bowed to the -very ground before her and departed—to do her bidding. - - - - -CHAPTER III - - “_Suspicious, treacherous, remote from good works._”—ARABIC - PROVERB. - - -Neither storms of tears nor threats of suicide having proved potent -enough to alter the Sheikh’s decision, Zarah, with as good a grace as she -could muster, had acknowledged a temporary defeat and resigned herself -to a visit of two years’ duration to the well-known school for young -European ladies over the age of fifteen in Cairo. - -The school, exclusive, expensive, was looked upon more as a home from -home, where distracted mothers could deposit the offspring they had not -had the sense to leave behind in cooler climes; as an establishment where -angles could be rounded and manners polished rather than a seminary where -such dull things as grammar and arithmetic could be learned. - -The Misses Cruikshanks had spent the hours they should have passed in the -_siesta_ in threshing out the question of introducing a pupil of mixed -parentage into the society of the pure-bred, if somewhat insipid, young -women entrusted to their charge. - -“We have made it our strictest rule, Jane. Europeans _only_!” - -“We have, Amelia, and Maria Oporto, the dull little Portuguese, is almost -as swarthy and dense as the new scullery-maid who is a mixture of Arab -and Abyssinian!” had countered Jane, who kept the books and knew to a -_piastre_ what the new wing, with the gymnasium, was going to cost. - -“We may lose our entire connexion if we break it, Jane.” - -“Not if we emphasize the title of her maternal grandfather. Remember, -he was a Spanish nobleman. Besides, look at the terms offered. No -interference from the father, who is evidently a person of great position -in Arabia, fees for two years which will come to as much, if not more, -than the fees for all the pupils put together for three years, and extra -for holidays if we will keep her with us.” - -“Of course, we might make enough to buy a cottage in Cornwall and retire, -if we took the plunge, Jane.” - -“We might, if you think we could exchange _this_ for east winds and grey -skies.” - -They had both turned and looked out through the open window to the -intense blueness of the sky, the glare of the sun, and the green of the -palms tossing in the light breeze. - -The school stood in the European quarter, within a stone’s throw of the -_Midan_ where the young ladies, whose parents could afford the extra -course in riding, exercised and worried their riding master’s patience -and their mounts to fiddle-strings before breakfast twice a week. - -All the joyous or irritating noises, according to your mood, of a big -Egyptian city had come to the spinsters’ ears as they had sat, uncertain, -weighing the pros and cons of the problem. - -“If we break the rule just this once—and after all she is half Spanish—we -might be able to go round the world before retiring,” had tempted Jane, -who hadn’t the slightest intention of giving up work until she dropped -dead between the shafts of enterprise. - -“And I dare say she will be a dear, gentle, little soul, with big brown -eyes and pretty ways,” had replied Amelia, surrendering unconditionally. - -The “gentle little soul” swept down upon Jane and Amelia Cruikshanks like -a tornado, leaving a trail of wreckage in her path. - -She duly arrived at midday, on camelback, alone, surrounded by an -armed escort, with half a dozen snarling dromedaries, laden with gifts, -bringing up the rear. - -A shouting, delighted crowd from the streets surged into the school -grounds in the wake of the dromedaries, trampling down the sparse flowers -and the cherished grass; the girls refused to move from the windows in -response to the bell for tiffin, and screamed with delight when the -boot-boy inadvertently opened the door of a cage containing six black and -white monkeys and allowed them to escape into the house. - -Having sworn some unprintable oaths and lain her whip smartly across the -shoulders of the camel driver who had not shown himself over-deft in -getting her camel’s legs tucked under, Zarah swept regally into the cool -hall. She made a startling picture in blazing magenta satin embroidered -in gold, as she greeted the Misses Cruikshanks. They quaked visibly -at the knee—at least Amelia did—whilst the armed escort, in concert -with the school servants, packed the hall with bales of silk, boxes of -sweetmeats, cages of birds, trays of jewels, and exquisite pots in brass -and earthenware. Amelia trotted forward in greeting, and nearly swooned -under the overpowering scent which emanated from the new pupil’s raiment, -whilst Jane eyed her from veiled head to dainty sandal and, being an -infallible judge of character by dint of sheer practice, set her mouth. -Her heart, heavy through the school-books which had shown a distinct -deficit, had been considerably lightened when the Sheikh had paid her in -advance half the fees due for the taming of his child; and she had not -the slightest intention of refunding that thrice-blessed sum, even if she -had to emulate Job for a period of two years, whilst breaking in the girl -committed to her care. - -“I’m here and I’m hungry!” said Zarah, in French, in response to Miss -Amelia’s greeting, who thereupon withdrew her hand with a hurt look in -her gentle, blue eyes. - -“Are you?” decisively replied Jane, who adored the sister she ruled. -“Then you’d better come and join the other girls at tiffin after you’ve -washed your hands.” - -Zarah walked slowly across to the insignificant looking little woman, -with the snap in the blue eyes and the kink in the reddish hair, and -smiled. - -“Behold! we are sisters in command. I rule men, you women. It will, I -think, O Sister, rest with you if I stay or no!” - -“You’re staying!” flatly replied Jane Cruikshanks. “Come and wash your -hands.” - -“I wash them after food.” - -“You wash them before, here. Come!” - -Half a moment’s hesitation and Zarah turned to follow the one person who -was ultimately to win her respect, if not her affection. - -“I will first command my men to depart.” - -The girls hung out of every window, the servants peeked round the corners -of the house, a still greater crowd collected to watch beautiful, -disdainful Zarah when she appeared at the door and raised her right hand -as a sign of dismissal to the armed escort. - -A firework display could hardly have been more entrancing to the native -onlookers than the escort’s departure. - -With a shout the men flung themselves into their saddles, pulled their -horses until they reared, fired a salvo of farewell, and tore through -the gates like a cyclone, homeward bound; upon which Miss Amelia, who -believed in doing her duty against the most appalling odds, trotted out -to fetch the girl in. - -“My dear!” she said sweetly, “I’m afraid the rice will be somewhat -heavy if you delay much longer, oh! and look, they have forgotten the -dromedaries!” - -“They are a gift from the Sheikh, my father,” replied Zarah, as she bent -low before the astounded little school mistress. “To the honoured head -of the house in which his daughter is to dwell!” - -“Quite so, my dear, quite so. I’m delighted with the pets. Come with me!” -replied Miss Amelia, who could always be depended upon to rise to any -occasion, and who secretly returned thanks that the great Sheikh had not -seen fit to send six oxen as well. - -The heads of the house withdrew, after the usual introduction of the new -pupil to the older ones had taken place and a little speech of welcome -been made by Helen Raynor, the head of the school. She was the girls’ -ideal, before whose shrine they offered the incense of their girlish -hero-worship, and was leaving next day to act as secretary to her -grandfather who, an expert in the sinking of wells, was known all the -world over as Egypt’s Water Finder. - -Zarah, accustomed to cushions on the floor, sat down uncomfortably on a -chair at the end of the table and finally drew her feet up under her, to -the delight of the girls who surreptitiously nudged each other until they -met the reproachful eyes of Helen Raynor, their best-beloved and model in -all things. - -They gasped when Zarah, whose thoughts were anywhere but on the doings of -the moment, took a handful of rice from the bowl passed down the line, -and stuffed a fair quantity between her teeth with her jewelled, hennaed -fingers, which she proceeded to wipe forthwith on the table-cloth; but -when she made use of her beautiful teeth to tear the meat from the -drumstick of the emaciated fowl which followed the rice, then Maria -Oporto, whose own methods of mastication were unduly audible and left -much to be desired, burst into a peal of uncontrollable laughter. - -The laughter did not last long, for the simple reason that, with unerring -aim and almost as though she handled a loaded stick, Zarah flung the -chicken bone full in Maria Oporto’s swarthy face, hitting her straight -across the mouth; whereupon, taking no notice of Helen Raynor, as lovely -in her golden hair and blue eyes and exquisite skin as was Zarah in her -dusky beauty, when she rose to quell the tumult which broke out at the -table, Maria Oporto, in floods of tears, subsided on the floor. - -“Girls!” Helen cried above the uproar that ensued, “do remember what is -expected of us towards a new boarder, and play up for the courtesy of the -house; at present, you are being simply vulgar.” There fell a complete -silence. “It’s ten to one if any of us were lunching with the friends of -our new companion that they would find our habits unusual, not to say -strange.” - -She smiled across at Zarah, who sat sullenly, without a smile, victim -of a sudden, violent jealousy of the other girl’s charm and beauty and -breeding. - -Yet might all have gone well if Maria Oporto had not lifted her swarthy -face, stained with a mixture of gravy and tears, above the edge of the -table. - -“Yes!” she shrilled at Zarah in execrable Spanish, “and it’s a pity Helen -Raynor’s going away to-morrow or you might have learned how to behave -from her. She’s wonderful, and beautiful, and the dearest darling in the -whole world, but you will never, never, _never_ be anything like her, you -couldn’t, you’re a savage, that’s what you are, a _savage_!” - -Followed a strangely dramatic scene. - -Zarah, daughter of the desert, gifted with the Eastern’s prophetic -powers, rose slowly to her feet, gripping the back of her chair with one -hand as she pointed at the English girl with the other. - -“I do not know who you are, English girl,” she said in French, “nor -whence you came or where you go, but our paths have crossed at the place -appointed by Fate, and they will cross and recross, and you will hold -what I desire, and I will wrest it from you.” Her great eyes, the colour -of the desert sand, opened wide as she leant forward in the shuttered -room, staring far beyond Helen Raynor and far beyond the room and the -garden wall outside, into the future. She spoke quietly, as though to -herself, and the girls and Jane Cruikshanks, who stood unnoticed in the -doorway, shivered slightly as they listened. “I know not what I have to -learn from you unless it is pain, English girl; I know not what it is -that you hold and I desire, for behold! I see myself upon the topmost -peak of a high mountain and you as dust beneath my feet. And I see steps, -and coming up the steps one who turns his face from me to you so that I -see naught but a scar upon his forehead. I can see no more. I—I——” - -She backed from the table and stood against the wall, unconsciously -dramatic under the power of the gift of prophecy, which had come to her -with her father’s blood, then turned and left the room. - -Jane Cruikshanks, who had never been known to miss an opportunity, -immediately stepped forward and poured the cold water of common sense -and reasoning upon the conflagration of immature romance which flared -in the twenty young hearts around the dining-room table: explained and -suggested things, until the girls declared themselves as only too willing -to co-operate in the task of civilizing the new arrival. - - * * * * * - - “_Sometimes love has been planted by one glance alone._”—ARABIC - PROVERB. - -It proved no easy matter. - -Stifled in the narrow confines of the best bedroom, Zarah smashed the -windows on the first night and plumped her mattress on the verandah, and, -waking at dawn, as was her custom in her mountain home, sprang at the -gardener, who gazed enraptured upon the sleeping beauty, causing him to -fall backwards down the steps and twist an ankle; upon which disaster, -and in an effort to stop his vociferous lamentations, she dashed into -her bedroom, and, through the broken window, flung a bag of gold at him, -which, catching him in the chest, caused him to forget the hurt to his -ankle and to fall upon his knees with his face turned towards Mecca in -thanksgiving for the unexpected stroke of good fortune. - -Undisciplined, uncontrolled, miserable through want of occupation and -interest in those about her, she simply refused to work or to obey in any -way, until silver streaks appeared in Amelia Cruikshanks’ mousey, scanty -hair. - -The first day after her arrival she flung her entire silken wardrobe on -the ground and her magnificent jewellery on the top, and stamped on it -all when the maid came to tidy the litter, then cursed the terrified -menial until she fled the room and rushed to the distracted maiden -sisters to give notice. - -When Amelia Cruikshanks, greatly fearing, approached the new pupil with -a cotton skirt and blouse and necessary under-garments, and gently -intimated that they would become her better than the heavily embroidered -silks and satins and jewellery she wore, she tore the offending articles -to ribbons and wound herself from neck to heel in something scarlet and -of a great daring. She boxed the servants’ ears with one hand and loaded -them with gifts with the other, until their time was fully occupied in -running to give notice and running back to retract it. She smoked in bed -and all over the house, and trailed into class heavily scented, laden -with jewels, beautiful, arrogant, scornful, to sit cross-legged upon the -floor watching the girls from under her heavily fringed lids. The third -day after her arrival she lounged into the room where Signor Enrico was -essaying to find a golden thread among a British damsel’s throaty vocal -chords, and, seizing a guitar from the wall, sang a passionate Arabian -love song in her glorious contralto until the whole house crept to the -door to listen and the professor tore his hair in rapture. - -She sat up o’ nights for the best part of the first week brooding upon -the incident of the chicken bone and the insult with which Maria Oporto’s -derisive words had scorched her memory. So deeply did she resent the -incident, for so long did she brood, that she ended by hating the very -memory of Helen Raynor and her beauty and her influence over the house. - -It is not wise to jest with the Arab, but it is absolutely fatal to hold -him up to ridicule. He will revenge the pleasantry at his expense sooner -or later, even if he has to wait for years or even a lifetime; even if he -has to leave this world with the task unaccomplished, handing it down as -a heritage to his children. - -“_Savage!_” she said, as she watched the sunset on the first night of her -arrival. “_Savage!_ I will make that toad-faced daughter of a cross-eyed -she-camel eat her words mixed with bitterness before we part. I will make -them, all of them, the pale-faced daughters, the plank-bodied elders, the -miserable servants, acknowledge _me_ as queen in this barren dwelling -before my two years of prison are spent. I will make them forget the -English girl as though she had never been, and when I meet her again, -the haughty, contemptuous, Helen Raynor-r-r, for it is written that we -shall meet, I will make her wish that death had smitten her before the -crossing of our paths. By ——” She swore a mighty oath as the sun slipped -behind the far horizon; she repeated it at every sunset, and she kept it, -spurred to its fulfillment by Jane Cruikshanks, who tumbled to the one -way of making the girl walk upon the road which stretched in the contrary -direction to that primrose path of dalliance upon which she desired to -travel. - -“Wait, my dear Amelia!” Jane said at the end of the first two tempestuous -months as she brushed her crisp hair, whilst Amelia voiced the -desirability of returning the girl to her father. “She is learning -slowly, but she is learning; I can see a difference already, although she -_is_ too proud to confess to room for improvement. When we find something -to _really_ interest her, _then_ we shall be secure. I told her she -was not quick enough to learn English. What is the result? She already -speaks a few words. I tell her she is too clumsily built to wear European -clothes. What do we see, or, rather, what do we not see? She wears a -riding corset, many sizes too big for her it is true, but she wears it, -also shoes with heels as high as the Great Pyramid. I repeat, we have but -to find something that will really interest her and she will not want to -leave us.” - -The riding lessons proved the cure for the homesickness which overwhelmed -the Sheikh’s daughter. - -She went out one morning to watch the riding-master put six of the girls, -and the hacks they rode more or less intelligently, through their paces, -and stayed to make rings round the man and to terrify the girls by the -marvellous stunts she performed on the master’s horse. She sent a courier -for her own stallion, a pure white, pure bred Nejdee, to receive instead -six mares which she presented to the Misses Cruikshanks as a gift from -her father, with the intimation that he made himself responsible for -their upkeep and stable fees. - -She established a class of her own for special riding lessons, to which -she invited a chosen few; she secretly trained the least gentle of the -mares to buck and rear at the word “Oporto”; she lured Maria Oporto on -to the beast’s back and put the girl through half an hour which nearly -proved her end. - -“It’s a pity you can’t stick on!” she cried scornfully when the -Portuguese fell at her feet in a sitting position and with a most -resounding thud. “You might learn to ride if you did. The mare’s -wonderful and beautiful and the dearest darling in the world, but you’ll -never, never, _never_ ride, you couldn’t, you’re a sack of potatoes, -that’s what you are, a sack of potatoes.” - -The first shoot of the poisonous weed of revenge rooted in her heart. - -Little by little she changed outwardly, until Amelia and Jane Cruikshanks -came to look upon her as one of their best pupils, plus a millionaire in -the way of a father. - -“How beautifully she sits, and walks, and behaves at table,” said Amelia -to Jane as they watched Zarah in the grounds one morning in the middle of -her last term. “What a credit to us when she goes with the elder girls to -a theatre or a dance. How attractive to the opposite sex——” - -“And yet, how dignified, almost scornful!” - -“How beautiful in her European clothes, and how sweetly obedient in -wearing them and in only smoking three times a day, and then in the -seclusion of her bedroom.” - -“Yes! But I am glad we allowed her to wear her native dress every morning -when she rides by herself on the Midan before anyone is about. One cannot -be too severe with an opening little heart like hers.” - -“We shall be simply lost without her—how quick she is in her studies—how -generous——” - -“Yes, indeed. Did you know that she found little Cissie Jenkins in tears -this morning and gave her a silver bracelet and a big box of Turkish -delight to comfort her?” - -She hadn’t. - -She had struck the child for no cause whatever, in a sudden flash -of the cruelty which had earned her her nickname, even amongst her -father’s savage followers, and which deep down, lay dormant, fierce and -terrible, under the veneer of breeding with which the deluded little -school-mistresses had plastered her. She had bribed the child to silence -with gifts, whilst longing to strike the podgy little face again; she -craved for the end of the term when she could tear the stifling European -clothes from her, eat with her fingers, sit cross-legged, and smoke all -day long if she so pleased. - -One thing she had learned in her sojourn amongst the whites, which, -for a time, was to enable her to establish herself as a very ruler of -uncivilized men. - -She had learnt the rudiments of self-control. - -Where she had leapt blindly under the lash of her ungovernable temper, -she now waited, giving her crafty brain time to work; where she had once -stormed and raved, she now shrugged her shoulders and smiled with a “I -will give you my answer later. I must have time to think.” - -Admired for her beauty, envied for her brilliance, liked for the -seemingly generous way in which she flung money to beggars and gifts to -all and sundry, yet she had failed to take Helen Raynor’s place in the -hearts of those who had known her, so that she cherished an incredible -hatred for the girl who had done her no harm whatever. - -She stood on the verandah this morning, an hour before breakfast, waiting -for her _syce_ to bring her mare, staring across the grounds towards -the Midan where guests of the Hotel Savoy also waited for their horses; -stared without seeing them or Fate crouching under the cactus hedge which -separated the school grounds from the Midan. - -She was almost at the zenith of her beauty, which, in the East, buds, -blossoms, and fades almost in the passing of an hour; she was infinitely -good to look upon, as thought the gardener who had gazed upon her the -first night of her arrival, as he peered in admiration at her from behind -a clump of shrubs this day—her last in the school if she had but known it. - -She wore satin trousers so voluminous that they hung like a skirt when -she did not move; a full short-sleeved chiffon vest under a black velvet -bolero, sandals on her feet, a scarlet belt about her slim waist and an -orange-coloured flower in her rebellious curls. - -As she stood waiting, she idly compared the men who had come as suitors -for her hand to her mountain home just over two years ago, with the -European men she had met in her short excursions into the world under the -wing of a schoolmate’s mother, stationed in Cairo. - -She smiled and shrugged her shoulders and reached for a pomegranate into -which, knowing herself to be alone, she drove her teeth in none too -dainty a manner. - -“Love,” she said, as she laughed. “What have I, who will one day rule, to -do with men? If love is to come to me, to me it will come. ‘Thy beloved -is the object that thou lovest, were it even a monkey.’” She laughed -again as she quoted the Arabian proverb. “_Kismet!_ let love come to me, -I will even conquer love!” - -She spread her fingers against the Arab’s belief in the ill-luck of even -numbers as a clock struck six, and ran to the top of the steps at the -sound of shouting from the Midan. - -Shouting and a scream and the thunder of a horse’s hoofs. She clapped -her hands in delight at the sound, knowing that a horse, with the bit -between its teeth, was heading straight for the cactus hedge and trouble; -thrilled from head to foot, and ran down the steps towards the spot -where, her desert-trained ear told her, the horse was making for; raised -herself on tiptoe and laughed aloud at the sight of the terrified, -riderless beast racing towards her. - -“Blind and mad with fear,” she thought as she stood waiting. - -Terror is just the one thing that will take a horse over a cactus hedge -with its dagger points as strong as steel; on ordinary occasions you may -use your spurs or your whip or try coaxing or deception, only to find -that your horse will rear or plunge or roll or stand stock still, shaking -with fear, rather than approach within yards of the deadly barrier. - -Terrified by a newspaper which had been blown into its face by the -breeze, Bustard, thoroughbred stallion and Ralph Trenchard’s favorite -mount, had broken from his _syce_ and made for the open, heedless of the -prickly fence which stretched between the white thing that had jumped -from the ground and struck him across the eyes, and liberty. - -Tucking his hindquarters well under, he cleared the hedge with a inch -to spare and landed magnificently by the side of the girl who, judging -to a nicety the infinitesimal pause which follows a landing, caught the -flowing mane and was into the saddle before the great beast had realized -that a human was anywhere near. Shouts of “_Wah-wah!_” and “By gad! well -done!” came from the Midan where the riders rode up to the hedge to see -what was happening, whilst those girls who were advanced enough in their -toilet tore from the school-house to witness this fresh escapade of the -Sheikh’s daughter. - -Recognizing the stallion as a Nejdee, which, being translated, means -perfection in horseflesh, Zarah did not attempt to use the reins; she -rode with her knees, talking soothingly, calling the beautiful beast -by soft names in the language of his own country until, bit by bit, he -slackened from the runaway gallop to a canter, a canter to a trot, then -stopped dead a few yards away from the school gates. - -Zarah looked over her shoulder and thrilled again; this time with a great -desire to show her power over horses to the onlookers, but especially to -her schoolmates, who seemed to think that life consisted of wearing the -right clothes and eating from the end of a fork. - -She turned Bustard and took him at a canter to the place in the hedge -where the cactus was well hidden under a mass of creeper; she smiled -when, scenting mischief, he danced sideways and shook his handsome head, -and took him back over and over again, talking to him until at last he -stood quite still and tried to nibble the nearest leaf. By the same -token, if she had been by herself and wearing her golden spurs, she -would have raked the satiny sides with the needle points until she had -forced him over through sheer agony. Instead, aware of spectators, she -took him back to the far side of the grounds, turned him, called to him, -rode him at a thundering gallop at the hedge and lifted him magnificently -over, failing to notice what looked like an overhanging branch, but was -really a finger of Fate, which swept her out of the saddle and senseless -into Ralph Trenchard’s arms. - -She opened her eyes and looked into the handsome face as he carried her -across the grounds. “You,” she said, raising her hand to touch a scar -upon his forehead, then smiled at the stirring of love in her heart. “I -knew you would come, for so it is written,” she whispered, and relapsed -into unconsciousness just as Jane Cruikshanks ran from the house, -followed by a stately Bedouin, who had been sent by the dying Sheikh to -fetch his daughter home. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - “_Him who goodness will not mend, evil will not mend._”—ARABIC - PROVERB. - - -Zarah stood at the point of the great V which cleft the outer ring of the -mountains, and from which started the path leading down to the plateau. - -That the dying Sheikh’s daughter was expected there was no doubt, as -showed the bonfires upon the mountain’s highest peaks, streaking the -purple, starlit sky with orange flames; yet, save for the Arab who stood -patiently near the spear which marked the beginning of the hidden path, -with the camels which had brought them safely and at full speed across -the desert and the quicksands, there was neither sign of life nor shout -of greeting nor firing of rifles in salutation. - -She looked back across the limitless, billowing desert, showing under -the stars like a great ocean of endless, unbroken waves frozen into -immobility as they surged from north to south, by some magician’s hand. -She laughed softly at the thought of the civilization she had dropped, -as one drops an outworn cloak from about the shoulders, and had left for -ever upon the outskirts of the great desert of which she was the child. -She looked ahead into the future and down the narrow path dividing her -from the dying man, over whose kingdom in the heart of the mountains she -would so shortly rule. - -Giving no thought to her father in her utter selfishness, she laughed -aloud in sheer delight at the picture conjured up by her ambition, -laughed until the sweet, soft notes were flung against the rocks by the -hot wind from the south and carried through the cleft down to the open -space where they were thrown in echo, from this side to that side over -the sparkling waters until they broke and were lost in the baying of the -great dogs which, eyes red with hate and ruffs upstanding, fought to get -out of the kennels so as to reach the woman they hated. - -She shivered at the sound, although the hot wind from the south enfolded -her like a blanket, and, suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to see some -living creature in the place of death and shadows, took a quick step -forward, then shrank behind a rock. - -Upon a ledge, high up on the mountainside, to which it seemed that only a -goat could possibly have climbed, sat blind Yussuf, singing to himself: -“‘The corn passeth from hand to hand, but it cometh at last to the mill.’” - -He sang the words of the proverb as he sat staring down at Zarah the -Cruel as though he had eyes in the scarred face with which to see her. - -“It cometh at last to the mill! It cometh at last to the mill!” - -He repeated the words over and over again whilst the rosary of Mecca -slipped between his sensitive fingers, and the girl, steeped in the -superstition of her race, spread hers in the gesture to ward off -misfortune and touched an amulet of good luck which hung about her neck. - -Did he know she was there? Had he come, ironically, to welcome her and -to bid her hasten to her father’s side, as had bidden the man who had -awaited her at Hutah with swiftest camels? Or had he, dire figure of ill -omen, been set upon her path by Fate this night, when the scorching wind -blew from the south heralding the storm? There was no time to ponder the -question; there was only just time enough in which to register a vow to -lay some cunning trap into which the blind man should set his feet and -find his death as though by dire mischance. No! there was no time, for -she suddenly fathomed the meaning of the intense silence and stillness, -and, gathering her draperies about her, slipped as noiselessly as some -tiger cat under the ledge upon which the blind man sat, and down the -steep path. - -She did not look up, she did not look back, else might she have seen the -face of Yussuf the blind turned in her direction, with the scarred mouth -twisted in a smile. She sped as quickly as the path would allow her, -spurred by the thought of the men who, gathered round their dying chief, -only waited for the failing heart to cease beating to acclaim one of -themselves as his successor in her place. - -She knew full well the man who would be chosen if she failed to reach her -father in time. Even Al-Asad, half-caste, bloodthirsty, ambitious, as -physically powerful as the lion after which he had been named, outcast -from the Benoo-Harb tribe, but more through the fact that his father -had been a Nubian slave than for the crimes he had committed in the -light-heartedness of youth. - -As she ran she conjured up a picture of the man who had taken blind -Yussuf’s place at her father’s right hand and who had dared to look at -her with something more than the respect due to the Sheikh’s daughter in -his handsome eyes. - -There was no sign of any man as she fled across the plateau, neither—the -hour for sleep having come for the women and children—was there sound of -life, but a great light shone through the barred windows of the Hall of -Judgment far up on the mountainside. She raced up the steps and stood, -breathless, in the doorway, unseen by the men gathered about the man -whom they loved and who lay dying of the wounds received in the last -great fight with the Bedouins, who had fallen upon the brigands as they -peacefully returned, with much spoil, from raiding a caravan journeying -towards Oman. - -Knowing the effect of mystery upon her race, she wrapped herself in her -great white cloak, pulled the veils about her face and a yashmak beneath -her eyes, which flashed with no soft light. She cursed beneath her breath -when the men rose and spoke together, looking towards Al-Asad, who -stared down at the Sheikh lying so quietly at his feet. - -She had arrived too late; her father had died without blessing her and -proclaiming her his successor. - -She cared nothing about the blessing, but she knew that without the -proclamation she stood no earthly chance against the claim Al-Asad would -enforce through sheer brute force. - -Superstition helped her in her need. - -She believed that the soul lingered in the body for three days after the -heart had ceased to beat, and she acted unhesitatingly, fearlessly, upon -the belief. - -She bent and picked up a lance lying upon the ground, and raised it above -her head just as, without seeing her in the shadows, the men moved in a -body towards Al-Asad. - -She pitted her indomitable will against the mighty power of death, she -flung it across the space which divided her from her father, and, for a -fraction of time, pulled him back to the world he had loved exceeding -well. - -“Hail! father!” she shouted. - -“Hail! father!” she shouted again as the men turned swiftly in her -direction, then moved hastily backwards when the right hand of the man -whom they supposed dead, moved. - -Motionless from fear, they stared at, without recognizing, Zarah as she -stood, tall and straight, in the shadows, wrapped in white from head to -foot, her eyes half closed under the supreme effort she was making, her -right hand raised, holding a spear ready for throwing. - -She bent a little forward as she made one last bid for power, and at the -sonorousness of her voice, which sounded like the calling of the evil one -in the mountains, the men touched the amulets around their necks. - -“Hail! father!” she shouted once again, until her words seemed to beat -like wings against the walls, which had been built by holy hands. “Speak, -father, ere thou passeth on. Speak! Speak! Speak!” - -Al-Asad, the lion-hearted, backed against the wall as the Sheikh, his -feet upon the edge of the world to come, slowly turned his head towards -his daughter; the others flung the end of their cloaks across their eyes, -touching their amulets. The girl stood quite still, her face dead white, -her nostrils pinched, her breath whistling between her closed teeth. - -“Farewell, daughter. Rule wisely in my stead. Take only from those who -have more than is necessary for life. Lift up the fallen, help the needy, -spare not in charity towards my brother Yussuf, with whose safekeeping I -charge thee lest evil befall thee. Throw thou the spear ere I close my -eyes, as a sign that thou steppest into my shoes, O my daughter.” - -The Sheikh’s words rang clear as a bell but as though from a long -distance; his eyes did not waver as the spear, thrown with unerring aim, -flashed across the room; he whispered “Mercedes,” and closed them for -ever as it buried itself in the cushions at his feet. - -Zarah the Cruel had triumphed for a moment over death, but she had -caught the look of dismay on Al-Asad’s face and the stealthy movement of -the men’s hands towards their cummerbunds. Without hesitating, with no -intention of allowing a second to elapse before driving her victory home, -she passed slowly up the room towards the dais, unarmed, fearless in the -strength of her tremendous personality. - -She took no notice of the men as, wrapped in her cloak and veils, she -slowly ascended the steps of the dais and knelt to kiss her father; she -looked down upon him for a moment, then taking a massive gold ring from -the first finger of his right hand, slipped it on her own, and rose to -her feet. - -“’Tis she,” whispered Bowlegs. “’Tis Zarah the Cruel!” - -“Nay, brother, it cannot be; she was a child bordering upon womanhood. -This is a woman grown, who is as the gazelle in her walk and as the -jasmine in her perfume. Maybe ’tis the spirit of her mother, who has come -to meet her lord, or perchance——” - -They stopped speaking, and took a step nearer the centre of the dais as -Zarah played her trump card. - -She dropped the veils from her head, the yashmak from before her face, -and the cloak from her shoulders, standing revealed in the garments she -had donned at Hutah in the oasis of Hareek. - -She was ravenous from hunger and almost dead with fatigue, but she -stood without a tremor, glittering from head to foot in the jewels -which embroidered the voluminous orange-satin trousers, the golden, -travel-stained sandals, and the bolero, which allowed the satin skin to -show at the waist. Her face was white, her crimson mouth parted in a -slight smile; her yellow eyes passed slowly from one face to the other -and on to the next of those fierce, unscrupulous men, who watched her for -a while and then, with all the inconstancy of the Arab, reverted, with -the exception of Al-Asad, to their former allegiance as they succumbed to -the call of her beauty. - -A sudden, tremendous shout of reception and of welcome went up: - -“_Ahlan wasahlan! Ahlan wasahlan!_” - -They shouted the words over and over again, until the women and children -wakened on the far side of the mountains and the birds, which inhabited -the secluded spot, rose twittering and screaming in clouds, to be whirled -this way and that way by the wind from the south, which seemed, in its -suffocating heat, to have swept across the open mouth of hell. - -Slowly Zarah the beautiful, the relentless, raised her right hand, upon -which shone her father’s ring, above her head to quell the tumult, and, -as a great silence fell, stretched it out to the men, who, with the -exception of Al-Asad, rushed forward and, kneeling, touched her sandalled -foot, acknowledging her as chief. - -She had won. - -There was no tenderness, no love, in her eyes as she looked down upon -them, neither was there softness in her heart as she looked into the -future. She would rule the men with an iron hand and drive them with a -whip of steel, favouring those who did her bidding, treading beneath her -heel those who rebelled until she ground them in the dust. She would be -their _hadeeyah_, the woman to lead them into battle, even as had led -Ayesha, the wife of Mohammed, the Prophet of Allah, the one and only God; -she would make the mountain home a corner of paradise and her dwelling a -place of gold and precious stones, as a frame to her beauty. - -“I stand in my father’s place, O men!” she cried. “I have taken the -reigns of government from the Sheikh’s fingers, which are locked in those -of death. Obey me and I will raise you to heights you—nay, not one of -you—have dreamed of; rebel, and I will set your bodies upon the highest -peak as food for vultures. I will go forth with you, lead you—nay, give -ear until I have come to the end of my words, for I will not speak again. -Yea! I will lead you forth and bring you back with gold and cattle and -fair women, until the fame of these rocks is spread from the north to the -south and from the east to the west. I will have none but the beautiful, -none but the brave, about me to do my bidding. I——” - -She stopped short at a sound from the far end of the hall and raised her -head. Yussuf, blind, scarred, terrible to behold, stared back at her from -the shadows of the door, challenging her proud statement with his empty -orbits, repudiating her words without a sound or movement. - -“ ... save for Yussuf the Blind,” she concluded slowly, as she raged -inwardly at the man’s temerity, “whom I must needs take to my heart in -obedience to my father’s dying wish.” - -She gave no outward sign of the rage which swept her as she finished -speaking, but she looked round for someone upon whom to vent her wrath -and found him in Al-Asad, who leant against the wall, watching her from -out the corner of his eyes. - -“Thou!” she said, her voice cutting across the silence like a whip. -“Whyfore standest thou when others kneel?” - -“The lion does not flee before the gazelle!” replied Al-Asad, who had -loved her from the first moment he had seen her. - -Zarah made a little motion of her hand which brought the men to their -feet, then beckoned Al-Asad, who walked slowly towards her and into the -trap she had set for him. She had more than one weapon in her armoury and -more than one form of punishment in her mind. - -That the man loved her, in his savage way, she had always known; that -he had worked to succeed the dead Sheikh and thereby to force her -into becoming his own woman if she wished to rule, she had guessed -intuitively, and in a second of time had thought out a plan in which, -through his humiliation, she could revenge herself for the insult. - -She was well above medium height, but seemed small beside Al-Asad as he -towered above her, mighty arms folded across his breast, looking down -upon her beauty. - -He was a magnificent animal, with all an animal’s instincts and a dog’s -fidelity, but she feared him not a bit. She looked up at the handsome -face with the almost negroid lips and into the flashing eyes and down -into the heart, as childish as it was vain, and smiled and raised her -hand when he made a quick step forward. - -“I am footsore,” she said softly. “I have cut my sandals upon the rocky -path.” - -She may have heard the sharp intake of breath, but she took no notice -when the men turned, the one to the other, as Al-Asad knelt. His fingers -trembled in the tumult of his love for the beautiful woman as he -unfastened the knotted ribbons of her sandals, his heart leapt as he -bent and kissed the little foot, leaving his manhood in the dust beneath -it. He sprang to his feet, holding the golden sandal against his breast, -shrinking back against the wall at the men’s laughter, in which the woman -he loved joined. - -“Neither does the gazelle fear the dead lion,” she mocked as he fled from -the hall out into the night and up to his dwelling upon the mountainside, -where he flung himself full length upon the ground with the golden sandal -against his lips. - -“I love thee, love thee, love thee!” he whispered, “and will serve thee -to my last hour and with all my strength. If I cannot be thy king, thy -master, I will be thy slave. One day perchance, thou too wilt waken to -love and learn what suffering means.” - -If he had but known, love had come to her, love for the white man, -causing her to suffer through the chafe of the chains which bound her. - -Zarah watched the great figure as he fled past blind Yussuf and through -the doorway out into the night, then smiled, and stooping, lifted her -cloak and spread it across the dead Sheikh. - -“I will sleep in the bed of my fathers,” she said curtly. “Bring me meat -and wine to my bedchamber. To-morrow I will commit my dead father to the -sands and will then make choice, amongst the slaves, for those who will -attend me both night and day. Obey me, and it will be well with all of -you; resist me, and your lives will be even darker than this night of -storm.” - -The men, so long held upon the leash by the dead Sheikh, so long baffled -in their fierce desires, shouted their praises as they made a way for -her. She passed them without looking at them, glittering with jewels, -superb in her strength. - -She climbed the steps leading to the dwelling wherein her father had -slept, and up to the roof, and, leaning on the balustrade, raised her -face to the sky which showed sullen and starless. - -Great sandstorms do not sweep the deserts of Arabia bringing devastation -in their path, but the hot wind from the south will lift the topmost -layer of sand hundreds of feet into the air, where it hangs like a pall -across the heavens, causing men to hide their faces and cattle to flee -for shelter from the terrific heat which descends from it, scorching the -earth. - -She walked to the corner of the roof from which, through the cleft in -the rocks, the red sands of the desert could be seen stretching in great -waves away to the south. She stared down and drew her hands across her -eyes, and stared again; drew back with a half-uttered cry of fear, then -moved forward, leaning far over the coping, looking down. - -At the very edge of the quicksands and as far out across the great -waste as eye could see, white shapes danced, and whirled, and bowed, -retreating, advancing, whirling hand in hand, flinging their white -raiment up to the sky, which hung, like a dun-coloured ceiling, low down -above their caperings. - -The scorching, sand-laden wind blew against her lips and through her hair -and seemed to press like a great bar of red-hot iron against the satin -skin which showed beneath her bodice, and yet she stood looking down, -watching the light flicker this way and that way over the quicksands, and -the ghostly forms running up in pairs, in ones, in twos, in files up and -down and over the sand-waves until they melted into the far distance. - -She had heard the tale of the half-starved, half-witted, degenerate -races which are supposed to inhabit the mysterious, unexplored depths -of the great desert; living like lizards, worshipping the elements, -inter-marrying until brain and body are sapped of strength, and for the -first time she felt grateful for the ring of quaking sand which kept her -safe from robbers, beasts, and such foul creatures as those which danced -so merrily under the lowering sky. - -She loved beauty, she loved strength, and watched with a shudder until -the last white figure, leaping and bounding, had followed its fellows -back to the unexplored regions of the desert, then knelt and bowed her -beautiful head almost to the ground. - -But she knelt before the scorching flames of the love which had sprung up -in her heart for Ralph Trenchard as she had lain in his arms. Not for a -day, nor for an hour of a day, had he been out of her thoughts since the -morning of the accident. She lay awake at night thinking of the handsome -face bent down to hers; she thrilled at the thought of his arms about -her; she had thought of him unceasingly as she raced death to reach her -father; she had sworn by the beard of the Prophet, which being a soulless -woman she had no right to do, to bring him some day to her mountain home -and for ever to her feet. - -She stretched out her arms and called him by name, scorched by the -hot wind which had twisted the sand into dancing shapes, sending them -capering and leaping this way and that way, in the cross-eddies from the -east, a ghostly phenomenon seen once in a lifetime, if that. - -She ran to the side and looked out across the desert, which lay silent, -foreboding, empty, and shivered under a sudden premonition of evil. - -“Where are you?” she cried, beating her hands upon the burning stones. -“Where are you? I love you, love you, love you, and I am calling you.” - -There was no answer. - - * * * * * - -At that very moment Ralph Trenchard rode into the holiday camp pitched by -Helen Raynor and her grandfather—Egypt’s Water Finder. They had pitched -it some fifty miles west of Ismailiah whilst they waited to start upon -an expedition into Arabia, which had for its object the discovery of -water hidden in the heart of a range of mountains, as described upon -vellum inscribed by the Holy Palladius. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - “_A rose issues from thorns._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -The desert looked like an immense mosque with vast purple dome inlaid -with silvery stars, spread with a carpet of many colours—grey, amethyst, -saffron, fawn—stretching to Eternity for the feet of worshippers -to tread. It held the peace of great spaces and the prayer of the -everlasting, and changed, in the twinkling of the stars, to the likeness -of a fairy meadow, in which flowers of every shape nodded and curtsied -and bowed to each other, as far as eye could see; flowers formed by the -light breeze which twisted and turned the sand into little spirals, until -the desert seemed covered with dancing, silvery poppies across which love -came as silently, as unexpectedly as it comes in country lanes or the -city’s crowded thoroughfares. - -Helen Raynor looked over her shoulder towards the camp, pitched under the -isolated palms which formed the so-called oasis, and smiled at the sound -of her “boy’s” voice raised in what he termed a love song, but which had -all the monotonous ring of a long-drawn-out litany of personal woes. - -She sat on a hummock of sand, dazzlingly fair in the starlight, with a -smile of content on her broad, humorous mouth, and the expectancy of -youth in her great, blue eyes, whilst the golden sand trickled between -her fingers as she counted the seconds of the hour in which love and -adventure were to come to her. - -She thought lazily of the hot-weather months just passed, spent quite -happily in the big, old palace in Ismailiah bought by her grandfather -who, in his wanderings in the desert, had acquired some of the -attributes of the salamander and an unconscious thoughtlessness towards -the well-being of his neighbour. - -Unattracted by the little she knew of the world, she had been intensely -grateful at the unconventional turn life had taken three years ago, -inaugurating a new mode of existence with vista of unknown lands and -good promise of great adventure. She had proved herself of the greatest -assistance to her irascible grandfather. There was no doubt about it, -that, although he seldom bit, he certainly barked furiously, or rather, -yapped without ceasing, driving others almost frantic through the -methodical working of a mind which teased the most infinitesimal detail -to shreds, wore him to fiddle-strings, led him from success to success -and caused his secretaries one after the other to fold their tents and to -steal away to less nerve-wracking fields of labour. - -Since leaving school, Helen had firmly established herself as his -secretary and had accompanied him wherever he had been sent by the -Irrigation Department. She had made herself responsible for his creature -comforts, which almost amounted to nil, and the good conduct of the staff -which learned to adore her, with the exception of Pierre Lefort. - -Half French, half native, he was of the worst type of Oriental. Eaten up -with the vanity of the superficially educated, but with a genuine, great -knowledge of the Arabian horse and the obstreperous camel, the young man -had managed to make himself seemingly indispensable to Sir Richard on his -expeditions. Helen became accustomed to great distances and solitude, and -her eyes gained the steadfast look of those who look upon the sky as the -roof of their dwelling, whilst her unfailing sense of humour invariably -brought her safely through the most trying ordeals. - -Diplomatically feeling her way through the barbed wire entanglement of -her grandfather’s testiness, she gained a great influence over the -brilliant man and, knowing how he chafed against the authoritative -methods and manner of the government official, had dropped the suggestion -in his all-willing ear of taking a busman’s holiday—a holiday expedition -with the object of trying to find out the whereabouts of the legendary -water in the great Red Desert, the discovery of which had become almost -an obsession with him, since the day he had read the vellum inscribed by -the Holy Palladius. - -They had spent the hot-weather months in getting ready for the -expedition, helped enthusiastically by every member of the staff -excepting Pierre Lefort who, loving the dregs of the European society -he frequented in the cities and the corners of the Bazaar to which he -rightly belonged, had made use of every means in his power to frustrate -their endeavours. - -He had sworn to an epidemic amongst the camels and dromedaries in Arabia -proper, which was causing them to die by hundreds; to an absolute dearth -of camel drivers, owing to the terror the men had of the animals’ -disease; to the truth of the terrible tales that had lately come to hand -of the activities of a notorious robber gang, led by a woman, which -swooped down from nowhere upon unwary travellers; that, in consequence of -this band of brigands, neither guide nor servant could be procured for -love or money on the other side, and that last, but not least, no man had -ever been known to penetrate, even a little way, into the empty desert -and to return alive. - -Each of his objections had been met; the expedition, down to the smallest -detail, carefully mapped out; the date for the start fixed and the -camp pitched some fifty miles out of Ismailiah. Pierre Lefort would -doubtlessly, if sullenly, have accompanied the party for the sake of the -monetary gain, if he had not fallen a victim to the wiles of a dancer in -the Bazaar. - -Had ensued a heated scene between him and Sir Richard which had ended by -the latter taking him by the collar of the coat and impelling him, none -too gently, back upon the road towards Ismailiah. - -Since then a week had passed, which Sir Richard had spent in racing, as -fast as swiftest camel could take him, into Ismailiah, there to interview -men with a knowledge of camels and horses, and racing back to tell his -granddaughter of the blanks he had drawn. - -There remained another fortnight in which to find someone endowed with -camel and horse sense, and Helen had just fled the camp after a trying -scene with her distracted and pessimistic relative. - -“Grandads,” she had said, after the recital of the latest failure, “I -have an idea, although it’s only a faint-hope kind of idea.” - -“Well!” had snapped Grandads, who was ready to take his ships of the -desert into almost any kind of a port to protect himself from the storm -of failure which threatened to burst. - -“I think you are making a great mountain out of your mole-hill.” - -“Meaning?” - -“Lefort. There _are_ others who understand as much about horses as he -does. I do—for one—almost—and so does Abdul, who did all the spadework -under him. Let me be vet, with Abdul for head groom and——” - -“Wh-a-a-t?” Sir Richard had sprung from his canvas chair with a bound -which would have done credit to a _jerboa_, or kangaroo rat. “_You!_ In -charge of the horses—you—and what do you know of camels, may I ask?” - -“As much, dearest, as anybody, which amounts to nothing. If it’s sick, it -usually makes up its obstinate mind to die, so there’s no use worrying -about _that_; if you want to get an extra hour of work out of it, you -give it a most noisome lump of barley-meal and water, and add a cupful of -whisky if you want to make it waltz; if you want it to go to the right, -touch it on the left, and _vice versa_, and if it’s out on a non-stop -run, hang your coat over its head to pull it up. It will go for six days -in the summer and, I believe, ten in the winter without a drink, and is -warranted to eat everything it comes across; in fact, I saw Mahli making -breakfast off your oldest pair of night slippers this very morning.” - -All that she had said was true. She was a magnificent horsewoman, and -there was mighty little she did not know about horses; in fact, up to -her fifteenth birthday she had unequally divided her time between her -lessons and her horses, to the decided detriment of the former; then, -upon the death of her mother, had entreated to be allowed to accompany -her grandfather to Egypt. He, unpractical in everything that did not -concern the finding of water in desert places, had consented, and, acting -upon some motherly soul’s advice, offered directly they had arrived in -Cairo, had pushed her promptly under the sheltering wings of the Misses -Cruikshanks. - -But she might as well have pleaded with the Great Pyramid this night of -stars as she had sat, just outside the tent, with her beautiful head -against the canvas whilst her distracted kinsman had figuratively rent -his raiment in wrath. - -“You!” he had cried. “What authority would _you_ have over the pack of -rapscallions who look after the shameless beasts called camels, any one -of which, in the eyes of the average Mohammedan, is of a hundred times -more value than a woman? I know all about woman’s rights in England, but -let me tell you that that means nothing, absolutely less than nothing -out here, where she is not even allowed to possess a soul of her own, -much less a vote. No! if I can’t find a man to fill the post, I will -resign myself to having failed, throw up my position in the Irrigation -Department, and take to bee-keeping in England.” - -And Helen Raynor, who firmly believed that if a thing is to happen it -happens, and that nothing can prevent it from happening, also _vice -versa_, had ridden some miles out into the silence, where she had -hobbled her mare and sat down upon the hummock to think things over. She -sat facing the direction in which Ismailiah lay, sat quite still, until -the peacefulness of the desert seemed to enfold her and to wipe out the -memory of the past weeks, which had gone far to disturb the tranquillity -she so loved to bring into the daily life of the camp. She looked all -round in utter content and lifted her face to the stars and listened to -the great silence, unbroken now, even by the love song, then sat forward -and stared in the direction of Ismailiah. - -Great is the solitude of the desert, with no sign of life in it at all; -haunting is its solitude when, in the far distance, a solitary figure -moves slowly across the limitless sands. - -It is the most perfect illustration of the little span of life granted -each of us upon this earth. - -Out of seeming nothing, remote, alone, the figure approaches, growing -clearer and clearer to the watching eye; maybe for a space he stops and -raises his head to the star-strewn sky, or maybe he passes on, heedless -of God’s thoughts about him; even if he stays it will be but for a brief -second before he continues his journey, growing dimmer and dimmer until -he passes out of sight, alone, into apparent nothingness. - -Helen Raynor sat watching a solitary figure as it came slowly towards her -from a far distance, and pressed her hand upon her heart, troubled by the -biblical picture, the silence, the unknown. - -So might Abraham have looked in his youth, or Job before affliction -fell upon him, or Boaz, or David, for the desert has not changed since -their days, nor has the camel learned to hasten its pace or to alter -the insolence of its gait. The night breeze died away suddenly and the -flowers born of it faded, leaving a path, marked in grey and silver as -though the tide had but just receded from it, for the passage of the -camel’s feet, which were suddenly urged to a swift trot by its rider, -who rode bare-headed and wrapped in a burnous. - -When about a mile off Ralph Trenchard raised his hand above his head in -salutation to the figure he could see sitting on the hummock, and urged -his camel quicker still, then pulled it to a halt and sat and stared -at the girl, who looked like some silver statue under the light of the -stars; then slipped to the ground instead of bringing the beast to its -knees, hobbled it, dropped the white cloak, and followed the beckoning -finger of Love, whom he could not see for the beauty of the girl, along -the path which had been marked for him to tread even before the days of -Abraham. - -And Helen Raynor rose and walked towards him, holding out her hand, so -that they neared each other and met yet again, as those who truly love -do meet down the ages, and will meet, until in perfect understanding -they become one perfect spirit which will not be divided even by the -short-lived dream of death. - -“I seem to know you so well,” said Ralph Trenchard quietly. - -“And I you. I have seen you—I recognize the scar across your temple.” -Helen Raynor pressed her hand against her forehead in an effort to -capture the elusive memory which had suddenly flitted through her mind. -“I cannot remember. I——” - -“My name is Ralph Trenchard, and my business in Egypt one of pleasure. I -was riding out into the desert to be alone at sunrise.” - -She shook her head and looked about her and up to the stars and into the -eyes of the man who had come to her out of the night, and yet not as a -stranger; and she looked frankly at the lean, handsome face with the -powerful jaw and humorous mouth, and smiled into the quiet grey eyes, and -made a movement with her hand towards the oasis. - -“I cannot remember where I have seen you, but will you not come to our -camp and have some coffee? I would not keep you from your ride, but my -grandfather will, I am sure, be delighted to meet you. I am——” - -“Of course!” broke in Ralph Trenchard, as he stooped to remove the hobble -from the mare, who danced sideways at the smell of camel which permeated -the new-comer. “You must be Miss Raynor. Everybody is talking about the -danger of the expedition you are starting out on; they don’t seem to see -the other side, the privilege of searching for something which has been -lost for centuries, the joy of adventuring into a new country.” - -They walked across to the camel, which stretched its neck and made a -vicious snap at the mare, who immediately retaliated by lashing out at -the contemptuous face. - -“Quiet, you brute!” said Ralph Trenchard, as he removed the hobble, -whereupon the said brute turned its hideous head and winked at him in -hearty friendliness. “There is one thing I really do pride myself upon, -Miss Raynor, though perhaps I ought not to, as it may only be the result -of a certain brotherhood in sheer mule-headed obstinacy which I share -with the quadruped.” - -“And what is it?” - -“The way I can manage camels. They seem absolutely to love me before my -face, whatever they feel behind my back. I can do almost anything I like -with them.” - -Helen Raynor walked close up to him and laid her hand upon his sleeve. - -“Tell me,” she said eagerly, “where are you going to after you leave -Egypt?” - -“Well, I have been trying to make up my mind. I’m just down from Oxford, -and am having a look round the old places before settling down to manage -the estate which came to me when the dear old governor died a few months -ago. I was born out here, lived here until I was ten. My people were -stationed out here all over the place. Mother is buried in Khartoum. I -love the country, and speak the language like a native. I don’t mind -much where I go, but I do wish I could have one jolly good adventure -when I get there.” - -“Come,” said Helen, her beautiful teeth flashing in a delighted smile, -“I’m more convinced than ever that my grandfather will be delighted to -meet you.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - “_Neither with thine eyes hast thou seen, nor with thine heart - hast thou loved._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Zarah the Cruel leaned back in her ivory chair, staring unseeingly at -the men she ruled. She frowned and stretched her arms and played with -the crystal knobs until her jewelled fingers looked like the claws of -some great cat, whilst the men glanced at each other as they watched the -movement which, they knew, heralded the conception of some new idea or -plan in the girl’s masterly, unscrupulous brain. - -She had reigned for a year in her father’s stead, and the tales of her -cruelty, her infamy and treachery had spread from Damascus to Hadramut, -from Oman to the Red Sea. In the days of her father the wealthy only had -been in danger of the gang’s predatory attacks; the humbler caravan had -been certain of a safe journey and a sure arrival at its destination; -the needy, just as sure of help in money or in kind from the man who -quietened his conscience by robbing the one to assist the other, whilst -keeping the best part of the spoil for himself and his men. - -His daughter attacked all and sundry, and as much for the love of the -fight as in the hope of gain, meting out dire punishment to those who -fought to the last, and, if taken prisoner, lacked deep enough purse or -strong enough sinew to pay or work their way back to freedom. - -With the exception of Yussuf the men obeyed her and literally fought for -the place of honour at her right hand when she led them to the attack. - -The whole Peninsula rang with the tales of the mysterious, beautiful -woman of the desert. Women used her name as a bogy with which to frighten -their children, men looked at each other before they spoke of their -affairs and then said but little. Her spies were everywhere, from -Damascus to Cairo, from Jiddah to Bagdad, watching the movements and -learning the whereabouts of wealthy people. The cities made great effort -to discover the channels through which the almost legendary woman gained -her information, sending out spy to counter spy, with the result that -some were found in the holes and corners of the Bazaars at dawn, knifed -through the back, and others, who had been sent to find out the lay of -the land round and about the Sanctuary, buried up to their necks in the -sands, dead, with the letter Z cut upon their foreheads. - -With a view to spreading reports of her beauty, her riches, and her -power, she allowed some of the prisoners to return to their homes -without payment of ransom; others disappeared leaving no trace, whilst -many, wholeheartedly, threw in their lot with the band, working as -grooms to the horses and dogs, as tenders to the cattle, as servants -or labourers, marrying the women who looked after the comforts of the -strange community; all of them happy in a freedom they could not have -realized elsewhere, yet terror-stricken by their mistress, who ordered -the severest punishments for the most trifling mistake. - -Built in terraces as had been the ancient monastery, the servants’ -quarters stretched up the eastern side of the mountains, hidden by the -jutting wall of rock from the western side where Zarah lived, alone. The -walls of the monastery remained, but the interior of the buildings had -been changed out of all recognition. Where once her father had lived, -with his friend Yussuf, in all the simplicity of those who belong to the -desert, the girl lived in barbaric luxury, the presence of Yussuf the -only cloud upon what seemed otherwise to be a clear horizon. - -Of love she would have none. - -Those who had succumbed to the tales of her beauty, her wealth and her -power, and who were willing to risk much through greed, sent emissaries, -laden with many gifts, to negotiate for her hand in marriage. They would -be met far out in the desert, and, blindfolded, led across the quicksands -and into the presence of the mysterious woman. She received them right -royally, fêted them, laughed at them in secret, and sent them back to -their masters, with her own gifts added to those she had rejected. - -She did not attempt to conquer her love for Ralph Trenchard; she did not -want to; she hugged close the pain it caused her pride, and had sent -spies to Egypt in an endeavour to trace him. A report came that he had -landed at Port Said. After that, silence. - -She was thinking of him as she lay back in the chair watching the men, -gathered at her command, in the Hall of Judgment. Upon the first of every -three months she called a council, with the object of making plans for -the months succeeding. Those of the men who could, hurried from every -part of the Peninsula to the gathering. A week of festival invariably -followed the great day, during which sports were held and much wine -drunk, in direct disobedience to the law laid down by Mohammed, the -Prophet of Allah the one and only God. Those of the men who could not -attend, and who were mostly those who had failed in the task set them, -sent in reports of their work by safe messenger. - -The spy who had reported the arrival of Ralph Trenchard at Port Said had -not appeared in person, nor sent in further report, so that Zarah sat a -prey to a great anger, which increased every moment under the goad of -suspense and uncertainty, and craved for a victim upon which to vent -herself. - -The business of the hour, with its reports and reprimands, suggestions, -punishments and rewards, had been concluded, and the men waited, eager -to draw out a programme for the week of festival; they looked at their -despotic ruler, raised above them on a dais, as she lay back in her chair -sullenly regarding them out of half-closed eyes; they murmured amongst -themselves but, under the spell of her beauty, murmured only. - -She made an arresting Eastern picture outlined against an enormous fan of -peacocks’ feathers, which spread on each side and above her. It glowed -vividly against the south wall of the hall, which had been covered in -Byzantine gold leaf, outlined by an arabesque design carved out in rough -lumps of turquoise matrix, agate, jasper, onyx, and different coloured -marble. - -Seven jewelled lamps, hanging above her head by golden chains, were -reflected in the polished surface of the huge dais hewn out of one great -block of black granite, up which she ascended by seven steps carved to -represent seven crouching lions. - -Skins of wild beasts were thrown upon a mosaic floor which replaced the -rough stones laid down by the Holy Fathers. It had been set by skilled -Italian workmen, taken prisoners as they returned from Bagdad, where they -had been sent to set the famous mosaic floor in the house of the Eastern -potentate, who is almost as famous as his flooring. - -The Italians had won back their freedom by promising to outrival the -beauty of this floor in Bagdad, and, having fulfilled the promise, had -returned, laden with gifts and well content, to their own country. The -pillars of palm trees had been removed and replaced by others of stone, -inlaid roughly with uncut turquoise matrix, jasper and agate, which -reflected the light of the jewelled lamps hanging from the roof. The flat -roof, which the dead Sheikh had considered good enough as a covering, had -been removed and replaced by another, vaulted, painted the colour of the -night sky and powdered with silvery stars. It showed misty, this night, -above the smoke of torches held above their heads by thirty prisoners who -stood upon the stools once used as seats by the Holy Fathers, pushed -back against the walls hung with curtains of purple velvet. - -Informed that one movement meant instant death, prisoners awaiting -sentence would be ordered to hold lighted torches above their heads -whilst the Arabian girl sat discussing the events of the day or merely -idling away time watching the men wrestling or gambling, in which last -pastime she frequently joined. - -Men meant nothing to her, but her overwhelming vanity caused her to -change her raiment many times a day and to smother herself in jewels. - -This night her slender limbs showed through voluminous trousers made of -some semi-transparent material, woven by her women slaves, and caught at -the ankles by bands of gold inlaid with precious stones; her body, save -for breast-plates blazing in jewels, was bare, and showed like white -satin in the light of the torches and the lamps above her head; her hands -glittered with precious stones, her arms were bare, and a broad gold band -set in diamonds bound her head, confining the thick, red curls. - -She sat alone, furious, tortured, her sandalled feet upon an ivory -footstool, her strange eyes flashing from one side of the hall to the -other in an endeavour to find an outlet for her wrath. - -She scrutinized the twenty men and ten women of Damascus who had been -captured on their way to Bagdad with a precious load of steel weapons, -and smiled as she glanced from their leader, a fine old man with white -hair and beard and flowing robes, to the girl, his granddaughter, at -his side, and on to the young men and women who had gained a world-wide -reputation through their work of inlaying steel with gold. - -With the fear of death, the one for the other, they had stood throughout -the whole evening, motionless, save when slaves replaced the burnt-out -torches; but a shiver swept them, and a smile of satisfaction lit the -faces of the men in the body of the hall when the old man swayed, then -crashed to the ground with a cry. - -Zarah sat upright, her eyes gleaming, her jewels flashing, whilst the men -looked from her to the prostrate man and back. - -“Get up!” she cried, too intent upon her enjoyment of the moment to -notice that her enemy Yussuf had entered the hall, standing, a menacing -figure, against the wall. “Get up!” she repeated, “lest I give orders to -have thee thrown from the rocks so that thou standest for eternity upon -thy head in the quicksands.” - -A shout of laughter rang out at the words, and ceased as Zarah sprang up, -white with rage. - -The old man’s granddaughter, flinging her torch to the far end of the -hall, where it fell at Yussuf’s feet, sprang to the floor and, kneeling, -gathered the old man into her arms. - -“He shall not be touched! He shall not be touched!” she cried, looking -fearlessly up at Zarah, who stood at the edge of the dais, looking down. -“Shameless art thou, woman, in thy cruelty! Shameless in thy nakedness! -Shameless in all thy ways! If this old man, my father’s father, be thrown -from the rocks, then thou must throw me also, for naught but death shall -unclasp my arms from about him. Nay! thou shalt not touch him, thou shalt -_not_, I say.” - -She bent down over the old man as Zarah ran down the steps and caught -her by the shoulder. The men gathered in a circle round the two women, -watching the one who shook with rage and the other who looked up -fearlessly, strong in her protecting love. - -“Seize them, all of them!” commanded Zarah, “and——” She stopped dead -and looked towards the door, through which a man came, running at full -speed. Zarah turned and, mounting the steps, sat down in the ivory chair, -holding up her hand until silence reigned. - -“Hither,” she said curtly, and watched the spy, who had reported upon -Ralph Trenchard’s doings, with no gentle look in her eyes as he hastened -across the floor. - -“’Tis well indeed, O my brother, that thou hasteneth thy feet at last. -Perchance the delights of the great city prevented thee from keeping the -hour of council to which thou wast summoned.” - -The man flung himself upon his knees before the dais, then sprang to his -feet. - -“Thy servant tarried so as to bring good news.” - -“Good news! ’Tis indeed well for thee that the news is good. Speak!” - -“The white man with a scar upon his forehead is even now upon his -way—here!” - -“_Here!_” - -“Yea! Here! He crosses the water in the company of another man, white, -but of great age. They travel, O my mistress, they travel, O my brethren, -in search of the miraculous water which, so ’tis said, is hidden in the -heart of certain mountains in the Red Desert.” - -Laughter rang out, in which Zarah joined, the sweet sound mingling -with the men’s deep voices as they shouted grim suggestions and coarse -pleasantries the one to the other. - -Zarah leant forward, her eyes gleaming. - -“They come alone, the two white men, in search of this miraculous water?” - -“Nay, O mistress! They travel in a good company of men and camels, led by -a woman——” - -“Led by a _woman_! O my brethren, is there one of thee in need of a wife -or yet another wife?” - -Ribald laughter and obscene jest followed close upon her question. - -“What is she like? this woman who dares lead men and camels across the -empty desert.” - -“She is as the heavens at sunrise when the light wraps the world in -softest colouring. Her eyes are the blue of the night in which shines -the morning star, her mouth as the sun-kissed pomegranate, her teeth as -shimmering pearls. Her hair! The houris which wait in paradise to reward -the faithful have not such hair as she. It is as the web of the spider -gilded by the sunlight, as the corn glowing in the noonday sun, and, in -its waywardness, twineth about the heart of men as a child’s fingers -about the mother’s breast.” - -The men secretly touched each other as they watched the effect of the -man’s words upon the woman who ruled them with no gentle hand. Thrones -built upon a foundation of consideration towards others are rocky enough -at any time, but there is absolutely no security for the monarch who uses -his sceptre as a stick with which to drive his subjects. - -Zarah sat back in her chair, too primitive in her love to try to hide the -jealousy which consumed her. - -“Who is she and what position does she hold in the expedition?” - -“She rules men, O mistress, and is the granddaughter of the aged one.” - -“His name?” - -“It taketh a twisted tongue, O mistress, to pronounce it. I have essayed -and failed. He is a great Sheikh from _Inglistan_, the land where, ’tis -said, the heavens drop water without ceasing. His men are well armed; his -camels, over which devil-possessed animal the white man with a scar has a -strange control, are of the best; his men content, and averse to speech -with strangers. They have started; a great caravan awaits them at the -port of Jiddah; I hastened by swiftest camel to bring thee the news.” - -Zarah sat silent for a moment, then called the names of six of her most -trusted and unscrupulous followers, and sharply ordered the hall to be -cleared for the space of one hour. - -“And the Damascenes, mistress?” asked Al-Asad, who had mounted the dais -at his mistress’s call and stood, gigantic, powerful, behind her, ready -to do her bidding. - -Zarah frowned. - -Jealousy might torture, but hope and an abnormal vanity lay as balm upon -the wounds. She had no time for the trivial occupation of finding a -punishment befitting the crime of the prisoners. She had called her six -most trusted servants with a view to making plans for the capture of the -entire party, headed by the beautiful woman with the unpronounceable name. - -Time pressed. - -Let her but make a prisoner of the white man who had held her in his -arms, subject him to her wiles, her beauty, and surround him with all the -evidence of her great wealth, then what would she have to fear of any -woman where love was concerned! - -“Al-Asad!” - -He knelt and touched her foot. - -“They beg their freedom, those thirty fools. Their freedom they shall -have! Lead them safely over the path, then whip them out into the desert -to find their way back across the road by which they came. The desert is -free to all—to man as well as to beasts of prey and carrion birds. They -have asked for liberty and naught else; bid them begone with empty hands.” - -But there was no fear in the heart of the girl who had leapt to aid the -old man when he fell; she ran forward to the very foot of the dais and -called down curses upon the woman above her, cursed her until the hall -rang with the terrible words and the superstitious men drew back in fear. - -“ ... and thou shalt be driven into the desert, O woman without heart,” -she ended, “and death shall find thee bereft of power and love. Thou -shalt leave thy beauty to the jackals and the scorpions shall nest in -thine eyes and thy hair.” A speck of foam appeared at the corners of -her mouth as she prophesied with the vision of the East. “I see thee -pursuing, I see thee pursued, I see dogs upon thy track, and one, whose -light cometh from within to lighten his darkness, hard upon thy heels, -hunting thee. I——” - -She laughed shrilly, pointing at Zarah, who made a quick movement of the -hand. Al-Asad sprang down and, seizing the girl by the throat, hurled her -backwards, whilst the rest of the prisoners, with hope eternal to spur -them, ran from one to the other, until at last, with the girl and the old -man in the centre, they marched boldly from the hall, with the gigantic -half-caste harrying them in the rear. - -Whispered words fell upon the ears of Almana, the gentle Damascene, as -she paused to allow those in front to pass through the door out into the -night. She turned for a moment and looked up into Yussuf’s blinded face -as he stood near her in the shadows. - -“Put thy trust in Allah and hasten not. Journey westward and stop and -wait. He will save thee and thine.” - -He had caught the sound of the girl’s voice as she passed, encouraging -the old man, and risked his life to tell her of the help that awaits -those who put their trust in a higher power. - -She whispered her thanks as she passed on, and in such wise did love come -to Yussuf, the blind, and Almana, the Damascene. - - * * * * * - -Zarah sat in council with all her men; the women and children and -servants slept, so that there were no eyes to watch, nor ears to hear -Yussuf as he passed silently amongst the rocks to the paddock where the -camels were herded at night, hobbled or tied to posts to prevent them -from fighting, as is the custom of the brutes when together in great -numbers. - -He passed his hands over the animals, choosing three, then crossed to a -shed in which were piled the “_ghakeet_” and “_shedad_” the saddles used -for riding or baggage camels, with water skins and sacks of dates, the -emergency rations required by an Arab for a sudden journey. - -Surely Allah, the one and only God, watched over him and listened to his -prayers when, later, he walked unhesitatingly across the narrow path of -rock, leading the first of three beasts, which followed, grumbling and -snarling, but obediently, from fear, and guided them by the sound of -voices to the Damascenes. - -Almana ran to meet him when he rode towards them out of the night, and -led him to her grandfather, who rose and blessed him. - -“Come with us, my son, for surely yon place in the mountains is the -dwelling-place of devils. Come with us to Damascus.” - -“I will come one day when my task is accomplished, and that will be in -the time appointed, O father,” replied Yussuf, raising his head and -turning towards the East as the wind of dawn swept his face. - -The Damascenes lifted their voices in prayer, calling down blessings upon -him as he mounted his camel and rode away into the glory of the sunrise. - -“How sad,” Almana whispered to her grandfather as they watched him moving -swiftly towards the mountains, and “His Eyes” who rode to meet him. “How -sad that he should be blind.” - -“He is not blind, my daughter,” replied the old man, as he laid his hand -upon her head. “There are those who see by the light of the soul, and, -verily, our protector is numbered among them.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - “_If the moon be with thee thou need’st not mind about the - stars._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -The desert is the cradle of love! - -The love of God or the love of solitude, or the love which seeks its -soul-mate and finds it, in the immensity of the sands. There is no room -for doubt in the minds of those who love and who pass their days together -in the desert’s great spaces. If the love is that which endureth, which -floods cannot drown nor many waters quench, which looks ever towards the -horizon where the light is born heralding the day, then will the desert -be as a book filled with much wisdom; a book in which the handwriting is -visible only to those who radiate the love which sees the mountain peak -above the swirl of mist; the truth of the dream in which, blindly, we -stumble and fall, until enlightenment comes to us so that we rise once -more and reach the end of the road at last. - -The desert is a background against which love blazes as a torch or shines -with the glimmer of the rushlight; a journey into it either fills the -mind with the wonder of God or overwhelms the traveller, when the novelty -has passed, with a crushing sense of boredom; the sunset, the sunrise, -and the stars are either the thoughts of the Creator, or merely a means -by which to mark the passing of the endless hours; whilst the stillness, -silence, and far horizon teach life’s wayfarers the stupendous lesson of -Eternity or fill the gregarious globe-trotter with a deep longing for the -noise and bustle of great cities. - -For the westerner there are no half-way measures in the desert. - -He may have been born in the glamour of the East and have lived the -best part of his life with the vast stretches of sand around him, and -yet have heard no voice calling in the noonday, nor seen the slender -hand beckoning in the shadows of dawn and dusk. He may come from the -counting-house upon holiday bent, with guide book in hand and passage -booked for the return journey to the city, yet see the spirit of the -desert, remote, mysterious, beckoning _him_ out of all the merry, -personally conducted crowd. - -He will either follow the beckoning figure with hungry heart until he -falls, to die, clutching at its robes which slip ever from between his -fingers, or he will return to the counting-house to pass his life in a -great longing which will never be appeased. - -In either case, he will have answered the call of the desert to his own -undoing.[1] - - [1] Instances have been known where Europeans have ridden out - into the desert upon seeing it for the first time, and have not - been seen or heard of since. - -Helen Raynor and Ralph Trenchard sat looking out across the -Robaa-el-Khali, or Empty Desert, or the Red Desert, as it is called by -the Arabs on account of the colour of its sands. - -She sat with her hand in his, watching the strange effect the wind from -the north has upon this desert, which rolls away to the horizon in great, -sandy ridges, and of which no one has explored the heart. When this wind -blows gently, it skims the surface of the great ridges and lifts the -topmost layer of the sand, carrying it down into the hollows and up on to -the crests for mile after mile, until the desert looks like an ocean of -great, glittering billows surging towards the distant horizon. - -“The sky seems to be covered with a transparent, diamond-encrusted veil,” -whispered Helen, as she lifted her face to the moon, and smiled when the -man she loved drew her to him and kissed her. - -“It is the effect of the sand in the air, beloved,” he whispered, “under -the moon which shines for all lovers.” - -“Look at that wave out there”—she pointed to the east as she -spoke—“breaking into spray. How wonderful—how wonderful it all is, Ra!” - -“I expect a big rock lies just there, beloved, if we could only see it, -so that the sand is blown against it and higher into the air. How I love -the name you have given me, dearest; it seems to belong to the country -where I found you waiting for me, all those months ago, alone, in the -desert, under a moon like this.” - -“I really expect it was the same moon, Ra; it is only we who have moved,” -laughed Helen softly. “Yes, I think your nickname suits you; it’s strong, -with the strength of dead Egypt, like you, with your tremendous will -power which can even dominate the camel.” - -They laughed as they talked of the long journey with its scenes and -contretemps, during which Ralph Trenchard had had to exercise every -bit of will power and every scrap of patience he possessed, so as to -triumph over the splendid camels which composed the caravan, and which -had aroused admiration and no little jealousy in the hearts of the -inhabitants of the different villages they had passed through, from the -Port of Jiddah to Hutah in the Oasis of Hareek. - -“Do you remember when Mahli ate Grandad’s best tussore coat and pretended -to die, and then, suddenly, got to her feet and rushed at you, because -you offered Duria a whole lump of dates and took no notice of her in her -tantrums?” - -“Sheer jealousy and greed, sweetheart. I believe no woman who loved -could be as jealous, or as vindictive, as a female camel in a rage. Look -straight ahead, beloved; can you see something moving through the waves?” - -Helen sat forward and stared due south. - -“Yes, I think—I do. Yes, it looks like mounted men.” She shivered -suddenly and turned and caught her lover by the arm. “Ra! I’m frightened.” - -“Frightened! Dear heart, what at?” - -“I don’t know—I don’t really know. I just felt a tremendous premonition -of danger. Ah! look, they’ve gone. I wonder who they were? So near us, -yet taking no notice of our big camp with its fires and its white tents.” - -“Yes. I wonder!” - -If only he had known it, they were the advance guard of a woman who was -to show him that there is no jealousy or vindictiveness to equal that of -a woman whose love is not returned. - -They sat silently, looking out across the sandy ocean until they could no -longer see the phantom figures moving eastwards in the far distance; then -they talked of the journey behind them and the enterprise ahead. - -To gain full control over the staff and, as much as is humanly possible, -over the animals, Ralph Trenchard had preceded Sir Richard and his -granddaughter, landing in Jiddah a month before them. Death by thirst, -exhaustion or violence being a recognized risk to be taken by those who -travel off the beaten track in Arabia, he had intensely disliked the idea -of Helen Raynor accompanying the expedition; had argued the question; -pointed out the dangers; emphasized the added responsibility her -safekeeping would entail, insisting upon the intense discomfort she would -have to endure, only to find himself up against the mule-headed obstinacy -for which Sir Richard was famous. - -He had resigned himself to the inevitable at last and had discovered, -after one week spent in the company of the camels and their drivers, that -for nothing on earth would he undertake the excursion into the unknown, -unless she took it with him, riding at his side. He knew that love had -come to him that night when he had seen her sitting on a hummock of sand, -alone in the desert under the moon; he knew that that love had come to -possess him utterly when he had succumbed to the entreaties of Sir -Richard to join the expedition; but he had not known how much he really -loved her, or what she really meant to him, until he had been separated -from her for weeks. - -He had counted the days, the hours, the minutes, and then, jubilantly, -thankfully, had rushed down to meet the boat Sir Richard had chartered, -as she docked, and happy beyond telling, had started out on the foolhardy -enterprise, with Helen at his side. - -There is nothing so calculated to make life-long friends or sworn enemies -of two people, as a long journey on camels and surrounded by camels. -A trip into the desert on camelback for so much an hour, or day, is -vastly romantic, causing you to feel one with Pharaoh or Queen Hatshepu, -Abraham or Jezebel, according to your sex. It’s ten to one you write an -ode to the Sphinx or the Pyramids or the Voice of the Past as you sit on -the sand, smoking your Simon Artz; it’s certain that your camel driver -tots up the different items of your toilet in an endeavour to hit upon -the right amount of extra _baachseesch_ he may extract from you, whilst -wishing to goodness you’d get through with your foolishness and return to -your comfortable, or otherwise, hotel; but it’s an altogether different -thing when you make part of a caravan composed of the ill-mannered, -ill-natured brutes. No matter how well they are handled, or how far you -ride apart from their odorous bodies, you will never be able to count -upon a moment’s peace as long as they are likely to panic for nothing, -or fight for less, whilst filling the air with sounds that resemble the -emptying of gigantic, narrow-necked bottles, nests of angry snakes, -battalions of spitting cats, moans of incurable invalids and shrieks of -insufferable children. - -They lie down or get up or refuse to move just as their hateful fancy -dictates; they follow obediently one behind another, if in a string, -or peacefully together, if in a herd, then stop dead and look on -indifferently, whilst one, for no apparent reason whatever, reduces the -patience of its driver to shreds and its pack to bits. Some drivers are -cautious and hobble the lot at night, others take the risk and hobble the -worst offenders; ’twere, however, wise to be cautious so as to prevent -one, suddenly possessed of the devil, from either clearing for the open -with the gifts you intend for your host upon its offensive back, or from -lifting the flap of your tent in the still watches of the night and, -whilst taking a survey of your heat-disturbed person, banqueting off your -boots. - -If your temper is not of the sort that can come out unruffled from -ever-recurring and heated arguments with your companion and the -distracted drivers; if your looks cannot withstand the long moments -’twixt heat of sand and sun and wrath, as you sit perched above the -turmoil upon the back of your own thrice-accursed beast, then ’twere wise -to give the desert an extremely wide berth. Lay down the law to your -companion and he will learn to loathe the very sight of you; upbraid -the long-suffering driver and he will league himself with the camel to -spite you in every way; hit the camel so as to cause it pain, and you -will never again feel any security about the welfare of your person. You -won’t recognize that camel one or five or ten years hence as you saunter -through some Bazaar, but it will recognize you all right, and will meet -its teeth in the tenderest portion of your anatomy it can find, or, if it -gets the chance, will seize, worry, and throw you and deliver the _coup -de grâce_ of its long-waited-for revenge by rolling upon you until you -are an unrecognizable pulp. - -Grin and bear with it all, and your servants and your camels, your -companion and your days, will not appear so insufferably obnoxious or so -outrageously long, in the land of the Pharaohs. - -The caravan was a big one on account of the multitude of gifts Sir -Richard carried, with which to buy peace, if not plenty, as it journeyed -from Jiddah, skirting the territory sacred to the Holy City, down through -the mountainous, fertile district of Taif and southwards along the Wady -Dowasir, with its many villages, up to Hutah in the Oasis of Hareek, -where commences the Great Desert. - -It is wise not to reckon altogether on gifts and a smattering of the -language and courtesy to get you safely to your destination in Arabia, -but, as they will take you many miles upon your journey, they should be -looked upon as the chief items on your list of necessities—especially the -last. - -Helen Raynor and the man she had learned to love in the distracting, -ridiculous, mirth-provoking and aggravating incidents of the journey, -laughed, as they looked back to the storms they had weathered safely, -through love and a perfect sense of humour and comradeship, unwitting -of the news about themselves which had been conveyed, in the mysterious -manner of desert places, to Zarah the Cruel who had only waited to -attack, with as much patience as she could muster, until the caravan -should leave Hutah far behind and arrive at a certain spot between the -Hareek mountains and those of the Jebel Akhaf. - -The north wind dropped suddenly whilst they talked in whispers, and with -it the veil of sand it had spread across the heavens, leaving the desert -desolate and formidable under the light of the full moon, save where the -camp fires flung red and orange flames and trails of smoke across the -silvery sheen. - -“‘Even the grains of sand are numbered, neither can a sparrow fall unless -He knows it?’” Helen quoted to herself as she stared out across the -waste, then turned and put her hand in that of the man beside her who had -been watching her and wondering at the anxious look upon her face. - -“I feel crushed under a great weight of responsibility, Ra,” she said, -speaking in a whisper induced by the fear that had suddenly fallen upon -her at the sight of the phantoms in the distance. “I do wish I hadn’t -suggested this hare-brained expedition to Grandad. I somehow never -thought it would mean such a big undertaking and perhaps, after all, the -water was only seen in a mirage by some exhausted pilgrims all those -centuries ago.” - -Fearful for her, Ralph Trenchard fully agreed in his heart, but -contradicted her in an effort to reassure her. - -“Oh! I don’t know, dearest. I don’t think you are in the least bit -responsible. Your grandfather has been set on discovering this water ever -since he read the document all those years ago, and if he hadn’t done it -this year he would have done it later, and then I shouldn’t have been -here to see you through, should I?” - -“No, of course you wouldn’t!” replied the girl, as she looked up -into the handsome face. “If we hadn’t pitched our camp just outside -Ismailiah, which we shouldn’t have done if we had not been starting on -this adventure, you and I would not have met.” She touched the scar on -his temple as she spoke, the look of trouble deepening in her eyes. “You -laughed at me when I told you about the scene we had with Zarah, the -Arabian girl, at school, when she said she saw herself on a mountain peak -and me in the dust at her feet and a man with a scar upon his temple, -coming towards her. But, you see, she did meet you and recognize you, and -she came from somewhere about here, Ra, and I haven’t been able to get -her out of my thoughts since we left Hutah. She hated me, Ra, _hated_ me, -and, as you know, I believe in the power of thought.” - -“So do I, beloved,” said Ralph Trenchard, putting his arms round her and -holding her very close to his heart. “But no bad thought, no hate, malice -or revenge can get through real, pure, everlasting love. It can rage, and -storm, and threaten outside and make a considerable noise and kick up a -tremendous amount of dust, but _it can’t touch the love inside a great -fortress of trust_.” - -He laughed to reassure her as he watched the troubled look in the big, -blue eyes which shone like stars. “Not that I don’t also rely upon my -good right arm and trusty automatic when wandering in desert places. -Besides, you must remember that she was fairly senseless when she dropped -into my arms like an over-ripe plum from a tree, also, that the native is -as crammed full of tricks as a monkey, and that I haven’t set eyes on her -since.” - -But the girl was not to be so easily pacified. - -Gently submissive in the smaller events of everyday life, Helen Raynor -invariably carried through any project she considered worth while, with a -quiet determination which, when opposed, developed into sheer strength of -will; also, she had never been known to back out of a task she had been -set, however disagreeable. - -“I can’t agree with you, Ra. I can’t help connecting her with the -mysterious woman the men are continually talking about; the one who -suddenly appears at the head of a gang of bandits, raids a caravan, and -disappears as suddenly into the unknown. Of course, if I had known about -this woman sooner nothing would have induced me to allow Grandad to -undertake the trip. I’m not worrying about myself, but I _am_ worrying -about the two people I love most on earth, you and him.” She shivered -uncontrollably as she looked out at the far horizon. “I hate this place, -and if he wasn’t so terribly obstinate I’d make him turn back, even now. -What is the finding of hidden water in a desert compared with the lives -of those I love so much?” - -Ralph Trenchard rose and stretched his hands out to her. - -“You are tired, darling, you do too much for our comfort, you never seem -to rest, and I don’t like you sitting here without a wrap. It’s hot -enough, goodness knows, but the wind from the north is not to be trifled -with.” - -“Yes, I noticed that the men had their mouths covered after sunset. -Let’s go and talk to Grandad, the darling is worrying himself to death -because we got half a mile off our course to-day.” She looked up at Ralph -Trenchard. “How tall you are, how strong you look, Ra, I don’t think any -harm can come to me whilst you are near.” - -He leaned and took her hands and pulled her up beside him. He stood over -six feet; she was well above the medium height, with her head well set -upon splendid shoulders. They seemed the embodiment of strength, with -their steady eyes, and quiet movements, and soft voices, as they stood -hand in hand alone under the great moon, little knowing that they would -shortly be called upon to make use of every atom of physical and mental -strength they possessed, so as to win through the terrible days ahead. - -“I am strong, beloved, and so are you, and together we will overcome -every difficulty in our path.” - -“Together,” said Helen softly; “yes, together we cannot fail, and even if -we were separated for a time we should still be together. Mentally and -spiritually we are so _one_ that no one and nothing can ever separate the -real us. I—what’s that?” - -There had come the sharp report of a rifle from some spot far ahead -of them in the desert, followed immediately by the sound of a great -disturbance in the camp. - -“Excellency! hasten thy footsteps,” cried a camel driver who ran to meet -them as they hurried towards the camp. “_Eblis_, the black devil, has -possessed the senses of his offspring, the camels. Hobbled, they essay to -flee back upon the path by which they have come; fallen, they fight where -they lay until the ground is not a fit sight for the eyes of our lady. -Hasten, Excellency; our master, full of wrath, calleth his Excellency’s -name, with much groaning of spirit.” - -“My God!” exclaimed Ralph Trenchard a few minutes later as he stood -looking at the camels. “How ghastly!” - -To rest both man and beast the camp had been pitched for a week near a -well sunk many years ago by Arabs, beneath a clump of palm trees which, -in its isolated fertility, they had recognized as the sure sign of water -somewhere beneath the surface. - -The camels had been unloaded so that the packs could be more evenly -distributed and their backs attended to before starting on the last and -most trying lap of the expedition; they had lain contentedly sprawling, -or had stood as contentedly ruminating, as near the brackish well as they -could get, until fear had swept through the whole herd. - -There is no explaining the fear which at any moment, in any place, will -suddenly grip this most unimaginative and most stupid of all beasts. In -the middle of a crowded thoroughfare, as when alone in the empty desert, -it will stop for no reason whatever and begin to shiver, with head -outstretched, eyes rolling, and forelegs planted wide as though to resist -the onslaught of some unseen enemy. - -It is of no avail to kick or beat the terror-stricken creature, and -for the following reason it is most unwise to approach too near its -formidable mouth. It will stand and shiver until it comes to wellnigh -dropping to its knees, and then, with a sudden quick movement of the long -neck, will snap at something only visible to its eyes. The fear then -passes, and, demoniacal rage filling the vacuum created by the passing -of its fear, it will turn and savage the nearest object at hand, be it -man or fellow-beast or inanimate substance, until, its wrath appeased, it -proceeds calmly, indifferently upon its contemptuous way. - -“Excellency! Excellency!” wailed Abdul, whose garments hung in shreds. -“Something which neither I nor my brethren could see walked amongst them -an hour ago. They became convulsed with fear of the unknown, Excellency, -and shook in their terror, until some fell to the ground, and, being -bound, remained there foaming at the mouth. Then, at the sound of firing, -_Eblis_ the devil entered their black hearts, and they fought, all of -them, those that lay upon the ground biting at the dust, those that stood -tearing the hair and flesh from each other’s back until the place runs -with blood, as your Excellency sees. I have done my best, but neither I -nor my brethren will take another step into this desert, which is the -abiding place of all evil.” - -“I don’t blame them,” said Ralph Trenchard to himself, when, having given -orders for the tending of the wounded beasts, he went to report the -mutiny to Sir Richard. - -“They won’t stir another yard, sir! at least, not forward, so we shall -have to retrace our steps.” - -He rejoiced in his heart at the turn things had taken, without reckoning -with the old man’s wall-headed obstinacy or the cupidity of the native. - -“Nonsense!” replied Sir Richard tersely, as he stalked off towards the -mutineers, to return triumphantly ten minutes later. - -“We start when I said we’d start, my boy, in two days’ time, if the -weather clears and the camels are fit,” he said as he entered his tent. -“I’ve doubled their pay. Good night.” - -Ralph Trenchard walked to his own tent and beckoned Abdul. - -“ ... we are poor, very poor, Excellency,” the latter said, concluding -his apologia. “We could not withstand the money.” - -“Well, I’m sorry you gave in, on account of her Excellency your mistress, -but it can’t be helped. Tell me—what did that rifle shot mean?” - -Abdul spread his fingers to avert evil as he whispered: - -“That was a mistake, Excellency, on the part of those whose eyes watch us -from afar.” - -“Whose eyes?” - -“Perchance those of the woman of mystery, of crime, of death.” - -Ralph Trenchard looked over his shoulder towards the tent of the woman he -loved, then back at the man. - -“Tell the men to have their rifles ready, I am coming to inspect them,” -he said abruptly, then turned away and stood looking out across the -desert. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - “_A person sat demanding from God the rise of morn—when morn - rose he became blind._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -“I wish the stars could be seen,” Sir Richard said irritably, three -nights later, as he looked up at the sky, across which hung a heavy -purple cloud. Due to the intense heat, it obliterated the stars, -thereby trying the patience of the old man to the uttermost. “This -delay is simply abominable. To think, just to think, that this wind -has been blowing for nearly a week, clouding the sky and blotting out -the stars—the stars by which, if they could have been seen, I could -have proved, absolutely proved, that we are camped upon the exact spot, -between the mountains of Hareek and the Jebel Akhaf, from where the Holy -Fathers turned due south. We could have followed in their footsteps, -started to-night; think of it, could have started to-night, if only -this wind hadn’t blown. What? Try to find out what the firing meant the -other night? Nonsense, man, nonsense! We don’t want to go over all that -again. Some Arab, a solitary one. Sound carries for miles, miles in the -desert, the slightest sound. If you let a pin drop it could be almost -heard in Hutah. Absurd! The thing to do is to get _on_.” He spread out, -with an angry slap, the copy he had made of the vellum inscribed by the -Holy Palladius, and read out the Latin words by the light of an electric -torch. “It absolutely tallies,” he cried enthusiastically. “You see, -ab-so-lutely tallies! Another week, perhaps a little less, perhaps a -little more, and we should see the Sanctuary before us, if we could only -start!” - -“But, Grandad,” interrupted Helen, who sat fanning herself with her -topee in an endeavour to bear with the terrible heat, which had encircled -her eyes with deep violet shadows and caused her collar bones to show -with undue prominence. “How can you be sure that that range of mountains -is the one in which the water is hidden? It seems to me to be too near -the beginning of the desert not to have been discovered before, if it is. -In fact, Abdul told me that his own brother had been within five miles of -it.” - -“And why, when so close, did he not go closer still?” - -“Because of the great barrier of evil the bad spirits, which live in the -mountains, have built to keep people away.” - -“Exactly,” said the old man triumphantly. “We are not going to break -new ground, my dear child; we are going to break through the barrier of -superstition erected by the Arabs themselves, and which _alone_ has kept -them from the water of which they stand so badly in need in this terrible -spot.” - -“It is rather appalling, I must say, without the camp fires,” said -Ralph Trenchard, who, in shorts and a silk shirt, wrestled unceasingly -with insects of all sizes and shapes which flew and crawled about them, -attracted by the light of the torch. - -“However did those poor beggars get through without oils of lavender and -lemon, kerosene and smoke of sulphur to protect them from these brutes?” -He speared a spider as he spoke and flung it into the night, then took -Helen’s hand in both of his. “Why not turn in, dearest? You look tired -out, and we can’t move until the stars come out, either late to-night or -to-morrow night.” - -She shook her head as she looked first at the sullen sky, then at the -huddled figures of the Arabs, sitting with their heads buried in their -burnous, and at the camels lying with their muzzles hidden in each -other’s sides. She put her finger to her lips and shook her head again, -as she glanced at her grandfather poring over the map, then at the -sentries who paced the four sides of the rough square. - -The square was small and compact, with their Excellencies’ tents in -the middle, and the camels so stabled that there could be no confusion -between them and their drivers if danger should arise. To mark the four -sides of the square a tent had been pitched at each angle. In the shadow -of the one to the south a man lay with his ear to the ground. He lay like -one asleep or dead until the sentry turned, when he crawled upon his -belly back to the lines where, with the help of two others such as he, -he unhobbled certain camels and fastened them together by means of long -leather thongs buckled above the knee of the right forelegs, then let -them loose. It is an invention of Satan himself to create confusion in -a herd of camels, and has never been known to fail in the annals of the -turbulent Peninsula. - -“Yes, why don’t you go and get some sleep, child?” said Sir Richard, -who paid no attention to the passing of the hours himself, having -acquired the Oriental’s gift of falling asleep when and where he wished. -“Two o’clock already! Dear me! How quickly time does pass when one is -pleasantly occupied!” He evicted something that crawled from the vicinity -of his neck and patted his granddaughter’s hand. “There’ll be plenty of -time for love-making, little one, when we get back to east winds and -frosts, so run along and take off your boots and comb your hair and -wheedle a basinful of water from Hassin. I don’t know what I should have -done without you, and I’m glad to think that there is a man _almost_ good -enough to look after you. Ah! I thought so. We’re in for a thunderstorm. -That accounts for the sky and this oppressiveness.” - -He turned and looked due south, childishly pleased that he had caught the -distant rumbling before the others; then looked up at Ralph Trenchard, -who had leapt to his feet, jerking Helen up beside him. - -“Do you hear it now? Of course, the storm may pass us by.” - -“The storm’s not going to pass us by!” answered Ralph Trenchard sharply. -“That sound has nothing to do with thunder; it’s the sound of horses -galloping on sand. Remember I did my bit in Egypt and know what I’m -talking about, and they’re not far off either. Take Helen to your tent -and stay there, so that I can know where you are. Don’t leave it. Quick! -Oh, damn the fool!” - -A sentry had fired into the pitchy darkness. - -The Arab is inclined to impulsiveness with firearms when left to himself, -but he is a born fighter and a magnificent fighter when properly armed -and led. He will fight to the death for a cause, for a bet, for nothing -at all; he loves fighting, and does not own himself beaten until death -overtakes him or he is rendered incapable of movement through wounds. - -The camp seethed. - -Now that the danger was upon them the men were in high fettle at the -prospect of a fight. If they died—well, _kismet_! It would be because -their hour had come. If they lived, the great English Sheikh would -reward them bounteously for having so well defended her Excellency their -mistress. They were well armed, the ammunition plentiful, and the young -English Sheikh a man among men to lead them into battle. So they yelled -in response to the yelling of the distant enemy, and loosened their -knives and examined their rifles whilst calling upon the Prophet to allow -the battle to be long and bloody and the reward great. - -The camp had not been caught unprepared, and all might have gone -exceeding well if it had not been for the half-dozen camels which the -spies had fastened together with leather thongs. Panic-stricken, they -rushed amongst the others standing helpless on account of the hobbles, -entangling them, binding them one to the other as they fought to get -free. - -“Rifle all right, darling? And yours, sir?” - -Ralph Trenchard paused for an instant at the tent, then ran to take his -place amongst the men who watched the magnificent picture before them, -withholding their fire by his orders. - -A torch flared suddenly in the far distance, and another, and yet -another, until a line of orange flame swept across the sky towards the -camp, rising and falling at regular intervals as though borne upon the -crest of some gigantic wave. - -From underneath the flaming line came the thunder of many hoofs and the -shouting of many men, invisible in the darkness. Then showed dimly the -shape of a white horse ridden by a woman, and behind her horses and men -sweeping down to the attack. - -Glittering from head to foot with jewels, shouting with her men, Zarah -the Cruel, the mysterious woman of the desert, rode her favourite -stallion native-wise, guiding him with her knees, ripping his satiny -sides with golden spur to keep him a length ahead of those she led. - -“_Ista’jil! Zarah! Ista’jil! Zarah!_” - -The men shouted the battle-cry and the Arabian’s name unceasingly as they -drove their horses at full gallop over the billows of sand, holding aloft -their throwing spears, upon the points of which lighted torches flared. -Little cared she that the line of light made a splendid target for the -enemy hidden in the darkness; little cared she what happened to those -around her so long as tales of mystery and power about her were carried -throughout the Peninsula, across to Egypt, and up to Turkey and far away -to India. - -She raised her spear when a volley from the camp brought men and -horses crashing to the ground, and turning to Al-Asad, who rode at her -right hand, shouted an order, which he repeated, whilst the men yelled -“_Wah! Wah!_” as they raised their spears and whirled them above their -heads, until the sky seemed full of great circles of fire and the earth -possessed of demons. - -There came the crash of a second volley from the camp just as Al-Asad -raised his hand, and the spears, with flaming torch upon the points, -flashed like meteors in a semicircle through the air, to fall in the -centre of the camp. - -“They surround us, Excellency!” shouted Abdul, who had left the -screaming, fighting camels to their fate so as to stand by the side of -the white man he had learned to love and respect during the long weeks -they had passed together. “Watch her, that thrice accursed daughter of -pigs; she makes the point from which her men deploy.” - -As the men spread out on each side of her Zarah reined the stallion in, -holding him, rearing and plunging, upon one spot, seemingly indifferent -to the bullets which rained about her, spitting up the sand at the -animal’s feet, bringing her men and her horses to the ground. She laughed -aloud and raised her spear twice above her head as the tent to the north -caught fire, lighting up the smallest detail of the inferno. In the fire -and the smoke caused by the torches falling amongst the packs and tents -Ralph Trenchard and his men worked like demons to loosen the great water -skins, whilst the camels shrieked and fought and tore at each other in -their agony, as the spears hurled by the enemy were buried in their -sides or in the ground, or in the breasts of the Arabs who fought so -desperately for life. - -“Have they no rifles?” yelled Trenchard. - -“Yea, verily! But the daughter of swine would take the white people alive -for ransom,” yelled back Abdul. “We are surrounded, Excellency. To the -glory of Allah we die fighting.” - -Trenchard gave one quick look over his shoulder towards the tent where, -outlined against the light of the fire, Sir Richard and Helen stood -shoulder to shoulder with smoking rifles in their hands. “Fire!” he -shouted, as Zarah raised her spear and threw it with unerring aim. - -“Out knives and fight to the death!” - -He yelled the order which transports the Arab to the seventh heaven of -delight as the spear buried itself in Sir Richard’s gallant old heart, -and the enemy moved suddenly and swiftly down upon them. - -“Fall back and give no quarter!” he shouted again, unwitting in the din -and turmoil of a party of Bedouins which, attracted by the red glow in -the sky and the sound of firing, raced towards the scene of battle from -the west. - -Shouting encouragement, firing until his rifle became too hot to hold, -Trenchard backed slowly towards Helen, who knelt clasping her grandfather -in her arms. Wounded, shouting, the men fell back slowly to form a square -round her Excellency the white woman, who had accounted for more than -one of the enemy and who, in her bravery, was to be ranked with the most -famous of _hadeeyahs_, even Ayesha, the wife of Mohammed the Prophet, -whilst the spy who had loosened the camels worked his way sideways until -he stood close behind the white man for whose capture alive a great -reward had been promised. - -“Stand fast, men, they’re on us!” shouted Trenchard as, with a ringing -yell, the enemy charged, just as the six camels, their long leather -thongs burned through, shrieking and maddened with the agony of their -burns and wounds, rushed the gallant square. - -“God have mercy upon us!” Helen cried as she sprang to her feet to watch -the terrible sight of horses and camels fighting to the death, making an -impassable wedge separating her from Ralph Trenchard. - -Outlined against a background of orange light, they looked like mighty -prehistoric beasts as they reared and plunged, falling to their knees, -scrambling to their feet, shrieking as only horses and camels can -shriek, in pain and fear. Sick to the heart, she tried in vain to -catch a glimpse of the man she loved, whilst Zarah, with Al-Asad at her -side, rode round and round the camp, shouting the battle-cry, yelling -encouragement to those of her men who were left alive to fight. - -Just for the moment Helen stood searching vainly for her lover, her ears -deaf to the din of the battle, her eyes blinded to the terrible sights, -then flung herself down beside the old man she loved so deeply. Where -she loved she had no fear, neither could any task be too hard for her -to undertake for the loved one’s welfare, so that she knelt beside Sir -Richard and gently drew out the spear which had pierced the gallant -heart. When she understood that it had for ever ceased to beat she -gathered him up into her strong arms and kissed his white hair. She held -him so, just for a little while, as her mind uncontrollably raced back -through the happy years spent with him; then she laid him down upon the -desert sand and, picking up her rifle, rose to her feet. - -She was of those for whom great danger holds no terror. Thrice blessed -indeed are they upon whom that great tranquillity descends in the midst -of danger; who, steadied and exhilarated by peril, help those around them -by their unwavering calm. - -She stood, with the dead man at her feet, waiting to help the living man -she loved as he fell back slowly towards her, fighting desperately. - -Where the men met they fought without quarter, regardless of the -hammering hoofs, the tearing teeth, the foam and blood and welter of the -animals. Stripped to the waist, black with grime, fighting at such close -quarters that he could scarce tell friend from foe, Trenchard fought, -using the butt-end of his revolver, with Abdul by his side, whilst the -Bedouins approached nearer and nearer, unseen on account of the smoke, -unheard in the din. - -“Thy wife!” shouted Zarah, leaning towards Al-Asad and pointing to Helen, -who stood alone with her back towards them, nauseated at the sight of -a bay mare and a wounded camel in death grips. The camel had reared and -flung itself upon the mare, meeting its teeth just below her ears, whilst -she, lashing out until great rents were torn in the dying camel’s belly, -tried vainly to free herself from the paralysis which crept over her -through the vice-like grip upon her spine. - -“_Bism ’allah!_” yelled Al-Asad, as Helen raised her rifle. “Behold! is -she the maid to be the mother of sons? Let us take her to blind Yussuf as -his part of the spoil.” He yelled again in sheer admiration as a double -report rang out and the fighting beasts dropped; then rode down upon -Helen as she reloaded, and lifting her, swung her, fighting like a tiger, -across the saddle. - -He laughed exultantly as he held her down, pressing her hands against her -neck with his left hand until she was almost suffocated, and her knees -down with his right hand, whilst his horse, guided by the pressure of his -knees, raced back to where Zarah waited, laughing and shouting remarks -which, fortunately, were not heard above the uproar. - -“Behold, she is for thee—thy mate,” she cried; “and I—look -thou—look—look—behold _my_ mate, alone amongst wolves.” Al-Asad, who -could hear no word of what she said, looked to where she pointed, then -laughed savagely when she screamed in an agony of fear. - -It happened in a second. - -Flames suddenly burst from the tent to the east, leaping to the very sky, -against which, for one instant, Ralph Trenchard, with Abdul at his side, -stood out clearly. - -Zarah leant forward, revolver in hand, and fired—too late. From out the -heap of dead and dying the spy had sprung, felling Ralph Trenchard to the -ground with a blow from the handle of a throwing knife behind the ear, to -fall himself with Abdul’s knife in his side. - -Then friend and foe turned and, shoulder to shoulder, faced the onslaught -of the new terror which fell upon them out of the night, whilst Abdul -flung himself down upon the body of the white man he loved, and ripping -the cloak from a dead Arab, covered him and pulled him under the -sheltering bodies of two dead camels. - -Zarah turned in her saddle and emptied her revolver into the group of -Bedouins who, lying upon their horses’ necks, raced down upon her; then -shouted to Al-Asad and, giving the stallion his head, fled for her -life. They did not skirt the camp; they rode right through it and over -everything they encountered in their path, heedless of the curses called -down upon them by the wounded they trampled underfoot. Out into the -coming dawn they sped, guided by the stars for which Sir Richard had so -ardently longed, with the limp body of the English girl as their sole -reward for the disastrous night. - - * * * * * - -The stars went out and the sky lightened down in the east as the Bedouins -sat in a circle, taking counsel together. - -The camels and horses that were fit for use stood hobbled, placidly -ruminating or fretting and fidgeting, near the spot where the west tent -had stood; the prisoners lay groaning on the ground, or sat, with the -fatalism of the East, awaiting their sentence. - -The sky was covered, as far as eye could see, with vultures, whirling -and swooping, settling as near as they dare to the feast awaiting them, -or standing motionless until some noise or movement sent them flying in -flocks skywards, an offence against the glory of the heavens. - -The unconscious form of Ralph Trenchard lay at the feet of the Bedouin -chief, whilst Abdul, by his side, craftily bargained for their lives. - -“A man of much wealth thou hast seized, O my brother! A great sheikh in -a country where the towns are paved with gold, the bazaars are full of -jewels, and the streets of houris of the greatest beauty.” - -“Perchance ’tis true; but how know we that he will give us of his wealth -once we have nursed him back to life and allowed him to depart from us?” - -Abdul turned in the direction of Mecca and lifted his hand. - -“By the beard of the Prophet I swear it, by the wind and the wool and -the honour of the Arab I swear it, knowing him of whom I speak. In the -name of my father and my father’s fathers I will stand as bond for this -man’s honour. My life for his word, O brother; and life is sweet, even -unto those who are born in lowliness. There is much wealth upon the backs -of the camels, for behold! the fire has but touched the covering. It is -thine in return for his life.” - -“It is mine already, O brother!” - -Abdul played his trump card. - -“Yea, if thou darest to take it. If thou wilt listen to me it will be -thine without the fear of questioning from the king of the great white -race, who knows the movements of each one of his subjects and meteth out -death to those who slay his children or keep them prisoner. I am the -white man’s servant; let me but nurse him back to health, heal his wounds -and allay his fever so that he may start upon the quest of the white -woman he loves, and I will pour the tale of thy goodness into his ears in -such wise that peace and plenty will be thine for ever more. Is it not -written, brethren, ‘He is the chosen of the people who rejoices in the -welfare of others’?” - -So it came about as it had been written that, after many hours the birds -of prey drew closer to the scene of tragedy, whilst Abdul, holding his -master gently in his arms, followed the Bedouins upon camelback as they -rode slowly away across the path by which they had so swiftly come. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - “_The walls have ears._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Helen Raynor lay like a broken lily, asleep upon a divan piled with -cushions, in a great room built between two ledges of rock high up on the -mountainside. - -The place was bare, save for rugs upon the floor and the cushions of -every colour of the rainbow, embroidered in gold, patterned in jewels, -and quite unfit for an invalid’s repose. - -It was refreshingly cool in spite of being nearer the scorching sun than -any other part of the erstwhile monastery. A great slab of rock, many -feet in thickness, jutting from the mountainside, made a natural ceiling; -huge brass bowls full of water stood on the rock floor; the desert winds -of dawn and sunset blew in at the cross-shaped apertures which took the -place of windows in the east and west walls, built of pieces of stone -of all shapes and sizes, fitted together in mosaic fashion and two feet -thick; the door faced the cleft in the mountain ring, and through it -could be seen the limitless desert, a view of infinite peace. - -An austere place, imbued with quiet strength, an eyrie of peace, -conjuring up pictures of abstinence and sacrifice, it stood as it had -been built all those centuries ago by the Holy Fathers for their prior, -connected with the plateau by a dizzy flight of steps leading straight -down to the water which Sir Richard had hoped to discover for the good of -mankind and his own satisfaction. - -Namlah, the native woman, shivered as she sat outside on the edge of the -platform upon which the place had been built, but as much from the effect -her surroundings were having upon her as from the chill breeze of dawn. -She got to her feet, her many anklets jangling as she moved, and walked -to the edge of the rock ledge and looked down at the water and shivered -again and sighed. - -Zarah the Cruel had made the biggest mistake of her life when, in a fit -of towering rage, she had set Namlah to tend and guard Helen Raynor. She -had thought to set a jailer at the girl’s door; she had placed a friend. -She had thought to take the body-woman’s thoughts away from her dead son -by piling still more work upon the bent shoulders; instead she gave her -hours in which to sit, to dream, to plan out some way in which to revenge -herself for the loss of her child. - -Her son had not returned from the disastrous battle. He lay somewhere out -there in the desert. Her son was dead. And when, mad with grief, she had -flung herself at her mistress’s feet and begged to be allowed to go and -find him and bury him, she had been struck across the mouth and ordered -up to the dwelling where the prisoner lay, and threatened with still more -dire punishment if she told the white girl aught about the secrets of the -place. - -And what could worse punishment mean but the death of the one son left -her? The dumb boy she loved even more than she had loved the one who had -not returned from battle; the boy who had been nicknamed “Yussuf’s Eyes,” -and who spoke by tapping with his slender fingers upon the blind man’s -arm, and almost as readily and clearly as if he used his silent tongue. - -Grief and a great fear filled her heart. - -What if Zarah the Merciless took this son? She touched an amulet of good -luck which hung about her neck and turned to draw an extra covering over -the prisoner left in her care. - -“Beautiful! Beautiful!” she whispered, gently stroking the golden hair -she delighted to brush for the hour together, and which covered the -girl, like a veil, to her knees. “What will be thy fate in the hands of -the one who knows no mercy?” She spat as she spoke and sat down at the -foot of the divan. “Thou a slave who art a queen in beauty? Thou to obey -where thou hast ruled, to go when ordered, to come when bidden? Nay! -Allah protect thee and bring thee safely through that which awaits thee. -I love thee, white woman, for thy gentleness in thy distress. Not one -harsh word in the days when the fever ran high; not one black look in -these days when thy weakness is as that of the new-born lamb. Behold, is -this the time to replace about thy neck the amulet which fell from thy -strange clothing when I did take them from off thee, thou white flower?” -She searched in her voluminous robes and drew out a small golden locket -on a broken chain, and sat turning it over and over in her hand, fighting -a great temptation. She fingered the brass bracelets and the silver ring -she wore and rubbed the gold chain against her pock-marked cheek. - -“The amulet, yea, that will I not keep, for fear I rob the white woman of -her birthright of happiness; but the chain, of what use is it to her? It -is thin and broken....” She twined it round her wrist, looking at it with -longing eyes, then, with a little sigh, unwound it and slipped it round -the girl’s neck and, knotting the broken ends, hid the locket under the -silken garment and ran out quickly on to the platform. - -She sat just outside the door, indifferently watching the starlit sky -with twinkling eyes in a wry face. - -“Behold, I love thee,” she whispered, “and would bring thee back to -health. Not alone because of my love for thee, but for that within me -which tells me that ‘the time approaches when a camel will crouch down -on the place of another camel.’” She rubbed her work-worn hands as she -quoted the proverb and pondered upon the happy day when the reigning -tyrant should be dethroned and someone with bowels of compassion should -be elected in her stead. She turned her sleek head and looked once again -at the girl, and fingered her brass bracelets and smiled, as she quoted -another proverb, until her perfect teeth flashed in the dusk. “‘He who -cannot reach to the bunch of grapes says of it, it is sour.’ Behold, I -think the golden chain would not have become my beauty.” She rose as -she spoke, laughing, with the childlike happiness of the Eastern who is -pleased, and crossed to a small recess, where she made great clatter -amongst many brass pots in the process of concocting a strong and savoury -broth. - -She stood for a moment watching Helen, who had wakened at the noise and -lay looking out through the cleft in the mountains to the desert. - -For three weeks, so far as she could judge, she had lain ’twixt fever and -stupor in the strange room, tended by a middle-aged native who put her -finger to her lips when questioned. - -Three weeks of agonizing uncertainty as to the fate of those she loved, -in which in her delirium she had fought maddened men and beasts or sobbed -her heart out in the native’s arms. Twice she had crawled to the platform -and tried to descend the steps to reach her grandfather, whom she thought -to see standing upon the river bank. Not once had she been aware of Zarah -standing behind her as she lay on the bed, with a mocking smile on the -beautiful, cruel mouth and a look of uncertainty in the yellow eyes. - -She had questioned the native woman, imploring her to give her news of -the caravan, promising her her heart’s desire if she could but obtain -authentic information about the man she loved. She had begged for her -clothes, and when they had been refused had tried to rise from her bed, -only to fall back, weak and exhausted from the fever which had resulted -from the horror and shock of the battle and the terrible ride, during -which, at the last, she had mercifully lost consciousness. - -“Am I in the hands of Zarah, the mysterious woman of the desert?” she had -whispered to the native the first day her senses had come back to her. -“Has a white man been also taken prisoner? Is there any help for us?” - -Namlah had looked furtively over her shoulder and had put her finger upon -her lips as she had whispered back: - -“‘The provision of to-morrow belongs to to-morrow’ is a wise saying, -Excellency. Rest in peace whilst yet peace is with thee. ’Tis wise for -the hare to abide beneath ground when the hawk hovers, and for the lamb -to make no sound when the jackal prowls. ’Tis twice wise for the eyes -to be wide open and the mouth shut when those who are in power are -likewise in wrath.” She had bent over the girl as she had arranged the -cushions, and had whispered lower still: “Trust not the news of her -mouth, Excellency; it is as a well of poisoned water in which truth dies. -There is one here whose words are as pure gold, though his eyes are like -burned-out fires. When he brings news I will bring it thee. Thou may’st -trust me.” She had slipped the cotton garment from her back as she spoke. -“The marks of the whip that lashed my back are as naught compared to the -wounds of grief which the greed and tyranny of our mistress have caused -to cut deep into my heart.” She had stroked the girl’s hair and patted -her hand when she had cried out at the sight of the great scars, and had -waited upon her and nursed her, loving her the while. - -“I waited for thee to waken, Excellency,” she whispered this hour before -the dawn. “Al-Asad has but just returned; he speaketh even now with Zarah -the Cruel.” - -And having bathed Helen’s temples and wrists and fed her with much strong -broth, Namlah crept noiselessly down the steep steps to the broad terrace -where her mistress dwelt, and crouched, a shadow amongst shadows, under -the window made by the Holy Fathers centuries ago. - -She stayed, crouched against the wall, listening to the voices of her -mistress and Al-Asad the Nubian. Unable to catch their words, she touched -the amulet at her neck and rose, inch by inch, until the top of her head -was on a level with the window’s lower edge. - -“Of a truth wert thou cunning ...” she heard her mistress say, losing the -rest of the sentence in the peal of laughter that followed. - -Complete silence fell, and the night air became the heavier for the -scents of musk, myrrh, attar and other such overpowering perfumes beloved -of the Oriental, which floated through the window. Namlah sniffed -appreciatively, then, too small to see above the window ledge, and with -curiosity rampant in her heart, crouched down again until she knelt -upon the rock, and felt around with slender, nimble fingers for the -wherewithal with which to raise herself the necessary inches that would -enable her to see into the room without being seen. - -She found nothing, but, spurred by the sound of her mistress’s voice, -slipped out of her voluminous outer robe, rolled it into a bundle and -stood upon it, a wizened, dusky slip of an eavesdropper, in a coarse, -unembroidered _qamis_. - -“‘A small date-stone props up the water jar,’” she quoted, as with one -brown eye she looked furtively into the room from the side of the window. - -She drew her breath sharply. Simple in her wants, as are all the -natives of the serf-like class, she had never been able to get over the -astonishment she felt at the sight of the luxury with which her mistress -surrounded herself. - -The rough stone walls built by the Holy Fathers and the uneven stone -floor had been covered with marble of the faintest green, cunningly -worked along the edges in a great scroll pattern of gold mosaic. The -scroll glittered in the light of four lamps hanging in the corners of the -immense room, reflecting all the colours of the rainbow in their crystal -chains and crystal drops. The drops and chains were reflected in a basin -of pink marble in the centre of the room, and in five huge mirrors -which the Arabian’s colossal vanity had caused her to place about. Gold -and silver fish swam monotonously round and round in the marble basin, -happily unconscious of the moment awaiting them when the woman would -catch them in her dainty, henna-stained fingers and throw them on to the -floor, for the mere pleasure of watching them die. The water for the -marble basin was changed every few hours by prisoners, who toiled up and -down the steep steps under the blazing sun and the lash of the overseer’s -whip, all of which doubtlessly added to the enjoyment Zarah felt when she -caught the fish in her merciless hands. - -Persian carpets and countless cushions were spread upon the marble floor; -stools and tables inlaid with ivory, gold and jewels stood upon them, -also bowls of sweetmeats, trays of fruit and great vases of perfumed -water, in all the profusion so dear to the heart of the wealthy Eastern. -Two black and white monkeys chased each other all over the place, -in and out of doors leading to other smaller rooms, which served as -dressing-room and wardrobes, and up and down a slender steel staircase -which reached to a platform built right across the north end of the -room. The platform was two yards broad, the back made by the marble of -the wall, the front protected by a fine broad-meshed gold netting which -opened in the middle and swung back like a door. Covered with silken -perfumed sheets, piled with cushions and hung with orange-coloured satin -curtains, it was but a somewhat exaggerated replica of many Oriental -beds, which are raised from the ground for the sake of coolness and also -protection from that which crawls by night. - -Inside the golden cage, with the slender steps safely drawn up from -the floor, Zarah would lie o’ nights, either watching the dim shape of -her lion cub as it prowled this way and that, or sleeping with the -untroubled conscience of the heartless, or dreaming waking dreams of the -man she had learned to love in the space of a few moments. - -The lion cub, with neither teeth nor claws drawn, and which was a good -deal nearer adolescence than a European would have considered healthy in -a pet of that category, padded awkwardly backwards and forwards behind a -divan upon which his mistress lay this night whilst listening to Al-Asad -the half-caste, who, just returned from seeking information concerning -the white man, sat cross-legged on the floor beside her. - -“Tell me once again, O Asad, all that thou didst learn concerning the -white man when, as one fleeing for his life, thou didst crave shelter in -the Bedouin camp.” - -Al-Asad frowned as he looked at the woman whom he served in love and -who had had no word of praise for the arduous undertaking he had so -successfully accomplished. He loathed himself for the love which so -weakened him, causing him to tremble at her frown and almost to prostrate -himself at her small feet when she gave him a smile. Longing to drive a -knife through her heart to end it all, he held tight clasped instead the -golden tassel of the cushion upon which she lay. - -“Words repeated are but waste of time, but, as I have told thee, O woman, -the old white man lies buried deep in the sands, safe from the birds and -beasts of prey, who have left but the bones and tattered raiment of man -and beast to mark where the ill-fated battle was fought. The young white -man, even the one about whom thou art besotted in love, lives, being -taken prisoner, with one Abdul, by the accursed Bedouins who fell upon -us. He is likewise recovered from a great fever which befell him from -the blow dealt him, O Zarah, in the midst of the fight, and the blow of -a hoof upon the forehead which struck him as he lay upon the ground. He -has been nigh dead of this fever, fighting in his delirium, calling ever -loudly upon the woman’s name I cannot remember, shouting aloud his love -for her.” - -“Thou dullard,” broke in Zarah furiously. “Art as of little learning as -the Bedouins who give him shelter for their own ends? Make yet another -effort, even if thy tongue be too big for thy mouth, which is not over -small.” - -Al-Asad shook his head, taking no notice of the gibe at the expense of -his negroid blood. “I cannot, O woman. Yet should I know it again if I -but heard it. To pronounce it, must the mouth be opened and the word -dropped out without movement of the lips.” - -Zarah twisted herself round upon her elbows until her face was on a level -with the man’s. - -“Helen!” she said quietly, and sat upright, clasping her hands about her -knees, when the Nubian laughed and nodded his head. - -“So,” she said slowly, “he loves her! Yet has she said no word of him, -neither wears she his likeness upon her breast, which, O Asad, is a -sickly habit of those who love in northern climes. I have sat with her, -watched over her in her fever, yet has she said no word of him, neither -found I aught in her garments when I searched them, and the ring that is -upon her finger is but a trifle from the bazaar.” - -That Helen’s engagement ring happened to be a scarab inscribed with words -of power, and worth a great price, she was not to know. - -“Namlah, the body-woman who tends her, has she found naught?” - -Zarah laughed as she turned and looked at the stars through the window, -outside which stood a dusky slip of an eavesdropper. - -“Oh, she, the fool, she thinks of naught but the wounds upon her back and -the failure of her son to return from the battle. In her stupidity is she -the safest of all to wait upon the white girl? Yet how can I make use of -this Helen, who has vexed my spirit since first we met? How can I pay -back the laughs and torments of her companions at that thrice accursed -school if she does _not_ love this man?” - -“He loves her, O Zarah!” guilelessly remarked the Nubian, who was finding -rare balm for his own wound in the hurt of his mistress. - -Zarah flung herself round and struck at the handsome, stolid face -with the loaded whip she kept handy in case of an emergency with her -four-footed pet. - -“Thou fool!” she stormed. “Keep thy mouth closed upon such words. What -knowest thou of the ways of white men and women? They travel together -with as much freedom as though they were brother and sister; they dance -in each other’s arms; they go to the festival together, returning alone -at the rising of the sun; they ride and drive and work together, yet are -they but friends, there being naught of love between them. Thinkest thou -that the man would look twice upon yon woman, who is the colour of a -garment which has hung overlong in the sun, if I were at his side, dost -thou?” - -In her wrath she looked like one of the restless birds of vivid plumage -which sang or moved incessantly in the golden cages standing against -the walls; but Al-Asad wisely refrained from answering the question, as -he glanced at them and thought of the joy some men find in the homely -sparrow. - -“Let the white woman, with a name like a drop of water which droppeth -from a spout, write unto the white man and bid him hasten to her to -deliver her from danger. If he loves her he will speed upon the wings -of love, as I would speed if danger should threaten thee, woman of a -thousand beauties.” - -“Oh, thou!” contemptuously replied Zarah, as she pulled the ears of the -lion cub which sprawled at her feet. “Nay, thy words are as empty of -wisdom as the pod of the bean that is in the pot. Thou knowest not the -white race. It weeps over a hurt done to a beast; it bares its breast to -receive the spear thrown at another; it will suffer torture, yea, even -death, to shield a brother from harm.” - -She sat for a long moment, then looked sideways into the man’s eyes and -smiled until he waxed faint with love. - -“A light shines, O Asad of the lion heart. I will go, when she waketh -from her sleep, and make friends with her and work upon her feelings -of friendliness for one who sojourned with her in the thrice accursed -school. She will then bid the white man hither to join in the circle of -friendliness, and then——” She laughed softly as she opened her hand and -closed the fingers slowly. - -“And then, Zarah, thou merciless one, what then?” - -“Then will I replace her in the heart of the man I love and give her to -thee, as wife or what thou wilt, so that in thy sons the blackness of thy -blood may be equalled by the whiteness of hers, and her days be passed in -one long torment through the different colouring of her offspring.” - -But Al-Asad was in no wise inclined to her way of thinking, and said -so in blunt, crude words. He made no movement as he told her of the -love which consumed him; he did not raise his musical voice one tone -as he described the heaven of his days when near her and the hell when -separated from her, even for a few hours; he repeated the story of his -love stubbornly, quietly, over and over again, and made no sign of his -hurt when she laughed aloud in merriment. - -“Behold, O Asad!” she cried as she laughed. “Behold, art thou as perverse -as the mule and as blind to thine own advancement as is Yussuf—that -thrice accursed thorn in my side—to the sun in his path. A beauteous -maid, white as ivory, gentle as the breeze of dawn, awaits thee but a -few steps higher upon the mountainside, and yet dost thou sit, like a -graven image of despair, within the shadow of one whose love is given -elsewhere.” - -“Love!” repeated the half-caste slowly. “Thou and love! ’Twere enough -to make the mountains split with laughter to hear thee! Let us cease -this foolish talk. I love thee, Zarah, and will have none other woman -but thee; but I love thee so well that, rather than see thee suffer the -torment I suffer, I would bring thee thy heart’s desire and find in thy -happiness my happiness and death!” - -“How sayest thou, little cat?” Zarah turned lazily on her side as she -spoke to the lion cub. “Wouldst bring a mate to thy love because she -would have none of thee, or wouldst break her will or her neck so as to -prove thyself her master?” - -Namlah gasped and Asad leant quickly forward when, with a low growl -of pleasure, the great cat sprang upon the divan and stood across its -mistress, kneading the silken cover into strips. - -“Learn thy lesson from the four-footed beast,” cried Zarah sharply, as -she struck the animal across the eyes with the whip until it leapt from -the divan and slunk across the room, where it crouched in a corner with -lashing tail and blazing eyes. “The lesson which teaches the slave that -there is a line beyond which his foot may not go.” - -But Al-Asad was taking no notice of the lesson he was being taught. From -under half-closed lids he was watching something round outside the window -which, to the best of his knowledge, had not been there when he had -sat down upon the floor, something which he mistook for Yussuf’s head, -knowing the hatred which existed between him and his mistress. - -“Let us cease this foolish talk,” he repeated as he rose slowly to -his feet, his heart hot with anger at the thought of the spy. “Let us -instead”—he lowered his voice to the merest whisper as he spoke—“let us -visit the woman who is to be the bait in the trap into which the white -man will place his feet.” - -He was at the door with one mighty bound, and out to the wall which -showed bare in the starlight. He stood listening for the faintest sound. - -None came. - -Namlah lay flat on her face upon the steps, her dusky slip of a body and -saffron-coloured _qamis_ one with the shadows. - -But she was making noise enough with her beloved brass pots to disturb -the invalid or to waken the dead as her dreaded mistress, followed by the -gigantic half-caste, entered the room in which the prisoner lay, looking -out towards the desert where she had lost those she loved so dearly. - - - - -CHAPTER X - - “_Sweet of tongue but of distant beneficence._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -“Zarah! It is—it is you! Then it _was_ you!” - -Helen raised herself on her elbow and stared at the bewildering picture -which suddenly appeared in the doorway, blotting out the peace of the -coming dawn and the far-stretching desert. - -Wrapped from head to foot in a great cloak of orange satin, the Arabian -stood outlined against the purple sky, with the Nubian behind her, whilst -Namlah, hidden behind her pots and pans in the recess, cursed beneath her -breath with all the Oriental’s volubility. - -The terrified body-woman had lain flat on her face upon the steps until -certain that she had not been discovered, then, as the sky had lightened, -had crept like some gigantic spider up the steps and into the room where -the white girl lay. She had barely had the time to whisper a warning and -to run noiselessly across to the recess and hide herself when they heard -her mistress’s voice speaking softly to the Nubian as they, too, mounted -the steps. - -Zarah did not hesitate. She determined upon a plan of action even as she -caught the unconquerable look in the girl’s bewildered face. - -Here was no weakling to be bullied into submission, no poor spirit to be -tyrannized, no faltering feet to be whipped along a certain road; rather -was it a case for duplicity and cunning, with flowers and green boughs -to cover the dug pit into which, misled, betrayed, Helen Raynor would -ultimately fall. - -With a little cry she ran across to the divan, flung herself on her -knees and seized Helen’s hand with a world of innocence and entreaty in -her strange eyes. - -“Helen R-raynor-r!” She spoke the sweetest broken English in the world, -her r’s rolling like little drums. “Ze fr-r-ien’ of my youz! Can you -under-r-stan’? Can I beg for your-r for-r-give-e-ness for ze ter-r-ible -mistake?” - -She gave Helen no time to grant it or not. She launched out on the most -plausible explanation of the disastrous battle that a crafty mind could -possibly have invented on the spur of the moment. “I could not hold my -men; I could not make zem hear-r or-r under-r-stan’ in ze noise of ze -fight zat we had not foun’ ze r-r-right enemy.” She flung her arms up -above her head, which she then proceeded to bow to the ground. “By ze -gr-r-ace of Allah”—she raised her face and right hand to the ceiling, a -veritable picture of piety—“zey did hear-r my or-r-der not to fir-r-e so -zat you, dear-r fr-rien’ of my happy schooldays, was not kill-ed. Ah! -Zose ozer bar-r-bar-rians zat kill-ed ze old Englishman wiz ze white -hair-r, zay were ze ones we——” - -“My grandfather! But he was killed by a spear through the heart, a spear -thrown by one of your men. The others came up from behind!” - -In spite of the reputation for lying and every kind of deception that the -Arabian had gained at school, Helen had almost allowed herself to believe -the plausible tale told in the guileless voice. - -But, her suspicions aroused by the last barefaced untruth, she drew away -as far as the divan would allow from the supplicating figure with the -sorrow-laden eyes. - -But as well try to catch an ostrich on the run as Zarah in a falsehood. - -She rose to her feet, a superb figure of sorrowful indignation, and threw -out her hands as best she could for the cloak she had wrapped round -herself in an effort to hide the scantiness of her attire, then sat down -on the foot of the divan, facing her enemy. - -“Helen R-ray-nor-r! You believe zat of my men, mine, over-r whom I -r-reign as queen? Ze bar-r-bar-rians sur-r-rounded us, zey thr-r-rew ze -spear-r fr-rom behind my men. Zen I give ze or-r-der to Al-Asad, who is -my bodyguar-r-d.” She pointed to the Nubian, who stood just outside the -door, watching the rocks in the hope of seeing Yussuf pass amongst them. -“I tell him to save _you_ from ze savage Bedouins.” - -“But why me alone?” Helen drew the silken coverlet about her and got to -a sitting position on the edge of the divan, whilst Namlah watched the -battle of wills between the beautiful women from the recess, which was -just behind Zarah’s back. - -Zarah leapt at the chance of firmly establishing her lie. “But zer-r-e -was no one else to save. Ze old one, your-r gr-ran’fazer-r, was dead.” - -“No, no, no!” Helen sat forward in her intense excitement, her eyes -shining, her hands clenched. “There was another Englishman with us, -someone you know, Zarah. Think of it, someone you have met!” - -“_Me!_ I have met! A fr-r-rien’ of yours and mine! I do not -under-r-stan’!” - -Quickly, breathlessly, Helen reminded her of the day she had fallen from -her horse into Ralph Trenchard’s arms. - -“You remember! Oh, you must remember! He told me all about you; said how -magnificently you rode. Oh, and when he heard about the mysterious woman -of the desert, he said he thought it might be you, because you had told -him that you came from somewhere about here and had asked him to pay your -father a visit. Didn’t you see him? Don’t you know where he is? And _are_ -you the wonderful woman everyone talks about?” - -Zarah clapped her hands in childlike enjoyment. - -“I just r-remember-r him,” she cried gleefully, whilst longing to -choke the life out of the girl in front of her. “And he was wiz you? -Then wher-r-e is he? We sear-r-ched after-r-wards for our-r men upon -ze battlefield, but saw nozing of ze old man, nor-r his bones, nor-r -his clothes, and nozing of—of ze ozer. I mean zer was no tr-r-ace of -any ozer. I know!” She clapped her hands and laughed. “We saw marks -leading back to Hareek. He is escaped, taking wiz him ze body of your-r -gr-r-an’fazer-r, and is waiting for you, to know wher-r-e you ar-r-e, to -come and fetch you.” - -“Perhaps! Perhaps you are right!” quietly replied Helen, her eyes fixed -on the clasped fingers, which showed white at the joints under the -pressure of the Arabian’s emotion. “Yes, perhaps you are right.” She -smiled gently and nodded her head, whilst she asked herself if Zarah’s -intense solicitude could possibly arise out of friendship for herself. -She decided that it did not when, on turning her head, she found the eyes -of the handsome native fixed upon her. She frowned and drew the silken -coverlet more closely about her in an instinctive desire to protect -herself from the feeling of uneasiness and evil which had suddenly fallen -upon her, and sighed with unconfessed relief when the sunrays tipped over -the edge of the mountains and shone through the open door. “Tell me,” she -said quickly, “why did you go out to fight those Bedouins? What harm had -they done that they should be shot down, speared, massacred by a force -far superior to their own? What right had you to take their lives?” - -It is most injudicious to ask such pertinent questions in the uncivilized -places of the world, and it was well for Helen that she could not see the -rage in the other’s heart at her daring. - -“_Aï-aï-aï!_” - -The cry of the mourner rose to high heaven as Zarah smote her breast, -causing the doves and pheasants and other birds to rise in flocks, and -the women near the water’s edge to look up from the business of the hour. - -“Behold!” lied she brazenly. “Even some moons ago zose bar-r-bar-r-ians -lay in wait for some of my people as zey r-ret-urned fr-r-om Hutah. Ze -men zey killed, ze women and ze little, little child-r-ren zey took away -wiz zem. Am I not ze mozer of my people? Could I r-refuse my men when zey -cr-ried to be r-revenged? Ah, fr-r-ien’ of my happy schooldays, ze ways -of ze deser-r-t a-r-r-e not ze ways of ze city. Let us not talk of zings -so sad. Listen! I have some idea. Do you r-r-emember how Miss Jane used -to scold when we said zat?” - -She did not give Helen time to say if she did or did not remember, but -turned her head and said something in his own dialect to the Nubian. He -raised his hand and walked to the edge of the platform, as unwitting as -his mistress of Namlah the body-woman, who stood in the doorway of the -recess, gesticulating violently and shaking her head. - -Helen looked at her quietly and then turned and looked out through the -doorway, wondering what Zarah could have said to awaken such perturbation -in Namlah’s heart. - -“What is the great idea, Zarah?” - -Zarah smiled bewitchingly, her teeth flashing, her eyes as soft as a -gazelle’s. “I will r-r-repeat ze invitation to ze Englishman—ah, I cannot -pr-r-o-nounce ze name—zrough you. You will wr-r-ite him a letter to ask -him to come to stay for ze little time and to take you back wiz him—yes? -You will write, will you not, my dear fr-r-ien’?” - -Love, the master-key to all problems between woman and woman, unlocked -the door which hid the secret workings of Zarah’s mind from Helen. The -request explained Namlah’s agitation. Zarah had evidently told the Nubian -about the letter of invitation. - -“How will you send the letter?” - -It seemed a trusty messenger would deliver the letter at Hutah and would -wait to act as escort to the Englishman on the return journey through the -desert. - -“But Ralph Trenchard may be ill, or he may not be able to come.” Helen -watched the other’s face intently as she spoke. “The messenger can -escort me to Hutah instead of taking the letter.” - -“No woman is safe unar-r-med, and not even ar-r-med, alone in ze -deser-r-t wiz a man. Be r-reasonable, little English r-r-ose, and -wr-r-ite ze little letter.” - -“_You_ could take me with an escort to Hutah, Zarah.” - -Zarah humbly touched her forehead, and threw out her hands as she raged -inwardly at the other’s obstinacy. - -“I am ze mozer of my people. Zey mour-r-n, zey weep in zeir-r sor-r-row. -I cannot leave zem even for a little, little while.” - -“You liar!” said Helen to herself, thoroughly aware at last of the trap -which had been laid for the man she loved. - -There was no sign whatever in the women’s faces of the strength of the -passions in their hearts. - -Zarah smiled the gentle smile of propitiation as she played for the -fierce love which had possessed her for so long, repressing the hate and -jealousy which urged her to call the half-caste and bid him fling the -girl down to the rocks beneath. - -In the depths of Helen’s eyes lay the confident smile and the look of -strength of those who can bear all, risk all, defy all, for love’s sake. - -Fell a little pause as the sun ray crept along the floor, flooding the -room with light, making a golden halo round Helen’s head. - -“You do as I ask?” The question fell so gently in the quiet place. - -Helen leant forward and looked straight into her enemy’s eyes as she -answered slowly: - -“_No! I will not write that letter!_” - -Fell another silence, in which, whilst exercising the little control -she was capable of, Zarah traced the embroidery upon the pillow and -worked her cunning mind, and Helen sat still and silent, wondering what -the answer to her refusal would be. Love made her brave, love made her -ready for sacrifice, but she shivered involuntarily as she remembered the -tales she had heard of the Arabian’s cruelty, rage and treachery, both at -school and after. - -Perfectly healthy in mind and body, she shuddered at the thought -of mental or physical pain for others, did everything in her power -to alleviate it, made every effort to avert it from them. She felt -intuitively that danger threatened the man she loved, and she longed to -ask the Arabian the meaning of her mocking smile as she lazily traced the -embroidery with a hennaed finger. - -Zarah was trying to come to a decision. - -She had methods which, though hardly civilized, were extremely -efficacious in bending the most obstreperous person to her way of -thinking; she had also a fair knowledge of the Briton’s stubbornness and -excessive altruism. - -For some unknown reason Helen had suddenly become afraid for Ralph -Trenchard. Why? She did not love him, because she neither blushed nor -cast down her eyes when she mentioned his name, nor did she wear his -portrait, after the sickly manner of her race, about her person. - -Zarah loved the Englishman with all the violent, uncontrolled passion of -her parentage, but her hatred for the calm English girl was almost as -deep and as violent as that love, and to it was added a seething desire -for revenge—revenge for her looks, her breeding, her gentle ways, but, -above all, for the intolerable _camaraderie_ which evidently existed -between her and the white man. - -If only she had known any sign of love, then would the revenge have been -easy and subtle and of a surpassing cruelty, but her interest in the man -seemed to be that of a friend and no more. - -In fact, she seemed only to be interested in her surroundings, in the -distant view of the red desert rolling in great billows as far as eye -could see, and the golden sunshine which filled the room with its light -and warmth. She watched Helen stretch slowly, shrug the over-warm -coverlet from her shoulders and pull the cushions into a more comfortable -position behind her shoulders; then, with the lightning quickness of -a hawk, she leant suddenly forward and wrenched at a locket which had -slipped from the silken garment Helen wore. - -She sat quite still, staring at the portrait she held of the man she -loved, then she gave a little sigh of intense satisfaction and laughed -gently as she looked across at Helen, who stared in amazement and -stretched out her hand. - -“What an extraordinary thing,” she said simply; “it must have got caught -and been hidden all the time in the coverlet. I thought I had lost it -that terrible night of fighting. Please give it me.” - -Zarah twisted the broken chain round her finger and swung it to and fro. -She laughed like the girl she ought to have been and playfully shook her -head. She could afford to be charming and frank; in fact, to prepare the -first step upon the road of revenge she would have to pretend to tease -her old schoolmate, so as to allay her suspicions. - -Yes! she could well afford to wait, for had she not the white man and -the white girl in her power? Would she not be able to draw him into her -net and put her in the dust at her feet through the little golden locket -which swung on her finger? - -“I will keep it for a little while, Helen R-r-aynor-r, my dear-r -fr-r-ien’, jus’ for a souvenir of ze ol’ days. My dwelling is your-r-s. -I am sorry you will not be able to get away jus’ yet”—she laughed gently -so as to disguise the threat held in the words—“but I am ze mozer of -my people an’ cannot leave zem, an’ it is not safe for-r a young an’ -beautiful woman to be in ze deser-r-t alone wiz an Ar-r-ab. You will -wait a little until I am fr-r-ee? You will bathe, you will join in ze -spor-r-ts an’ watch my happy people at zeir wor-r-k in zeir homes? I -have many books. You will also r-r-ide wiz me or wiz an escort in ze -deser-r-t. Yes?” - -She laughed softly at the glint in Helen’s eyes, born of a suddenly -conceived plan of escape. - -“Someone will show you, perhaps, ze way out an’ ze way in of my deser-r-t -home. Zat you cannot lear-r-n by your-r-self because it is sur-r-rounded -wiz ze quicksands, in which lie dead ze hundr-r-eds of men an’ beasts.” - -“Ah! tell me again, tell me about the quicksands which have, of course, -kept the water hidden all this long time. Tell me all about it so that, -when I get back to Bagdad, I can write to the papers and prove to the -people, who laughed at Grandad, that his theory was correct.” - -Helen spoke quickly, her fear momentarily allayed by the thought of -being able to vindicate her grandfather. Almost deceived by the other’s -friendliness into believing that she was solicitous for her welfare, she -smiled across at Zarah. - -Fully determined that the white girl should remain a life-long prisoner, -either dead or alive, in the mountains, Zarah recounted the romantic -history of the strange place, whilst Al-Asad sat lost in dreams and -Namlah gently rubbed her foot, which had become afflicted with cramp -caused by her squatting position behind the pots and pans. - -Zarah spoke well, her melodious, deep voice filling the room, the jewels -sparkling on her hands as she moved them in graceful, dramatic gesture. -She recounted humorous incident, and laughed; tragic, and drew her hand -across her dry eyes; she was hypocrisy incarnate as she revelled in the -cunningly thought-out revenge she had decided to take upon her prisoner. - -“A wonder-r place, is it not, Helena? Unique in ze wor-r-ld. You do -wr-r-ong in not sending ze invitation to our-r fr-r-ien’. I would zank -him for-r saving me fr-r-om death in my schooldays. But if you will not, -you will not, and as you will not, zen must I give you a bodyguar-r-d to -keep you safe until I take you back to him?” - -“I don’t want a bodyguard, Zarah. As long as I have your permission to -run about all over the place....” - -“But zat is it, ze place is ver-r-y big an’ full of danger-r-ous places.” -Zarah had no intention of letting the girl make friends with any of -her people, and rose as she spoke and crossed to the door. “I will ask -Al-Asad to r-r-recommend someone to look after you, to chaper-r-ron you, -as you say.” - -Al-Asad got to his feet when his mistress called him. - -“I have them in my hand,” she said, so quietly that Namlah strained her -ears in vain. “We will descend and speak upon it, but I will not that she -makes friends amongst my people; find thou, therefore, someone to be ever -upon her heels.” - -“Nay, woman, leave her free so that we find out the workings of her -mind through her actions and through the tongues of those with whom she -speaks. Warn her body-woman, even the ever-busy Namlah, that her life -depends upon the life of the white woman and——” - -Helen, who had been watching the magnificent couple, wondered what the -sudden, heavy frown on Zarah’s face portended, and instinctively moved -back when she swept into the room. - -“Where-r-re is your-r ser-r-vant?” she asked abruptly. “Why is she not -attending you? Wher-r-e does zis Namlah hide her-r-self, zat woman with a -face like a gr-r-avel path?” - -Helen smiled up at the Arabian and drew her hand across her hair, pushing -it back as a sign to the pock-marked woman who stood, quaking with fear -and with hands clasped in the doorway of the recess, to hide herself. - -“She went down just as you came up. I wonder you didn’t pass her on the -steps. I always like my linen washed at dawn, it smells so much the -sweeter. She will be up in quite a little while to get my early cup of -tea ready.” - -Helen lied quietly, quickly, bravely, to save the little servant, and -sighed with relief when Zarah swept out on to the platform in great -wrath. “Namlah!” she called, the mountains echoing the sweetness of her -voice. “Namlah! Namlah! _ta al huna! ta al huna!_” and turned back into -the room when Namlah did not come. - -“She hides somewhere, listening to our speech, the lynx-eyed, fox-eared -daughter of pigs,” she stormed in Arabic, taking a step towards the -recess. She was half-way across the room and Namlah half dead with -terror, when Helen gave a piercing cry. - -The lion-cub, roaming about as was its wont at dawn, had heard its -mistress’s voice and, bounding up the steps, had hurled itself into the -room and on to Helen’s divan. After her one cry of fear, she lay quite -still, whilst the tawny beast, with lashing tail, sniffed at her neck, -then with a low growl flung itself off the divan and hurled itself at -Zarah’s feet. - -“A strange place zis, Helena, wiz st-r-range customs an’ str-r-ange -pets,” said Zarah casually, holding out her hand at arm’s length, over -which the lion-cub jumped. - -“But is that lion safe?” - -“So far-r-r, yes! When it is not, zen we kill it; zose zat do not obey do -not live long her-r-e. I am sleepy. I will go down an’ you will dine wiz -me to-night—yes? Au revoir! Zink of all I say an’ be wise, zat woman can -wait.” - -She walked slowly out of the room, taking no notice of Al-Asad. - -He came to the doorway and looked in upon the beautiful white girl and -frowned as he turned away. - -“‘The butcher is not startled by the multiplicity of sheep.’” He quoted -the proverb as he watched the woman who had no compassion for her -victims, the woman he loved, descending the steps, then followed her, her -willing slave, even to the bringing about of her heart’s desire. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - “_The hole which he made opened into a granary._”—ARABIC - PROVERB. - - -She did not dine with the Arabian that night nor any other night, and -when, one evening, some seven days later, completely restored to health, -she walked out to the edge of the platform to ascertain the cause of the -shouting of men, barking of dogs, and occasional firing of rifles, Namlah -crept up behind and urged her to go in. - -“Orders have come. Her Excellency is to remain inside her chamber until -other orders come giving her her freedom.” - -“But what is it all about?” inquired Helen, as she reluctantly entered -her room. - -Namlah spat, or, rather, made a sound as though she spat, before replying. - -“Zarah the Merciless makes an excursion into the Robaa-el-Khali.” She -pointed towards the cleft through which the desert in the starlight -showed like the face of a veiled woman. “Allah grant that she remain -there, a food for vultures, as have remained so many. She is a liar, a -thief, a murderess. Allah guide the knife through her black heart.” - -A spirit of rebellion, of adventure, of recklessness, showed in Helen’s -eyes as she questioned the little woman who had repeated all she had -heard the night she had spied through the window and had so urgently -counselled silence and watchfulness and patience. - -“Yea! Excellency! she leads the men. The men and beasts laden with -provision and water and ammunition wherewith to make a camp between this -and the scene of the fighting have departed these many hours. Ah! she is -as cunning as the jackal. She relies not upon chance. She has always a -place of refuge to fall back on if the fight goes against her, or if the -men are in need of food for themselves or their guns. How long she will -be gone? I know not; maybe a few hours, a night, a week—who knows?” - -“The Nubian, has he gone too?” - -Namlah laughed shrilly. - -“Ha! the knotter of shoe-strings, the eater of dust, behold he has gone -these may days upon some secret journey. He held conclave of great length -with the woman who rules us with a rod fashioned in the nethermost -_Jahannam_. They sat under the starlight so that I could not approach, -Excellency; they spoke softly so that I could not catch their words from -the rock behind which I lay concealed.” - -She smiled up into Helen’s face when, under the strain of the suspense in -which she had lived for the last ten days, she took the servant by the -shoulders and shook her none too gently. - -“I can’t bear it much longer, Namlah!” she said in her pretty, broken -Arabic. “I can’t bear the uncertainty, I can’t bear the silence, the -waiting, with nothing to do to kill the terrible hours. I simply cannot -bear it. For danger to myself I do not fear, I do not care. Cannot I find -the way out so that I can escape? Can I not?” - -There was no one in sight, there was certainly no one within hearing, up -there in the eyrie so near the stars, but the little woman ran first to -the right and then to the left and then into the room before she sidled -up to Helen and whispered. - -Is not intrigue as the breath of life in the East? - -“Her Excellency must take exercise, must walk under the stars to-night -whilst _she_ is abroad.” She spread her fingers wide and down in the -direction of the path leading across the quicksands. “Her Excellency must -walk, even if it be amongst the rocks where the shadows lie blackest.” - -Helen looked intently at the little woman, who gazed out of the doorway -with an air of seraphic innocence. - -“I could not find my way down there, Namlah! I should fall or get lost -or——” - -Namlah trotted to the door and stood with her hand shading her eyes, -looking out towards the desert. - -“Yet is there one, Excellency, who without eyes walketh safely amongst -the rocks. One without eyes, but with much wisdom upon his tongue and -goodness in his heart, who walketh ever without fear in the great -darkness; one who yearneth to help those whose backs have suffered from -the whip or whose hearts have suffered from the power wielded by that -daughter of _Shaitan_!” She crept close to Helen and whispered in her -ear: “One who likewise craveth to hurt, to wound, to kill, in revenge.” - -Helen shivered at the hate in the little woman’s voice, but she -understood. She had learned the history of the blind man from Namlah; -once when, restless and unable to sleep through anxiety, she had walked -out on to the platform she had seen him in the grey light of the dawn, -standing midway on the steps, his face raised to her abode; once Namlah -had lain a few flowers on the silken coverlet, had whispered, “patience -brings victory to the blind and the prisoner,” and had retired to her -pots and pans with finger on lips. - -The body-woman walked to the edge of the platform and beckoned to the -white girl she loved, and pointed to a silvery cloud of sand far out in -the desert. - -“Yonder she rides,” she whispered. “May the sand choke her! May the -scorpion sting her heel! May....” She smiled up at Helen and shrugged -her scarred shoulders in the expressive Eastern way. “But of the luck of -such, Excellency, is it written, ‘throw him into the river and he will -rise with a fish in his mouth.’ Yet will her turn come; the tide cannot -remain at the full, the sun must set. Behold! I descend to the river, -whilst the men and women make merry in her absence, to fetch water for -her Excellency’s bath, leaving her alone, to walk amongst the rocks, in -the protection of Allah!” - -Helen watched the little woman descend the steep steps, balancing a great -earthenware jar skilfully upon her head; noticed that she stopped for a -moment near one gigantic boulder which lay to the right of the steps; -listened to her singing as she made the rest of the descent down to the -water, which looked like a ribbon of silver run through a purple velvet -curtain, then entered the room, which was really a prison cell, pulled a -sheet of dark blue silk from her bed, and ran out on to the ledge. - -She did not hesitate. - -That the woman might be a spy did not once enter her head, and if it had, -under the strength of her love and her anxiety, she would doubtlessly -have thrown caution to the soft night wind and risked her life in an -endeavour to find out if there was not some way of escape by which she -could return to the man she loved. - -Her own clothes, cleansed and pressed by Namlah’s busy fingers, had been -returned to her, so that she stood, a beautiful picture of an English -girl, in the strangest of strange surroundings, looking down into the -shadows out of which, she prayed, help might come to her. - -Afraid of her outline against the sky, fearful of dislodging some stone -to send it clattering down the steps, she wrapped the blue sheet round -herself and descended slowly, carefully, pausing to listen, standing to -peer into the ink-black shadows on every side, and down to the plateau -where, by the light of torches and of fires, she could see men and women -passing to and fro. - -She had almost reached the great boulder, when she stopped and drew the -dark silk still tighter and peered about uneasily, as she tried to locate -a soft hissing sound which came from some spot quite near to her. - -Through bitter experience she had learned the ways of Arabia’s scorpions, -centipedes, wasps and flies; had fled in terror from the one and only -_aboo hanekein_ she had encountered, a fat, poisonous brute of a spider -with formidable pincers, and wrestled vainly against the great variety -of ants which the Peninsula offers; of locusts she had but the slightest -acquaintance, and of the deadly vipers, the _Rukla_ and the _Afar_, which -abound in rocks she had only been warned that afternoon. - -Yet for fear of someone mounting the steps she dared not remain where she -was, and had just decided to risk the few yards which would bring her to -the boulder, when once more she caught the hissing sound. - -And then from sheer relief she almost laughed. - -“_Sit!_” whispered Yussuf from the shadows. “_Ya Sit! Sit!_” - -She crept forward and round the boulder to where stood the blind man, who -had been perfectly aware of her noiseless descent. She did not shrink -at the terrible face, twisted and scarred, which looked down upon her; -rather did her heart go out to the maimed man as she laid her hand upon -his arm and called him by name. - -“I trust you, Yussuf,” she said simply, which is quite one of the best -ways of winning the heart of an embittered man. - -“Her Excellency _can_ trust me!” whispered Yussuf as he salaamed. “Namlah -and I are brother and sister in affliction. I have lost the light of -these mine eyes, she has lost the light of her life, her son, in the -grievous battle. To ease our hurts we seek to help thee, gracious lady, -so that upon her return the woman who rules us may find ashes in the -taste of her victory and gall in the wine of her success. The plans are -laid, have been laid this long while. I will carry her Excellency over -the secret path and out into the desert, then will I return for Namlah -and the camels, which are hidden and waiting these many hours, the -swiftest and most docile _hejeen_ in the stables.” - -“Now? At once?” asked Helen, trembling with excitement. “But how can you -guide us across the desert?” - -“Thy servant rides by the wind.” He lifted his sightless face to the -star-strewn sky and smiled. “’Tis from the east, _Sit_. Let it blow -in our faces, and we go towards the east until the sun sets after the -passing of two days, then we go north upon the path to Hutāh, passing the -field of the battle where the accursed offspring of the devil lifted the -white woman.” - -Overpowered with gratitude, almost speechless with amazement as the -weight of her fear was lifted from her, Helen trembled, under the shock -of the sudden realization of her hopes and, desirous that he should share -in her happiness, caught the man’s hand in entreaty. - -“You will come with us? You will let me and his Excellency, the man I am -going to marry, look after you, make you happy, make you forget, you and -Namlah?” She laughed softly, aglow with love and hope. “Gratitude is a -small, a very small, word, Yussuf, and it cannot express what I would say -in thanks.” - -Yussuf smiled as he shook his head. Such words were rare in his ears; of -such brotherly love, excepting for that in his own heart, he had had no -knowledge. - -“I will take thee, _Sit_, to within sight of the oasis, then must I -return. My task is not finished, will not be finished, until the spirit -of Zarah the Cruel has returned to the _Jahannam_ from which it came. We -must hasten by a path known only to me. I will lift her Excellency over -the rough places and carry her safely across the parts where danger lies. -The way is open, the night is clear, we——” - -He stopped abruptly at the sound of voices raised in anger, and feeling -for Helen, gripped her tight about the wrist. - -Namlah’s voice seemed to rise in a screaming crescendo, in ratio to the -steps she climbed, accompanied or followed by someone upon whom she -poured out the vials of her wrath. - -“Nay! thou wine-bibber,” she shrilled. “What if thy mistress did place -the safekeeping of the white woman in thy useless hands? Nay! thou shalt -not push me to the side of this accursed path so that thy legs, which may -Allah strike with numbness, may carry thee with speed to the post thou -didst forget in thy drunkenness. Keep thou behind me, lest I break the -jar upon thy empty head and waste the precious water upon thy unclean -body, which is fit carrion for the birds of prey. What sayest thou? Thou -wouldst but look upon the white woman? So that thou mayst see her with -thine own eyes? Verily shalt thou, if thou canst see for the wine with -which thou hast filled thy vile and accursed body.” - -Yussuf lifted Helen bodily into his arms. - -“‘If thou seest a wall inclining, run from under it.’” He quoted the -proverb as he carried her swiftly up the mountainside by a steep short -cut, as sure-footed as a goat, as certain of his path as if he had eyes. -“It is not the hour, but let her Excellency remember that Yussuf is her -servant in all things.” He put her gently on her feet upon a ledge from -which she could climb to the platform. “Remember, too, that when the hour -does strike, then will Yussuf strike also. ‘Patience brings victory to -the blind and to the prisoner.’” - -A few moments later Helen stood just inside the doorway, listening to the -violent altercation upon the steps. - -There came the crash of a breaking jar, torrents of execration and -imprecation, then silence, and, in spite of her disappointment, she -smiled as she watched Namlah, slowly and with much dignity, climbing the -steps, with a dripping wet individual in the rear. - -“Seest thou the white woman with thine own eyes? Yea! Then sit thou -there, thou dog!” cried Namlah at the top of her voice. “Nay, upon the -second step. Wouldst force thy company upon thy betters? And may Allah -strike thee with cold for having forgotten thy duty to thy mistress, so -that thou diest of palsy before the dawn.” - -There was a twinkle of laughter in the depths of the brown eyes as she -combed the prisoner’s golden hair. - -Is not intrigue as the breath of life to the Oriental? - - * * * * * - - “_He swims in a span of water._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -At that very hour Al-Asad, disguised as a holy man, sat in the camp of -the Bedouins who had befriended Ralph Trenchard. - -True, the holy man’s body was somewhat well covered, as though he had not -unduly deprived himself of food in the ecstasy of his religion, and his -feet in fairly good trim, considering the length of the pilgrimage he was -making on foot to Mecca; also, upon close inspection, might the rents in -his one garment be attributed to a blunt knife rather than to time. - -But there are many kinds of holy men criss-crossing desert places, -depending entirely upon the charity of chance-met Arabs for sustenance -and the will of Allah for a safe arrival at their journey’s end. The -tattered handkerchief fluttering from the end of the staff can be traced -by the keen-eyed, approaching or retreating, for miles in the desert’s -clear atmosphere, and heartbeats never fail to quicken at the chance -encounter with the solitary human who wends his way across the burning -sands, alone with his God. - -As to others, so to Ralph Trenchard, sitting outside his tent, came that -feeling of great respect which the sudden appearance of these mystics -arouses in those who have the wherewithal to allay their hunger, and a -place upon which to lay their heads at night; and with the respect, a -great curiosity to read the secrets of a mind which allows so emaciated -a body to endure and survive days of endless wandering and starvation -and nights under heaven’s starlit roof. Al-Asad sat motionless, his eyes -fixed upon space, whilst his stomach rebelled against the rice in the -wooden bowl at his feet, and his whole being longed to get back to the -spot, in the far distance, where he had hobbled his well-laden camel. - -Fearful of news of his search being transmitted through space to the ears -of those he sought, he had been forced to act up to his disguise and to -travel many weary, sandy miles on foot to various Bedouin camps, and to -eat many bowls of insipid rice, washed down his gasping throat with muddy -coffee, whilst abstracting the news he wanted from his unsuspicious host -by subtle questioning. - -He had rejoiced to the innermost part of his being when, whilst humbly -asking alms from the Bedouin chief, he had seen Ralph Trenchard out of -the corner of his eye. - -His quest was at an end. He had but to get into communication in some way -with the white man and arouse his interest, then leave the rest to the -foolishness of a race which, as his mistress had told him, taught its men -to look upon women as an almost sacred charge. He rose, and with hands -uplifted turned to the four quarters of the globe, his keen eyes sweeping -the camp for sign of the lynx-eyed Abdul, whilst the Bedouins drew back -out of respect for his holiness. - -On catching sight of the servant at the back of his master’s tent, -Al-Asad squatted upon his haunches and muttered to himself, letting the -beads of Mecca run swiftly through his fingers whilst his crafty mind -searched for the best way to start the business without arousing the -servant’s suspicions. - -He scraped up the last handful of rice, being careful not to leave one -single grain, and forced it down his rebelling throat, then rose and -crossed slowly to a black patch of shadow, in which he sat himself, well -aware that the eyes of the whole camp, especially those of the white man, -were upon him. He sat motionless for awhile as though in thanksgiving for -the nauseating meal, then made a gesture, upon which, with little cries -and great jostling, the whole camp, men, women and many children, crowded -about him, then, with the chief in the centre, sat themselves down in a -semicircle at the respectful distance demanded by the holy one’s piety. - -Ralph Trenchard strolled to the extreme end of the right side of the -semicircle. He was wholly restored to health, a prey to intense anxiety, -and upon the eve of his departure for Hutah, where he intended calling -upon the aid of the entire Peninsula for the recovery of Helen, and -felt thankful for anything which might serve to distract his tormented -mind. Abdul gave a final look round his master’s tent, which consisted -of camel-skins thrown over four upright poles, and ran quickly to his -master’s side. - -He had done his best to dissuade his master from the rash proceeding -of trying to discover her Excellency’s whereabouts, had preached the -doctrine of fatalism as known in the East, and had at last resigned -himself to the inevitable and sworn, in the secret places of his faithful -heart, to stick to the white man through thick and thin. - -The visit of a holy man creates a welcome diversion in a camp where -meals of dates, muddy coffee, and, if luck is in, a sickly mess of -boiled camel flesh as _pièce de résistance_ form the only break in the -long, monotonous hours when fighting is not toward; the advent of a holy -man who deigned to open his lips except in prayer was to be reckoned a -miracle. - -Abdul moved close to Ralph Trenchard at the holy one’s first words. - -“Are any of thy children wounded, O my Son?” The words came faint and -slow, as though spoken by one who had almost lost the power of speech. “I -have with me an ointment of great power.” Al-Asad searched amongst his -rags and produced an alabaster pot, which had once contained rouge and -had been bought by Zarah in Cairo, but which now reeked to high heaven -of rancid camel fat mixed with aniseed. - -“Nay! Father!” replied the chief, whilst his children whispered amongst -themselves. “Those that were wounded are healed, those that were sick are -recovered. Whyfore asketh thou? How knowest thou that they have been in -battle?” - -Al-Asad barely suppressed a chuckle as he pressed the lid down upon the -distressing concoction and stored it once more about his person. He made -no answer. He sat motionless, as though lost in meditation, until Ralph -Trenchard could have fallen upon and shaken him back to a consciousness -of his surroundings. - -“A moon ago I prayed upon the site of a great battle, O my Son!” murmured -Al-Asad slowly, after some long while and as though he had but just -heard the question. “There was naught but bones and this.” He once more -searched amongst his rags and looked at some object, which he did not -disclose to view, and took no notice of a quickly suppressed movement at -the right end of the circle as Abdul gripped Ralph Trenchard by the arm. -“I have asked those I have met upon my path if they knew aught about that -combat. Nay, my Son! interrupt me not, the hour is slipping into eternity -and I must be gone.” The chief, who had been anxious to tell what _he_ -knew of the fight from personal experience, bowed in obedience and spread -his hands. “It was a fight between white men and the woman of whose -dire deeds the desert rings. All were killed but a white woman, who, -grievously wounded and nigh unto death, was made prisoner and taken to -the mountains known as the Sanctuary, which lie but a day’s journey and -a night’s journey to the south of the spot where they fought, and where -dwells the woman of evil repute.” - -He rose as he spoke, standing a dim and arresting figure in the shadows, -and stretched out his hand. - -“This I perceived glittering in the sun, midway between the mountains -and the battlefield, upon a path marked in the sand by the swift passing -of two camels. It is of too great a value for one who lives upon the -words of the Prophet of Allah, the one and only God. Perchance wilt thou, -my son, take it in return for thy charity to the humble pilgrim.” - -He placed the locket in the chief’s hands, and in the scramble of the -entire camp to get a better view of the gift, crept behind the tent -and disappeared into the night, where, once sure that he was beyond -the chief’s range of vision, he emulated the ostrich in speed until he -reached the spot where he had left his well-laden camel. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - - “_This is not the bishop’s square._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Abdul removed the locust from his bowl, laid it on one side with three of -its brethren for future consumption, and looked at Ralph Trenchard, who -sat, eating his evening meal, some yards away. Then he wet his finger and -held it up, frowned, looked across the red sand ridges and over to the -scene of the disastrous battle, and shook his head. - -“Bad!” he said, removing yet another locust from his shoulder. “Bad -locust, bad wind from the east, bad omen of death.” He spread his fingers -against the power of dead bones and, a victim of superstition, twisted -himself round from north to south as he sat. “All bad for the beginning -of a second journey into this bad desert.” - -He placed an iron plate, spread with camel fat, to heat upon the top of -the up-to-date brazier, which was the joy of his life, spread a thin -layer of dough made of _durra_ upon it, and whilst waiting for it to -brown, prepared the five large, dark locusts for frying, praying inwardly -that his master would reject the succulent savoury. - -“Five!” he commented, as he salted the insects and rolled them up in the -thin, buttered cake. “Praise be to Allah that we have one good omen. -_Aï!_ Six, nay, seven.” He plucked two more from his skirts, and, fearful -of finding the eighth, which would bring the ill-luck of an even number, -ran swiftly across to his master with his offering. - -For two reasons Ralph Trenchard turned the savoury over with his fork. He -had just finished an excellently cooked meal of a highly spiced variety -of the ubiquitous _samh_ broth, and as highly spiced and as excellently -cooked partridge, and a handful of dates; also had he become extremely -suspicious of any fresh addition to the larder and of any new culinary -effort on the part of his servant. - -He refused the crisp, well-browned roll at first, then, thinking it only -kind to reward the man for his devotion, bit off an end and finished the -lot. - -“Topping, Abdul! I’ll have one every day. What’s it made of?” - -Abdul hid his hands in his sleeves as he lied with the ease which comes -from long practice. - -“Little bits of meat and fat and vegetables fried in butter, Excellency. -The servant is rewarded by the light of pleasure in his master’s eye.” - -Ralph Trenchard rose and shook himself. - -“We’d better be starting, Abdul,” he said, flicking a locust from his -sleeve. “The journey of a day and the journey of a night, that means the -journey of two nights as we cannot travel in the sun, and then—and then -I shall know, I shall be certain. And look here, my friend, don’t you go -cooking any of these disgusting beasts and serving them up as fried dates -or something.” - -He plucked one of the disgusting beasts from his shirt sleeve and flung -it away, then looked at his servant, who stood motionless, a cloud of -despondency dimming the habitually merry countenance. - -“Well? And what’s the matter now? Have the camels stampeded or the -water-skins burst?” - -Abdul suddenly knelt and touched the ground with his forehead. - -“Give ear unto thy servant, O master! Hasten not the journey, linger yet -one more night and yet one more day. The omens are not propitious for -the starting. We are surrounded by death, by the bones of our brethren. -The east blows the wind from her mouth and from the north comes a puff -of breath, so that the wind will blow slantwise towards the west and the -south.” - -“Well? Why not? As long as it doesn’t blow straight from the south like a -furnace, I should say that we ought to be jolly well pleased.” - -Abdul gathered three locusts from the ground, stored them surreptitiously -in his voluminous sleeve, and rose to his feet, then walked close up to -Ralph Trenchard, salaamed, and clasped his hands in fervent beseeching. - -“These few disgusting beasts, O Excellency, are the forerunners, maybe, -of a great storm of many disgusting beasts, which in time of stress or -famine are thankfully eaten by the Arab and the camel. If the wind were -otherwise set, Excellency, if it were but the locust wind from the east -unto the west, then would I cry haste, haste, so that we should pass on -and leave the storm behind. But, Excellency, the puff of breath from the -north will cause the disgusting beasts to follow us even southwards, so -that we are like to drown in a sea of crawling, disgusting beasts, or to -flee before them into the heart of the bad desert, there to be fallen -upon by the evil spirits which dwell therein. Excellency, the omens are -bad. The locust is bad, the wind is bad, likewise the bones, and”—he -paused to allow the dread of the last and worst omen to sink thoroughly -into the white man’s mind—“and the servant’s camel has pulled the amulet -of good luck from about the neck of the master’s camel and”—followed -another pause for the same good purpose—“has eaten it!” - -Ralph Trenchard laughed heartily, being one of the thrice blessed few who -are absolutely free from the faintest trace of superstition, the greatest -curse of modern days. - -“Look here, Abdul.” He put his hand on the faithful man’s shoulder and -turned him in the direction of the south. “Not so very far ahead, in an -almost straight line from here, is the range of mountains in which the -woman Zarah dwells....” Abdul spat with vindictive vigour in a southward -direction. “That woman has knowledge of her Excellency, who is to be -my wife....” Abdul, remembering the holy man’s statement about her -Excellency’s health, spread his fingers westward in the direction of the -bones glistening on the battlefield. “And if you think locusts or bones -or amulet-eating camels can prevent me from starting when I said we would -start, and that is in an hour’s time, then are you thrice mistaken....” -Abdul pushed one of the disgusting beasts, afflicted with an inclination -to stray, back into his sleeve. “And I should advise you, my son, to -heave those thoughts out of your mind or you’ll have us wading up to our -necks in locusts, or the bones getting up and following us, or the camels -bursting from an overdose of good luck. Besides, remember your prophecy -about the holy man, who, you said, was a bad holy man. He hasn’t brought -us bad luck so far. You were mistaken, and you were, and you _are_, -afraid and....” - -There was a limit to Abdul’s capacity for holding his tongue. He made -finger gestures towards the four quarters of the globe, then shook his -fist in the direction where lay the Bedouin camp which they had left -behind many days ago. - -“Mistaken! O master! Mistaken! Why did the holy man run, run like the -ostrich, so that the marks of his holy feet showed hardly upon the soft -sand? Why did I, thy servant, find the footmarks of a camel far out in -the desert just where the feet of the holy man made no more marks upon -the sand?” - -“I expect someone was waiting to give him a lift, Abdul.” - -“Then why not lift him to the gate of the Bedouin camp, O my master?” - -Ralph Trenchard took his servant by the shoulder and turned him in the -direction where lay the camels. - -“I expect he didn’t want the others to know that he was living in the lap -of luxury, my son. Go and eat, because I am coming to overhaul everything -and see that all is shipshape before we start on the last bit of the -journey, at the end of which this uncertainty will be lifted from me.” - -In spite of its pleasantry, Abdul recognized the one tone in his master’s -voice which always caused him to obey with alacrity. - -He salaamed and departed to do his master’s bidding, gathering a good -sleeveful of locusts as he went, and sat, making finger gestures towards -the east and returning thanks to Allah for the tasty addition to the -meal, while the disgusting beasts browned nicely upon the iron plate -spread with camel fat. - -But a few hours later he turned in his saddle, then raised his hands to -the heavens, which showed black as with thunder towards the east. - -“May Allah burn them with the fire of His wrath! May His right hand crush -the life from them! May He speak words of anger so that they are swept -from the white man’s path.” - -From his seat upon the first of seven camels he looked at Ralph -Trenchard, who rode at his side, and back along the six beasts which, -fastened muzzle to scrimpy tail by rope, had leisurely followed each -other up and down the great ridges, whilst the menacing cloud spread -rapidly across the sky. - -Ralph Trenchard turned and looked back. - -“I am sorry I have been the cause of your getting into this frightful -danger, Abdul,” he said quietly. “Still, I have been in tighter corners -than this and won out, so we won’t despair. You see, the swarm may pass -well over our heads as there is nothing green for it to settle on within -miles. Besides, if we had stayed where we were it would have been the -same thing. We haven’t got so very far from the camp. Still, I’m sorry, -and I....” - -The rest of the sentence was jerked from him as his camel stumbled to its -knees, half rose, fell, and with an infuriated scream got to its feet -with the curious back jump exclusive to a fallen camel. They proceeded -in silence for almost a quarter of a mile, when there came a shout from -Abdul which was lost in a chorus of shrieks and groans and lamentations -from the string, as the middle camel crashed, pulling its brother behind -to its knees by the rope attached to its halter, and its sister in front -to a sitting position by the rope attached to her skimpy tail, until at -last the seven beasts sprawled upon the ground. - -Ralph Trenchard followed Abdul’s pointing finger. Lost in his thoughts -and without looking at the ground over which he travelled, he had passed -up and down the ridges which were soon to end in a great flat space. He -looked down now, and shuddered at the sight. A thin layer of brown and -crawling locusts lay upon the sands as far as eye could see—a terrible, -living sheet of slipperiness upon which no biped or quadruped could -hope to remain upright for long. He did not hesitate. He shook out the -feet-long leather thong of the camel-whip and flicked the sides of the -nearest fallen camel, against which was already forming a drift of -locusts. And as the camel tried to rise he flicked the others, whilst -Abdul alternately shouted encouragement and prayed to Allah. And when at -last the beasts had been forced to their feet, to stand indifferent and -contemptuous, he took his camel slowly across to where Abdul sat upon -the leader and looked him in the face, whilst locusts, hurled by the -ever-increasing wind, rattled like hailstones upon his topee, and caught -and clung and crawled over his shirt and breeches and over his servant’s -robes. - -“You must decide, Abdul,” he said quietly. “You belong to the desert. -You have seen a locust storm many times. Do we go forward or back, or -do we stay here and wait, praying that it will pass before we die of -suffocation?” - -Abdul did not hesitate. Already the insects had covered the camels’ feet -and were clinging in bunches to their sides; already the camels were -moaning like children in pain, a sure sign that fear utterly possessed -them and that panic pressed them close. - -“We will move forward. And will his Excellency fasten his shirt lest the -disgusting beasts crawl about his person. We are in the hands of Allah, -O my master, and we must follow the path marked out for us, even if it -be spread with a carpet of locusts. The heart of the storm has not yet -reached us. Kismet! it is the will of Allah. Forward, my master, for that -way the future always lies.” - -Inch by inch, with the leather-thonged whip curling backwards and -forwards over the string, and Abdul alternately shouting encouragement, -praying to Allah, and calling upon the aid of the great Prophet, the -camels climbed the next ridge, which rose high above its fellows owing -to a mass of volcanic rock beneath it, whilst the locust cloud spread -across the heavens. With its forefeet just over the edge on the downward -steep descent, Ralph Trenchard’s camel slipped, threw him clear over its -head down to the bottom of the dip, then followed in a series of terrible -somersaults, to collapse at the bottom with a broken neck. - -“Don’t get down, Abdul! For God’s sake, don’t get down!” shouted Ralph -Trenchard as he scrambled to his feet just as the seven in a string, -well back on their haunches, slid down safely to the bottom, the ridge -meanwhile growing higher and higher as the locusts piled upon it. “I’ll -cut you loose and take the second camel; it’s got two water-skins. -You’ve got to take one—we’ll fix it on somehow.” He hacked at the rope -which fastened Abdul’s camel to the second, then cut through the rope -connecting the second and third; unfastened the water-skins, pulled the -pack off the second camel, wrenched the saddle from the dead beast, and -handed it up to Abdul, who threw it across the other camel’s back. - -“Jam the brute against the side, Abdul, I’m going underneath. Tight, -that’s it, don’t let it move. That’s it. Fling the off-strap further -over. My God! That’s it! I’ve done it. Keep him jammed, I’m getting the -water-skins on. Oh! my God! one’s burst; one of those fiends has driven -its teeth into it. Fasten this one to your saddle—d’you hear what I say? -fasten it—I’ve got my water-bottle and—you’ll get the whip across your -back if you don’t—I’m going to tighten the strap—jam him still, I’m -coming out—you can give me a leg up—I—my....” Abdul bent and hauled him -up as he crept from under the camel’s belly and almost threw him into the -saddle. - -“Come! Master, come! hasten! The camels fight, they are mad with fear; -they kill all they see when mad. Nay, master, be not so mad thyself. -What matter if they be bound together? They are but camels, and thou, O -master, art a son of God! Turn thy camel, Excellency.” - -But the camels would not turn. True, they backed in their fear of the -other five, which, fastened together, shrieked and fought, tore and -snarled, as they vainly tried to climb out of the dip in which the stream -of locusts was rising inch by inch; but get them round they could not, -however hard they pulled at their cast-iron mouths and struck them on the -off shoulder. - -Then Abdul yelled and tore off his outer cloak, sitting breathless, in -voluminous drawers and vest, ready for the onslaught. The five camels, -hopelessly fastened together, had straightened themselves out. The first, -clean mad with fear, had seen two of its own kind standing quietly a -little way ahead. For a second it stood quite still, excepting for its -head, which swung from side to side, with great eyes rolling and long -tongue hanging from the foam-flecked mouth, then it shrieked, shrieked -as only a camel can, and charged, dragging the others, which rocked from -side to side. They slipped and fell, and scrambled to their feet under -the spur of the terrible teeth which met in the hindquarters and the -agony of the ropes which lashed muzzle and tail together. - -The foremost saw the open space on the waiting camel’s off-side and made -for it, blindly, drew level with Abdul and swung its head viciously -sideways, to find itself enveloped in the man’s coat. Followed a -frightful scene, in which it stood quite still, lost in the darkness -which had suddenly overtaken it, whilst the other four rushed backwards -and forwards and swung themselves round until they jammed in a fighting -circle. - -“Quick, master! Now! Follow! Allah protect thee in this corner of -_Jahamman_! Fear at last moves my Satan-possessed beast; may Allah cause -it to burn in the nethermost pit!” The faithful man leant over and -gripped the halter and wrenched Ralph Trenchard’s camel round as his own -turned. “We will go apace! We will....” - -His words were lost in the screaming of the five camels, as the foremost, -freed of the cloak, suddenly charged up the side of the ridge. Up, up, -almost to the top, pulling its companions after it, up to the edge -where the locusts lay thick, then down, over and over, with its fellow -prisoners fighting, struggling, screaming, back to the bottom of the dip, -where ’tis wise to leave them to the mercy of Allah. - -The two men urged their camels swiftly from the terrible sight, whilst -with a soft _phit-phit-phit_ the locusts fell upon each other with the -sound of raindrops upon glass. The sky was black with them; they swept -above their heads with the whistling sound of a tropical hail storm. - -“We will stay here, master, if it be the will of Allah! We will throw -the disgusting beasts out as they fill in the space about us. Thou art -white and I am black, yet are we brothers in distress and in the sight of -Allah.” - -Ralph Trenchard held out his hand, which Abdul just touched as he -salaamed. - -But it was not the will of Allah that they should remain to die, -perhaps of suffocation, in the dip filled with locusts; it was His will, -perchance, that they should make a last fight for life, which is good -when filled with love, love of the woman, love of the master, love of the -brother and friend. - -Abdul turned for one moment to secure the water-skins more firmly upon -his saddle, when his camel stampeded, rushing blindly ahead for no good -reason, as is the custom of the brutes. Followed by Ralph Trenchard’s, it -turned sharply and scrambled to the top of the ridge, where the men bent -double to save their faces from the driving locust rain. - -“Master!” - -Ralph Trenchard heard his servant’s voice as his camel turned and fled -along the top of the ridge until it was swallowed up in the locust storm. -“Abdul!” he called, covering his face with his arm. “God keep....” He -beat the insects off his shoulders, beat them off as they piled thickly -behind him on the saddle, paused for a moment in the ghastly work as a -faint “Allah!” came to him from somewhere out of the dark, then beat -at the horrible things which crawled all over him with a sickening -scratching of their scaly bodies. The camel, crazed with the things which -covered it as with a coat of mail, slid, shrieking, down the side of the -ridge and scrambled up the farther side, and down and up the next, and -yet the next. Ralph Trenchard, with his feet crossed round the pommel -of his saddle, bent his head to his knees and rode for mile after mile, -clutching the tufts of coarse hair upon the camel’s shoulder, whilst the -locusts piled up on his back and neck. - -Why should he try to stop the camel? Why should he get down? Why should -he not go on and on for ever riding, riding through an endless desert -of swarming, crawling, creeping locusts, which stretched across the -heavens and the earth from north to south, from east to wrest? Was it -not the will of Allah? Was not ...? Up he went and down, hanging on to -the coarse hair just above the camel’s shoulders, up and down, and then -on and on, evenly, smoothly, whilst the locusts whistled like a tropical -hailstorm and the sky lighted way down in the east as the great curtain -of insects swept towards and away to the west. - -And he went on and on, shuddering under the feeling of the locusts -crawling over him when they had long since taken flight, leaving him and -his camel free; on and on through the journey of the scorching day which -followed the journey of the night, and still onward in the way which -was to lead him to certain knowledge of the girl he loved; on and on, -with his head bent to his knees and his hands clutching the coarse hair, -mercifully unconscious at last. - -On and on, until a range of mountains showed faintly in the far distance -and the sun went down behind it, just as, many miles away, two Arabs, -journeying towards the Oasis of Hareek, drew Abdul out from under his -dead camel and, finding that he breathed, straightened the broken leg -between improvised splints, and placed him gently upon the third camel, -which carried all their worldly belongings. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - - “_Under every downhanging head dwells a thousand - mischiefs._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Namlah had been superseded. - -No suspicion whatever attached to her, but, whether her curses had been -too potent or the blow of the water-jar too much for him, the man who had -partaken of much good red wine the night of Helen’s attempted escape had -died. - -That, in connexion with certain gossip concerning Namlah’s friendship -and enthusiastic praise of the white woman, decided Zarah. She sent her -packing, without warning, and in her stead put a villainously ugly, surly -negress incapable of speech, much less of a kind thought or deed, who -proceeded to follow the prisoner at a distance wherever she went, thereby -rendering speech with blind Yussuf impossible. - -Knowing that Helen must pass the great rock on her way down to the river -to bathe, as was her custom just after sunrise, Yussuf sat himself down -in its shadow the morning after Namlah’s dismissal, with intent to tell -the prisoner the reason for the change in the body-woman and to warn her -to be on her guard. He lifted his head at the sound of her footsteps, -then frowned, though no one else could possibly have discerned the other -almost noiseless tread made by bare feet, one of which pressed the ground -more heavily than the other. - -Judging correctly the distance between the two women, he put his finger -to his lips and whispered “_A’ti balak_” as he salaamed. - -Be careful! - -The change in her body-woman, combined with Yussuf’s warning, caused -Helen’s anxiety to increase, until her days became a burden of suspense -and her nights a nightmare of troubled dreams in which she saw her lover -lying dead or wounded in the desert or a prisoner in the hands of some -lawless tribe. - -She would not allow herself to think of her position nor of her future, -but she made a vow in the depths of her valiant heart that, no matter -what was in store for her, no matter how the Arabian might cajole or -threaten, she would not show a sign of the anxiety which consumed her, -nor write a word of the letter which she knew would bring her lover, if -he lived, hot-foot, to her. - -Then Zarah, who had not given up hopes of getting the letter from the -girl and who waited for the return of Al-Asad from his quest, showed -herself suddenly friendly, and Helen gladly responded to her invitations, -to visit the kennels and the stables and the rest of the erstwhile -monastery. - -True, she had been forbidden to wander amongst the rocks or to climb to -the beginning of the cleft or to ride either horse or camel; true, also, -that the surly negress followed her wherever she went, so that, in spite -of the extra liberty, she felt herself more closely guarded and more -carefully watched than ever. Still, the days passed more quickly and her -friends amongst the dogs and their grooms became almost too numerous to -be counted. - -Upon her first visit to the kennels, unaccompanied by Zarah, the head -groom, who worshipped the dogs, reluctantly offered her the whip without -which his mistress would not enter the door when upon her visits of -inspection. - -“What for?” asked Helen, as she looked over his shoulder to where the -famous greyhounds and the dogs of Billi stood watching her. - -“Out of fear, Excellency; they may be dangerous.” - -“Fear of what?” - -The head groom did not reply, but spread his fingers in a gesture against -the evil memory of the woman the dogs hated, and rushed to save Helen -from them when, barking and leaping, they threw themselves upon her in -instant friendliness in response to her call. - -In the days following she visited the kennels upon every possible -occasion, until even Rādi, the bitch, fawned at her feet in love and the -grooms ran to greet her at the kennel door. - -Through the order forbidding her to ride, the grooms of the horse and -camel stables became smitten of a grievous jealousy as they listened to -the tales of the white woman’s graciousness recounted to them by the head -groom of the kennels. - -“Dogs! Yea! perchance she has knowledge of the dog, but _ride!_ pah! O -brother, what knows she of the Nejdee? What would she avail against the -vagaries of the desert horse?” - -“Wilt thou make a bet, O my brother?” - -Which is a perfectly absurd question to ask an Arab, who will gamble with -his last coffee bean if he has nothing of more value in hand. - -The bet spread, dividing the camp into two factions which were ready to -fight over it upon the slightest provocation. The grooms of the stables -were backed by their friends; the grooms of the kennels had an equal -following; they all showed a catholic and reckless taste in stakes, which -ranged from marriageable daughters, through money, jewellery and weapons, -down to emaciated poultry. - -News of the bet came to Zarah’s ears the day upon which Al-Asad returned -with the report that Ralph Trenchard was safe, had started for the -Sanctuary accompanied by one Abdul, and had been sighted near the scene -of the battle, which meant that he was but a day’s journey behind. - -She cursed in her heart that interest in Helen should have been aroused -at such an inauspicious moment, then instantly, little knowing that -the girl’s horsemanship equalled, even surpassed, her own, conceived -a diabolically cunning plan by which she could bring about her death -before Ralph Trenchard’s arrival, and without, withal, arousing suspicion -amongst the men. - -Helen wanted to ride, the men wanted her to ride; well, ride she should, -and to her death. - -Lulah, the black mare, had been pronounced untamable. Descendant of the -mare who had brought the Sheikh to safety, likewise descendant of the -mare who had been the cause of Yussuf’s blindness, she was as black of -temper as she was of coat. - -Three people out of the whole camp had been able to ride her the entire -length of the plateau. - -Zarah, Bowlegs, and the Patriarch. - -Not one of the others who had taken the risk even of trying to mount -her had escaped injury. Each one had been thrown, considering himself -lucky if he escaped with slight concussion; there had been broken bones -a-plenty and one broken neck. - -That made the beginning and end of the plan. - -If Helen succeeded in getting across the saddle she would of necessity -be thrown; she must be. She might break her neck, in which case all the -trouble would be over; or she might be stunned, in which case she would -look like dead, which would serve as well. - -Brigands do not worry themselves overmuch about such details as -heartbeats; scruples do not exist in a jealous woman’s heart. - -Neither was there time to lose. - -She sent for the head groom of the stables. - -“Lulah the Black, mistress?” The man raised a face of consternation as -Zarah finished speaking. “Mistress, she is not fit; she is as wild as a -bird on the wing; she is possessed of the devil. One of thy slaves even -now lies sick of the meeting of her teeth in his shoulder.” - -Zarah put an end to his protestations by the simple method of smiting him -across the mouth. - -“And I will saddle her with my own hands upon the day of sport to-morrow, -O my son, and thou shalt hold her near me until I give the signal. -Likewise shalt thou and others make a pretence of mounting her, a -pretence only. And see that thou makest no mistake, lest thou beareth the -burden of my litter for a space.” - -The morrow came, bringing a horseman who carried the news of the -disappearance of the white man and his servant in the locust storm. - -In her rage against Fate Zarah decided to countermand the sports; then, -fearful of angering her men and aching to find an object upon which to -vent her fury and the agony of as big a love as she was capable, once -more changed her mind and decided to carry out the programme. - - * * * * * - - “_Beaten—but to-day beater._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -“The shadow of the great locust storm has fallen upon Zarah the -Beautiful!” whispered Bowlegs to Yussuf’s Eyes as they watched the sports -with all the enthusiasm and delight of the Arab’s heart, which upon -occasion can be so childlike. The dumb youth nodded his head and smiled -and tapped a description of Zarah’s face upon his blind friend’s arm, -whereupon Yussuf laughed loudly and long and rubbed his slender hands -together at the thought of the Arabian girl’s discontent. - -She reclined in her litter this late afternoon, swung upon the shoulders -of four prisoners, her face as black as thunder; she flung herself -irritably from side to side, and used her whip smartly upon the backs of -the men—who had stood in the sun for an hour or so—when, by shifting the -litter, they tried to alleviate the pain of the wounds it made in their -shoulders. - -It was her favourite form of punishment for trivial offences, and she -kept Al-Asad, the muscular half-caste, close at hand, so that he should -be in readiness to take the place of the first one of the four who should -collapse under the combined torture of the heat and the weight of the -jewel-encrusted ivory litter. She had no reason to use the whip upon his -back. His mighty muscle made nothing of the weight; his negroid blood -withstood the heat of the sun; his abnormal love caused him to find joy -in the task, blinding him to the smiles, rendering him deaf to the titter -which the humiliation of his task invariably drew from his friends, who -loved the mighty man and grieved over his insensate passion. - -She was surrounded by slaves who cast terrified glances at her wrathful -countenance as they performed their various tasks. At her head two -Abyssinian maidens, nude save for the scarlet sashes which girt them -about the middle, stood upon low pedestals like glistening black -statues of Venus, fanning her with fans of snow-white ostrich feathers; -boys, slim, dark-eyed, with slender hands and feet, offered her cool -drinks, sweetmeats and fruits upon trays of beaten silver; girls, slim, -dark-eyed, with slender hands and feet, threw perfumed water into the air. - -Helen sat some way off upon a pile of cushions in the shade of a rock, -making a sharp contrast in her dilapidated but well-built Shantung -breeches and knee-length coat with the Arabian’s almost barbaric -splendour; and many a glance was cast at her from the serried ranks of -men, who looked with interest upon the beautiful white prisoner, about -whom Namlah had, most unwisely, ecstatically and so unceasingly talked. - -That morning had come the invitation to witness the sports, to which she -had responded with alacrity, to find herself, of a sudden, the object of -interest to many hundreds of men, and a prey to uneasiness at the sight -of Zarah’s mocking smile and the memory of Yussuf’s whispered warning. - -Her hair shone like gold against the dark rock background. She laughed at -the men’s encounters in the “_Jerzed_,” and clapped her hands at their -marvellous dexterity with spear and rifle and revolver; but she kept her -eyes away from the spot where the four bare-headed men underwent torture -in the terrific heat of the sun. - -She had begged Zarah to spare them; she had entreated with clasped hands, -and with pitying eyes had lain her handkerchief upon the nearest wounded -shoulder, which is a foolish thing for a beautiful girl to do when she -is the prisoner of a beautiful woman famed for her cruelty throughout a -land which is not exactly noted for the gentleness of its methods. She -had retired to the pile of cushions and had sat down with eyes averted -from the terrible picture of the beautiful, insolent woman who had -imperiously bidden her to mind her own business, and had brought her whip -down sharply upon the backs of the two front, undersized, under-nourished -Armenians. - -She sat quite by herself, so that she could not ask the meaning of the -mighty shout which went up when Zarah raised her right hand, sparkling -with jewels in the sun. The men in the back rows pushed towards the -front, and those in front pushed their ambitious brethren back with -oaths, so that a pitched battle seemed imminent, in which some part of -the grievances, not only of the seats but also of the stables and the -kennels, might be settled. - -Peace fell with a great suddenness when Zarah sat forward and beckoned -Al-Asad. She looked at the warring factions for a long moment, during -which they sat as though carved out of the mountainside; then she smiled -slowly and nodded her head and raised her right hand twice, upon which -the men awoke once more, as from a trance, and yelled. - -Helen rose to her feet and clapped her hands, heedless of the eyes which -flashed from her to Lulah, the black, superb Nejdee mare, as she was led -forward, seemingly with as much wickedness in her as a lamb. The men -nudged each other and took on fresh bets with the neighbouring enemy -as they remarked upon the stirrups swinging from the wisp of a native -saddle. “Stirrups!” ejaculated a groom of the stables to one of the -kennels. “And thou say’st that the white woman _rides_?” - -“The _Inglizi_ ride not without stirrups!” - -“Then they ride not at all!” - -“With or without stirrups, O brother, thou knowest that that black -she-devil Lulah is not to be ridden; yet will I make thee a bet of this, -my silver-handled knife, against the silver ring of no value upon thy -finger that yon white woman rides the Satan-possessed mare.” - -The two men placed the stakes at their feet just as, with a short run, -one of the stable grooms flung himself into the saddle, and fell off -the other side as the mare reared, jerking the head groom, who held the -halter, off his feet. - -Then ran men from all sides, eager, from sheer love of horses and of -sport, to try and dominate the beautiful creature that lashed out on -every side, squealing with what they thought to be anger, and what Helen -knew to be pain. And slowly, inch by inch, the litter tipped to one side -as one of the undersized, under-nourished Armenians succumbed to the -agony of his hurt, until Zarah, white with rage and cursing volubly, -stepped hurriedly out as the other three dumped the litter just as their -companion fell. She did not wait, so great was her rage, to upbraid them; -instead, longing to hurt, to kill, in her wrath, she walked straight up -to Helen, who stood watching the mare pawing the ground. - -“You say you can r-r-ride anyzing, Helena, my dear-r-r school fr-rien’,” -she said sweetly, standing slender and straight, at the English girl’s -side, whilst the men broke ranks and rushed across the plateau so as to -overhear the conversation. - -“So I can, Zarah. But you know there’s something wrong with that mare. -It’s not all nerves.” - -“She has never-r-r been r-r-ridden befor-r-e, Miss Veter-r-inar-r-y, -that’s all zat is ze matter wiz her-r-r. Why do you not have a tr-r-y?” - -“Why not indeed? I had a bucking waler at home once, which was miles -worse than that mare. Tell the men to stand clear, and tell the one -holding her to turn her head from me. I don’t want her broadside on.” - -Final and terrific betting took place as the men heard their mistress -issue the last orders and rushed back to their places; then complete -silence fell as Helen walked towards the mare, then bent to adjust a -strap on her riding-boot. She looked back suddenly at Zarah and caught -the expression of her face, and bent and adjusted yet again the strap -upon her boot. - -She could not interpret the Arabian’s mocking smile, but she understood, -in a lightning flash of intuition, that she was to uphold her country’s -reputation for riding in the eyes of the finest horsemen in the world, -and, great horsewoman that she was, became suddenly lost to everything -outside a fierce determination to do her country credit. - -“My last goat to thy new shoes,” a groom of the kennels whispered -feverishly to his neighbour at the sight of Helen’s laughing face as she -backed a yard or so; he nearly broke the neighbour’s arm in the terrific -grip he gave it when Helen ran, caught the mane, vaulted into the saddle, -and throwing her left leg over the beautiful black head, slipped to the -ground on the off-side just before the beast reared with a scream. - -“_Wah! wah!_” yelled the men. “_Wah! wah!_” and rose to their feet and -fought each other in their great excitement. - -“Allah gives us the victory!” yelled a groom of the stables. “If she -cannot even sit a horse, how can she ride? Hasten, O my brother, with a -cushion upon which this white woman may rest safely upon the earth!” - -“‘Advice given in the midst of a crowd is loathsome,’” quoted brother, -his hand upon his knife, which he forgot to draw as he watched Helen. She -stood talking to the mare; she beckoned a child with a tray of dates, -and took a handful and held them out. The mare stretched her beautiful -head and sniffed at them, then nibbled them, showing the red depths of -her nostrils; then, when Helen gave a pull at the saddle, lashed out and -flung herself sideways. - -“I thought so,” said Helen. - -For quite ten minutes she stood talking to the mare, until the men began -to fidget and grumble and Zarah to laugh; then she spoke sharply to the -groom who held the rope halter. - -“Hold on tight, I am going to take the saddle off.” - -Zarah made a quick step forward as Helen patted the satiny flank, working -her hands towards the heavy buckle. There came a yell from everyone as -she seized it and hung on to it until it was undone, just as the groom -hung on to the rope halter, despite the slashing hoofs and the mare’s -violent efforts to be rid of these people who so tormented her. - -Helen whipped the light saddle off the mare’s blood-stained back and held -it up, turning it first to Zarah, who laughed, and then to the men, who -literally howled execrations. - -“You brutes!” she cried. “You cowardly brutes! Look! The point of a nail, -which pricked the mare each time the saddle was touched. Come here.” The -head groom ran forward, salaaming, protesting that he knew nothing about -it all, speaking the truth, for a wonder. “You say you did not saddle -the mare. Then why don’t you look after the men under you? Take it!” She -flung the wisp of a saddle full in the man’s face, so that the buckle cut -his cheek, upon which the place resounded with shouts of joy and peals of -laughter, which stopped when she raised her hand. - -“I ride her bare-back,” she cried, and smiled at the men when, with the -Arab’s proverbial inconstancy, they yelled encouragement. - -She stood patting the mare, stroking the quivering back, lightly touching -the superficial wound until the animal became accustomed to pressure on -the spot; then she took the halter and trotted the beautiful beast down -the full length of the plateau, whilst the men sighed with joy at the -sight. - -“A babe can lead a horse,” scoffed the equivalent of a British -stable-lad; “let us wait until she essays to scramble to the back, even -as a monkey scrambles up a pole.” - -But Helen had no intention of emulating the monkey; she intended riding -that mare if she died in the attempt. She took the beautiful creature -round the full circle, caused by the men sitting in a ring, at a trot, -then at a gentle canter, then caught the mane and vaulted across the bare -back. - -“_Now_, God,” cried Helen, “help me _now_!” - -Which was her somewhat unusual prayer in time of stress. - -The spectators held their breath as the mare bucked madly in an effort -to dislodge the girl; then they yelled again and again as she reared and -bucked and flung her heels up until Helen leant against the satiny back. - -It was a magnificent exhibition of horsemanship, but the men scattered -like chaff before the wind when Lulah the Black suddenly made a dash -through them straight for the river edge; and they shouted bets one to -the other upon the white woman’s chance of life and death as she almost -shot over the mare’s head when she stopped suddenly on the very brink, -with slender forelegs wide spread; then wheeled and raced back to the -arena, where she bucked to the far end, then wheeled and broke into a -furious gallop, which strenuous exercise lasted for some considerable -time, until it changed to a canter, then subsided to a trot, when the -men, carried out of themselves with enthusiasm, rushed and surrounded the -pair. - -Zarah, with a face like a night of storm, had just beckoned Al-Asad to -order him to quell the humiliating tumult, when the sentry from the cleft -in the rocks came running down the narrow path. - -“It is a solitary rider, O mistress,” he panted as he fell at Zarah’s -feet, “upon a far-spent camel. He hangs over upon his own knees, he -guided not the beast, which even now flounders deep in the sands of -death. But the space of three of thy servant’s hands to the west, O Great -One, and the camel stood safely upon the hidden path. I cannot see the -face of the rider, but his raiment is that of the white race, and I ran -to tell thee, O mistress, as thou didst command me.” - -Zarah gave an order to Al-Asad and beckoned the head groom of the -stables, who stood at a distance nursing his wounded cheek. - -“The stallion, Abyad, on the instant,” she said sharply. - -The man ran at uttermost speed to the stables, whilst Zarah, taking no -notice of Helen, walked swiftly to the beginning of the narrow path -leading up to the cleft, as Al-Asad strode through the men, hurling them -roughly to each side, until he reached the mare. - -“Behold, O white woman,” he said curtly, “thou art to return to thy nest -near the skies and to remain within until thy mistress sends for thee. -The black woman with the gait of a lame hen will keep guard over thee, -and if thou dost attempt to walk out, even upon the narrow way outside -the door, then——” - -The men whispered amongst themselves as Helen slipped from the mare’s -back and walked slowly to the steep steps, being far too wise either to -notice the peremptoriness of the Nubian’s manner or to attempt to disobey -Zarah’s orders. - -She climbed up and up to her nest near the sky, where the surly negress -awaited her, whilst the men followed the Nubian as he ran to overtake his -mistress, who drove her stallion as fast as he could scramble up the -steep mountain path. - -It was a wonderful sight to witness, and one that, in spite of her -brutality and cruelty, endeared her to her men. - -She rode her favorite Nejdee, a white stallion of purest breed, standing -fifteen hands, which is a height never exceeded in this perfect horse. -She rode him without saddle or stirrup, and barely lifted the halter-rope -which, with the Nejdee, always takes the place of bit, guiding him by -knees and voice, urging him on, as she rode to save the man she loved. - -The stallion slithered and scrambled like a goat down the other side of -the spot where the spear, thrown at the Arabian girl’s father, stuck fast -in a cleft between two rocks, whilst the men fought each other for the -best point of vantage from which they could watch either the sinking of -the camel and its rider, who looked as one dead, or his rescue by the -indomitable woman who ruled them. - -And all were too intent upon the sport of the moment to notice a faint -movement amongst the rocks to the east, where the shadows were heaviest. - -“It _is_ a white man, and the camel’s belly sinketh in the sand,” -whispered Namlah to Yussuf. “She, our mistress, and may the hyenas pick -her bones, rides out to save him.” - -“May he be saved,” whispered back the blind man, “and may she make her -bed to-night in the depths of the sands in his stead. Linger thou, O -Namlah, until we know the will of Allah, the one and only God, concerning -this white man; then must thou flee, lest thy absence from amongst the -women be noticed.” - -As Namlah said, the camel lay upon the quicksands, screaming with fear, -struggling and fighting, biting at the sands which were slowly sucking -it down, whilst Ralph Trenchard sat with his head on his knees, which, -holding the peak of the saddle in a deadly cramp, had prevented him from -falling in the last stretch of the waterless journey through hours of -burning sun. - -The stallion stood near the spear, shivering in the fear of the death -he knew to surround him. He had crossed the path more times than his -mistress could remember, and he knew that he would have to cross in the -end, driven by the agony of the golden spurs in his sides, just as he -always crossed in the end, no matter how strenuously he resisted. But he -stood and shivered and rolled his gentle eyes until a sharp jab brought -him to his hind feet, then another, which sent him dancing, curvetting -down the path. His long silvery mane and tail blew out in the evening -breeze like silken streamers, his dainty, polished hoofs flashed in -the red light of the setting sun, and he pricked his small ears at the -screams of the camel, as he went down the path and turned, spurred by the -beautiful, relentless woman until they faced the rocks. - -Zarah’s eyes were wonderful to behold as she leant far over and touched -Ralph Trenchard on the shoulder. They were tender and sweet and fearless, -until into them shot an agonizing look of terror as she clutched the -stallion’s silvery mane and leant farther over still and caught the man’s -hair in her fingers and pulled back his head and looked down into the -terrible face with the closed eyes. - -Then she grasped his collar with her right hand and pulled on the -rope-halter with her left, as she dug the spurs into the stallion’s sides -so that he reared and backed until, for fear of falling over onto the -camel, she had perforce to let go her hold on the man who sat stiffly, -with his head on his knees, as the camel sank inch by inch to its death. - -She sat back, with an agony of horror stamped on her face, which was -beautiful under the power of her love, and sent a ringing cry over to the -men gathered to watch the fight. - -“_Bil-’ajal_, Asad,” she called. “_Bil-’ajal! bil-’ajal!_” - -Al-Asad leapt from the rock to the hidden path and raced to his -mistress’s bidding, swiftly, surely, heedless of the death which awaited -him on the first false step, eager to help the woman he loved, even in -the task of rescuing the man to whom she had given her heart. - -“Give me space, O mistress!” he cried, as he stood with one foot upon the -path and the other upon the back of the camel’s saddle and gripped Ralph -Trenchard round the waist. “Nearer, O mistress, and place the stallion’s -silver hair within my hand.” The shouts of the men rang out over the -desert as they watched the desperate fight, as the Nubian put out all his -mighty strength and pulled just as Zarah drove in the golden spurs until -the stallion reared. “Thy dagger, O mistress,” he cried, as he let go his -hold upon the mane and sprang back upon the path. “The white man’s knees -break under the strain.” He seized the razor-edged, jewelled dagger and -stood once more with his foot on the back of the camel’s saddle and bent -and felt in the sands, which pulled at his hands and arms as he sawed at -the girth. - -He sawed through the girth on both sides and cut the ropes, and holding -the jewelled dagger between his teeth, bent and took hold of the saddle -as the sands rose to the level where the animal’s mangy tail began. He -had a few minutes in which to perform the mighty deed, and Namlah gripped -Yussuf’s hand and the men made the wildest, maddest bets upon the outcome -of the struggle. - -He placed both hands under the back of the saddle and tipped it forward; -it was free; then gripped the back pommel and the front pommel and looked -up at the woman he loved. - -“Back, O mistress! Back, lest I break the stallion’s legs!” - -The muscles of his back and chest and arms rippled, then tautened, then -stood out in great knots. - -He lifted the saddle a few inches and let it fall back and shifted his -slender hands; lifted it higher and higher until it rested for a second -upon his bent knees; then, to the sound of the men’s mighty shouting, -made one superhuman effort and, just as the sands touched his feet, with -a great swing of the shoulders flung the saddle and the senseless rider -to safety upon the narrow path. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - - “_A greater liar than Moseylama._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Three weeks passed, in which the Arabian nursed Ralph Trenchard until the -fever, brought on by exhaustion, thirst and terrific heat, had left him, -and left him very sane and not unduly weak, and very full of gratitude -to the beautiful girl whom he seemed to have seen at his bedside day and -night, and who seemed to have changed her dress a hundred times, if she -had changed it once. - -The nerve-racking jangle of her bracelets and anklets and the -overwhelming strength of her perfume drove him wellnigh crazy at -times, but, remembering what he would learn from her upon his complete -recovery, he stuffed the ends of the silk sheets into his ears and held -his nostrils forcibly between thumb and finger under cover of the same -luxurious bed-spread. - -Truly once or twice he grievously feared for his reason. - -He wakened one night to see a remarkably handsome and muscular man, clad -in naught but a loin-cloth, sitting motionless in the middle of the floor -with what looked like a woman’s sandal pressed to his heart; and right -strange and idiotic did he look, too, when he placed the sandal upon the -floor and proceeded to press his forehead upon it. Then, two or three, -or maybe more, nights following—for he had completely lost all sense of -time—he wakened to see nothing less than a lion rolling blithely upon its -back not two yards from him, which, having rolled awhile, proceeded to -gambol playfully about the room, then slouched to the doorway, through -which it disappeared for good. When he turned slowly upon his bed to see -what else might be in store for him, he saw the face of the beautiful -girl looking down upon him from a spot ’twixt floor and ceiling as though -suspended in mid-air. - -He laughed when, the delirium passed, these strange occurrences were -explained to him by Zarah, who, just because he felt too uncertain for -the moment about past events to question her about Helen, allowed herself -to be deluded into the belief that he had forgotten the tale Al-Asad had -told when he visited the Bedouin camp disguised as a holy man. Then this -evening he sent the youth who waited upon him to ask her to come to him. - -She came quickly, Zarah the beautiful, the tender, the pitiful, Zarah -the most perfect hypocrite and liar, and sat at his feet upon the floor, -appropriately clothed in black and silver, with the lower part of her -lovely face semi-hidden by a yashmak, over which her beautiful eyes gazed -into his with an expression which would have deceived even the astutest -old Holy Father. - -“Where is Helen Raynor?” - -He asked the question abruptly, taking her unawares. - -She had intended telling him—if he should remember the Nubian’s -story—that Helen had returned to Hutah under escort and had perished in -the locust storm, but the abrupt question took her off her guard. - -“She is dead and buried in the quicksands,” she lied instantly, -uncontrollably, infinitely unwisely, without giving a thought to the -far-reaching effects of the lie. - -“Dead! My God! When? How?” - -Seeing the terrible mistake she had made, seeing no way out of it, she -backed the lie, planning in a flash to give a slight foundation to the -disastrous mistake by getting rid of the girl that very night. She laid -her henna-tipped, jewelled hand upon Ralph Trenchard’s and told him the -sad story of Helen Raynor’s death, and mopped her melting, dry eyes with -the corner of the silken sheet as she answered his horrified questions. - -“ ... yes! I made a gr-r-reat effort to save her-r, my dear-r -schoolmate,” she said, “but, alas! _kismet_, Allah had decr-r-r-eed -other-r-wise....” Her arms showed like creamy-yellow ivory as she raised -them dutifully above her downcast head in a gesture that showed off her -alluring figure to perfection. “ ... Nay! dear-r Helena said no wor-rd, -she just _died_. Wher-r-re? Oh! in a bed. Yes! here in the mountain -dwelling. By the mercy of Mohammed the Pr-r-ophet did she die, so zat -her face should be a beautiful memor-r-y to her fr-r-ien’s, even if I, -Zarah ...” She struck her breast with a beautiful gesture of resignation, -but not hard enough to mark it, even in her intense grief. “ ... Yea! -even if I, Zarah, shall have to car-r-y the dr-r-readful picture of it, -all br-r-oken, before my eyes until ze day when death shall claim me -also.” When Ralph Trenchard shivered in absolute horror, she shivered -also, perhaps out of sympathy for him, perhaps to impress the thought of -the English girl’s face upon him—who knows? Then she got up and trailed -across the floor to a table laden with drinks of divers sweetness and -coolness. - -He looked at the exquisite picture she made, and, longing to hear more -about the girl he loved, stretched out his hand; and she looked at him -with the love of all women in her glorious eyes, and walked back to him -swiftly and with all the grace of her Spanish mother, carrying a tray -with glasses of frothing sherbet, which he did not want or touch. - -“Thou art indeed a man,” she said softly in Arabic, as she placed the -tray on a stool, ensconced herself cross-legged upon the divan, and leant -towards him as she lit her cigarette, so that he was almost suffocated -with the pungency of her perfume. “Yea! verily amongst my subjects, who -are of a truth somewhat misshapen about the legs from overmuch bestriding -of the Nejdee, thou art indeed a man!” - -She sat and looked at him with all her love in her eyes, whilst he sat -and wished that in some way he could express his gratitude for all she -had done for Helen. But when, after much searching in those portions of -her raiment which looked as though they might be large enough to conceal -a minute pocket, she showed him Helen’s wrist-watch upon her palm, then -he moved close to her and crushed her hand in both of his until he almost -broke her fingers, as she told him how Helen had given it to her in -memory of old times. - -“ ... I give it to you,” she said at last. - -It was a sacrifice. - -Smothered in jewels as she was, yet, with the delight some Orientals have -in the purloined object, she coveted that looted watch more than all her -rubies, emeralds, pearls and diamonds put together in a heap. - -He sat for a long time with the tragic, lying, little token in his hand, -then turned and looked into the doe-like eyes, which looked fearlessly -back into his. - -“And this is all? You have nothing else, no little thing, a handkerchief, -a hair-pin, anything, no matter how trivial, that belonged to your old -school friend?” - -Zarah shook her beautiful head and sighed as she lied once more with the -ease of long-established custom, and the certainty of being able before -long to give some foundation to the lie. - -“Nozing! No little zing! We bur-r-ried her-r, as I have told you, in -her-r cloze. She was not beautiful to look upon. _Aï, aï_, she was not -pr-r-etty in ze gr-r-eat sleep, so we bur-r-ied her-r-r deep, deep in ze -comfor-r-ting sands, which tell no tales.” - -She rose once more as she spoke and trailed across the marble floor to -the door. - -Perchance she wished to study astronomy or, perchance, to draw a -comparison between the beauty of those who live in luxury and the -disfigurement of those who die in battle. Whatever her intent, she -certainly made a striking picture as she leaned against the lintel, -wrapped in a sheath of black and silver. - -Ralph Trenchard stared at her, his eyes wandering from the red curls to -the small feet in silver sandals. - -She knew his eyes to be upon her, and turned slowly sideways and sighed -as she raised her bare arms above her head so that their creamy whiteness -shone against the purple background of the sky; she sighed again and -pressed her hands upon the spot where by rights her heart should have -been, whilst her melting eyes showed fine specimens of the tears of the -crocodile as she inwardly asked herself if, in the whole world, there was -to be found anything quite so slow as an Englishman. - -And he sat and gazed and gazed at the exquisite figure, in which he -saw the golden head and the broad shoulders, the slender waist and the -polished riding-boots, of the girl to whom he had given the gold watch he -held in his hand. - -He sat quite still for a long time, stunned with horror, then, quite -unconscious of what he did, caused the beautiful Arabian to totally lose -her bearings, so that fear, jealousy and love linked hands in her heart -and drove her down the road of tragedy which had been marked out for her -through the ages. - -Saying nothing, he smiled at her and held out his hand, so that, -completely on the wrong tack, she ran to him, the silver embroidery -glittering in response to her fast-beating heart; then he kissed her hand -in gratitude, which was just about the most idiotic thing he could have -done, and, considering all things, spoke words of equal idiocy into her -willing ear. - -“You will come and talk to me to-morrow, will you not?” By talk he meant -talk of Helen, but how on earth was the Arabian to know that? “You will? -Thank you so much, so very much!” He stopped; then, in his craving to -regain his strength so as to get away from the horror of the place where -Helen lay dead, hidden from him for ever in the ghastly sands, misled -the Arabian entirely. “Can I walk about the camp? Can I have a horse or a -camel or something to ride in the desert so as to get really strong?” - -“Ride with me?” - -She barely whispered the words. - -“Rather! If you have the time to spare. It would be awfully kind of you. -Then we could talk about the school you were at and everything.” - -By which he meant Helen’s schooldays and Helen’s illness and Helen’s -death; but how was the Arabian, blinded by love and vanity, to know that, -especially as out of sheer gratitude he held her hand in both of his -whilst he talked. - -He took her to the steps and watched her descend, then turned and flung -himself upon the divan with the watch against his lips, whilst Zarah the -Cruel, wide awake to the danger of his walking amongst her men whilst -Helen remained in the camp, climbed the narrow path to the building where -dwelt the girl he thought to be dead. - - * * * * * - - “_May her envier stumble over her hair._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -She had told Ralph Trenchard that the girl was dead, when not only was -she alive, but a person of some consequence in the camp through the -thrice cursed episode of the black mare. - -Knowing nothing about constancy and honour and about as much about the -question of nationality in marriage, she was firmly convinced that in -time the white man, forgetting Helen, would succumb to her beauty and -marry her. - -But before that thrice blessed day, even before he left his dwelling -to walk with her in the camp as he had just suggested, the girl must -disappear so that the unlucky lie should have a slight foundation of -truth, as have so many falsehoods in the East when sifted to the bottom. - -Once the girl was dead she would rely upon her own power over her own -people to prevent the real facts of the case from reaching his ears. - -The first thing was to find a way of ridding herself of the girl who -stood as an obstacle in that path of peace and love which ended in the -white man’s heart, but, above all, a way which would cause no comment -amongst the men. The way was shown her, startlingly clear and simple, -within the hour. - -She cursed herself, the lie, fate and the black mare as she climbed the -steep steps to Helen’s prison. - -If only she had not saved the girl in the first place, if only, in the -second, she had not so foolishly allowed Helen to win the men’s hearts -by her magnificent horsemanship, if only she had not lied. If it had not -been for that thrice cursed episode with Lulah, the mare, she would not -have hesitated an hour ridding herself of the girl, either by sending her -back to civilization under escort or by some more drastic method. - -Up till then the white girl had meant nothing more than a prisoner to the -men, and the disappearance of a prisoner, even one of the white race, -would have been no subject of comment amongst them. As it was she could -do nothing. - -The Nubian reported that the men constantly talked about Helen; exercised -their best horses in the hope that she would one day ride out in the -desert with them, either to hunt ostrich with cheetahs or to lead them -to the attack on some caravan or company of Bedouins. They had taken to -standing at the foot of the steep steps to gamble upon the chance of -seeing her come out upon the platform, whilst gossip ran high as to the -relationship between her and the white man whom the half-caste had saved -from the sands of death. - -So that she cursed herself over and over again for the lie she had told -Ralph. - -She lied by nature and by habit; in fact, she found it easier and a good -deal more enjoyable to lie than to tell the truth, but she had lied -without giving herself time to look at the result of this particular lie -from every point of view. - -The surly negress, with the gait of a lame hen, rose from her squatting -position as her dire mistress passed up the steps, and retired still -farther into the shadows, where she occupied herself in the pleasant and -stimulating, if not too elegant, task of chewing _Kaat_ as a relaxation -from the dull work of spying upon the gentle white girl. - -Zarah stood for a moment and looked through the doorway at Helen. She sat -upon a pile of cushions, reading by the light of a silver lamp hanging -from the ceiling. - -Certain that the negress had replaced Namlah for the purpose of carrying -reports about her, she had made up her mind that nothing but reports of -normal behaviour should be carried. - -She woefully missed the peace and austerity of the other dwelling, also -the view of the desert through the cleft, and of the plateau with the -rushing, sparkling river; but she made no sign, neither did she complain -about the heat, which was so much greater, nor about the clutter of -Persian rugs, cushions and tables, which only served to intensify it. She -had been told that her old dwelling-place had been required for certain -prisoners, and that on their account she had been forbidden to walk -outside. Not a word of which she believed. - -Certain that eyes continually watched her, she forced herself to read; -constantly on the lookout for danger, she smiled upon and spoke gently -to the surly negress, who would not open her lips or respond in any way -to her friendly advances. She was putting up a plucky fight against -loneliness and anxiety. But it was not likely that Zarah should -understand the moral strength which sustained the English girl in the -long, weary days of silence and confinement. It would have suited the -Arabian better to have seen her crying her eyes out, or pacing the floor -in agitation; anything, in fact, rather than sitting quietly reading; so -that she made a quick gesture of impatience, upon which Helen looked up, -shut her book with a snap, and sprang to her feet. - -“Zarah!” she cried. “It’s ages since I’ve seen you. You haven’t been -near me since I was moved from my old place. Have you got rid of the bad -prisoners? I am so tired of being cooped up in here!” - -Zarah sat down on a pile of cushions and lit a cigarette, as an answer to -her difficulties flashed across her mind at Helen’s words. - -“You want to walk? You do not like being a pr-r-isoner-r your-r-self. You -ar-r-e no pr-r-isoner. You must not go acr-r-oss ze plateau, but ozerwise -ze place is all your-r-s.” - -As one could not move out of the place without crossing the plateau, the -all-ness seemed to be limited to the building and a small space behind, -surrounded by towering rocks at which even the goats looked askance. - -Helen knew it, and suddenly changed the subject. She wanted to get leave -to wander about the place as she used to do; she wanted to find the -secret path and to speak to Namlah; she wanted desperately to escape, but -she knew Zarah’s astuteness and had a faint conception of her intense -hatred for herself; so went warily in her demand for a little more -liberty and changed the subject. - -“I wonder what this building was used for?” she said, slowly passing her -finger over a roughly carved stone panel, tracing the outline of a fish, -some kind of a waterfowl and a cross, carved in the centre of a disc in -the fifth century by the Holy Fathers. “The age almost makes me creep, -and I often wonder if the dead fathers come back at night to walk about -their old home.” - -Zarah sprang to her feet in a positive whirlwind of gestures against -spirits. - -“You br-ring ze bad luck upon your-r-self and ze place, Helena. Nozing -comes her-re or-r leaves her-r-e without my per-r-mission.” - -Helen seized the opportunity and crossed quickly to where Zarah stood, -marvelling at her beauty. - -“Zarah,” she said sweetly, “_when_ are you going to find the time to -take me to Hutah. I do so want to get back. Do you know what I’ve been -thinking?” Zarah shook her head as she looked at Helen, raging inwardly -at the English girl’s beauty, especially the golden hair, which, for -coolness sake, hung in two great plaits to her knees. “You come with me -and stay with me on a return visit, and together we will try and find -out what has become of Ralph Trenchard, because I am sure he is alive. I -should know if he wasn’t, I am sure I should.” - -Zarah turned abruptly away, swinging her cloak about her so that her -mouth was hidden. She wanted to laugh, and she wanted to strike the -English girl for the possessive way in which she always spoke of the sick -man, whom she, Zarah, had nursed so assiduously for days and nights; -also could she willingly have killed her on the spot for the almost -irreparable mistake she had caused her to make by lying about her death. - -Helen saw nothing of the girl’s fury; she had bent to pick up a box of -chocolates, whilst the surly negress watched her through the doorway and -inelegantly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. - -“Have a sweet, Zarah,” Helen said gently, offering the box, “and then be -really nice and take me for a walk. I shall die if I don’t get a scramble -amongst the rocks.” - -“Wher-r-e do you want to go?” Zarah asked, as she zealously filled her -mouth with the sweetmeats the surly negress coveted. - -“I do so want to see the spear which was flung at your father, and -then”—Helen laughed so that her request should not be taken too -seriously—“then couldn’t we walk across the wonderful hidden path to the -desert, then walk back? I’ll pin your train up if you’ve got a safety -pin. You _are_ beautiful, Zarah; I can’t think why you haven’t been -married years ago.” - -Zarah whirled round on her like a tiger-cat. In her violent jealousy she -thought the other sneered at her; in her littleness of mind she failed to -catch the ring of honest admiration in the girl’s voice. - -“Mar-r-ried!” she shrilled. “I am going to be mar-r-ried soon, and you -won’t be her-r-e to see the cer-r-emony. Oh, do go away!” She pushed -Helen roughly on one side when she put out her hand in congratulation. -“We Ar-r-rabians do not expand over-r ze idea of mar-r-riage as you -English do.” She walked to the door as she added insolently, “We have no -old maids, and I am younger zan you,” then clapped her hands and called -the surly negress shrilly, angrily. - -“Methinks a whip upon the soles would hasten thy feet,” she cried -furiously, as the woman ran forward and flung herself face downwards. -“Thou three-footed jackal, get up!” She struck the woman in the face -when she opened her mouth, from which no coherent sound came, owing to -her tongue having been split in her youth for misdemeanour, and struck -again, until Helen caught her by the shoulder and flung her on one side, -whereupon the negress fell on her knees, bowed her head to the ground and -kissed the Arabian’s feet. - -“You stop that, Zarah!” - -The words sounded like the crack of a whip as the two beautiful girls -faced each other over the crouching woman. - -“She’s dumb, and I never knew it! It’s awful!” - -“You fool!” replied the Arabian. “Her husband beats her after every meal, -and sometimes between. Get up!” She kicked the woman, who leapt to her -feet and stood shivering with bent head. - -“The white woman has a desire for exercise after her long confinement -owing to the unruliness of the prisoners. Dost hear, thou fool? She -wishes to walk across the path of peril even to the far side. It is -dangerous, and I have tried to prevail against her. One step too far, as -thou knowest, and she passes into the keeping of Allah, the one and only -God. Watch thou and pray to Allah for her safe return.” - -The negress watched them walk slowly along the narrow path until they -were out of sight; then, with all the cunning of her race in her rolling -eyes, and all a child’s glee at its naughtiness, crept back to the room, -and, sidling along the wall, grabbed a handful of French chocolates. If -she had waited one instant longer she might have seen a hidden figure -crawl away between the rocks as silently as a snake. - -Blind Yussuf went quickly amongst the rocks, as at home and as sure of -his footing in his blindness as any goat. He crept through incredibly -small places, swinging himself hand over hand at a height where no person -with vision would have dared to have even moved, arrived at the cleft, -thanks to the short cut, ahead of the girls, dropped like a cat from rock -to rock, then, slipping like a shadow between the boulders, sat down in -the shadow near the thrown spear. - -He listened to the girls’ voices as they made their way down the steep -incline. “‘A mouth that prays, a hand that kills.’” He drew a finger down -the scars upon his face as he quoted the proverb and sat like an image of -Fate as the girls stopped quite close to him at the beginning of the path. - -“It is quite hard, you see,” said Zarah, as she bent and drove her -fingers through a few inches of the wet sand. “It is not quite three of -your yards wide.” - -“But how wonderful!” Helen bent and dug her fingers in, then moved them -along sideways until her whole hand disappeared into soft, wet, warm sand -which pulled it gently. “How dreadful!” Then she laughed. She had found -her way to the secret path and learned its secret. “I tell you what! You -lead the way out, Zarah, then we’ll turn and I’ll tread in our footsteps -and lead you back.” - -Zarah laughed also, suddenly, shrilly. - -The way showed clear. The end was in sight! Upon the return journey she -had but to push Helen gently and all the difficulties arising out of the -accursed lie would be over. - -She made a step and put her sandalled foot upon the path, then turned her -head and stood quite still, her face convulsed with fury. - -Like some great guardian spirit Blind Yussuf stood just behind Helen. - -“It is not wise, O mistress,” he said gently, “to venture upon the -perilous path this night of strong wind. It bloweth from the west unto -the east, so that the wayfarer is like to be blown into the sands of -death. It is not wise, O mistress, and thanks be to Allah that I heard -voices as I passed and followed with great swiftness. Nay, verily it is -not wise.” - -He spoke gently, his great cloak hanging motionless in the still night, -and salaamed to the ground when the Arabian, without a word, beckoned to -the bewildered Helen and swiftly retraced her steps. - -Back in her prison, Helen walked out to the space behind the dwelling to -think over matters as the moon rose over the edge of the mountains. She -looked up when a stone rattled down the side to her feet. - -Upon a ledge to which a goat would have hardly dared to climb sat Yussuf. -He put his fingers to his lips as he looked down at the girl he could -not see but whom he had recognized by her footstep. “_A ti balak_,” he -whispered, then rose and swung himself from rock to rock by the way he -had come, whilst Helen stood looking up until he disappeared, frozen -with fear for his safety; then, more determined than ever, through his -warning, to try and find a means of escape, turned and entered her -dwelling, just as Zarah entered hers and summoned Al-Asad. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - - “_A rose fell to the lot of a monkey._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Zarah and Al-Asad sat in consultation. - -Two beautiful beings in whom cunning stood for brain and nether -millstones for hearts—where others were concerned. - -To enhance her beauty in the eyes of the white man, who looked upon her -but indifferently, the Arabian had worn a transparent _yashmak_, dyed her -finger tips, plastered her person with as many jewels as she could fasten -on to her garments, and walked like a cat on hot bricks or a mannequin -or a Spaniard. In the presence of the Nubian, who loved her with all -the might of his half-savage soul, she sat cross-legged on a pile of -cushions, smoking endless cigarettes, wound in a wrapping of silk, -which she kept in its place by tucking the ends in, and with her bare -feet thrust into heelless slippers. She was far more beautiful in her -simplicity than in her most extravagant apparel, if she had only known -it, and a furnace would have but mildly described the tumult of love -which she aroused in her magnificent slave. - -An hour had passed since she had hastily summoned him on her return from -her meeting with her blind enemy at the beginning of the secret path—an -hour in which they had talked and suggested and yet had failed to find a -way out of the difficulty which had arisen out of her lie. - -“Thinkest thou, O Al-Asad, that the blind one _knew_?” - -“I know not, mistress,” he said slowly. “Perchance ’tis Fate who guides -his feet continually across thy path, or maybe the wind of chance. Yet -can we do nothing.” - -He touched an amulet of good luck at his neck; the Arabian made a circle -in the air with her fingers. - -“May the spirit of my father, who placed the safekeeping of the blind one -in my hands, remain peacefully in Paradise.” - -They got up solemnly, turned from left to right three times, and sat down -again. - -The heathens! - -When _will_ they learn to touch wood or to turn the whole chair or couch -round three times, with themselves, as do their Christian and more -civilized brethren! - -“Thou dost worry overmuch, woman, about this white girl. She is but a fly -to be blown from the rim of thy cup of happiness and good fortune. A word -to thy slave and he pinches the fly between his thumb and finger.” - -He illustrated his words, his splendid teeth flashing as he laughed, then -ducked his handsome head so as to avoid the back-hander dealt him by the -woman he worshipped. - -“Thou fool!” she replied shortly. “Where findest thou the sense to drink -when thou art thirsty or to eat when thou art empty? Have I not told thee -that the white man believes the white woman to be dead, yea, buried in -the sands, as she would verily have been buried this night if the thrice -accursed blind one had not yet again crossed my path. If the white man -who has, through the accursed foolishness of my tongue, been told that -the girl is dead, speaks with one who tells him that she is alive, what -then? Thou dullard! Canst thou not see a glimmer of light? Behold, art -thou blinder than the blind one, thou imbecile offspring of foolish -parents!” She got up and crossed to the door, from which nothing could be -seen but the stars above great walls of rock, whilst the Nubian rose and -followed her noiselessly. - -Standing close to her, girt in his loin cloth, he towered above her. He -bent his head so that the scented curls touched his lips, and gently -stroked the silken wrapper with his slender fingers, whilst his heart -almost broke in the love he had for her. - -He would have starved for her, endured torture for her, died for her; he -was her rightful mate; she was his woman out of all the world; yet she -hankered for the grapes which hung well beyond the reach of her crossbred -hands, and he forgot his manhood in the fear of losing the little—which -was yet so much—she gave him. He worked so hard to gain the barest word -of gratitude; he found such joy in lying across the threshold o’ nights -to keep her safe; he suffered such hell through jealousy; yet in his -loyalty, in his desire to bring her happiness, he had not once thought of -removing the white man from his own path. The white woman, yea, why not? -What difference would one soulless woman more or less make in this world -already overstocked with soulless women? Once she was removed and the -woman of his heart’s desire married to the man she loved—and did Allah -in His wisdom ever know of such a tangle—then he would ride out into the -desert and die, or, better still, become chief of a band with which to -harry the white man when he ventured across the quicksands. - -Primitive reasoning, but not too bad for one who could neither read nor -write, and whose idea of God was a vasty, corporeal deity who offered -sweetmeats with one hand and struck one for taking them with the other. - -He laughed as he spoke, on the spur of his primitive reasoning, and -stroked the soft silk which wrapped his rightful mate. - -“Mistress!” - -At a certain tone in his voice with which she was unacquainted she turned -her head and looked over her shoulder and up at him sideways, so that her -yellow eyes gleamed through half-closed lids, just as gleamed the eyes -of the wellnigh adolescent lion cub watching them from a corner of the -luxurious room. - -“Mistress, it were well if I broke the neck of the white woman within -the hour, and fastening her dead body upon some horse, sent them -floundering into the sands of death. Then will I spread a tale of the -white woman’s betrayal of thy hospitality, and how she stole thy horse -and attempted to escape, so——” - -He laughed as she turned upon him in anger, then bent and looked down -into her beautiful, furious eyes with a look she did not understand, but -which caused her to draw back a pace. - -“Behold, are thy words as bright as a rusty sword and thy reasoning as -sharp as the blunt edge,” she cried. “The white woman has found favour in -the eyes of thy brethren, thou fool! Thinkest thou that when they hear -of her death that their lamentations will not reach to the mountaintops, -yea, and to the ears of the white man, so that he turns upon me in rage? -Behold, are the wits of the deaf boy who waits upon the white man like -two-edged daggers compared to thine, O Al-Asad of the camel head!” - -Al-Asad of the camel head made no sign of the storm caused within him -by the nearness of the woman and her contemptuous words. He stood quite -still, the perfume of her hair in his nostrils, the silk of her garment -in his hands. - -“Thou makest a pond of a raindrop, woman,” he answered. “What are my -brethren but children, pleased to-day at a smile, angered to-morrow at a -word? Make great promise of feasting and fighting, and their love belongs -to the giver of food and promoter of battle; laugh at them, mock them, -make sport of their words and their raiment and their countenance, and -they kill without a word.” - -Zarah put her little hands against his chest and pushed him away, and -looked at him sideways as she crossed to the couch, and looked at him -again when he did not follow, and beckoned him with a backward movement -of the head, which showed him the beauty of her throat as he leant -against the lintel and looked at her, and laughed at the simplicity of -the plan that was formulating in his mind. - -Dying of thirst, he stretched for the cup even if there was but a drop of -water left; starving, he swept the very floor for a crust; destitute, he -demanded the smallest coin as price for the way he had found for removing -the obstacle from the Arabian girl’s path. When she beckoned he crossed -to her and sat down, but not upon the floor at her feet. He sat beside -her, close to her, and looked at her so that she shrank away. - -“Shelter is given to the camel, meat to the dog, water to the horse at -the end of a day of toil,” he said slowly. “What reward will be given -this slave if he removes the cloud from before the sun of his mistress’s -happiness?” - -“Thou! A reward given unto thee?” She could hardly have shown more -astonishment if he had asked for the heaped-up contents of her jewel -safe. “My father gave thee shelter when thou didst flee from the wrath of -those who desired thy life, dates when thy bones pierced thy skin, water -when thou wast wellnigh dead from thirst. A reward? Behold, the whip -across thy mouth will be thy reward for thy daring, thou mongrel!” - -She had worked herself into a rare rage, and flung herself to the far -end of the couch, so that an end of the silken wrapper became untucked; -and she beat upon the cushions with clenched fists, thereby causing the -loosened garment to slip yet lower still, until it exposed the splendid -shoulders, which looked the more bewitching in that they were half draped. - -Alas! that it be so hard a task to drill into the heads of women the -simple truth that, where _décollétage_ is concerned, a hint is far more -potent than a whole hard fact. - -“A reward for thee?” she repeated. “For thee?” - -“Yea, a date, a drop of water....” He paused, then rose and walked to the -door and looked up at the stars and laughed at the thought of the gift -he would pluck from paradise. “Yea, a date for the camel and water for -the horse, but a kiss—one kiss—from thy mouth, which is as a red flower -fashioned in rubies and set with pearls which are thy teeth. Nay, fling -not thyself upon thy slave, for he could break thee with one hand. The -camel works not without reward, the horse dies without water, thy slave -will not reveal his plan without the promise of that which he craves.” - -“But the camel and the horse fulfil their tasks,” said Zarah sweetly, -slowly, baiting her trap, into which the simple barbarian would -ultimately fall. “The reward comes afterwards, O Al-Asad, when the heat -of the day is o’er and the peace of the night falleth apace. Come!” - -She held out her hand and he ran to her, ran as swiftly as a deer, as -noiselessly as the lion watching them out of tawny, half-closed eyes, and -knelt at her feet and encircled her with his arms without touching her -withal. - -“Thou wilt—thou wilt—when my plan is unfolded—my tale is told—thou wilt?” - -Zarah the liar, the hypocrite, the merciless, smiled gently as she looked -down into the handsome face so near her own, nodded her head as she -listened, and pushed away the encircling arms as she rose to her feet and -moved a few steps. - -It was such a simple plan and such an effective plan for getting her out -of her quandary, and the reward was such a simple one to grant—a solitary -kiss, a thing of nothing, a sound, a fleeting second of rapture to him; -yet she vowed in her treacherous heart that no man but the man she loved -should hold her in his arms or other lips than his touch her beautiful, -lying mouth. - -“Yea, verily, ’tis a good plan and easy,” she said, watching him out -of the corner of her eyes. “Thou wilt spread tales of this white -woman’s ingratitude and of her mocking of our sisters, so that the men, -infuriated, fall upon her and kill her, not this night, but upon the -night of feasting.” - -“Yea, mistress, upon the night of feasting, so that the women, occupied -in the task of cooking, know nothing of her death, and knowing nothing, -will say nothing. Mistress,” he ended in a whisper, “is it not a good -plan and simple?” - -Forgetting the Arabian proverb which teaches that “a spark can fire the -whole quarter,” counting upon her power over the man, forgetting also -that he was human even if he were a slave, she laughed mockingly as she -answered: “Verily is it simple, and methinks that the little toil is not -worthy of so great reward!” - -He crossed the room in one bound and swept her, fighting desperately, -into his arm. He crushed her down upon his heart and laughed at her -when she met her teeth in his forearm until the blood ran, and caught -her hands in one of his and held her beautiful head pressed against his -shoulder with his arm and kissed her scented hair; then flung her upon -the divan and, laughing, turned to meet the lion as it sprang. - -He caught it in mid-air, grasping its throat with his left hand, and with -a lightning sideways movement gripped its hind legs just at the joint -with his right. - -The beast’s front paws just reached his chest and tore it with great -claws until the blood streamed; it roared and choked and moaned as, -holding it at arm’s length as it struggled and fought, the gigantic man -bent the head back to meet the feet of the hind legs, which he as slowly -bent over the back to meet the head. - -Zarah stood upon tiptoe, eyes blazing, hands clasped, insult forgotten in -the wonderful feat of strength, of which even she did not think the man -was capable. - -“_Wah! Wah!_” she cried, a very child of the desert, as she watched the -animal fighting for its life. “_Wah! Wah!_” she cried again, clapping her -hands when Al-Asad, the magnificent half-caste, met the lion’s feet and -head with a hardly perceptible effort, and at the little click which was -all that announced the end, flung the carcass at the woman’s feet and -walked towards the door. - -“Al-Asad! Thy wounds!” - -He turned and looked at the beautiful woman who, carried out of herself -by the intoxication of the moment, held out her arms to him, then down at -the mark of her teeth upon his arm. - -“My wound, O woman, is thy seal upon me, which I shall carry to the day -when Allah, the one and only God, shall bid me leave this maze which we -call life. I go to work upon my plan, so that the desire of thy heart is -granted thee.” He paused for one moment with his hand upon the curtain -and took his revenge for all the bitterness of the past. “I have kissed -thy hair, I have held thee upon my heart, I have bruised thee. Go to the -white man an thou wilt; he will find thee marked by another man. I will -have nothing, not even one kiss from thee, until of thy own free will -thou givest it me.” - -He was gone, leaving her staring at the curtain. She laughed, laughed -at the thought of the white man’s love which awaited her, laughed at -the memory of the just fled hour, and raised her hands to call her -body-woman; then turned her head and listened. - -From somewhere outside amongst the rocks came the sound of a man singing. - -Over and over again he sang the Arabian proverb mockingly, sweetly. - -“‘They wooed her and she resisted; they left her, and she fell in love.’” - -Over and over again the Nubian sang the words in his golden tenor voice -as he made his way to the men’s quarters. - -Then she clapped her hands sharply, threw herself on the couch, and -sought for the photograph of Ralph Trenchard, which she wore upon her -heart in Helen Raynor’s golden locket. - - * * * * * - - “_The fire of more than one war has been kindled by a single - word._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -The firelight shone on Al-Asad as he stood in the centre of an admiring -circle. His bronzed skin glistened and his perfect teeth flashed and the -blood upon his chest showed dark as he moved lightly upon his feet in -describing the fight with the lion. - -He had got the men interested and pleased and curious, and it would -require but a very slight effort to get them angry. - -Their splendid teeth flashed as they laughed and shouted encouragement, -and their shadows danced as they answered the Nubian’s every movement. -They stretched out their hands and brought them slowly together, and bent -this way and that way as they breathed heavily, in unconscious imitation -of the half-caste, as is the way of the Oriental when deeply interested -in a story. - -“_Wah! Wah!_” they yelled. “What then? What then?” - -They shouted with laughter, gleefully, joyously, and exchanged remarks -which were better left unprinted, when a youth ran forward and touched -Al-Asad’s arm. - -“Now, O brother, tell us the tale of the tiger-cat. The lion is dead; -didst thou perchance also draw the tiger-cat’s teeth and claws, _after_ -they had mauled thy flesh?” - -The youth wrapped his great cloak tight about himself and, copying -Zarah’s walk, strolled back to his place, where he stood looking over -his shoulder at the Nubian from half-closed eyes. The men roared with -laughter and yelled encouragement and suggestion until the mountains -echoed and re-echoed to the sound. - -Al-Asad took advantage of the opening. - -He sprang at the youth, caught him, tightly wrapped in the great white -cloak, held him easily above his head in spite of his struggles, then, -still holding him horizontally, swung him round and round, with much the -same movement as one uses in swinging clubs, plumped him on his feet, -shook him like a rat, and flung him like a sack of _durra_ back to his -place, whilst the men roared with delight. - -“I break thy neck, O brother, and the neck of any who dares to make mock -of Zarah the Beautiful. She is a woman, but is she not the child of our -dead chief? Did she not give us shelter when we fled from the wrath of -the pursuers? Food when our bones wellnigh pierced the skin? Water when -we thirsted? Then....” - -“’Tis well said, O Lionheart, verily is thy speech of gold....” - -“Does she not reward us when the toil is done?” continued Al-Asad, taking -no notice of the unseemly interruption. “When the heat of the day is -o’er and the peace of the night falleth apace.” He glanced down at the -mark upon his arm, well pleased at the effect his flowing, if borrowed, -rhetoric was having upon his unsuspecting audience. “Shall we not be -grateful? Shall we not show her our gratitude? Shall we not—shall we not -help her against her enemies—even as she helped us in our need?” - -He had the men in the hollow of his hand. - -Their knives flashed as they leapt to their feet, their voices sounded -like thunder as they shouted in execration, cursed in volume, and -clamoured to be led against the foe. - -Al-Asad gave them no time to collect their senses scattered by their -desire for battle, murder and revenge. He hit whilst their wrath was at -white heat, raining blows upon their pride and ultrasensitiveness. He -seized the white cloak from the one nearest and wrapped it about him, and -cleared a space by the strength of his good right arm. - -“Her enemy, my brethren, and thine, is a woman, nay! give ear for a -while. Our mistress, with a desire to help her white prisoner—yea! -even she—sat with her anon, whilst I sat without the curtain, unseen -by either of them. Before Allah, they were as night and day, sun and -moon, in their beauty. Yea! and I will see that thou speakest not again -in this life, my brother, if thou essayest once more to open thy mouth, -which is as wide and ugly as the storm-swept desert. And, behold! this -is what mine eyes saw and mine ears heard. She mocked, this white -she-devil, mocked the people of the desert, walked like thee, brother, -this wise”—with all the aptitude of the negro, he bowed his legs and -rolled as he walked towards Bowlegs, the finest horseman in the Nejd—“and -sat crosswise upon the cushions and rode like thee, little one”—he -laughed and pointed at a youth who was noted for his ungainly seat upon -horseback—“and made mock of our women as they draw water for her bath -or grind the _durra_ for her bread.” He imitated the surly negress with -the gait of a lame hen, he also gave the quick movements of Namlah the -Ant, then ran and barred the way as the men made a sudden, ugly rush. It -was touch and go if he held them or if they overpowered him and, in one -blinding moment of fury, rushed and killed Helen, thereby rousing the -sleeping women and children and undoing all his cunning work. He laughed, -laughed long and loud, until the place rang, laughed until, suspicious of -being fooled, they hesitated and stopped. - -Then he beckoned them and, squatting upon his haunches, spoke to them in -whispers, thereby imparting a feeling of mystery to the tale he recounted -of Zarah’s lie, which they thoroughly appreciated, and her dilemma, which -they laughed at right heartily. - -But he had reckoned without the love of gambling with which the Eastern -is obsessed. - -The Patriarch, who looked for all the world like Abraham at his most -benevolent, and who was the hardest rider to hounds, or, rather, into -battle, and the most inveterate gambler in Arabia, held up his hand, upon -which the rest of the inveterate gamblers nudged each other with the -_mijan_, the small stick the Bedouin usually carries, and felt for their -counters or dice or whatever they fancied most in games of chance. - -“Thou sayest, O Asad, mighty of muscle and clear of understanding, that -our mistress desires the death of the white woman, so that there shall be -a portion of truth in the tale she has told the white man of the death of -this white woman, who still lives.” - -Al-Asad nodded. He was loth to see his plans go awry, but he would have -been still more loth to lose the chance of an hour’s gambling. - -“_We_ say that for her mocking this white woman shall die this night, -_thou_ sayest she must live until the night of the great feasting -which our mistress prepareth for us, so that in the sounds of singing -and dancing her passing shall be unnoticed by the women, who, were it -otherwise, might prattle about her death. I will play thee for her death! -Choose thou the game.” - -Came a positive roar, which brought Helen upsitting upon her bed, as each -man shouted to his neighbour, and Al-Asad drew from out his loin-cloth -a set of cherished dice, whilst Yussuf drew nearer the fire with his -counters in his hand. - -Logs were thrown on the fires, so that orange, red and yellow flames -shot skywards, against which the infuriated, excited men stood out in -startling relief as they gesticulated and laughed and cursed; bets were -laid against the time of Helen Raynor’s death, and the particular kind of -death she should die for her breaking of the great law of hospitality, -with side bets upon every conceivable trifle which by the wildest stretch -of the most prolific Oriental imagination could be possibly connected -with the case. - -“Thou Yussuf!” shouted Bowlegs, as he walked towards the blind man with -the roll of a sailing ship in the Bay. “My eldest daughter—who is as fair -favoured as an ostrich without feathers—against thy spavined mare that -the white woman dies upon the night of the feast.” - -Yussuf leaned forward so that the firelight shone upon his terrible face -whilst the men gathered about the two, forgetting their own concerns, for -the moment, in the interest they always took in the doings and sayings of -the afflicted man. - -“I prefer the gentle company of my spavined mare, though she be -useless for the chase or the battle, O my brother, but I will lay my -jewel-encrusted _nagileh_ against a handful of dates that the white woman -dies to-night. This woman without compassion, this breaker of the Arab’s -law. I have suffered much, my brethren, but to the death I uphold our -mistress against one who abuses her. For is it not written, ‘A well from -which thou drinkest, throw not a stone in it’?” Yussuf was playing to the -gallery and throwing sand across his brethren’s vision, whilst praying -secretly to Allah the Compassionate and the Merciful to hold the scales -of justice well balanced between the two women. - -The benevolent looking Patriarch, who had more death notches in his -favourite spear than any man in the Peninsula, once more held up his -hand. He stroked his flowing white beard as he looked at Al-Asad, who sat -with no sign of his inner perturbation upon his handsome face, whilst at -the top of his voice Yussuf cursed the white woman in her past, present -and future, as well as in her morals, looks and ancestry. - -“So it has been arranged, O my children,” said the Patriarch, who looked -as though he should have been patting the heads of the third or fourth -generation clustering about his knees instead of gambling on a woman’s -death. “If our brother Al-Asad throws the dice so that three sixes fall -upwards at the same time, then the thrice-accursed woman dies upon the -night of feasting and banqueting. If Fate decrees that I throw these -three figures of the same value at the same time, _kismet_, ’tis the will -of Allah that she dies to-night. Throw, my son!” - -Al-Asad shook the dice between his slender hands and tossed them high -into the air. The men backed as the ivory squares fell amongst them and -made way for the Patriarch and Al-Asad to examine them. - -The Patriarch raised his hands, Al-Asad laughed softly, the men howled in -disappointment. - -The half-caste had thrown three sixes. - -In one brief second the chances of a whole night of gambling, to be -followed by the exhilarating task of putting an offender to death, had -been wiped out, yet by the decision of the dice did those uneducated, -semi-savage, grievously disappointed men abide. - -True, they turned in the direction of the dwelling wherein Helen slept -and fingered their knives, but more from the rancour aroused by her -insult than with any intention of disputing the untoward ending to what -might have been such an enjoyable night. - -The Patriarch looked at them and grieved for their disappointment, as -much as for his own, and walked to a little distance, where he lifted his -benign countenance to the stars as he worked his wits, which in their -cunning could have given points to a monkey; then he turned and spread -wide his arms, looking for all the world as though he had stepped out -of a picture by some old master, and called his sons so that they ran -to him, like the children they really were, in spite of their ferocious -appearance and still more ferocious deeds. - -“Al-Asad the Lion of nimble wit saith that ’twere wise to allow our -mistress to wed this white man—for a space. Allah alone wots of this -power which drives the white to the dark, the fat to the lean, the -well-favoured to the ill-favoured, and which causes more trouble than the -rat in the corn or the viper on the hearth.” - -“And the tiger-cat to meet its teeth in the flesh of the slave,” -shrilled the youth who had been swung like a club, but who had revived -sufficiently to gamble with the best. - -The men, restored to good humour by the promise in the old man’s voice, -shouted with laughter as they aimed friendly blows at the Nubian, who -stood close to the Patriarch’s side. - -“My son!” said the old man as he stroked his beard, which was about his -one possession he would not have staked against fortune. “I will play -thee for the death of the white man. If I throw three sixes he dies this -night, if thou throwest three sixes then he takes Zarah the Gentle as -wife for the length of six moons, after which he dies so that thou mayest -take his place at her side. And may Allah show thee the path through the -maze of love which spreads about thee and her and the white man.” - -Helen, sitting on the edge of her bed, covered her ears with her hands at -the savagery in the shouts of the men, whilst Yussuf strode forward with -his counters in his hand. - -“My spavined mare against a bowl of rice cooked by thy daughter—and -may her cooking be better favoured than is her face—that the white -man—and may his soul be as black in _Jehannam_ as his skin is white on -earth—dieth this dawn in the stead of the thrice accursed white woman,” -he cried, whilst praying secretly and fervently to Allah the Merciful to -strike the Patriarch dead. - -They threw the dice unavailingly till dawn, whilst the elder women, -wakened by the gentle method of applying the foot to their slumbering -persons, rose and made coffee for their lords, half of whom, at the last -throw of the dice, were to find themselves minus coffee beans, daughters, -horses, weapons or _piastres_. - -The sky shone like an opal in the east, the birds sang, the smoke of the -fires in the women’s quarter clung like mist against the mountainside -as Al-Asad shook the dice in his hands and flung them up to the flaming -heavens. - -The men backed as the ivory squares fell amongst them, and made way for -the Patriarch and the Nubian to examine the result. - -The Patriarch raised his hands, Al-Asad laughed, the men shouted with -laughter and smote him friendly-wise, hip and thigh. - -He had thrown three sixes. - -And half an hour later Helen, little recking how near she and the man -she loved had been to death, stood just inside her door, watching the -magnificent sight of the shouting, laughing men as they rode their horses -up the steep incline on their way to a gallop across the desert. - -Her eyes were full of perplexity, her heart beat heavily in an -unaccountable fear, but, determined that the spy should have naught to -tell her mistress, she let drop the curtain and stretched herself upon -her bed. - -Al-Asad ran up the steps to his mistress’s dwelling and entered her room. - -She watched him from under her arm as she lay upon the divan and smiled -at the mastery of the man’s bearing, then looked up at him out of sleepy, -opalescent eyes as he knelt beside her so that his face was on a level -with hers. - -“He is thine, woman. The white man is thine for a space. I, Al-Asad the -slave, have given him unto thee. I have worked well for thee, mistress, I -have worked well for thee!” - -He rose as he spoke and swept her into his arms, and laughed down at her -as she struggled desperately. - -Then he kissed her scented hair, and held her down upon his heart so that -she could not move. - -“I give thee the white man! For a spell! I, thy mate!” - -He crushed her until she lay as still as death in his arms, then flung -her on the cushions and ran out of the dwelling and down the steps to -the stables, where he led out his mare, and, without saddle or bridle or -harness whatever, leapt across her back and rode her, shouting with the -joy of life, up the steep path and out to the desert he loved. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - - “_It is an hour’s poison._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -If Ralph Trenchard had been a guest instead of a prisoner, if he had -been the men’s blood-brother in crime instead of an intruder likely, for -a space, to become their leader by marriage through the love-madness of -the Sheikh’s daughter, more solicitude could not have been shown for his -amusement and welfare in the days which preceded the great feast at which -he was to be tricked or publicly coerced into a betrothal with Zarah. - -As a rider and a shot, he had won the men’s hearts; as a foreigner who -menaced the peace of the community, he stood in hourly danger of his -life, if he had but known it. - -He did not know. - -With his thoughts given entirely to the memory of the girl he loved, -lacking, through her death, the spur necessary to send him hot-foot -back upon the road to civilization, he had unquestioningly accepted the -explanation Zarah had given him of the mistake her men had made, and -which had ended in the disastrous battle, and had set himself to live but -for the passing day. He had longed for adventure, he had found adventure, -and when the novelty passed off and the salt of hunting with cheetahs, -racing across the moonlit desert, pitting his skill with rifle and horse -against the finest riders and shots in the world, lost its savour, then -he would make tracks for his own land, where the fare, if somewhat -lacking in spice, is figuratively and literally less calculated to upset -the digestion. - -Having forgotten the European half of Zarah’s parentage, and lacking -woman’s intuition and keener psychological perception, he put her -almost extravagant hospitality down to friendliness arising out of her -friendship with Helen and her meeting with him in the past, just as he -put the men’s apparent friendliness down to the perfect and world-famed -hospitality of the Arab. He failed to grasp the fact that their intense -interest in the sports arose from an almost savage determination to -beat him, or to notice the ring of triumph in their shouting, or the -bitterness in their eyes when either they triumphed or failed against him. - -He came to look forward to his daily meeting with the men in the company -of their mistress, well content, in his British detestation of all -outward show of feeling, to hide his grievous hurt under a cloak of -seeming indifference. - -It was an adventure, and would end, as all adventure must, if a taste of -salt is to be left on Life’s palate. - -He loathed the luxury of his dwelling, and longed to ask the meaning of -many things, amongst them the cause of the dogs’ hatred for the Arabian -woman and of the empty sockets in the face of the man he encountered so -often on his path, but with whom he had not spoken. - -But believing that his adventure must soon end, and knowing the -Oriental’s dislike of investigation into what concerns him privately, he -asked no questions, in which he showed his wisdom; truth, in an answer -to a straight question, being about as rare in the East as moss in the -desert. He rode and bathed and hunted and ate and slept whilst waiting -for something to fix his departure, ignorant of the fact that Helen, -watched closely day and night, a prey to an overwhelming, secret fear, -bravely endured the discomforts of her restricted life on the far side of -the jutting rock wall he could see from his door. - -He had almost forgotten Zarah’s criminal reputation; had grown accustomed -to her continual presence and well-meant, if tiresome, ministrations. He -thought that the day of sport and night of feasting and dancing had been -arranged to celebrate her union with the handsome Nubian, against whom he -had found himself so often pitted in the sports. - -He turned to look for Al-Asad as he raced at Zarah’s side across the -desert at the head of a hundred men and, carried out of himself at -the magnificent sight, shouted as he rode, taking no more notice than -they did of the extraordinary appearance of the sky to the south-east, -mistaking the distant phenomenon for a part of the sunset, which was -making a blazing, fiery furnace of the sky in the west. - -Zarah and Ralph Trenchard headed fifty men, who, their white cloaks -streaming behind them in the evening breeze, shouted and laughed as they -rode, separated by the Patriarch, Al-Asad and Bowlegs from fifty of their -brethren, who, their white cloaks streaming behind them in the evening -breeze, shouted and laughed as they urged their _hejeen_, or dromedaries, -to their swiftest pace. - -To mix camels and horses in a hunt, or at any other time, is a dire and -foolish and fruitless task, giving rise to pitched battles between the -beasts and broken heads amongst their riders. But Zarah’s men looked -forward to the inevitable fight which decided the question of the horse -or the camel’s precedence over the secret path at the end of a day’s -hunting; it gave them all such a chance of paying off bad debts and old -scores and such an appetite for the meal prepared for them by their -patient, downtrodden womenfolk. - -Al-Asad sang at the top of his golden tenor voice as he guided his -magnificent dromedary from Oman with his feet, and with his spear prodded -the cheetahs, with which they had been hunting, between the bars of the -specially made cage strapped on the back of the dromedary he led. Bowlegs -led another dromedary, upon whose _shedad_ or baggage saddle were piled -the gazelle, ostrich and bunches of kangaroo-rat which constituted the -not particularly good bag for a day’s hunting in the desert. - -The Patriarch, looking as must Moses have looked if he bestrode a camel -in rounding up the trapesing tribes of Israel, rode between the two men, -with whom he conversed as best he could for the laughter and shouts of -the men and the rumblings of the camels. - -He looked at Ralph Trenchard and Zarah as they rode together just ahead -and shook his head. - -“’Tis best for the horse to mate with the mare and the white with the -white,” he said, “for the mule is but a beast of burden, to which is -apportioned a grievous fare of blows, and the half-caste is but a thing -of scorn even to the pure-bred donkey-boy of the cities.” - -Al-Asad stopped his singing and stared towards the west, as Bowlegs made -answer as best he could for the sounds which proceeded from his camel’s -throat and which denoted fear. - -“Yea, oh, father,” he shouted in gasps. “What afflicts this evil beast? -The half-caste is of no account, as we have lately learned through the -death of the great Sheikh Hamed’s first born by his white wife. Methinks -danger threatens, for, behold, this thrice accursed child of sin trembles -as he runs. And the offspring of yon two would have the blood of three -countries in its veins, so ’twere well to fell the tree before it bears -fruit. And may Allah, in His mercy, give me a camel in paradise in the -stead of this bag of shivers I now bestride.” - -Al-Asad shaded his eyes from the glare of the evening sky and pointed -towards the west. - -“What seest thou yonder? A string of ostrich, a fleeing herd of gazelle, -or Yussuf hunting with his dogs?” - -The Patriarch, with eyes like a hawk, looked in the direction and laughed. - -“’Tis Blind Yussuf with ‘His Eyes,’ followed by his dogs. They fly like -the wind towards the mountains. From whence do they come and for what -reason do they fly like the wind?” - -Al-Asad made a trumpet of his hands and sent a call ringing across the -miles of desert sand, upon which Ralph Trenchard, whose horse was in a -sweat of terror, turned and looked at him and in the direction in which -Zarah was also looking. - -Yussuf had evidently heard the call. - -Against the strangely angry-looking sky he stood out in black silhouette, -with a team of dogs racing like the wind at his side, and the dumb youth, -pillion-wise, behind him. - -A strange couple truly, the one with the sight, the other with the -speech, rendering each other service, until, when together, they each -spoke and saw with the other’s vision and tongue. - -They rode together now, and the youth pointed backwards and then -forwards, and they stayed not their flight for a moment; neither did they -try to change their course so as to approach their mistress. - -Al-Asad looked behind to where the youth pointed and gave a shout of -fear, upon which strange sound Zarah and Ralph Trenchard and the entire -body of men looked back and, in a desperate effort, tried to check their -beasts. - -They might as well have tried to stop a runaway engine as horses and -camels fleeing before the dread _simoom_ which advanced slowly behind -them like some great, evil, purple giant or monster of the underworld. - -The _simoom_! - -A column of poisonous gas, twin of the cyclone, with naught in common -with the _sirocco_; a slowly moving column, whipping the air into gusts, -as violent and hot as though blown straight out of the mouth of hell; -a phenomenon peculiar to the tropics’ desert places, falling upon the -desert wayfarer, over him and gone, in the passing of two or three -minutes if he happens to be favoured by the gods, in fifteen if ill-luck -dogs his path. - -A terrible, writhing, twisting scourge of scorching air, with a centre -as calm as a lake under a summer’s sky and as full of poison as a -scandal-monger’s tongue. If the wayfarer should not be mounted upon some -four-footed beast, endowed with such speed and endurance as will carry -him out of its range, then there is only one course left, and that is for -him to lay flat upon the ground, to cover his head, to scrape a hole in -the sand into which to bury his face, and to hang on to his breath and -commend his spirit to his Maker, until the fell monster has passed over -him and proceeded upon its death-dealing way. - -Zarah was not a leader of men, or the mother of her children, or a child -of the desert for nothing. - -She turned and raised her right hand, and smiled at her men when they -shouted and closed in a ring about her, the horses on her right, the -camels on her left, whilst Al-Asad urged his dromedary to her side -and caught her mare’s halter, so that she rode between him and Ralph -Trenchard. - -“It’s almost certain death,” she shouted to Ralph Trenchard as he pressed -his horse against her mare as they tore like the wind in the direction of -the mountains they could not even see. “Almost certain death if we cannot -outride it. The horses are——” She gave a sharp cry as a great puff of -scorching wind blew over them, then shouted to Al-Asad. - -“Those on horses are to follow me, twenty yards ahead; they are to turn -with me and ride back on the camels to stop their flight. When they meet -they are to fling their cloaks over the camels’ heads. The camels are to -be got to their knees; those who ride horses are to dismount and to let -them go.” She was magnificent in her courage and beautiful in her seeming -solicitude for her men, whereas, if only the truth had been known, she -was merely revelling in the fight against almost overwhelming odds. - -She turned to Ralph Trenchard and held out her hand as she swept forward -at the head of the fifty horsemen, who rode with their knees, holding -their cloaks in their hands. - -“Turn!” she cried, though her words were drowned in the thunder of the -gallop and the moaning of the wind, which blew like a furnace from the -purple cloud close upon their heels. “Fight them back, fight them. Follow -me!” - -The terrified horses were turned almost in a line and, headed by Zarah, -with Ralph Trenchard and Al-Asad on either side, charged the camels. - -The impact was terrific. - -The two lines of huge beasts met with a crash, which sounded to Ralph -Trenchard like the splitting of rocks, as the fifty horsemen fought the -camels back and to a standstill, flinging their cloaks over their heads. - -“Dismount!” shouted Zarah, as she rode from end to end, whilst, swaying -and bending, the column of poison gas crept slowly across the sands. “Let -the horses go! Get the camels down! Dismount for your lives!” - -She swung from the saddle and fought her way amongst the seething beasts -to where Ralph Trenchard helped to force the camels down by kicks and -blows upon the knees. - -“Thy heavy boot,” she gasped; “bring that camel down, then lie beside it, -and—and——” - -She swayed and choked as a blast of poisonous wind blew right across -them, then staggered closer to Ralph Trenchard as, choking, gasping, he -brought the camel to the ground with the heel of his heavy riding-boot -upon its knees, and fell. He fell beside Zarah, his arm across her. - -Holding his breath for one perilous moment, he lifted his head and looked -about him. - -The camels lay humped together, their long necks stretched upon the -ground, their muzzles buried in the sands; the men lay alongside, their -heads pushed under the beasts’ heaving flanks, their faces wrapped in -their cloaks and pressed into the sand. Far out in the desert, tails and -manes flying in the scorching wind, the horses fled, close together, as -though pursued by a thousand devils. The sound of their hoofs upon the -sand came faintly, like distant thunder, to be lost in the moaning of -the dread _simoom_ as it advanced slowly, writhing, bending, flinging its -purple draperies heavenward like some gigantic dancer seen in nightmare. - -It was a pillar of horror against the night sky, in front of which fled -life, in the wake of which lay a path of death. - -Then Ralph Trenchard, with heart hammering, blood thundering in his ears, -and brain beating as though it must break the skull, struggled to his -knees. The world, like a molten mass of red-hot lead, seemed to weigh -upon his shoulders; a band of white-hot iron to encircle his chest; a -sponge soaked with boiling water to lay upon his face as he struggled to -get out of his coat. - -He fell forward upon his hands, the sweat pouring down his agonized -face; he raised himself and with a mighty effort pulled his coat off. -The fringe of the air eddies lifted the loose ends of the men’s cloaks -and tore at the coat he grasped between his teeth as he pressed close -to the Arabian girl, who lay motionless on the ground. He laid himself -down close beside her, so close that his cheek touched hers and lifting -her head, with infinite pain spread the coat upon the ground and wrapped -it about her head and his own head, even as the men had wrapped their -cloaks, and held the edges tight as the full weight of the _simoom’s_ -poison-filled centre passed over them. - -Favoured of the gods, they lay for two minutes under the scorching -weight—two minutes in which the camel, driven mad by the cheetahs which -fought with frenzy in their cage upon its back, scrambled to its feet and -fled into the centre of the _simoom_, there to drop dead; a few seconds -in which it seemed to the men that great steamrollers of red-hot steel -passed backwards and forwards over them, as they prayed to Allah the -Merciful, and held their breath for an eternity of time which was counted -in one hundred and twenty ticks of the watch upon the white man’s wrist. - -They lay long after the pillar of horror had passed, incapable of -movement, their heads pressed under the heaving flanks of the camels, -which lay there motionless, and were quite capable of lying there, in -their camel-headed foolishness, until another _simoom_ should overtake -them. - -The desert stretched peacefully under the glittering stars when Al-Asad -stirred, pulled the cloak from about his head and his head from under the -camel’s flank. He stretched his aching limbs and felt his throbbing head, -laughing huskily as he kicked the nearest camel into a consciousness -of life and lifted his nearest unconscious neighbour and propped him -against the camel’s back. He sat for awhile filling his lungs with the -desert air, then rose stiffly and crossed to where Ralph Trenchard and -the Arabian girl lay side by side as still as death. He fingered his -dagger as he looked at the white man, then laughed and shook his head -and removed the coat from about their heads and twined his slender hands -in the woman’s hair, then removed Ralph Trenchard’s arm from about her -shoulders and lifted her up against his heart. - -“Mine!” he said gently, then laughed softly as he looked at the men and -camels lying as though dead, and, with the touch of perversity which -came, perhaps, from the mixing of the blood in his veins, bent and laid -Zarah in Ralph Trenchard’s arms just as he regained his senses and, -struggling to his knees, lifted her out of pure solicitude against his -shoulder. There was nothing, however, to tell her that his arms had been -placed about her simply out of anxiety for her well-being and not in -love, so that when she opened her eyes and looked up into his handsome -face, bent down so near her own, she naturally concluded that the game -was almost won. - -She looked at Al-Asad with eyes devoid of expression, but got to her feet -at the smile in his and sat down upon the camel nearest to her. - -“Kick them, Al-Asad, all of them, men and beasts, to see if there are -any alive,” she said curtly, anxious to be rid of him, and sat and -indifferently watched the efforts of men and camels as they struggled -back to life, and merely nodded at the Nubian when he reported that one -man and two dromedaries would not respond to his drubbing. - -She had fought for her men’s lives when danger threatened, but rather for -the love of gaining a victory over so dire a foe than for any anxiety she -felt for them, and now, thirsty, hungry, alive but uncomfortable, she -did not care one _piastre_ if they or the camels struggled back to life -or remained where they were to die. She wanted to get back to her own -dwelling; she wanted to ride there alone with the white man who had held -her in his arms, at least, so she thought, sheltering her from death; she -frowned as the men swayed drunkenly upon their feet, laughing stupidly as -they staggered amongst the camels. - -“Asad!” she cried sharply, showing how little she understood of the -white man’s character by so shamelessly exposing her want of pity and -consideration for others. “Bring two camels, thine for our guest and yon -for me. Thou canst return with one or two or more of thy brethren upon -one _hejeen_, clustered like bees about a honey-pot if——” - -She stopped and got to her feet and laid her hand on Ralph Trenchard’s -arm. - -“Camels!” she said briefly. - -There was no sound, neither was there anything in the desert to be seen. - -“I think you’re mistaken,” replied Ralph Trenchard. He spoke tersely, -his admiration for the girl’s courage suddenly turned to a great dislike -through her callous behaviour towards the visibly suffering men. “By -Jove! you’re right, though!” - -Headed by Yussuf, with “His Eyes” pillion-wise behind him, fifty men -mounted on camels and leading fifty more camels suddenly appeared out of -the shadows in the far distance. - -Zarah frowned and cursed under her breath at being thwarted in her -intention of riding back to the Sanctuary alone with Ralph Trenchard. - -“Splendid man, Yussuf,” he said, watching the approaching camels. -“Absolutely devoted to you. I suppose he raced home in front of that -poisonous pestilence so as to get you a relay of camels and emergency -rations and remedies. You’re lucky to have anybody like that about you, -don’t you think?” - -Zarah did not answer. She crossed to Al-Asad, thereby giving Yussuf the -opportunity he wanted and Ralph Trenchard the surprise of his life. - -Guided by “His Eyes,” the blind man brought his camel to a halt within a -foot or so of where the white man stood, whilst the fifty brace of camels -deployed in a semicircle behind him. - -He bent down and searched with his hand until he touched Ralph -Trenchard’s shoulder; then he bent lower still. - -“Helena!” he whispered, and pressed his hand down hard as Ralph Trenchard -started. - -“Helena!” he repeated, put his finger to his lips, straightened himself -and rode, with much shouting, towards Zarah, followed by fifty brace of -grunting camels. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - - “_It may be fire; on the morrow it will be ashes._”—ARABIC - PROVERB. - - -From dawn till dusk the day of festival had been passed in brief, -light-hearted excursions into the desert, sports, and those infantile -amusements so dear to the complex Oriental mind, during all of which -Zarah had walked amongst her men with Ralph Trenchard at her side. - -Anticipating the great feast which would be spread for them an hour after -sunset, the men refrained from eating more than a handful of dates, -whilst drinking innumerable cups of black coffee, so that they moved -about restlessly during the day, walking lightly and talking excitedly, -with eyes which shone like polished stones. - -They chased each other like goats over the rocks, wrestled friendly-wise -like boys, inspected the cooking-pots and worried, almost to death, the -patient, downtrodden womenfolk, whose only share of the entertainment -would be the scraps left over from the feast. - -So mercurial became the atmosphere towards sunset that the men roared -with laughter when, laden with a bowl of spicy stew, of which the chief -ingredients were kangaroo-rat and rice, the fourth wife of Bowlegs -slipped on the steps and immersed herself in the succulent mess. They -picked her up and, in all fun, threw her into the river, and stripped -and dived in after her, fighting each other for the privilege of saving -her, before she disappeared into the cavern through which the river -raced. They fought each other light-heartedly. They looked upon Zarah -the Beautiful more in the light of a trust from the dead Sheikh whom -they had loved than their real leader. Superstition and animal magnetism -bound them to her more than anything else, and they saw no harm in her -marrying the white prisoner for a space, so long as there should be -nothing permanent in the union. - -Everything had been arranged for a happy ending to the day. - -After the feast Zarah and her white lover would appear, followed by one -of the many bands of the _Ghowazy-Barameke_, which are formed from a -certain tribe of hereditary prostitutes who wander through city, town and -village and from oasis to oasis. - -Following that diversion, the Patriarch would arise, clothed in new -raiment, to acquaint the white man of the honour which the community -intended to confer upon him, incidentally allowing him to understand -that, if he liked, he could choose death in preference to tying a -tiger-cat to his hearthrug. - -Not that they thought he would for one moment. - -They knew of the long hours the two had spent together far into the -night; of the rides _à deux_ they had taken in the desert at sunrise, -sunset, and in the light o’ the moon; had seen him clasping the girl to -his heart after the passing of the poisonous pestilence only seven days -ago, and, quite naturally, had put their own construction upon it all. - -Who wouldn’t? - -And knowing as much about the Western mind as their mistress, were just -as completely at sea as she. - -Having seen nothing of Helen since the night when Al-Asad had whipped -them into fury with the tales of her ingratitude and mocking, and with -other and more interesting things than her death upon their minds, they -had ceased to think about her; in fact, if it had not been for the hatred -of their womenfolk, which had been roused by the Nubian’s tales of her -mocking of them, some of them would have quite willingly sent her back to -Hutah. They were too well-fed, too secure, for hate or love to endure. -They worried about nothing, yet a certain restlessness and incertitude -caused them to press about Ralph Trenchard when he walked, most -friendly-wise, amongst them this day of festival; to lightly finger his -clothes, to brush against him and to look at him in the strange, unseeing -manner of the Oriental, lost in contemplation. - -So mercurial became the atmosphere after the feasting in the great Hall, -where the men filled the vacuum caused by abstinence with highly spiced -viands and wines forbidden by the Prophet, that it required but a spark -to set their minds ablaze. - -Replete, they lay upon the floor chiding and tormenting the elder and -more ugly of the women, who ran amongst them with braziers and coffee or -with bowls of water for the washing of hands, whilst the younger ones -sped hither-thither in the task of clearing away the _débris_ of the -feast before the advent of the mistress they so sorely dreaded. - -Al-Asad sat cross-legged upon the floor near the steps leading up to the -dais. Nude, save for the loin-cloth, he looked a giant amongst the men -who, barefooted or sandalled, with black or striped kerchief round the -head, lounged in the long shirt, open to the waist and bound about the -middle by the leather thong, universally worn by the Arab. The Patriarch, -wrapped in a cloak which added much to his dignity, sat upon a pile of -cushions near the first of the columns. Blind Yussuf sat upon the floor -against the wall, with “His Eyes” beside him. - -Following upon the blind man’s whisper of Helen’s name one whole long -week ago, the subsequent and strange behaviour of “His Eyes” had given -Ralph Trenchard cause to think. - -The dumb youth would touch him upon the arm to attract his attention, -then touch his face and point insistently at the rock wall behind which -Helen lived, and, illiterate, as are most Arabs, would shake his head -when offered pencil and paper. - -He had tried vainly by sign to acquaint the white man of the white -woman’s presence in the camp, a piece of self-constituted diplomacy which -would have much displeased Yussuf. - -The mercurial atmosphere had affected Ralph Trenchard. - -True, he had not subsisted upon a handful of dates and unlimited cups -of strong coffee throughout the day, but Yussuf’s whispered word, the -youth’s strange pantomime, a certain watchfulness he noticed amongst the -men, and an extraordinary solicitude for his comfort and welfare on the -part of Zarah, had wellnigh brought him to the limit of endurance during -the past week. The novelty had worn off, the salt had lost its savour, -and he had determined, poor, unsuspecting soul, as he waited to make his -way to the great Hall to witness the dancing, to start for Hutah within -the next ten days. - -In one word, everyone was on tenter-hooks this festive eve, and as ready -to fly at each other’s throat as any two wild beasts of the desert. The -rock-pigeons, sparrows, hoopoes and other birds which abounded in this -watered sanctuary in a desert waste rose in clouds at the ringing shouts -of laughter and ribald jokes with which the men greeted Zarah’s herald, -the camp jester, in the misshapen form of a dwarf holding a veritable -tangle of black and white monkeys. Following him came four handsome -youths carrying gigantic circular fans of peacock feathers, and after -them fifteen little maids—who ought to have been abed—with bowls of -perfumed water, which they sprinkled on the floor. - -Then the men sprang to their feet and shouted, until Helen, alone, -desperate from the solitude of the last terrible week, ran to her door, -only to be pushed back, and none too gently, by the surly negress, who -longed inordinately to be with her sisters as they devoured the remains -of the great feast. - -Zarah entered alone, her immense jewel-encrusted train sweeping like -a flood over Yussuf’s feet as he crept stealthily along the wall and -slipped through the door into the night. - -For an instant she stopped so that the men should fully take in the -beautiful picture she made against the flaring orange lining of her train. - -Her limbs showed snow-white through the transparent voluminous trousers, -her body, bare save for the glittering breast-plates and jewelled bands -which held it, shone like ivory, whilst she seemed to tower, even amongst -her men, owing to the mass of black and orange osprey which sprang from -the centre of her jewelled head-dress. - -Fifteen little boys—who too ought to have been abed—spread wide her train -as she walked slowly over the wonderful mosaic floor, with all the grace -of her Andalusian mother, between the rows of shouting men. She stayed -for one moment as she drew level with the Nubian standing like a giant, -and, under the impulse of her innate cruelty, looked at him sweetly from -half-closed eyes. - -He raised his hands to his forehead, so that a mark made by pearly teeth -showed upon his arm, and looked at her from head to foot and smiled as -the crimson swept her face. Then he gathered the full burden of her train -into his arms and followed her up the seven steps and spread it wide as -she sat down in the ivory chair, then knelt and kissed her knees and her -golden-sandalled feet. - -She leant back and watched the thirty children climb on to the stone -stools, upon which had sat the thirty Holy Fathers centuries ago, and -looked down at the hawklike, eager men who watched her, and up to the -star-strewn, vaulted ceiling, from which hung silver lamps which drew -lustre from her jewels and her eyes and the precious stones glittering in -the columns. - -Against the golden background of the Byzantine wall, with the great fans -moving slowly above her head, she was barbaric in her beauty, and not -for one moment did she or the men doubt that the white man had fallen a -victim to her enchantment. - -She rose when Ralph Trenchard stood in the doorway looking across the -hall in bewilderment, and, holding out her hands, descended the steps, -her great glittering train spread out behind her like an enormous fan. -She walked slowly, whilst the men whispered remarks, which were better -left unprinted, the one to the other, and the fifteen mites leapt from -the stools, upon which had stood the prisoners from Damascus, and ran to -lift her train as she turned with her hand in Ralph Trenchard’s. - -He looked at her from head to foot. He gazed at the superb figure, the -jewels, the beautiful face, the crimson-tipped fingers, and, with all the -perversity of the human, was suddenly overwhelmed with a longing for just -one glimpse of the girl he had loved, in her riding kit, with her sweet, -laughing, fair face turned up to the light of the stars. - -“Thank God,” he said to himself as he walked up the steps by the side of -the beautiful Arabian. “Thank heaven this is the end of this awful time, -and I shall soon be riding back along the road I came with her, my Helen.” - -He looked down at the men, to find their eyes fixed upon him, and -wondered vaguely at the feeling of tension that pervaded the place; then -forgot all about it at the sound of a drum outside the great door. - -With great shouting and to the shrilling of reed pipes and the throbbing -of drums the dancers burst through the doorway. They had been enticed -across the desert by the biggest fee they had ever been offered in the -whole of their vagrant life, and had thoroughly enjoyed the blindfolding -and their mysterious entry into the strange camp where they had been so -lavishly entertained. - -Men and women, youths and girls, virile, joyous, burned deep brown by the -sun and the storm, with the knowledge of life in their flashing eyes, the -love of adventure in their hearts and the call of great spaces in their -vagabond blood, they stood quite still for a moment and then moved. - -They danced to the sound of the drum, the shrilling of reed pipes, the -clapping of hands, the beating of bare feet. They danced in groups, in -pairs; one, thin as a lath, supple as a snake, danced by herself, driving -the men wellnigh mad, so that the silver lamps swung to their shouting -until she dropped in a heap at the foot of the dais. They sang as they -danced, until the echoes of the wild Arabian love songs and battle -songs beat against the star-strewn, vaulted ceiling; they laughed and -clapped their hands in joy, and swayed and rocked to a great moaning; -they advanced to the foot of the dais, caring little, in the power of -their ancestry, which stretches back beyond the days of the Pharaohs, for -the imperious woman who sprang from Allah knew where, or the man who, -handsome as he was, came from a foreign land. - -They danced for two hours. Danced to earn their huge fee, to amuse, to -entertain, to end in dancing for the sheer love of it. - -In and out of the columns and amongst the men went their slender bare -feet to the flashing of knives, the clash of cymbals and the call of the -Arabian love songs. They met, they parted, they met again; whilst the -girl as thin as a lath, as supple as a snake, sprang up and stood upon -one spot, moving only from her waist upwards. - -And as suddenly as they had come, as suddenly they departed, to the -rolling of the drums and the reed pipes’ sweet shrilling, whilst some of -the men crossed to the door to watch them descend the steps, and others -got up and moved about, restless under the excitation of the nerves -invariably caused by the _Ghowazy-Barameke_. - -Followed a certain time set apart for the drinking of wines forbidden -by the Prophet, the eating of the sweetmeats and the lighting of -hubble-bubbles and cigarettes. - -“You like it?” said Zarah, so softly, as Ralph Trenchard lit her -cigarette. He bent to catch her words, then drew his great ivory chair -nearer still and leaned towards her as he talked, upon which actions the -men who watched put their own construction. - -“As gentle as the new-born tiger cub,” quoted Bowlegs as he helped -himself in right lordly fashion from the heaped-up tray offered him by -his third wife, who, being childless, filled the post of drudge to the -entire Bowleg family. - -“As placid as the surface of the sands of death,” replied his neighbour -as he looked at Zarah and winked at Bowlegs. “Allah grant we split not -our sides with laughter when the claws of the tiger cub draw blood.” - -“Or when he slips up to his neck in the sands of her displeasure.” - -“What of the white woman? Has aught been prepared for her passing to -Paradise or _Johannam_?” - -By spitting with vigour Bowlegs managed to interrupt the speaker. - -“My heart is loth to send so fair a maid upon so long a journey. All -women are cats, longing to sharpen their claws upon each other. Let us -send her upon the road to Hutah, and so trick the gentle Zarah.” - -“Nay....” - -“Yea....” - -Followed a heated _sotto voce_ discussion, with interludes of gambling -instigated by the Patriarch, who had grown a-weary of his new raiment, in -which he found it difficult to find the dice and counters. The gambling -spread right through the hall; the men were quiet, watching Zarah as she -played every note in the scale of woman’s charm to enthral the man at her -side, whilst he, thinking of Helen, replied mechanically to her questions. - -And Helen, pale, with great shadows round her eyes, sat on her couch -with her hands clasped in a desperate effort to keep herself well under -control. For a week she had not been allowed outside the front of her -building, nor had she seen Zarah or caught a sign of Yussuf amongst the -rocks which towered around the little clearing behind. - -When she had moved to the door or the windows she had met the negress, -who had pushed her back, and none too gently, whilst making sounds of -anger in her throat. Her food had become scanty and badly cooked; her -books had been taken one by one; she had been made to understand that to -bathe in the river, ride, or visit the dogs, which had learned to love -her, was forbidden. - -When the shouts of laughter which greeted the dwarf with his tangle of -monkeys rang through the night air, she jumped from the couch and ran out -into the clearing at the back, whereupon, to her everlasting undoing, the -negress shifted her ungainly person into the direct centre of the doorway -in the front of the building and lost herself in a great disgruntlement, -whilst chewing the fragrant “_kaat_.” - -Helen stopped dead in the middle of the clearing and pressed her hands -upon her mouth. - -Swinging hand over hand, dropping noiselessly from rock to rock, came -Yussuf down the mountainside, with “His Eyes” upon his shoulders. - -Fifteen feet above her they stood, side by side, upon a narrow ledge, -then, after a few whispered words, leapt like panthers and landed like -great cats upon the sand of the clearing. Noiselessly they crossed to -Helen, who stood, speechless, against the wall. In the merest whisper -Yussuf asked her a question and repeated the answer to “His Eyes.” - -There was no sound as the youth crept to the door and peered in, nor -when, with his back to the wall and his dagger between his teeth, he -stole round the room, his eyes fixed on the surly negress lost in her -great disgruntlement. Neither did she make other sound than a little sigh -when, struck by Fate from behind, she fell forward into Eternity with her -mouth full of _kaat_. - -“Quick, Excellency!” said Yussuf, when Helen cried out at the terrible -scene. “There is no time to lose upon sympathy. That stroke of the dagger -did but remove one who was but a little better than a beast and a little -less evil than she who blinded me. Spill not thy heart’s blood for such, -but hasten, in the name of Allah, hasten to the white man, who even now -is in the hands of the she-devil and my brethren, who know not what they -do.” - -“White man! What white man?” - -Helen walked close to Yussuf and stared up into his sightless face. - -“White man!” she whispered, her face ashen through the tumult of her -heart. “What white man? In God’s name, in the name of Allah, tell me! Is -it—is it——” - -Yussuf caught her and shook her as she reeled up against him. - -“Thou art brave, white woman; be not a coward _now_, when thy man waits -for thee, surrounded by those who, inflamed with forbidden wine, will -strike him down for a misplaced word. It is this wise. In the few words -time and Fate allow me——” - -Helen turned to “His Eyes,” who stood beside her, smiling and nodding his -head, whilst the blind man talked. Then she placed her hand in Yussuf’s. - -“ ... rush not in, Excellency,” finished Yussuf as they moved towards -the door. “Listen to the words of the old man with the white hair and -venerable beard. Wait until the thoughts of my brethren are fixed upon -the white man, then—_then_ do as Allah the Merciful bids thee, and may -His blessing rest upon thee and thine throughout all time. I shall be -within the Hall, likewise ‘Mine Eyes,’ when he has well hid the body of -yon slave and has finished the task I have set him.” - -Yussuf’s sandalled feet made no sound, the noise of Helen’s boots upon -the rocks was deadened by the shouting from above as they sped like deer -up the steep, deserted steps to the doorway of the Hall of Judgment. -With finger upon lips Yussuf slipped in unnoticed, leaving Helen in the -shadows, staring across the great chamber to the dais, where sat Zarah, -in all her barbaric loveliness, with Ralph Trenchard beside her. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - - “_Upon every misfortune another misfortune._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -A straight, clear path stretched from her to the man she loved. - -The end of the room near the door was empty, the men having pressed -forward towards the dais so as to watch the white man’s face when the -proposition, which would amount to an order, backed by a threat, should -be made to him. They stood on each side, close together, leaving a path -the width of the dais, their eyes over-bright and their fingers straying -towards the dagger—which the Arab ever carries—in their cummerbunds. - -Zarah sat leaning slightly forward, her face white under the tension of -the moment, her jewelled fingers playing with the crystal knobs of the -ivory chair. She sat in a sea of flaming orange, jewel-encrusted satin, -the fans blowing the ospreys of her head-dress, as they swung the silver -lamps above her head. - -Ralph Trenchard, sensing that something out of the ordinary was afoot, -sat right forward, alert, watchful, his eyes following the movements -of the men as they walked restlessly to and fro, or stood talking with -overmuch gesture. - -He turned once and looked at Zarah, who sat divided from him by the -glistening folds of her train. He looked at her steadily, trying to find -the answer to the riddle of the hour, and caught his breath when she -stretched out her hand and laid it on his and whispered, “I love you.” He -sat staring at her, stunned by the sudden realization of his blindness -and his crass stupidity, then looked down at the Nubian, who, arms -folded, stood looking up at him, a world of hate and mockery in his face. - -The hate in the man’s eyes, the love in the woman’s voice, the sense of -pending danger, the unaccountable expectation in his heart. - -Love, hate? Turmoil, peace? Life, death? - -Which? - -He lifted his head and looked straight across to the doorway. It showed -black, with a background of purple, strewn with stars, and he sighed, -unaccountably disappointed, and watched the benign Patriarch move slowly -forward until he stood in front of the dais. - -As he moved Helen moved forward and hid behind the velvet curtain hanging -to one side of the door, and made another quick movement when the man she -loved unknowingly looked straight at her, then stood quite still when -Yussuf, without turning, raised his hand. - -The Patriarch had begun to speak. - -He bowed himself to the ground before Zarah, then stood upright, -reminding Ralph Trenchard of a picture of Elijah he had loved to look -at in the family Bible on account of the ravens with loaves of bread -in their beaks, little recking in his baby understanding that the word -raven stood for a certain village, or tribe of people, in the holy one’s -environs. - -The Patriarch’s fine voice and sonorous words rang through the building, -causing the men to press closer still, and the Nubian to look up at -Zarah. She looked down at him with a mocking smile, and then at the -venerable old man, and lastly at Ralph Trenchard, who sat in amazement, -looking from one to the other. - -Happily Helen’s sharp cry was drowned in the Patriarch’s sonorous words -as he offered the Arabian girl’s hand in marriage, with her wealth in -cash, jewels, horses, camel and cattle, to the Englishman; happily -everyone was too enthralled at the sight of the Englishman’s amazed face -to look back to the doorway where she stood, her eyes flashing in a great -anger, her heart beating heavily with fear. - -Ralph Trenchard held up his hand. - -The baying of the dogs from the kennels could be heard in the -silence that fell, whilst the men tugged at each other’s sleeves and -surreptitiously made bets upon his answer to the proposition. - -He repeated the Patriarch’s proposal word for word, then turned to Zarah, -speaking slowly, so that all should understand. - -“Have I understood correctly? Yon old man, who, he says, stands to you in -place of a father, proposes that I—I, an Englishman, a foreigner, should -marry you, an Arabian and a Mohammedan. That I should live here with you -and help you rule these fine men of yours, who could learn nothing from -me. That I should give up my country, for which I fought, my people whom -I love, to become one of a nation whose blood is not my blood, nor ways -my ways. Is that so?” - -Zarah’s hands lay still on the crystal knobs of her ivory chair as she -answered, a dull crimson slowly flushing her face: - -“Verily,” she replied, holding up her hand to ensure silence. “It is -as you say. It is our custom in Arabia, though of a truth it is not -customary for the maid to be present at the bargaining.” - -She laughed suddenly, sweetly, and held out her hands, whilst her words -beat like hammers upon Helen’s brain. “For me, he who stands to me as -father offers you my hand in marriage, with my wealth, my people, my -horses, all I possess, asking naught of you in return. I have the blood -of Europe in my veins, I have learned the customs and the speech of the -white races, even of my mother’s race. I am not ill-favoured, nor too -much wanting in wit. I——” Her voice changed as the song of the summer -breeze might change to the warning of the coming storm. “I wait for your -answer before my men, who desire naught but my happiness and, with mine, -their own.” - -At the veiled threat in the last words Ralph Trenchard turned and looked -at the men, his dominant jaw out-thrust, his mouth a line of steel. - -So this was the meaning of the feasting, the watchfulness, the tension, -the solicitude. - -The horror of it all. - -Love in the place of friendliness, the love of a despotic woman who had -never in her life been denied or thwarted; a veiled threat as lining to -the mantle of hospitality which had been thrown about him; a life-long -captivity, or even death, for his freedom if he stood true to his love -for Helen. - -Captivity! - -He shuddered involuntarily at the thought of some of the prisoners he had -seen working under the lash of the overseer’s whip. - -Death! - -He smiled. - -A few steps across the no man’s land stretching between the now and the -hereafter and he would see Helen waiting for him, her lovely, fair face -alight with the love of all eternity. - -A great silence fell as he rose, followed by a sound like the wind as the -men whispered amongst themselves. - -“A fitting mate for the tiger-cat, a fitting sire for the whelps, if it -were not for his blood.” - -“Yea, verily,” answered Bowlegs. “’Tis a rare beauty in a man and the -stature of a giant.” - -“He and the Lion would be well matched in a fight.” - -Bowlegs would have spat in derision if he had dared. - -“A mouse in the Lion’s maw, brother. I lay thee my shirt of silk to thy -sandals that the Lion would break him in——” - -The whispering stopped when Ralph Trenchard raised his hand, whilst the -Patriarch, by force of habit, searched for the counters in the folds of -his new raiment. - -“The honour you do me is very great, very great. I cannot find words -to thank you. But——” Ralph Trenchard looked down at Zarah, who rose -slowly, a lovely glittering thing full of apprehension and a rising -anger. She looked him straight in the eyes without a word, and at the -relentlessness which shone in hers he subconsciously wondered what kind -of death by torture she would mete out to him in return for his loyalty -to Helen. - -“But——?” - -The word dropped from her lips like the first thunder drop heralding -the coming storm, and Helen, a great light blazing in her eyes, stepped -forward and stopped as Yussuf held her back by a movement of his hand. - -“But,” continued Ralph Trenchard slowly, very slowly, so that every word -could be clearly heard throughout the hall, “the honour, the great honour -I must refuse, because——” - -“Because——?” - -Under the impulse of a great excitement the men moved forward in a body, -then stopped. - -There was not a sound to break the terrible silence, not a movement -except for the jewels which flashed as they rose and fell above the -Arabian girl’s heart and the fans which swung the silver lamps and -stirred the black and orange osprey of her head-dress. - -She stood like a statue of terrible wrath, outraged in her pride before -her men. Like a cobra about to strike she waited motionless to pay back -that insult a hundredfold. - -“Because——?” she repeated. - -“Because,” Ralph Trenchard said slowly, clearly, “because I love the -memory of the white woman who died amongst you, too much to give a -thought of love elsewhere.” - -Helen’s ringing, joyous cry was lost in the men’s shouting and the sharp -sound of their daggers as they whipped them from the sheath, and her -scream of rage was lost in their shouts of laughter when Zarah, lifting -her hand, smote the white man across the mouth. - -Then she ran, oblivious of the roar of amazement, up the clear path which -stretched between her and her lover. - -“Ra!” she cried as she ran, with arms outstretched. “Ra! I’m here! I’m -coming to you, Ra! Come to me!” - -She ran to him as he leapt from the dais; she was in his arms and he had -folded her close and kissed her before Zarah had time to give an order to -the men, who stood motionless with astonishment. - -A moment of utter silence, then the storm broke. - -“Separate them!” - -The order, given to the Nubian, cracked like a whip as Zarah, white with -passion, sank slowly into the ivory chair. - -“Seize the white man!” - -She flung her order to a young Arab whilst the Nubian struggled to wrench -Ralph Trenchard’s arms from about Helen. - -“Drive them in!” - -The young Arab turned the dagger he held in each hand and drove the blunt -handle hard down on to the ribs just above Ralph Trenchard’s waist, and -jerked him roughly back when his arms slackened under the shock and -agonizing pain. - -There was a moment’s breathless silence. - -Helen stood perfectly still, her elbows held from behind by Al-Asad, her -face, radiant with love, turned towards Ralph Trenchard, who sickened at -the sight of the Nubian’s glistening skin so near the girl he adored. He -knew that they were in a desperate plight, the tightest corner any two -could have got into, but he was not giving the Arabian the satisfaction -of seeing a sign of his dismay in his face, and he worshipped Helen for -her outward calm, though his whole being revolted at the Nubian’s close -proximity to her. - -He knew he had only to make a certain movement to fling off the man who -held his elbows from behind, but before he made it he wanted to find a -way to make the half-caste loosen his hold of Helen. - -And the way came to him as he looked at Al-Asad, who stood staring down -at Helen’s golden hair with an indescribable look on his face. - -“You, Al-Asad,” he said slowly, pronouncing each word so that it sounded -clearly in the hall, “you nigger, let go of the white woman. In our -country we do not allow the black——” - -He rid himself with a lightning movement from the hands which held him -and sprang and caught the Nubian, who, hurling Helen back against the -dais, leapt at the man who had so direly insulted him. - -There came one tremendous yell as the men rushed to form a ring, then -a very babel of voices as they laid their last _qamis_ and their last -_piastre_ upon the outcome of the struggle between the two men who stood -locked in a mighty grip. - -“My shirt of silk to thy sandals,” yelled Bowlegs, “that the foreigner is -crushed like a mouse in the Lion’s maw.” - -“Taken, O thou little one with legs like the full moon,” yelled his -neighbour, who had learnt a thing or two in the fine art of wrestling -when he had fought so magnificently for the whites. “The white man will -use our brother as a cloth with which to wipe the marks of thy misshapen -feet from the ground. Bulk counts not against knowledge.” - -Bowlegs spat as he glanced at Ralph Trenchard, who, trained to a hair, -stood well over six feet, yet looked like a stripling beside the gigantic -Nubian, who overtopped him by inches. - -The men’s attention was diverted for one moment when Helen ran up the -steps of the dais, and they held their breath in sheer delight when the -Arabian rose from her chair to confront her. - -The two girls were about the same height, both of an amazing beauty, and -they both loved the same man, who was likely to have his neck broken -within the next few minutes. - -What more could they desire as an evening’s entertainment? - -“Will you take a bet, Zarah?” - -The lamps seemed likely to spill their oil as they swung to the men’s -shouting. - -“Take it! Take it!” they yelled. “Take it, Zarah the Beautiful. Let it -not be said that an infidel could show thee a path.” - -“The stakes?” - -“Ralph Trenchard’s life against my locket, which hangs around your neck!” - -“They are both mine!” - -“The locket is _mine_, his life is _God’s_, in your keeping for a little -while.” - -“You, Helen R-r-aynor, you sign his death warrant? He cannot win against -my slave!” - -“Will you take the bet?” - -The Arabian unfastened the chain and, laughing, flung the locket at -Helen’s feet as the two men moved. - -The Nubian put forth all the strength of his mighty muscle. Ralph -Trenchard, one of the finest exponents of jiu-jitsu to be found anywhere, -took advantage of the movement to slip his hand an inch or two, and to -move his foot an inch or so. For a second he stood quite still, then, as -the Nubian moved, with a movement too quick and too fine to be described, -lifted the gigantic man and flung him so that he struck his head against -the dais and lay still at his mistress’s feet. - -In the uproar which followed Helen was down the steps like a bird, and, -laughing happily in her complete misunderstanding of the Oriental mind, -was in her lover’s arms. - -“His life!” she cried, looking over her shoulder towards Zarah. “His -life! I’ve won! I’ve won!” then flung her arms round him and held him -close at sight of the fury in the Arabian’s face, whilst the men pressed -upon them, their hands outstretched, waiting for the order which they -knew must come. - -“Separate them!” - -Helen’s hair came down about her like a mantle as hands, only too -willing, dragged her away from the man she loved, and Ralph’s silk shirt -ripped to the waist as he fought desperately for her until overpowered by -numbers. - -Zarah stood half-way down the steps, looking like some great bird with -her train spread out behind her, the ospreys blowing this way and that -above her death white face with its half-shut tawny eyes and crimson -mouth. She stood looking from the one to the other evilly as she planned -a torture for the two which might, in some little way, ease the torture -of her own heart. - -She had given her word to spare the white man’s life, and as it had -been given before some hundred witnesses, her word she had to keep, but -she would make of that life such a hell that the white girl would wish, -before she had finished with both of them, that death had overtaken her -and her lover in the battle. - -In the intense excitement of the moment no notice was taken of Yussuf as -he crept quietly through the doorway from behind the curtain where he had -been sitting, nor of the clamour from the kennels, which a few moments -later rent the peace of the night. - -“Bring them here, both of them, to my feet. Hold them apart! Thou dog! -Who told thee to strike the white man?” Zarah pointed at a pock-marked -youth who had pushed Ralph Trenchard forward by the shoulder in an -exuberance engendered by the uproar so dear to the Arab’s heart. “’Tis -well for thee that it is a day of festival, else would ten strokes of the -whip have been paid thee for thy presumption.” - -The youth shrank back behind a pillar, whilst Zarah looked from one to -another of the men, dominating them all by her unconquerable will and her -magnetic beauty. - -She had but to smile and to speak to them as her beloved children and the -prisoners would be free to go where they pleased; to say one word for the -hall to be emptied; to raise her hand for the prisoners to die on the -spot. - -She was supreme in her command, superb in her beauty, but as she looked -at the English girl she knew she was beaten. - -She could see the love in Ralph Trenchard’s eyes as he looked across at -Helen, who stood smiling, dishevelled, with her golden hair in a cloud -around her over-thin, death-white face; and she knew that in his love -for Helen, the love she herself craved for and had failed to inspire, he -would fight to the death to save her from harm. - -Death! - -Even as the word flashed into her mind, the youth whom Al-Asad had -whirled like a club and shaken like a sack of _durra_ for mimicking his -mistress sprang forward. - -In the Arab’s supreme callousness towards his brother’s feelings he used -the Nubian’s limp body as the first step as he ran up the steps of the -dais and knelt at Zarah’s feet. - -“Her death, mistress!” he shouted, his eyes blazing at the thought of the -white girl’s insult towards his womenfolk. “Behold, she mocks thee and -the women who tend and serve her. She mocks them this wise.” - -He sprang back, landing, with the Arab’s supreme callousness towards his -brother’s feelings, full upon the Nubian’s back, so that, the last ounce -of breath being expelled forcibly from his lungs, he lay limper than -ever. Followed a mimicry of Helen’s supposed mimicry of Namlah the busy -and the surly negress, until the men shouted with laughter and yelled -with appreciation, whilst Zarah looked down without a smile and Helen -looked on in amazement. - -She understood at last, and tried in her indignation to free herself, and -failing, shouted her denial of the untruth. - -“It is a lie! It is a lie! I could not, would not——” - -As the youth spat in her direction, and the men, their pride once more -ablaze at the thought of the insult offered their own women, cursed and -yelled, Ralph Trenchard, with an effort beyond all telling, broke from -his captors and sprang straight at the youth who had spat. - -“You swine! You filthy swine!” he cried, and with a fist like a flail -caught the spitter full on the point, smashing his jaw, whereupon the men -yelled “_Wah! Wah!_” and at a sign from their mistress, shouting with -joy, flung themselves upon Ralph Trenchard and held him fast. - -“Pass not the sentence of death upon him this night, mistress,” suddenly -cried Bowlegs, waddling forward. “He has grievously insulted thee, as -has the white woman, but let him live for a space and under the eyes -of Al-Asad teach us his cunning tricks, for, behold! if ’twere but a -question of muscle even could I pinch his life out ’twixt thumb and -finger. After we have learned the tricks, then——” - -A shout of appreciation followed hot upon his words of wisdom. Helen in -despair fought to free herself so as to protect her lover, whereupon -Zarah looked slowly in her direction. - -“And the woman?” - -“Kill her! Sink her in the sands of death! Give her to the dogs! Drive -her out into the Empty Desert!” - -Zarah shook her head at the suggestions shouted by men who are taught in -their religion that woman is devoid of soul, and therefore to be looked -upon either as a plaything or a drudge, or the potential bearer of sons, -and, in any case, far below the level of the horse at her very best. - -“Death is but a closing of the eyes in sleep.” Zarah translated the line -she had learned at school. “And I would keep her wide-eyed in life, -working as work the women she has mocked.” She caught the horror in Ralph -Trenchard’s eyes as he looked from her to Helen, who stood mute, her -heart aglow at the thought of her lover’s safety for the moment. Lost to -all thought of self, she but half understood Zarah’s words, and looked -questioningly from the men to her and back. - -“Yea! Ralph Tr-r-enchar-r-d!” said Zarah slowly, pouring the balm of -revenge into her smarting wounds. “To work as my servant, to wait upon -me, to serve me, even as thou shalt work under the ruling of that fool, -who would even now be dead if it were not for the thickness of his -skull.” She held up her hand as the men shouted. “Has the white man -aught to say, the man who changes his coat to the wind? The white woman -at dawn, the Arabian at noon, the white woman at dusk, and Allah knows -which in the watches of the night!” - -“You liar! You despicable coward! There isn’t a word of truth in what you -say, you _liar_!” - -Helen’s words, forcible, if somewhat lacking in diplomacy considering her -position, rang through the room, and Yussuf, standing hidden just outside -the door, raised the electric torch he held as a sign to “His Eyes” -standing outside the kennels deserted by the grooms, who, against orders, -had crept to the feast _en bloc_, instead of in shifts. Yussuf, who knew -his brethren backward and looked upon them as children, had planned the -death of the Arabian and the escape of the whites as a _grand finale_ to -the day’s festivities. - -For the last half-hour the dogs, headed by Rādi the bitch, had been -driven to the point of madness by “His Eyes,” who had drawn one of -Zarah’s sandals across the bars of the kennels, inciting them to a very -lust to kill. - -Yussuf had planned everything, but had forgotten to take into -consideration the extraordinary trait in the character of the white races -which urges them to give their life for their brother at the slightest -provocation. He raised his hand to flash the signal, then dropped it to -listen to Ralph Trenchard speaking. - -“There is a proverb in England,” he was saying slowly, so that everyone -should understand, “which says, ‘One man can take a horse to the water, -but ten cannot make him drink.’ You will never make the girl, who will -one day be my wife, wait upon you as a servant, neither will you make me -work under your half-caste lover.” - -Which words were also lacking in diplomacy, taking everything into -consideration. - -A great silence fell. The men thought that Zarah had been rather badly -cornered; she waited out of sheer dramatic instinct. Then she laughed, -laughed until the hall was full of the sweet sound, as she turned and -sank into her chair. - -She had the prisoners in the hollow of her hand, and not one whit of -their punishment would she spare them. - -She put her exquisite, golden-sandalled foot upon the ivory footstool, -and looked at Helen. - -“Loosen the white woman!” - -She spoke curtly, and the men holding Helen sprang back. - -“I would remove my sandals, Helen R-r-aynor-r! Come and loosen them!” - -Helen smiled and shook her head. Torture would not force her to save her -life by humiliating the white races. - -“You will not? Remember you are a prisoner, my prisoner, and that the -power of life and death and punishment is in my hands!” Zarah leant right -forward and looked into the steady blue eyes, whilst the men, knowing -their mistress’s cunning, pressed forward. “You will not, you say?” - -“No! I will not!” - -Zarah sat up, her hand pointing at Ralph Trenchard, her eyes half closed -in the strength of her terrible cruelty. - -“I will make you, and I will make him in like manner if he refuses to -obey.” She paused for a moment, and then spoke sharply. “Take the white -man out, and whip him till he drops. Stop!” - -She had won. - -Yet as she leant back slowly she felt no triumph as she watched Helen -swing round to the man who fought to get free. - -Helen laughed, laughed good humouredly, splendidly, with all the pluck of -her race, as she spoke to the man she was fighting for. - -“Why should I not unfasten the very pretty sandal, Ra? Why should you be -made to suffer, if my very capable fingers can undo the gold laces of -my lady’s footwear? Don’t get angry, Ra, it’s a great waste of energy; -besides, you know I always do exactly as I please.” - -Yussuf listened to the men’s exclamations and laughter, to the sound of -Helen’s feet mounting the steps, then flashed his torch three times. - - * * * * * - - “_The world is a mirror; show thyself in it, and it will - reflect thy image._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -Helen looked over her shoulder at her lover and smiled without a trace of -bitterness, then turned and looked straight into the Arabian’s eyes. - -For a long moment the two girls looked at each other, until, unable to -bear the contempt in the steady blue eyes, the Arabian lowered hers, and -pointed to her sandal, then lifted her head sharply as Helen knelt. - -Pushing Helen to one side, Zarah sprang to her feet and walked quickly -to the top of the steps and stood staring at the doorway, through which -could be seen the star-strewn sky and through which could be heard the -baying of dogs in full cry. - -Her face was white as death, her eyes wide in fear; her hands pressed -down upon her heart as she backed away from the savage sound, until she -stood upon her train, which swept around her like a shell. - -The men stood facing the doorway, whispering to each other. They had -hunted too often with the dogs; they knew every sound of their voices -too well not to know that they were hard on the scent of whatever they -were so strangely hunting at this hour of the night, when they were never -allowed to be at large. - -Bowlegs, who loved the dogs almost as much as he loved his horses, under -a strange excitement which had fallen upon him as well as on the other -men, spoke to Helen, whom he knew to be so beloved of the dogs. - -“They cross the plateau in a pack, hot on the trail, ah! they have lost. -Canst hear Rādi the bitch, the finest in the kennels? They near the -water’s edge! Hearken to the echo thrown by the rock above the cavern! -They have found. Ah! hunt they the devil? Or is’t a pack of _djinns_ -hunting the dead from the quicksands? Tell——” - -A man came running from the doorway, his eyes full of fear, his dagger in -his hand. He ran up to the foot of the dais and stood half turned towards -the door, to which he pointed frantically, and shouted up to Helen. - -“They come, they come, the greyhounds and the dogs of Billi. They mount -the steps; their eyes shine in the dark; they are mad with rage; death -hunts with them——” He turned and looked at Zarah, who stood like a pillar -of stone, wrapped in her train. - -She did not seem to count in this moment of great danger. - -Helen, knowing the dogs’ inexplicable hatred of their mistress, turned -and looked at her, the contempt in her eyes deepening to scorn as she saw -the frozen look of fear in the Arabian’s eyes. - -“The dogs have got out,” she said sharply. “Look! your men are running -before them. Look! Wake up and do something. Order the doors to be shut -or they’ll be in. Quick, Zarah!” - -The Arabian took no notice. Lost in one of the visions which swept down -upon her at times, she was looking into the future. - -She stood stark with terror, her eyes wide and glassy, her crimson lips -drawn back from her teeth, which chattered like gourds rattled by the -wind. She shook from head to foot, and put out her hand and tried to -speak as the dogs suddenly gave tongue. - -She clutched at her throat and pointed to the door, and Helen, who did -not understand, turned away from the picture of abject fear and held -out her arms to her lover, who stood a prisoner in the hands of men who -showed great signs of uneasiness as they looked at their mistress and -then at the door. - -Then Helen stamped her foot and shouted, so that the men who stood near -the door turned towards her, then impeded each other in their haste as -they tried to obey her. - -“Shut the door!” she cried. “Keep them out! Quick! they’re almost at the -top! Shut it! You’re too——” - -Her words were lost in a piercing scream from Zarah as she ran back and -back until she reached the wall. She flung her arms out and fought, -fought the imaginary dogs which in her strange vision she saw leaping -upon her. She fought desperately, a wonderful picture against the -glittering Byzantine wall, fought nothing but her imagination or the -shadows thrown by Fate. Then she screamed and screamed and, covering -herself in her train, crouched down, as the whole pack of greyhounds and -the hunting dogs of Billi tore through the doorway. - -“Ra!” cried Helen. “Ra! come to me! They’re after her. She’ll be torn to -pieces before our eyes, Ra!” - -The men holding Ralph Trenchard backed before the onslaught of the great -dogs; he seized the opportunity and leaped for the steps, gaining the top -just in time. - -“My God!” he cried, as he watched the beautiful creatures tear across the -floor. “If they leap to the top, sweetheart, we’re done; they’re too mad -to recognize us.” He put his arm round her and kissed her on the mouth. -“Darling! we shall win through, never you fear; keep a brave heart, -beloved, and remember that I love you.” - -Helen whispered as she put her hand in his: “And remember that I love you -and that Yussuf is our friend.” - -They had no time for more, the dogs were on them. Ralph Trenchard caught -the splendid bitch and flung her back as she reached the top of the -steps. He caught her again and yet again as she returned to the charge, -meeting her teeth in the younger dogs who tried to outdo her or to pass -her on the steps, whilst the dogs of Billi leapt and leapt and leapt -again to reach the top of the dais, where crouched the woman they hated -so deeply in their canine hearts. - -Yussuf’s “Eyes” had over-reached himself in letting out the entire pack. - -They were jammed too close together to get up the steps or for any single -one to be able to get the necessary run which might have allowed the -strongest to leap to the top. They baulked each other; they fought each -other; they rushed the dais in a wedge and fell back and fought each -other where they fell, until the place seemed a mass of maddened dogs. - -The scent of the woman they hated was strong in their fine noses; she was -there just above their heads, just out of reach of their mighty, snapping -jaws. They rushed the steps when the bitch fell back, exhausted, and -fought the man who held them at the top. He knelt upon the top step and -caught them by the neck and threw them headlong back and down amongst -those who rushed behind; whilst those far back in the middle of the hall -flung themselves upon those in front, which turned and fought them, then -turned again and strove to reach the steps. - -Helen knelt beside her lover ready to help, and the men stood far back -against the wall making bets upon the outcome of it all, watching the -stupendous picture, full of admiration for the white people, who had -tackled the situation without hesitation, whilst the grooms flung -themselves into the seething mass of dogs and fought to dominate them. - -And the dogs far back in the hall, who fought to get forward, flung -themselves on the men against the wall and on the grooms, then, losing -the woman’s scent in the male garments, sat back and howled and barked -and fought each other, until the place was like a corner of hell let -loose. - -Rādi the bitch, in one last effort of revenge, made a sudden rush and -making a spring-board of the Nubian’s body, with a wonderful leap, which -brought shouts of approval from the men, landed on the top of the dais at -Helen’s side. - -With the Arabian’s scent strong in her pointed nose, she rushed to where -she crouched and turned and ripped Helen’s coat as the girl flung -herself sideways and caught her by the neck, calling to her, hanging on -to her with both hands. The bitch recognized the voice she had learned to -obey in love, and turned suddenly and thrust her muzzle into Helen’s neck -and hands, just as the head groom shouted from the body of the hall. - -“Whistle, Excellency,” he shouted. “The madness is past. They obey. -Whistle to them, then with thy hand upon the bitch’s neck, I beseech thee -to lead the way to the kennels.” - -“Yea! Excellency!” yelled the different men from the kennels and the -stables, as they stood holding on to a struggling dog with each hand. -“They will follow thy whistle, loving thee.” - -Helen laughed as she led Rādi to the top step, looking like “Diana of the -Uplands” in a strange setting as the splendid greyhound strained to get -down to her companions. - -She gave a long, low whistle, upon which every dog fought as frenziedly -to get to her in love as they had fought to get to the Arabian in hate. - -“Hold them!” she cried. “I will whistle them back to the kennels.” - -Which words were heard and taken up by a child standing outside in the -shadows, and passed on to the women, who, with a hate in their hearts -even greater than that of the dogs for the Arabian, had crept from their -quarters and half-way up the steps to the Hall of Judgment. - -The hate of these docile creatures for the white girl, planted and -fostered by the men who had been so led astray by Al-Asad, was most -truly to be feared a hundred times more than the instinctive hate of the -dogs for the Arabian. They had done their best to please this foreigner, -cooking for her, mending her clothes, fetching and carrying for her and -waiting upon her; when their men had come back raving of her beauty and -her horsemanship, the meek, downtrodden souls, who had lost their looks -and their figures through hard work and overmuch child-bearing, had said -no word, but when they had heard the tales of the beautiful white girl’s -mimicry of their efforts to please her, then they had vowed to themselves -to be revenged upon her and at the first opportunity. - -The news of the dogs’ escape had reached them. The opportunity had -arrived, and perhaps a double opportunity for revenge, for why should the -dogs not pull both the women down so that they should be quit of their -dreaded mistress and the foreigner. - -When the child passed on Helen’s words they crept swiftly down the steps -and up to the kennels, and hid themselves amongst the rocks to wait just -a little longer. - -“No! don’t come with me, beloved,” Helen said, as she stood on the top of -the dais steps pressed close to her lover’s side, with the dogs leaping -and barking at her feet. “A love such as ours must come right in the end, -and I don’t believe she meant what she said.” - -In which she was mistaken, as she was to learn. - -“Then, until we meet again, dear heart! I don’t like you doing this, -somehow.” - -“She wouldn’t let us be together, Ra! It’s wiser not to make her _really_ -angry!” - -He held her close, and kissed her, and watched her run down the steps -into the middle of the dogs, which nearly knocked her down in their -exuberance; and watched her laughing, calling, whistling, as she ran down -the hall, followed by them all, whilst the men, who were but children -in their wrath and very good-tempered children when left alone, shouted -their admiration. - -She turned at the door, beautiful, radiant, and held out her arms. - -“Ra!” she called. “Ra! beloved!” and disappeared into the night, the -rocks echoing the barking of the dogs. - -The men rushed to the door and out on to the broad ledge to watch the -wonderful picture. - -Down the steps and over the plateau and up the other side to the kennels -she fled like Diana, preceded by the dogs and followed by the kennel -grooms, who called the blessings of Allah upon her as they ran. - -Her voice calling to the dogs came faintly on the soft night breeze; they -heard her whistle; there fell a silence. Then were heard the shrill cries -of many hate-filled women. - -The clamour grew louder and louder and ended in prolonged, insufferable -peals of laughter. - -Silence. - -Sick with horror, Ralph Trenchard took a step down and stopped. - -Al-Asad sat on the bottom step, looking up. - -His handsome face was drawn in pain, his lips pulled back from his -splendid teeth. He sat crouched, still, looking up out of eyes filled -with hate. - -Ralph Trenchard swung round to the woman. She stood against the wall, a -slender, silent figure, love and hate shining from her half-closed eyes. - -He did not hesitate, he leapt clear of the dais to save the girl he loved -from what the insufferable peals of laughter, which echoed in his ears, -portended. - -He had got half-way down the hall, when, upon a sign from the Arabian -woman, hands caught him and held him, whilst a golden sound of laughter -came from Zarah as she stood, a thing of love and hate, against the -glittering Byzantine wall. - - * * * * * - -“Fear not, my children,” whispered Yussuf to “His Eyes” and Namlah the -Busy some time later as they talked over the failure of their plans -within the last few hours. “Even as the pounding of many grains of wheat -goes to the making of bread, so is life learnt in many lessons. Dawn -breaketh. To revenge the loss of thy son, my daughter, thy speech, my -son, and mine eyes, we will bring about the downfall of the accursed -woman. The proverb says ‘Three persons if they unite against a town will -ruin it.’” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - - “_Before the clouds appeared the rain came upon me._”—ARABIC - PROVERB. - - -Two months had passed in which Zarah had absolutely failed to break her -prisoners’ indomitable spirit; two months in which her passion for the -white man and her hate for the white girl had grown deeper and fiercer. - -With the density of some women, she clung with an extraordinary and -ridiculous tenacity to the belief that, if she only threatened or cajoled -enough and held her rival up plainly enough to ridicule or contempt, she -would ultimately win Ralph Trenchard’s love. - -Also did fear urge her to force or cajole him into becoming her husband. - -She knew her own men were blown like cotton threads before every passing -gust of their facile emotions, and that their suddenly aroused hatred of -Ralph Trenchard had given place to genuine admiration; by that she had -come to realize she had no real hold over them and that, where they had -obeyed her father, the Sheikh, through genuine love, they merely obeyed -her because it pleased them so to do. - -She was just their nominal head. She pleased their sense of beauty, and -they almost worshipped her for her courage in raids, but they were too -well fed, too sure of an unfailing supply of the necessities of life, too -secure against intrusion and interference to wish to relieve her of the -reins of government with its attendant burdens. - -If they had formed one of the itinerant groups of Bedouins which have to -literally fight for their existence as they flee across the desert, she -knew they would not have tolerated her for a day. - -True, they made no effort to run counter to her orders and to ameliorate -the white man’s position. They considered the rough hut he lived in on -the far side of the plateau, and the rough food sent him, quite good -enough for any infidel; but they greeted him with friendly shouts when he -arrived to teach them his tricks of cunning, and did their best to beat -him at his own game. - -If it had not been for his overwhelming anxiety for the future and for -Helen, whom he knew, by hearsay, to be a very slave to the tyrannical -Arabian, Ralph Trenchard would not have complained of his life or his -treatment. True, he hated the half-caste, who did his best to humiliate -him in the eyes of the men and, in a moment of forgetfulness in the early -days, had forcibly rebelled against his constant espionage and irritating -presence. He had been instantly cured of the spirit of rebellion by the -sight which, with a mocking laugh, the Nubian had pointed out to him, of -Helen, kneeling by the river surrounded by jeering women, as she washed -the Arabian’s linen. - -“And worse will happen, thou infidel, if thou dar’st disobey my -mistress’s commands. Mohammed the Prophet of Allah decreed in his -understanding that unto the faithful should be four wives given, neither -did he in his wisdom say aught against an infidel wife being of the four. -Nay! in thine eyes I see the lust to kill. The life of the white woman -pays forfeit for my life; thy life if the white woman essays to shorten -the days of Zarah the Beautiful.” - -For fear of something worse than death befalling the beautiful, splendid -girl he loved, he dared do nothing. For every word, for every act of -rebellion on his part, some task even more menial than those she daily -performed would be forced upon her; for any attempt he might make upon -the Nubian’s life, to assuage his own outraged feelings, her life would -be taken. - -And there seemed no possible way out. - -Not only did the Nubian dog his footsteps, but Yussuf, upon whom he had -counted in his heart of hearts, had failed him, and without his help -nothing could be done, no communication with Helen effected, no plans for -escape made. - -He saw Yussuf every day seated amongst the men gathered to learn the -arts of wrestling and jiu-jitsu, and of all the little crowd he seemed -to be the only one who still cherished his hatred for the infidel. He -spat with vigour when the white man passed, and at other times shouted -various abusive or ribald remarks, whilst urging his brethren to down the -unbeliever in the tests of strength and cunning, for the glory of Allah -the one and only God. - -His days were most humiliatingly mapped out for him by the Nubian. - -There seemed to be no satisfying the men’s craving to master the -rudiments of wrestling. - -From two hours after sunrise until the first moment of the great noonday -heat they milled and boxed, with intervals of single-stick and jiu-jitsu, -in which they invariably forgot instructions, lost their self-control and -temper, and almost broke each other’s legs, arms, heads or backs. - -The afternoons were passed in the heavy, unrefreshing sleep induced by -great heat; from the moment the sun slipped down behind the topmost -mountain peaks, throwing deep shadows across the plateau, they were at it -again until the hour of the one big meal of the day, which takes place -about two hours after sunset. - -The best part of the night they passed in gambling, story telling, -singing, or tearing over the desert on horseback, Ralph Trenchard -accompanying them, invariably shadowed by the Nubian. - -To his intense relief, Zarah left him entirely alone for the first month. -Fully aware that he was surrounded by spies, he gave no sign of the -rage which swept him each time he caught sight of Helen following the -Arabian, fanning her or holding an umbrella over her; or descending the -steps to the river with a great earthenware vessel on her shoulder, which -she would fill for the tyrant’s bath and carry up the steep steps to her -dwelling. - -Zarah had passed the month in trying to break Helen’s splendid spirit, -ignorant of the strength which real love gives to those who, either -through physical weakness or untoward circumstances, are at the -mercy of those moral cowards who take advantage of their distress or -defencelessness. Cowards who, amongst the educated and the ignorant, -the clergy, the laity, in the highest profession or in trade, place -themselves morally on the level of the man who kicks his dog or hits his -opponent when he is down. - -She made no impression on the English girl. - -Strong in her love, certain that her prayers for help would be answered, -she endured all things. - -She waited on the Arabian hand and foot, climbed the ladder to the golden -cage, wherein Zarah lay during the _siesta_, with coffee, sherbet, or -whatever she desired, and descended and climbed again with ever the -sweetest smile in her steady, blue eyes. She brushed and combed the red -curls until her arms ached; carried and fetched and read aloud and looked -after the birds; fanned the woman, fetched water from the river for her -bath, washed the silken garments, and waited upon her at meals, without a -murmur on her lips or a shadow in her eyes. - -She spoke to no one, but through the gossiping of the women learned that -the body of the surly negress had not been discovered, and that Zarah, -owing to a certain spirit of insubordination that had lately swept -through the camp, had not dared to punish the grooms of the kennels for -their gross carelessness. - -She was continually surrounded by the women, who, ignorant of the lies -told them, jeered at and laughed at her and did everything in their power -to make her tasks even yet more distasteful. When away from Zarah her -every movement was spied upon and reported. - -She slept in a hut in which tools had been stored during the alterations -to the building, rough and infinitely uncomfortable, but a very haven of -refuge at the end of the day when she returned, to fling herself on her -knees and pray for strength and patience. - -If only she had known it, spies watched her at her prayers, noting the -look of peace which followed quickly upon them, and the content with -which she stretched herself upon the bed composed of rugs flung upon the -sand; watched her asleep and at her toilette, and ran to make report on -all things, especially upon the delight she seemed to take in combing her -masses of beautiful hair and in her bath in the river long before the -dawn. - -And when a rough hand shook Helen out of her sleep and ordered her to -Zarah’s presence, it seemed that God had turned a deaf ear to her prayers -and that fear must, after all, dominate her splendid courage. - -It was long after midnight when, with a heavily beating heart, she -entered the luxurious room. - -Two Abyssinian women, nude save for a short petticoat which stopped -above the knees, stood behind the divan upon which Zarah lay smoking a -_naghileh_. She lay and looked at Helen without a word, hating her for -the ethereal look, which heightened her beauty and had come to her in her -days of toil and privation. - -“I am told,” she said after a while in Arabic, “that the hut you sleep -in is not clean, that your habits are not the cleanly habits of the -Mohammedan, that your hair has not escaped contamination from the -disorder in your hut; therefore——” - -When Helen interrupted her quickly, she looked back at the tittering -black women and laughed. - -“How can you say such a thing! I am perfectly clean, my clothes are -in holes through being washed on the stones, my hair....” To her own -undoing and yet, if she had but known it, as an answer to her prayers -for help, she undid the great golden plaits and shook the rippling mass -out over her shoulders, holding long strands at arm’s length until even -the negresses exclaimed at the glory of its sheen. “My hair is combed and -brushed every day and washed once a week; it is perfectly clean!” - -Zarah laughed as she puffed at her hubble-bubble, inhaling the fumes -of the tobacco of Oman, which is calculated to absolutely stun the -uninitiated in its gunpowder strength. - -“Anyway, I do not like these tales of uncleanliness to be spread amongst -my women, Helen R-r-aynor-r,” she said curtly at last. “I therefore have -decided to keep you beneath my eyes. You will sleep in my room, on a mat, -you will bathe under the supervision of this slave here, who will now cut -your hair off so that you are clean.” - -“I’ll kill her if she touches me!” Helen cried sharply, and, gathering -the glory of her hair round about her, ran to a table upon which lay an -ornamented but most workmanlike dagger. She loved her glorious, naturally -curling hair, looking upon it, with her beautiful teeth, as the greatest -asset with which nature had endowed her. Her lover loved it, and had -often told her that she had ensnared his heart in its golden mesh. -Forgetting her impossible position as prisoner and the utter futility of -any effort at resistance, determined to fight for the glorious mantle -which covered her to her knees, she picked up the dagger as the two -gigantic women approached her. - -“I’ll kill the first one of you who touches me!” - -Zarah laughed and raised her hand. - -“Go and find Al-Asad and bid him bind the white man and bring him here. -_Stop!_” - -Helen had thrown out her hands in surrender. - -Even her hair would she willingly sacrifice in her great love, everything -she would sacrifice except her honour, and that she knew was safe in a -place abounding with deep precipices and paths where the foothold was -precarious. - -Save for her tightly locked hands, she made no sign when the beautiful -mass lay about her feet; in fact, with an almost superhuman effort of -courage, she refrained from touching her shorn head, and leant down -instead and picked up a handful of hair, which looked like a great skein -of golden silk. - -“It’s a pity to waste it, Zarah,” she said gently. “Why not stuff a -pillow with it?” - -The Arabian bit hard on the amber mouthpiece of the _naghileh_. With her -short hair curling round her face, Helen looked like an exquisite girl -of fifteen, defenceless, helpless, and calculated to inspire pity in the -heart of almost any man. - -“Call Namlah!” She lashed the Abyssinian across the thigh when she had -to repeat the order. “Art deaf or bereft of the use of thy limbs, thou -fool!” she screamed, seizing the dagger from her belt and throwing it -after the rapidly retreating negress, missing her shoulder by an inch as -she emulated the speed of the ostrich through the doorway. - -Namlah, upon whom Helen had counted in her heart of hearts, had failed -her, and without her help nothing could be done, no communication with -Ralph effected, no plans for escape made. - -Of all the crowd of women who jeered and laughed at her she seemed to be -the one who cherished the greatest hatred for her. She spat with vigour -when the white girl passed, and at other times shouted various abusive -and ribald remarks, urging the women to see that the unbeliever performed -her menial tasks thoroughly, so as to enhance the glory of Allah the one -and only God. - -She ran in and prostrated herself before her dread mistress, then pulled -the masses of hair roughly from under Helen’s feet and tossed it this way -and that as though it were the hair of goat or camel. - -“A kerchief for thy head, O great mistress, could I weave, or a plaited -girdle set with pearls, though ’twere wellnigh sacrilege for the middle -of the believer to be bound by the hair of the infidel. Behold the -infidel looks even like the skull of one dead, with her face like unbaked -bread and her head like unto the wing of the ostrich plucked of its -feathers.” - -With instructions to make what she could of the silky burden which filled -both her arms, she spat or, rather, for fear of her mistress’s humour, -made the sound of vigorous spitting in Helen’s direction, and vanished -through the doorway. - -Helen lay on the floor that night, her beautiful shorn head resting on -her arm, and poured out her heart in gratitude that Zarah had not seen -fit to shave it completely. - - * * * * * - - “_What is in the cauldron is taken out with the kitchen - spoon._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - “_A thousand raps at the door but no salute or invitation from - within._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -During the night, in the passing of a second, for no apparent reason and -with all the Arab’s lamentable instability, Zarah grew suddenly tired of -baiting her prisoner, and, with the extraordinary density of the woman in -love, decided to make one last endeavour to break down Ralph Trenchard’s -resistance. - -She could not understand, and she would never be able to get it into -a mind narrowed by self-love, that one might as well try to stem the -Niagara Falls with straw or hold a _must_ elephant on a daisy-chain as to -influence the invincible love of soul-mates. - -She decided she would offer Ralph Trenchard Helen’s liberty. She would -offer to give up her mountain home, her freedom, her power. She would -offer herself as his servant, his slave, to cook for him, to wait upon -him, anything to keep him by her side, no matter if he returned her love -or not, as long as he lived near her; and if that failed, as a last -resource would use the despicable lever of the lowest type of coward. - -To gain her end she would threaten to commit suicide. So the night -following the cutting of Helen’s hair, which was also the night preceding -a tournament, in which the men were to show how much they had learned of -the art of pugilism, she attired herself in great splendour and summoned -Ralph Trenchard to her presence. Helen, surrounded by women who gossiped, -knelt at the river edge rubbing silken garments on a stone, with Namlah -mocking and jeering beside her when the Abyssinian, sent to fetch Ralph -Trenchard, shouted her errand as she passed. Helen shrank back when -Namlah suddenly sprang at her and wrenched the silken garment from her -hand. - -“Thou fool!” Namlah shrilled as she knelt. “This wise, and this and this. -The soap? Or hast thou eaten it in thy imbecility?” She leant across -Helen and snatched at the soap, which slid into the water, then rung the -garment as though it were the neck of an offending hen as she whispered: -“Give me a message for the white man. Zarah offers him thy freedom for -his love.” Down came the garment on the stone as though she essayed to -soften the tough carcass of some female Methuselah of the poultry world -as she screamed at the top of her voice: “Wilt thou never learn? Did -Allah in his wisdom not teach thee even how to wash a garment? Take it -and try, lest I smite thee with it!” She flung the silken remnant at -Helen, who, eyes alight, caught it in both hands and crashed it on the -rocks until one half followed the soap into the water, whereupon Namlah -leant across her and gripped her wrists. - -“Fool! This wise, and this and this!” - -The women crowded round to watch Namlah swinging Helen’s arms like -flails. - -“Tell him,” whispered Helen as she beat her best, “that—— Nay, Namlah, -thou tearest out my arms. Behold, I can do no more.” She fell forward -with the woman underneath, and in the confusion whispered her message. -“Tell him I prefer death to my freedom at such a price,” and shrank back, -for the benefit of the onlookers, when Namlah, flinging all that was left -of the washing item in her face, ran off, with much cursing, up the path -to where Yussuf waited in the shadows. - -And hope sprang up in Ralph Trenchard’s heart as he climbed the steps in -answer to Zarah’s summons, followed by the Nubian at some distance. - -Suddenly, and with a most amazing clumsiness, Yussuf walked out from -behind the great boulder straight into his arms. - -“Sorry!” said Trenchard shortly, as he tried to free himself from the -grasp of the infuriated Arab. “You came out so——” - -“Hast no thoughts for others?” shouted Yussuf at the top of his voice. -“Thine ear,” he whispered, whilst he shook Ralph Trenchard violently. -“Zarah will offer thee thy white woman’s freedom for thy love. The white -woman prefers death to freedom without thee. She loves thee. Nay,” he -suddenly yelled, “wouldst push a blind man to his death?” The two seemed -locked in anger as Al-Asad raced up the path. “A message,” he whispered. -“Shake me in anger. Give me a message for thy woman—give me a message.” - -The Nubian was close upon them. - -Trenchard grasped the blind man and shook him. - -“Tell her to stand fast and to fear nothing,” he whispered, then shouted -angrily. “How can I hear thy noiseless feet on the——” He reeled as Yussuf -hurled him backwards and continued to climb the steps, whilst the blind -man filled the night air with curses. - -Zarah was quite alone. - -The Nubian, under orders, sat down upon the steps to await developments. - -He was well content to wait. - -He had gauged the white man’s strength of resistance and had no fear that -he would become entangled in the beautiful Arabian’s wiles. He smiled -as he crept, as noiselessly as a great cat, to the platform before the -door and stretched himself flat upon it, the blackest spot in the black -shadows, to listen to the woman he loved pleading for the love of one who -loved another. - -Lost to all sense of shame as are those women who have not learned the -meaning of self-control and self-sacrifice, Zarah pleaded with Ralph -Trenchard for his continued presence by her side. Pleaded for his company -and his comradeship so that she might enjoy the shadow of his great good -looks and actual presence whilst keeping the substance of his love from -her rival. - -She had made the greatest mistake in her toilette. - -None too over-dressed at the best of times, she had a startlingly -undressed appearance as she stood like a beautiful exotic flower beside -the Englishman. - -She had not—how could she in the name of decency?—discarded a single -garment, but had donned the most transparent outfit in her wardrobe. - -Her feet were bare and jewelled, as were her arms, her hands, her waist. -The trousers, worn by most Arabian women, were voluminous in their -transparent folds, her body shone through a jewelled vest which fitted -her like her skin. - -Trenchard looked at her from head to foot, and with the perverseness of -the human mind immediately thought of the picture Helen had made as she -stood beside her grandfather in the desperate battle; and he backed a -pace before the Arabian’s semi-nudity, whilst the Nubian buried his face -in his arm to stifle his cry of longing. - -“I love thee,” Zarah was saying softly, looking up at the man she loved -with love-filled eyes. “I love thee, R-ralph Tr-r-enchar-r-d. I have -loved thee ever since I lay against thy heart so many, many moons ago. -I will give up my home, my people, I will name Al-Asad as ruler in my -stead, I will follow thee upon the path of thy choice, to the country -that should please thee. I will wait upon thee, serve thee, devote myself -to thee, if thou wilt give up the other woman. I love thee.” - -“I have already told you, Zarah, that I do not love you, could never love -you.” Ralph Trenchard, loathing the scene, spoke curtly, and stepped -back quickly as Zarah flung herself at his feet. “Do get up,” he added -in English, as he tried to loosen her grasp upon his knees. “If only -you knew how we English loathe scenes like this, and what we think of -hysterical, unbalanced people!” - -She sat back on her heels, lifting her hands in supplication. - -“I offer you Helen R-raynor-r’s freedom if you will stay with me. I do -not want to keep her. Let her go back to her own country. She is young; -she will forget; she does not know what love is. Besides, I fear my -slave. He is handsome; he, too, is young; he wishes to take a wife. I -will send Helena safely away from him if you will stay with me.” - -Trenchard showed no sign of the horror of the fate in store for Helen; he -spoke quite calmly, slowly, almost indifferently. - -“You will not gain anything if you hurt Helen. If she dies I die; if you -try to harm her she will find a means of killing herself, and I shall -kill myself. Not because of my love for her—our kind of love is higher -than suicide, it endures—but only so that you shall find no pleasure in -her death.” - -He pulled her hands apart and stepped back as she sprang to her feet. -She failed to understand that, living or dead, she was no more to the -man than one of the birds in its cage, and played what she mistakenly -believed to be her trump card. - -“Then I will kill _myself_, R-r-alph Tr-renchar-r-d.” She choked with -rage, the r’s in the English words rolling like little drums. “And you -will never forget that upon your head will lie the death of a woman, -never be able to wipe out the picture of my broken body lying amongst -the rocks.” She ran close up to him, shaking with the unseemly rage of -the uncontrolled woman. “I go to my death.” She pointed through the -doorway, striking a most dramatic attitude, whilst watching for a sign of -interest in her proceedings in the man’s indifferent face. “To my death!” -she screamed as she saw none, and fled through the doorway, missing the -astounded Nubian by an inch. - -She stopped upon the edge of the very steep incline and listened for the -sound of footsteps hastening to her rescue. At the absence of all sound -she looked over her shoulder, to see Ralph Trenchard, with his back to -her, lighting a cigarette. She tore back into the room with the last -shred of her restraint gone and swung him round by the arm. - -“Oh, you didn’t do it?” He looked her straight in the eyes. “We have -women like you in England, never very young or very pretty, who, verging -upon the sere and yellow, and with nothing to fill their days or occupy -their minds, try to coerce the people they love by threats of suicide. -They never get what they want, either. The slightest chain frets love, -real love, you know. You can’t inspire love just because you keep the -person _you_ love, but who doesn’t love _you_, in the same house with -you. You can’t hold love by cooking or serving. Love, real love, will -thrive on a crust offered by the one loved, but will sicken at the sight -of a basket of sweetmeats offered by anyone else.” He had no intention -of giving her the slightest cause to hope by offering her any sympathy -in her tantrums. He added coldly, cruelly, as he turned from her: “It’s -rather a pity these silly, hysterical women don’t carry out their threat -of suicide; the world would be no loser by their death.” - -He backed before her as she burst into a torrent of reproach which ended -in a storm of abuse. - -“ ... Go!” she screamed at the highest pitch of the Arabian voice, which -is none too sweet in wrath. “To-morrow at the tournament I will decide -what is best to be done with this white woman who is not fit to mingle -with my women and children. Yea, even, owing to her dislike of water have -we cut her hair so that——” - -She screamed and struck at Ralph Trenchard as he caught her by the wrist -and pulled her roughly to him. - -“What did you say? You’ve cut off Helen’s hair? All that wonderful golden -mass! You have dared to do that? Speak, can’t you!” - -He flung her on the divan as she laughed and clapped her hands at the -sight of his horror-stricken face, and laughed again at the plan for -revenge which flashed into her mind. - -“So I have prevailed in making you feel, R-ralph Tr-r-enchar-r-d,” she -shouted after him as he left the room and ran down the steps, followed by -the amazed Nubian. - -She ran to the door and laughed until the mountains echoed and re-echoed -to the sound, then turned and flung herself on the floor, where she gave -way to the violent hysterics of the uncontrolled, jealous woman. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - - “_Tyrannical, cheating, of ill omen._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -The overpowering heat of the day had given place to the lesser heat -of early evening as the sun sank behind the western edge of the -mountain ring. The interior of the ring looked like the inside of some -rough-edged, painted flower-pot, with grey, purple, blue-black foundation -and sides of green and richest reds and browns, melting to saffron, -topaz, amethyst and rose, crowned by great peaks which seemed to flicker -in the terrific heat radiated by the sun-scorched rock. Little golden, -pink and crimson clouds, faintly stirred by the blessed evening breeze, -sailed serenely across a sky of deepest blue which stretched, a gorgeous -canopy, above the heads of the men seated on the ground or up the gentle -incline rising from the plateau. - -Those opposite the steps down which Zarah would have to pass sat with -knees to chin, placidly chewing _kaat_ or smoking red or black _sebel_ -and longer pipes with big, open bowl. - -Those to the north and south of the steps sat sidewise, also contentedly -chewing or smoking, with eyes fixed upon the steep path. - -There was no laughing, no gambling, no betting upon the outcome of -the different sporting items in the tournament for which they had -foregathered. They were strangely quiet, with a certain expectancy in -their eyes and a vast amount of meaning in their expressive gestures as -they commented upon and argued about the tales the Nubian had spread -anent their mistress’s strange behaviour of the night before. - -“_Bism ’allah!_ upon the very edge, with one eye upon the running water -into which the Lion thought she desired to throw herself, and one eye -upon the white man, who, by the wool! is a man of strong heart, even if -he be an infidel.” - -Bowlegs laughed as he stretched his circular limbs and pressed himself -against his neighbour so as to make room for Yussuf as he came towards -them, led by “His Eyes,” down the path made for him through the serried -ranks. - -“Welcome, brother, thou true believer in the shaven crown,” cried the -handsome youth who had been swung like a club, and who had not followed -the precepts of the Prophet to the extent of shaving his head. “Hast -heard that the white woman, who holdeth the heart of the man who loveth -her and who is loved of the beautiful Zarah, and may Allah guide their -footsteps in the crookedness of their paths——” As he spoke he pushed his -way between Bowlegs and Yussuf, and as he looked up into the mutilated -face, touched the blind man gently. “Hast heard that the tiger-cat, in -her rage, has caused the head of the white woman to be shaven so that, if -she were lost in the Robaa-el-Khali, the ostrich might even wish to brood -upon it as her egg?” - -The men shouted in ribald mirth as they bandied jokes, mostly unprintable -in their Oriental flavour. - -“Yea, and shaven after the setting of the sun,” said the Patriarch -bitterly, whilst every man in earshot touched his favourite lucky amulet -or made the finger gesture against ill-luck. “Behold, will Zarah’s -mocking of Fate surely bring catastrophe upon the camp, for what but -misfortune can follow the shaving of a crown after the setting of the -sun?” - -The fine sons of one of the most superstition-ridden races in the world -performed divers tricks to placate the fury of the false god of ill-luck -they had raised up in their minds, then continued in their merriment. - -“Who has seen the shaven head?” - -“No eyes have seen the head, O brother, but mine own eyes have seen -Namlah the Busy, seated like a bee in the heart of a golden flower, -weaving a kerchief from the infidel’s wondrous hair.” - -Bowlegs shouted with laughter. - -“Yea! verily! a kerchief to replace the gentle Zarah’s garments, torn -asunder ’twixt her teeth and fingers in her wrath at the white man’s -coldness.” - -“Or to wipe the tiger-cat’s face, which, wet with tears and hot with -anger, was like an over-ripe fruit of the _doom_ tree, fallen upon the -sand!” - -“Or to remove the dust from her chamber, wrecked like unto a house swept -by the hurricane, with feathers of many fowl, liberated from the burst -cushions, clinging to the silken curtains and her hair.” - -Prodded by Fate, the handsome youth turned and laid his hand on Yussuf’s -arm whilst the men crowded closer yet to listen to their conversation. - -“O brother,” he said laughingly, “thou who hast suffered, thou who even -now dost pass sleepless nights of pain, wilt thou not in thy goodness, to -quieten the agony of the tiger-cat’s gentle heart, give unto her a few -drops of the sweet water prescribed thee by yon old herbalist for sleep?” - -Yussuf smiled as best he could for the distortion of his mouth, as he -searched in his cummerbund and pulled out a flask, filled with the strong -narcotic he took to still the throbbing of his torn nerves when the wind -blew from the north. - -“’Tis overpowerful, little brother. A drop too little and she wakes from -her sleep like a tigress bereft of her cubs; a drop too much and she -wakes not at all.” - -“Twenty drops and what....” - -The voice from behind was stilled suddenly as the men rose quickly and -stood staring up to the platform outside Zarah’s dwelling. - -Zarah stood looking down. - -She stood almost upon the spot from where some years ago she had hurled -her spear at the fighting dogs, and, killing the one intended for a gift -to her father’s guest, had followed the decree of Fate, who had tangled -her life’s thread with those of her white prisoners. - -“Zarah is a very queen of loveliness!” - -“Yea! with hair like the setting sun!” - -The hawk-eyed men with the superb sight of those who live in the clear -atmosphere of great spaces criticized in detail the Arabian’s garments, -which at such a distance would have shown as a white blur to the eyes of -the westerner, accustomed as he is to an horizon bounded by walls and a -sky ever limited by chimney-pots or partially obliterated by smoke or fog. - -“The white man tarries! Would that the Lion were here to tell once again -of the calmness of his face in the storm of yester-night.” - -“Perchance does his heart fail at the thought of the maiden’s shaven -crown.” - -“Likewise does she tarry, fearful perchance of beholding her lover’s eyes -empty of love light.” - -“‘She gave her the vinegar to drink on the wings of flies.’” Yussuf -touched his sad face as he quoted the proverb. “Verily were the words -of wisdom written to describe the refinement of the tortures our thrice -gentle mistress meteth out to her prisoners.” - -There was not a movement, not a whisper from the men when Zarah turned -and lifted her hand, but there came a great cry from hundreds of throats -as Helen appeared in the doorway, followed by the two gigantic Abyssinian -women. - -“Hast seen the shaven crown, brother?” - -The handsome youth turned to Yussuf, who stood with his sightless face -raised to the skies. - -“Nay, blind one,” he replied quietly, all the merriment gone from his -face. “I have seen the white woman. She stands behind the dread Zarah, -her golden hair, even the length of thy longest finger, twining about -her head like a crown of flowers upon a young acacia tree. She is like -an orchard of choice fruit in her beauty. Yea! like an orchard of -pomegranates and peaches, and as the gentle incline of the rocks where -the evening sun kisseth the oranges and apricots and luscious fig. If -it were not that she is of a race of infidels, likewise cursed with a -spirit of mockery and a lack of gratitude, I would e’en woo her in the -shadows of the night and make of her _my_ woman.” He moved forward, drawn -by Helen’s radiant beauty, as she descended the steps fanning Zarah with -a circular, painted fan of dried palm leaves. - -The men stood as though spellbound at the sight of the two beautiful -girls. - -They forgot the tournament, their wrath, their merriment; they stood -speechless, staring, then moved forward in a body as Zarah reached the -bottom step and made a way for her up to where an ebony chair, inlaid -with gold, stood upon a carpet of many colours. - -The expression of Zarah’s sullen face was almost as black as the shadows -spreading half-way up the mountains; her heavy brows were bent above her -strange eyes; her crimson mouth set in a line which boded no good to -those who might thwart her. - -A chance word, an indiscreet gesture, would be spark enough to start the -conflagration, and Fate, close to Helen Raynor, stood ready to fire the -Arabian’s raging jealousy as Ralph Trenchard, followed by the Nubian, -walked slowly from the men’s quarters towards them. - -There was not a sound and scarcely a movement in the vast throng of men -as they stood looking from one to the other of the three who, even in the -desert, made the seemingly inevitable love triangle. And so enthralled -were they, and so oblivious were the three who composed the triangle -to their surroundings, that no notice was taken of the downtrodden, -docile women who, headed by Namlah, and imbued with the spirit of -insubordination which was sweeping the camp, also with a fierce desire -to see the white woman’s shaven head, crept in ones and twos from behind -the rock buttress which hid their quarters from the greater part of the -plateau. - -They stole along the river edge, behind their men, who were too engrossed -in the picture before them even to bet, let alone to notice the doings of -their womenkind. - -They crept up behind the gigantic Abyssinian women who stood behind -Zarah’s chair, and turned and looked at them as a couple of Yemen -buffaloes might turn to inspect an ant heap. - -The radiance of the blazing sky seemed to fill the mountain ring for a -moment as Ralph Trenchard passed down the path made for him by the men, -and stood suddenly clear of them, and exactly opposite Helen as she -fanned the Arabian. - -The mountains echoed Helen’s name as he called to her, holding out his -arms, and her cry of joy as she flung the circular fan with pointed edges -sideways, so that by mischance it caught in the Arabian’s hair, and ran -to her lover. - -The rocks echoed Zarah’s screams of wrath and pain and her sharp order -to the Abyssinians, and the downtrodden women’s screams of hate, as they -swept round the chair headed by Namlah, and cut Helen off. - -Zarah shrieked in agony as the fan pulled her head down to one side, -scratching her face and her shoulder, and beat the arms of the chair and -the Abyssinians’ glistening bodies as they tried their best to relieve -her whilst she fought like a wild cat, with her eyes fixed on the fight -which was taking place in front of her. - -The women were trying to prevent Helen from reaching her lover, and the -men were endeavouring, and none too gently, to push the women on one -side, so that the white man they had come to admire and like might meet -the woman of his heart. They did it for the sport of the thing, and to -assert their authority over their women; also, in their heart of hearts -was there a certain amount of admiration for Helen’s beauty and courage. - -The women who had come to titter and jeer at Helen’s bald head were -consumed with wrath at their disappointment and fought their men tooth -and nail, taking advantage of the scrum to pay off many an old score and -avenge many a lash of the whip or tongue. The men, amused at first, then -astounded, then really angry at this sudden exhibition of women’s rights, -slapped their own particular womenfolk with the flat of their hand, then -smote them smartly with the _mihjan_, and finally shook them violently -until their sleek heads seemed like to leave their shoulders and their -beautiful teeth to break in their chattering. - -Ralph Trenchard stood at the back of the men who slapped and shook and -cursed; Helen stood, looking towards him, towering above the dusky little -women like a young acacia tree in the bush. - -In spite of the peril in which they knew themselves to stand, they -smiled across and called messages to each other, which were lost in the -universal torrents of abuse and vociferous yelling, interspersed with -screams and sounds of slapping and tearing. - -Namlah, wedged on the outer circle of the maelstrom, fought like a fury -to get at Helen, screaming abuse, hurling her fighting sisters from her -path in the excess of her seeming rage, whilst Yussuf, led by “His Eyes,” -rattled his staff on the shins of the gentler sex as he strove to reach -Namlah. - -Bowlegs brought about their meeting. - -Aided by the mighty muscle of his legs, he leapt free of the shrieking -sisterhood high into the air and, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of a -hawk and a field mouse, pounced upon his second and obese wife, whom he -had spied fighting with the best in much torn raiment. - -The tremendous impact from above flung her backwards against Namlah, who -in her turn was flung backwards against Yussuf. - -Proceeded a pretty passage of arms and tongues between these two, during -which the blind man slipped a silver bottle down the front of Namlah’s -torn _qamis_ whilst she belaboured him, and “Yussuf’s Eyes” rained blows -upon his mother’s back. - -“_Aï! aï! aï!_” she wailed, as she rolled the flask in the top part -of her torn petticoat. “Would’st tear the very _tannurah_ from my -limbs, thou wifeless, childless, breaker of the Prophet’s law? Push me -forward—ha! thou would’st push me forward, thou rascal son of mine, even -unto the first line of my fighting sisters. Well, push, push hard, so -that I leave the mark of my nails upon the white girl’s face!” - -Helen turned at the sound of the woman’s voice and raised herself on -tiptoe the better to see, and caught the look in the dusky little woman’s -twinkling eye, which in no wise responded to the wrath of her voice and -gestures. - -“Yea! white woman,” she shrieked, “come nearer to me, or let me come -nearer unto thee, if thou art not afraid. I will show thee what manner of -woman it is thou did’st mimic and mock.” - -“Afraid,” cried Helen, forcing a way through the men. “Afraid! Come to me -and——” - -She reeled back as Namlah flung herself upon her, pushed by her son, who -pulled the blind man after him, whilst the men who were not actually -engaged in taming their shrews surged round them, shouting in delight. - -Namlah landed right on Helen’s chest, to which she clung as a woodpecker -to a tree trunk. - -“Take this! Ten drops this night before she sleeps—then wait in the -shadows,” she whispered; then shrieked: “Ha! thou infidel. I would tear -out thine eyes, I——” - -“Yussuf’s Eyes” suddenly and forcibly pinched the underpart of his -mother’s arm, upon which she yelled, let go her hold on Helen and leapt -at him, then slid meekly to earth and tried to cover her face with her -torn veil, which she spread out to arm’s length as Helen hid the silver -flask in her belt. - -The sun had set, leaving the sky in a tumult of violent colouring, -through which, in a small patch of deepest blue, shone one great star. -Helen looked up to the banners of gold and red and orange, the curtains -of saffron, the trails of rose and wispy bands of grey, then looked -across at Zarah, who walked slowly towards her, blood trickling down her -scratched cheek. Her eyes flamed in her white face, which showed over the -top of the dead black satin cloak she had wrapped round her like a skin; -and Ralph Trenchard, who saw the menace in her sombre eyes and the cruel -twist to her mouth, seized the men nearest him and threw them on one side -as he raced to get to Helen before the Arabian could reach her. - -He was a second too late. - -Even as he touched her one of the gigantic Abyssinian women reached -her and, lifting her like a straw, carried her to where Zarah stood -insolently, contemptuously watching the scene, whilst Yussuf stepped in -front of him and pushed him back as “His Eyes” got tangled up in his feet. - -“For God’s sake get out of my way, you fool!” Trenchard shouted, and -lifted the dumb youth by the neck of his _jubbah_ and dropped him as -Yussuf rushed blindly at him, guided by his voice. - -“To-night, when the dog barks thrice,” he whispered, then shouted: “Harm -not ‘Mine Eyes’ lest I stray from the right path so that——” - -He stopped and turned as Helen’s voice came clearly through the night air. - -“Don’t worry about me, Ra! I’m all right; no one can harm me,” she cried; -then stepped back quickly as Zarah turned on her and, seizing her by the -wrist, pulled her forward. - -Held by Yussuf, who whispered without ceasing, Trenchard stood in the -centre of a semicircle of men and women with the Patriarch at the end -nearest Zarah and Helen, and Namlah, in a most indecorous and dishevelled -state, at the other. - -The two beautiful girls stood exactly opposite the man they loved, with -the gigantic negresses close behind. - -“Move not—have patience until the dog barks thrice to-night—make no -effort to help—all is well—Allah watches over thee and thine in thy -need—nay! make no sign—nothing can be done to her until the morrow.” - -Yussuf whispered without ceasing, whilst, sick to the heart at the menace -in the air, Ralph Trenchard stood waiting, with what patience he could -command. - -Zarah raised her hand and, fully aware of the backing she would get from -the women, began to speak. - -“I am speaking for my children,” she cried, “the children this white -woman has mocked and derided, and for whom she has not had one word of -thanks, not one little feeling of gratitude.” - -“_Na’am, na’am!_” wailed Namlah in full acquiescence. - -“For myself I do not mind that she strikes me until the blood runs, but -my children I will protect!” - -“_Akhkh!_” wailed Namlah, crouching on the ground and beating her breast -with much vigour. - -“And I will punish those who hurt my children. Yea! I will make of _them_ -a sport, a mock. The white man—nay, Al-Asad, come thou to me—the white -man I bear no ill will, for he has worked well among my sons.” She put -her hand upon the Nubian’s arm when he ran across to her, and smiled up -into his handsome face as she shook her head. “I am mistress here; thou -shalt not touch the white man. For the white woman....” She looked at -Helen, who looked at her, then across to Ralph Trenchard, who stood with -Yussuf’s hand upon his arm and “His Eyes” at his feet. “For the white -woman who has derided my children I do now place her amongst them as -their servant, and to humiliate her even as she has humiliated them, do -order the Abyssinian Aswad to shave her head this instant, before us all, -so that she appears not before mankind without——” - -Her words were drowned in the scream which burst uncontrollably from -Helen, and the shout from her lover as he flung himself towards her, only -to be tripped by the dumb youth at his feet. - -“Ra! Ra!” cried Helen, clutching her lovely curls in both hands. “For -God’s sake save me, Ra; don’t let them do it, don’t, don’t——” She turned -and struck the negress across the face as the Abyssinian caught her by -the arm, and struck again and again as Ralph Trenchard tore at the arms -of the youth who clung to him like a leech. Helen made no other sound as -she wrenched herself free from the woman who held her, nor when, filled -with the desire to kill, she flung herself upon Zarah. - -The Arabian stepped back quickly and laughed, laughed until the place -rang with the sound, then flung off her mantle and drove her dagger down -on to Helen’s heart just as the Patriarch sprang and caught her hand. - -Helen turned and ran towards her lover, and struck at Namlah, who -suddenly caught her by the knees and held her, screaming abuse. - -The men and women stood silent, looking from one to the other of the -three principals in the love drama, then turned their attention to the -Patriarch, who by that time was speaking. - -He made a magnificent picture as he imposed his will upon the furious -woman for the welfare of his brethren. - -“In the days of thy father the Sheikh, my daughter,” he said, “no blood -was spilled, no punishment proclaimed, after the setting of the sun. If -thou desirest the death of this woman, then must thou wait until sunrise. -Neither shalt thou bring misfortune upon this camp by shaving a head -after the setting of the sun; that also must thou order to be done after -its rising.” - -“_Wah! wah!_” yelled the men, and smote the women who dared to differ. - -“And for fear of the wrath of these women, who should have the whip laid -across them for their unseemly behaviour, keep thou the white woman in -thy chamber to-night.” - -“Yea!” cried Yussuf, walking forward, led by “His Eyes,” until he stood -exactly opposite the Arabian, who withdrew a pace before his terrible -appearance. “And in the name of thy father, O Zarah, and for fear of -the Nubian’s wrath being vented upon him before the rising of the sun, -I claim the watching of the white man this night. Fear not that he -sleeps over-sweetly in my care.” He turned and spat in Ralph Trenchard’s -direction, then, led by “His Eyes,” strode towards him and seized him by -the arm. “Thou infidel,” he cried savagely, “thou and thy white woman!” - -Zarah raised her hand. - -“The women to the cooking, the men to the eating, the morrow for the -punishment.” She turned and looked at Ralph Trenchard, her eyes filled -with a terrible jealousy. “Look upon thy white woman for the last time, -for, behold! the morrow thou shalt be taken back across the desert by -the road by which thou didst come unto her. She shall work here amongst -my people, with her shaven head for a space, then will I send her to the -slave market, where her white skin will fetch a great price. Get thou up, -Helen R-r-aynor-r!” - -She pointed up the steps. - -Helen turned and held out her arms. - -“Ra! Beloved! I love you!” - -The Arabian struck down her arms as Yussuf pulled Ralph Trenchard back. - -“Come thou with me, thou infidel!” he cried. - -“Get thou up, Helen R-r-aynor-r,” commanded the Arabian. - -The stars blazed in the sky as the women scuttled back to their quarters -and the men talked together. - -“Behold, has my acacia tree no luck!” said the handsome youth. - -“As saith the proverb of those whose luck changeth not,” replied Bowlegs, -as he shook his fist after his retreating, obese and second wife. “‘The -misfortune either falls upon the camel or upon the camel driver or upon -the owner of the camel.’ Ha! wouldst show me what thou hast learned from -the white man?” - -He caught the Arab who had sprung at him in a friendly desire to show his -pugilistic skill, tossed him on one side like a bundle of clothes, and -shouted defiance to the whole camp. - -So that the tournament, if somewhat impromptu and lacking a referee, took -place after all and lasted well into the night. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - - “_At the close of night the cries are heard._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Yussuf, with his back against the door of Ralph Trenchard’s hut, lifted -his face to the star-bestrewn sky. - -He waited. - -He waited for the striking of his hour of revenge, which had been fixed -by Fate in the beginning of Time; he waited imperturbably for Allah, in -His compassion and wisdom, to remove the Nubian, who sat cross-legged and -contemplative and to all appearances absolutely unmovable by his side. - -Al-Asad sat leaning slightly forward, looking into the shadows with -dreamy, half-shut eyes, then turned his head and listened as though, -above the distant noise of the men’s shouting and laughter, some sound -had reached his ears. - -“Camels!” he said softly. “Camels going out. Methought our brothers were -having their fill of wrestling?” - -Yussuf also had heard the sound of a dromedary grunting its disapproval -as it made the steep ascent, but no sign of his inner perturbation showed -on his placid, mutilated face. - -“Zarah the Merciless makes ready for the white man’s journey into the -desert to-morrow. Our brethren of the stables even now revile her shadow, -for instead of loading the dromedaries with water skins and provender, -they would try their strength against Bowlegs, who, in his vanity, swears -by the wind that no man can excel him in the games taught by the white -man.” - -Al-Asad laughed scornfully as he rose to his feet, swallowing the bait -which hung from the line Fate dangled in front of him for his removal. - -“Bowlegs!” He spoke in infinite scorn as he pulled himself up to his full -height, and laughed again as he caused the muscle to ripple up and down -his arms. “’Twere well to show the little man with legs even as round -as thy turban that there _is_ one who can spike him upon his finger. -Thinkest thou, Yussuf, that the white maid will lose her golden covering -at the rising of the sun? ’Twere a pity to my mind to mutilate such -beauty in a woman, even if she be sent to the slave market to ease the -tiger-cat’s jealousy.” - -Yussuf pulled at his hubble-bubble, making no sign of his longing to -accelerate his companion’s departure. - -“Methinks the beautiful Zarah spoke in haste and in anger. Perchance she -is tired of her white playthings and yearns for a master.” - -“Thinkest thou, who hast learned much wisdom in thy blindness, that she -will come to love me?” Al-Asad asked eagerly. - -“Yea! she loves thee even now. Thou art her real mate. The great -tiger-cats mate with one another, my son, and were it not wise to stay -here, for fear that thou art bested by Bowlegs, and that the news of thy -defeat is carried to her.” - -He showed no sign of his intense satisfaction when the Nubian, primed -with a desire to reduce Bowlegs to shreds, ran, laughing, down the path. - -Strong in the fatalism of the East, Yussuf sat on, pulling calmly at his -hubble-bubble, waiting for the striking of his hour, and made no answer -to a slight hissing sound which came from behind the rocks. Instead, he -rose slowly and pushed open the door of the hut, and, with the Oriental’s -love of elaborate detail where intrigue is concerned, shouted at Ralph -Trenchard: - -“Thou infidel, thou white dog, sleepest thou? Hast thou no bowels of -compassion for the white woman? Dost thou leave her here to work as a -slave, without an ache in thy heart of stone?” - -Ralph Trenchard sprang up and crossed the hut quickly at the blind man’s -beckoning finger. - -“‘Mine Eyes’ waits without to lead you by the hidden path to where the -dromedaries stand,” Yussuf whispered. “Nay, speak not, tarry not, there -is little time to spare. The dromedaries must be but specks upon the -horizon when the men cease their games to seek their slumber.” - -Trenchard wrapped himself in the _burnous_ Yussuf offered him and -followed him to the door, where they stood for a moment in the shadows, -listening to the shouts of the men, which came startlingly clear on the -night air. - -“Bowlegs fights with the Lion,” whispered Yussuf. “Now is the moment -chosen by Allah for the escape. ‘Mine Eyes’ will lead you to the -dromedaries, and I will go to fetch her Excellency, to carry her over the -dangerous places and down the steep path to where love and happiness will -await her.” - -“But if the Arabian does not sleep? How then?” - -“Then must you go to her and break her neck to save your own woman. What -is she, this daughter of two races? We tire of her. If she dies he who -will govern in her stead will be chosen by the casting of lots. Hasten, -Excellency, for we know not at what hour the medicine of sleep was -administered unto the tiger-cat. Also do the women, who hate the white -woman and who are the yeast wherewith this trouble has been fermented, -rise early to be about the business of the new day.” - -Trenchard, wrapped in the _burnous_, followed Yussuf as he made his way -without hesitation to the spot where “His Eyes” sat in the shadows. - -Yussuf whispered the dumb youth’s name and questioned him, and nodded -his head in satisfaction when the youth, in the code they had invented, -tapped the answers to the questions upon his friend’s arm. - -“All is ready, Excellency.” Yussuf spoke as calmly as if he discussed -a pleasure trip to the nearest oasis. “Namlah waits at the edge of the -sands of death. The camels are well laden with water and bread for many -days. They are the swiftest in Arabia, renowned from Hadramut to Oman. -Bred in Oman, they will need no drink for ten days if there is none to -spare. Namlah accompanies you, and——” - -“And you, Yussuf? You’re coming with us; we can’t leave you behind to -face the racket. You have _got_ to come. ‘Your Eyes’ can’t let his mother -go without him.” - -Yussuf smiled and shook his head and laid his hand upon the dumb youth’s -shoulder, who also smiled and shook his head. - -“Excellency, not for ten thousand golden _lira_ would I be away from the -camp when the tiger-cat learns of the flight. A piece of news for you, -white man, who comprehends not the guile of this woman of mixed blood. -Did you think she had tired of you? Nay! by the beard she loves you even -a hundred times more for your refusal of her love. She sends you to -Hareek after the rising of the sun, only to follow you and to beguile you -in the solitude of the Red Desert. There is no leech that clings so close -to its victim as a woman to the one she loves but who does not return -that love. There is no trick she will not descend to, no lie she will not -utter, no promise she will not make, with no intent to keep, to gain her -end. This is the commencement of my revenge—the end, Excellency, will be -the death of her who blinded me. I have waited for this revenge these -many years, even from the moment when the sun faded from my sight. I and -‘Mine Eyes’ will follow you, and if we do not overtake you by the noon, -then place yourself in Namlah’s keeping. She is of the desert born.” He -raised his right hand and turned his sightless face to the skies. “May -Allah guide you, and keep you, and bring you to everlasting peace.” - -Trenchard stood for a moment to watch the blind man make his almost -miraculous way through the rocks which skirted the west end of the -plateau, then turned and followed the dumb youth, who smiled and nodded -his head in his delight at the trick which was being played upon the -Arabian. And Namlah rose from where she sat in the shadows thrown by -three dromedaries hobbled at the commencement of the hidden path across -the quicksands, and pressed her hand against her forehead in humble -salutation and smiled up at her son, and laughed softly in the delight -she also felt at the way the beautiful Zarah was being duped. Within the -hour she might have to give her life in her fight for the liberty she -had lost some many years back when captured in the desert, or she might -lose it in saving that of the white woman she had grown to love; but with -all the Oriental’s fatalism, she had resigned herself to liberty or to -recapture, to life or death. Allah had decided the result in the womb of -Time. - -_Kismet!_ - -Yussuf’s Eyes pressed the back of his hand against his forehead, then -bent and touched Ralph Trenchard’s foot as a sign that he was willing -to serve the white man to the end, whilst Namlah, smiling all over her -homely face, translated the gestures the dumb boy made as he tried to -make Trenchard understand. - -“He says, Excellency, that before the sun is above our heads at noon he -will have guided the Blind One to you upon the path we shall have made -across the desert. He loves you for your gentleness and strength, O man -of the great white race, and prays you to succour Yussuf if aught should -befall him before he reaches the great City of Damascus, which is his -home and my home.” - -Trenchard raised his right hand and made his oath after the manner of the -Arabs. - -“Before my God, who is thy God, I swear to make myself responsible for -the comfort, welfare and happiness of the three who have so befriended -me and mine. I swear that my descendants, unto the farthest generation, -shall befriend thy descendants, so that in some small way I shall pay my -debt of gratitude.” He smiled down at the enraptured little woman. “Let -us sit awhile whilst we wait. Come, Namlah, tell me of the life thou wilt -lead in Damascus with thy people.” - -The stillness of the night was broken by the grumbling of the -dromedaries, the distant shouts of the men, and the body-woman’s -whispered words as she told him of the house she would buy or rent in the -Bazaar, with rugs upon the floor and many brass pots and pans of her own, -filled with milk and butter from her own kine. - -“ ... and when her Excellency returns to Arabia, then will Namlah wait -upon her,” she said, smiling at the thought, being sure, with the -fatalist’s conviction, of a happy ending to the flight. “Then will her -golden hair once more glisten like the silk in the sun which makes of -the Bazaar a paradise.” She paused for a moment as she drew out a packet -wrapped in a cloth. “We have gifts which perchance his Excellency in his -goodness will allow his humble servants to present to the _Sit_ upon her -marriage as a token of the gratitude the servants have in their hearts -for the gentleness of the white people.” - -Trenchard took the packet, removed the cloth, and looked at the exquisite -golden kerchief. - -“By Jove! what a beautiful thing,” he exclaimed. - -Namlah smiled and nodded her sleek head at his genuine admiration. - -“It is woven of her Excellency’s hair!” - -“Helen’s hair!” He turned to Yussuf’s Eyes as the youth pressed something -hard and heavy into his hands, speaking by gesture, which his mother -translated. - -His fine teeth gleamed and his beautiful eyes flashed as he watched -Trenchard remove the wrapping from the heavy object. - -“However did you get this?” Trenchard cried, as he delightedly turned -his own automatic over in his hand and released the full clip. - -“The mistress, and may Allah guide a bullet to her black heart, commanded -the Patriarch, who is the oldest amongst us and possessed of a very devil -of gaming, to guard the weapon of death for your departure, Excellency. -The old one, bereft of his last _piastre_ and of the very _qamis_ from -about his shrunken old body, did lose the weapon in a bet to my son when -you did wrestle with and overthrow the Nubian.” - -Trenchard tried to express his delight at the gifts, upon which, with all -the Arab’s genuine and world-famed hospitality, the two natives offered -him all they possessed. - -“My son,” whispered Namlah, “will live with me in the Bazaar, yea! -and with us will sojourn Yussuf, his friend. The blind one will sit -peacefully in the sun until he find a wife to take pity upon him, whilst -‘His Eyes,’ even my son, will sell the steel of Damascus inlaid with gold -to the faithful and to the infidel. Our home will be humble, O white -man, but our food and our drink, our raiment and our couch, will be for -you and her Excellency if your Excellencies should see fit to honour our -humble dwelling and I——” She stopped suddenly and held up her hand as she -listened to the sound of a dog barking. - -It barked angrily, at which sound the little woman shook her head. - -“Verily, ’tis a dog!” she whispered. “When the blind one shall have -carried her Excellency safely by the steep and dangerous path, which is -midway between here and where Zarah the Merciless sleeps, then will he -bark thrice, and in all the kennels there is not one who can say if it be -a dog which barks or Yussuf. Methinks, he is over long upon the road.” -She clasped her hands together upon her faithful heart. “Has mischance -befallen them? Does your Excellency think that mischance causeth him to -tarry thus?” - -Mischance did not cause Yussuf to tarry. Seated in the shadows beneath -the window through which Namlah had spied upon the Arabian and Al-Asad, -he waited calmly for the moment of his revenge. - - * * * * * - -There was utter silence and stillness inside the building. No sound of -voice or movement gave Yussuf any indication as to what had taken place -in the last hour, neither in his blindness had he any means by which to -find out if the Arabian slept or if she lay awake upon the divan watching -the stars through the doorway. - -He sat as immovable as the Fate to which, as an Arab, he was resigned, -and he made no movement when Zarah’s mocking laugh suddenly broke the -silence. - -Helen sat on the floor with her back against the wall, the light from the -lamp shining on the golden curls which were to be shaven on the morrow. - -A shaven crown! - -The Hindoo widow! The vision of bald pate seen in the Mirror ’twixt -the curtains of the hair-dresser’s cubicle! The asvogel sitting -disconsolately on its perch in the Zoological Gardens. - -She shivered as the pictures flashed across her mind. - -Zarah, lying like a tiger behind the golden bars of her elevated bed, -laughed when Helen suddenly clasped her head in uncontrollable horror, -twisting her fingers in her curls, and she laughed again when the white -girl sprang to her feet and stood looking up with the world of rebellion -in her eyes. - -“Do you remember my vision, Helen, dear school-friend?” she said -mockingly in Arabic, “when I saw you in the dust at my feet and the white -man coming towards me? Verily will you be in the dust to-morrow, and so -covered therewith that my children will walk upon you and cleanse their -feet and sandals upon your raiment. You fool!” She slid her feet over -the edge and stood upright upon the fourth step, straight, slender and -very beautiful; then, balancing herself upon her precarious foothold -with outstretched arms, descended slowly and walked to where Helen stood -against the wall. She laughed as she looked at Helen’s golden curls. - -“I hate you, Helen R-r-aynor-r. I hated you the first time I say you in -Cairo, when you tried to show your superior breeding to the contemptible -half-caste.” - -“I did not.” - -“_You_, whose grandfather was of a caste of water carriers, whilst my -father’s fathers dwelt in the shadow of the Great Pharaohs and my mother -at the Court of Spain. The white man shall see you with your shaven -crown; then, when the picture of your bald head is set for eternity in -his mind, so that, waking or sleeping, he will laugh at the thought of -you, I will ride out to meet him in the desert, to sit with him under the -moon, to talk with him until dawn, to sing to him until his eyes close in -dreams of my beauty. You fool, to pit yourself against me!” - -Helen smiled as she looked at the Arabian from head to foot. She was sick -with fear of the morrow, and sick with disappointment at the absence -of all sign of help, but she smiled with the indomitable spirit of the -splendid race from which she sprang. She took no notice of Zarah when -she stretched herself upon a divan in a corner of the room, nor of the -body-women when they passed her, laughing derisively and making signs -of contempt with their expressive fingers. She watched them descend the -steps, and involuntarily listened to the jokes they bandied amongst -themselves about the ceremony of shaving, which would take place at the -waking of their mistress at the rising of the sun; then sat down with her -back to the wall, hoping against hope for a sound or a sight of Namlah or -Yussuf. - -As there could be no doubt as to Zarah’s intention of carrying out her -threat, the situation was desperate; and the help promised seemed so -vague, hanging upon the chance that the Arabian would ask for sherbet or -coffee before she went to sleep—if she went to sleep. - -She was just as capable of staying awake the whole night, smoking her -_naghileh_ or countless cigarettes without touching food or coffee, as -she was of sleeping, without stirring, until dawn. - -And if she called for coffee and drank it, drugged, and slept, what then? - -What could Namlah, a humble slave, do, even if she connived with Yussuf, -to further their escape? - -“Bring me sherbet instantly!” - -Yussuf made no movement as the words came to him through the window. -Helen’s heart beat heavily as she prayed for help in her hour of great -need. - -“_Now_, God, help me _now_,” she whispered, as she rose slowly and -crossed the room to the corner where she prepared the drinks or messes -of sweetmeats the Arabian consumed frequently in the night. With her -back to her tormentor she pulled the flask which contained the drug from -inside her belt and unscrewed the tight-fitting top, and with steady hand -dropped ten drops into the golden goblet which Zarah loved on account of -its barbaric jewelled stem. - -“In the name of Allah, was a snail included in your parentage, or are -your fingers as heavy as your wits? You will fetch but a poor price with -your clumsiness and shaven crown. Hasten, or by the Prophet’s beard I -will lower your price still further by marking your shoulders with the -whip.” - -Helen slowly crossed the room, carrying the tray with the goblet, filled -to the brim with sweet, frothing drink, and offered it to the Arabian, -who sat up suddenly, making a quick, savage gesture with both her hands. - -“Do you think such arrogance suits a slave? Kneel!” - -The prisoner’s fate trembled in the balance as for one brief second -Helen, consumed with a desire to fling the goblet in the beautiful, -mocking face, grasped its jewelled stem; then, remembering that the -victorious or disastrous ending of the attempt to escape depended -entirely upon her, she knelt and, stirring the sherbet with an ivory -spoon, offered the tray on uplifted hands. - -To keep her kneeling Zarah drank slowly, whilst Helen half closed her -eyes under the agony of her suspense. There was no sign in her face of -her terror when, with but a drain to drink, Zarah sniffed at the goblet, -scowled and flung it to the farther end of the room, thereby drinking one -drop too little of the drug. - -“Have you not yet learned how to mix so simple a drink as this?” she -raved, inelegantly wiping her beautiful mouth with the back of her hand. -“Were it not that my women taste all that you touch and replace all you -have touched every hour, and likewise that none but my women approach you -or have speech with you, I would swear by the Prophet that you had put -something in my cup. Bring me coffee, hot and strong, in the big bowl. -Hasten, lest I summon the black women to teach you the real meaning of -speed.” - -Helen’s heart sank. - -She had no idea of the potency of the drug or the time required for it -to take effect, but she knew the stimulating effect black coffee had on -the Arabian, and how, once she had drunk a bowlful of it, she would pass -a sleepless night, reading or smoking or roaming about the camp, paying -surprise visits to the kennels and her people’s quarters. - -She spent long precious minutes in fanning the brazier, which burned -brightly behind a screen, casting fleeting glances towards the divan to -see if the Arabian showed any sign of somnolence. - -Zarah sat cross-legged, looking through the doorway at the stars, and -showing as much sign of sleep as an angry cat. She turned and frowned -at Helen when she clattered various brass pots and pans, making a great -to-do, so as to waste still more precious moments over the intricate -process of brewing the sickly, sweet Arabian coffee. - -“Bring the coffee!” Zarah shouted suddenly, swinging her feet to the -floor and half rising from the cushions. - -Helen placed the brass pot, the porcelain bowl, and a smaller bowl of -scented water upon the silver tray, looked over her shoulder at the -Arabian and caught her breath. - -Zarah yawned, widely, heavily. - -The whole future depended upon the next five minutes—her future, the -future of the man she loved. - -Another few moments and Zarah the Cruel might be asleep. Yet what excuse -could she make for wasting those precious moments? Everything was ready -on the tray; it would take but a moment to cross the floor, and another -five, perhaps ten, for the strong, hot, black coffee to be drunk and to -react against the drug, and then farewell to all hope of escape. - -“Must I come and fetch it myself?” - -Helen moved forward, carrying the tray. Zarah glared at her, and yawned -until it seemed her scarlet mouth could not bear the strain. - -“The coffee,” she said slowly, and rubbed her eyes, just as Helen, with a -sharp cry, twisted her foot sideways, pretended to recover her footing, -and let fall the tray and its contents with a loud clatter to the floor. - -Zarah sprang to her feet with a shout of rage which ended in a yawn, -staggered forward a step or two, swung sideways and fell back across the -divan, where she lay peacefully, sound asleep. - -Helen lay perfectly still, so as not to attract the Arabian’s attention -in any way; then, assured that she slept soundly, gathered herself up and -stole across to the divan. - -“Oh, Yussuf, if you were only here!” she said as she stood looking down -at the sleeping girl, wondering what step she should take next; then -turned to look out at the night sky. - -Outlined against the sky, Yussuf stood in the doorway. - -She ran to him and touched his arm, whereupon he smiled as best he could -for the distortion of his mouth and put his hands to his forehead, lips -and heart. - -“She sleeps, Yussuf, soundly. I gave her ten drops!” - -Helen whispered the words, though she might have safely shouted them -aloud for all the effect they would have had on Zarah. - -“Does she lie at ease, Excellency? If not, stretch her forth as though -she passed the night in natural sleep. Let nothing cause her fret and -thereby hasten her waking.” - -Helen crossed to the divan and looked down at the merciless girl who had -no pity for man or beast. She lay full length in the exquisite raiment -she had worn for the tournament, her face half hidden in her arm, smiling -like a child in her sleep. Helen watched her for a moment, then drew a -satin coverlet over the Arabian’s feet, glanced round the room, moved -slowly round the walls blowing out the lamps which hung from silver -sconces, and returned to Yussuf. - -“I will carry your Excellency down the steep unused path, for fear that -some of those who wrestle with each other might see you. Come! I will -lead you to where your lover waits, even I, blind Yussuf.” - -Helen put her hand in his and looked back at the woman who had tried -her best to humble her to the dust and failed. She touched her curls -and smiled involuntarily at the thought that neither the daily round of -menial tasks nor the threat of death had frightened her as had the threat -to shave her head. - -“I shall never be able to thank you, Yussuf,” she said, as he lifted her -into his arms and carried her across the broad ledge upon which the Holy -Fathers had built the dwelling-place. - -“Put your arms about my neck, Excellency, for in times of stress must -custom and thought of race vanish. I will hold you on my left arm; my -right hand knoweth every jutting rock, my feet every stone upon this -path. Shut your eyes, Excellency, for they say that one with vision -would not dare to tread this road. We must hasten, for who knows if the -tiger-cat will not waken ’neath the urging of her hate-filled mind? Your -arm about my neck and your heart full of courage until the waning of -the morning star, when you and your lover will be far upon the road to -freedom and happiness.” - -Helen did not shut her eyes, and until the end of her life she never -forgot the descent. - -Certain of every inch of the path, rendered as sure-footed as a goat -through the blindness which had uprooted the dread spectre of fear from -his mind, feeling with his feet, clinging with his hand, climbing, -scrambling, dropping safely upon the narrowest foothold, Yussuf carried -Helen safely by the hidden and almost unnegotiable path to where the -dromedaries lay in the shadows. - -Just once he stopped to give the pre-arranged signal. - -“The _Sit_, Excellency,” he said briefly, as Trenchard sprang towards him -and took Helen into his arms. - -“Helen! My beloved! You at last!” - -He let her slip to her feet and crushed her up against his heart whilst -the Arabs busied themselves with the camels’ packs. - -“Dearest,” whispered Helen, as she lifted her radiant face to his, “I -began to think I should never see you again.” - -“We must hasten, Excellencies. Life stretches before you full of hours -of happiness; these moments are fraught with danger. ‘Mine Eyes’ and I -will follow you or not, as wills Allah, the one and only God of mercy and -compassion. I will lead her Excellency’s camel across the hidden path, -‘Mine Eyes’ will lead yours, your Excellency; Namlah, desert born, will -ride her own, wilt thou not, sister?” - -Namlah laughed softly. - -She was helping her son to tighten knots and to fasten the loads upon the -camels’ backs still more securely. - -“Yea, brother, that will I. I would cross the desert on foot to escape -from the claws of the tiger-cat. All is ready, Excellency. A water-skin -each, and much bread and many luscious dates, coffee and the wherewithal -to make many cups. A tent for the noonday heat. To the north-east, and -then due north, his Excellency says, and may Allah guide our feet and thy -feet, O blind brother, to liberty and peace!” - -Trenchard and Helen made one last effort to induce Yussuf and “His Eyes” -to join them. - -“Now’s your chance, Yussuf. It seems so much like running away to leave -you to face the row by yourself.” - -“Come with us, Yussuf.” Helen laid her hand on the blind man’s arm as -she spoke. “You and ‘Your Eyes.’” She laid her other hand on the dumb -youth’s arm, standing linked to them in a friendship that was to endure a -lifetime. - -“Excellencies,” replied Yussuf, “before Allah I would rather pass my life -in prison than miss the tiger-cat’s rage when she finds you gone. Behold, -the calmness of the white people when in the midst of danger has won our -hearts and will pass as history down the generations. Not by word or sign -have you shown fear or anger, thereby, with the mercy of Allah, winning -your way to freedom. Nor,” he added with a smile, “do the white people -waste overmuch time in rejoicing or protestations of affection.” - -“Have a little patience, Yussuf,” said Helen, as she righted herself -after having swayed backwards and forwards and bent this way and that -in answer to the movement of the camel as it lurched to its feet with -considerable lamentation and sounds of wrath. “Wait until we come out to -Damascus to visit you, then we will all rejoice together, won’t we, Ra?” - -“Rather!” said Ralph Trenchard, as he leant over and took Helen’s hand -and kissed it, then let it go as Yussuf led her camel forward, having -found his direction by turning his face to the night wind as he touched -the spear. - -“Not a word, Excellencies,” he said when the three camels stood in a line -upon the narrow path, upon each side of which lay a terrible death. “The -wind plays strange tricks with sound from this spot, carrying at times -the spoken word from the quicksands to the rocks, which increase it a -hundredfold, until the camp is filled with whispering. Allah grant that -the dogs do not bark and waken the tiger-cat until dawn, and that my -brothers cease not their games until I am seated once more without the -empty hut.” - -Helen turned and smiled at her lover, and leant sideways and waved her -hand to the devoted body-woman, who, in her placidity, looked as though -she were embarking upon a picnic instead of a dash for liberty across the -desert. The mountains towered behind them, grim and menacing, the desert -stretched, silvery and peaceful under the stars, the quicksands lay on -each side of their hidden path, still and treacherous. - -Yussuf walked ahead, leading Helen’s camel, “His Eyes” followed, Namlah -came last, looking as must have looked Ruth or Naomi or any other woman -of the Scriptures. - -The great beasts, as they stepped off the hidden path on to the safety of -the desert sands, were urged into line with Namlah between Helen and her -lover. - -“Namlah will ride three paces in front, Excellency,” said Yussuf. “Ride -at fullest speed until the first ray of the sun breaks through the clouds -of night, keeping the great star behind the right shoulder; then guide -yourself by the sun as I have instructed you, and may Allah have you and -yours in His keeping. I and ‘Mine Eyes’ will overtake you if it is the -will of Allah, whose Prophet is Mohammed.” - -The camels moved forward slowly; then, gathering speed, sped across the -desert. - -Yussuf and “His Eyes” waited at the beginning of the path until the faint -sound made by the beasts’ huge feet upon the sand died away altogether, -then turned and, Yussuf leading, retraced their steps across the hidden -path. - -“Allah guide them, little brother, for behold, my heart is soft towards -those white people of great courage. Go thou and pit thy strength against -that of the half-caste lion, so that his suspicions are not aroused, -whilst I sit here to await the awakening of Zarah the Beautiful.” - -He sat cross-legged before the door of the empty hut, from which, if he -had had eyes, he could have seen the tombs of the Holy Fathers. He sat -calmly, patiently, resigned to Fate, until, as the sky lightened way down -in the east, a dog, then another, and then a many began to bark. - -They barked without ceasing, whilst the grooms stirred in their sleep and -the voices and laughter of the men died down as they stopped to listen to -the noise. - -Knowing that the barking of dogs never failed to waken Zarah, Yussuf -raised his sightless face to the heavens and offered a prayer of -thanksgiving. - -The hour of his revenge was at hand. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - - “_Everyman—and his own care!_”—ARABIC PROVERB. - - -Zarah stretched her arms above her head, yawned, listened for a moment -to the barking of the dogs, then, struck with a premonition of impending -disaster, awoke to her surroundings, struggled to a sitting position, and -stared up at the unlit lamps and round the room in amazement. - -Save for the faint light of the coming dawn, the place was in darkness -and strangely still. - -Who had blown out the lights? Where was Helen? What was the meaning of -the dogs’ unrest at this hour, when they usually slept? Why was she -weighed down with such an oppressive drowsiness? - -She roused herself, swaying to her feet, stood for a moment bemused, then -staggered forward and crashed into a great brass bowl filled with many -fruits. It fell with a clatter, arousing her from the strange lethargy -which seemed to cause the room to spin about her and to dull her active -brain. - -She stood watching the oranges and pomegranates, figs, apricots and -peaches roll this way and that across the marble floor, then called for -Helen. - -Helen! - -She shouted the name savagely, under the whip of her premonition, shouted -it until the vaulted roof rang with her cries, shouted it until the -echoes gave back the call. - -Helen! Helen! Helen! a mocking voice seemed to shout back from the -shadows. - -In a flash enlightenment came to her, and with it the blindest rage that -ever entered woman’s heart. - -There could be but one reason for the dark desertion of the room and for -the unanswered call. In some way the girl she hated, the man she desired, -had communicated with each other, had outwitted her. How? When? Where? -Oh, of what avail to lose time in asking useless questions when, even at -that moment, they might be on their way to freedom and love? She stood in -the centre of the faintly lighted room, then laughed until the ugly sound -beat against the walls. She laughed with sheer rage at the thought of how -she, Zarah the Cruel, the most beautiful woman in Asia, the woman who had -never been thwarted or foiled, had at last been circumvented by Helen. -Helen Raynor, the fool English girl, the slow-witted, the dense, the -hopelessly dull, as she had described her when holding her up to ridicule -to her women slaves. - -Her slaves! - -In a moment her trend of thought changed, and with it, replacing even -her rage, came a violent desire to revenge herself on everyone who had -connived at or participated in the prisoners’ escape. - -Yussuf! Namlah! - -She seized the metal rod and smote the huge brass gong as the two names -leapt to her mind. Her men were gathered together on the plateau, with -Yussuf and the dumb boy whom he loved in their midst. She would summon -the two who had been thorns in her flesh since the death of the Sheikh -and wring a confession from them. - -Left by her father in her care! - -In the name of Allah what mattered a promise more or less when it had to -do with those who had put humiliation after humiliation upon her? She -would see to it that they and the white people were rendered dumb and -blind in death by the time she had wiped out all the insults they had -heaped her with. - -Her women! - -They slept peacefully in their quarters with Namlah in their midst. She -would summon them all and wring a confession from her. She had treated -the body-woman, who had shown such strong affection for the white girl, -with a strange leniency, merely replacing her, upon the spies’ report, -by the surly negress who had so unaccountably disappeared upon the night -when the dogs had rushed the hall. _She_ should learn what awaited a -slave and a prisoner who dared plot against the master. - -She smote the gong to awaken the entire camp and to summon her -attendants, smote it without ceasing. - -Lost to all sense of reasoning through her overpowering rage, she flung -herself upon the divan and sat looking out to the desert through the -cleft in the mountains, planning her revenge upon them all. - -The Red Desert, the Empty Desert, the forcing-ground of hate, revenge, -despair, the burial place of love and hope and life. - -The great waste places of the Arabian Peninsula, swept by the tribes of -Ad, Tasim and Jadis, devastated by the hordes which inundated it in the -early days when the Holy Fathers, in penance, built the very building in -which the desert-born girl sat; ruled by African kings, allied to the -Roman and Byzantine Empires, coveted, conquered, beaten, yet as ready -to-day to rise in revolt against oppression and to hurl itself against -the enemy as it was ready to fling itself victoriously against the mighty -Roman generals. - -Immense tracts of sand across which, pursuing or pursued, passed those -countless legions, leaving, save for the footprints of Solomon’s mighty -Yeminite Queen and Mohammed, the greatest Prophet the world has known -since the advent of the gentle Nazarene, but little mark upon the path -of time; desolate plains under which those who, through the centuries, -have laid its fair cities waste, sleep in death amongst the ruins and -treasures and secrets of cities, kingdoms and dynasties of which the -names alone remain; silent, mysterious oceans of sand above which, -wheeling, calling, sailing on outstretched wing at dawn, at noon, at -dusk, drift the vultures from north to south, from east to west, as -they have drifted and called since the day every grain of the sands was -numbered. - -Revengeful, relentless, restless, the Great Desert knows no peace nor -rest nor shade. It sweeps flat that which it piled high but yesterday, -and upon its surface, stretching like an Eastern carpet, blows its sands -to the height of hills, to sweep them flat again. It kills with thirst, -it slays with hunger and exhaustion; it leaves but little trace of those -who dare to pass its desolate boundaries. Bones of fugitives, of the -hapless, the luckless, bones of birds and beasts, covered feet deep with -sand at dawn, uncovered by the dread _shelook_ to dance to the blowing -of its scorching breath at noon, mark out a path across its desolation -under the star-strewn, peaceful sky. High-born and low-caste, criminal -and holy man, friend and enemy, there is nothing to tell who they were in -life nor in what manner death came to them. Vultures follow jackal and -hyena; settle for a while and rise again to drift from north to south, -from east to west; the wind of chance wafts the tattered, blood-stained -kerchief across the desert to the feet of the holy man who has watched -it, the only thing to move, dancing this way and that across the plain -towards him; he ties it as a pennant to his staff and continues, with -a prayer for the soul of the dead, upon his pilgrimage; the Bedouin, -starving upon a handful of stringy _sihanee_ dates and a cup of brackish -water, searches amongst the bones and offers the desert victim’s purse -and amulets and weapons in exchange or sale to those he may encounter -upon his journey to the nearest oasis. - -A fitting place indeed in which to hide all trace of the Arabian’s -vengeance upon the white people. Let them fly for their lives, they would -but leave their bodies to the vultures and the wind and the starving -Bedouin, when her men had done with them. - -Her men! - -Since the sinking of the last moon her spies had brought reports of -discontent amongst them. They had become restless and rebellious under -the inactivity she imposed upon them during her fleeting but violent -obsession for the white man. - -Within the hour she would once more lead them across the sands under the -light of the dying night and the coming dawn. With her they should hunt -the fugitives down, and with spear or rifle wipe out the cause of their -unrest and anger. - -Born of the desert, bred in its scorching heat, Zarah made one with it -in her relentless cruelty. In it she had found her joy and, what counted -more to her than all, her greatest triumphs with her men. Through it -love, the love which is passion, the only love of which she was capable, -had come to her; in it, in years to come, death would find her. - -Death! - -She laughed aloud as she listened to the sound of her people calling to -each other as they hastened from their quarters to obey her summons. - -Death would come, as it must come to all, but not until she had repaired -the mistake she had made in endeavouring to place the white man at the -head of her small but turbulent kingdom; not until she had ruled for many -years; not until she had wiped the memory of the white people who had -tricked her from the minds of her subjects, whom she would link closer -still by her union with one of themselves. - -With all the instability and inconstancy of the Arab blood in her veins -her passion for the white man passed, burned out in the fire of the wrath -that consumed her. - -Let the white people die. Let the slight ripple they had made upon the -sea of her exuberant, triumphant life be wiped out, so that peace might -once more reign in the Sanctuary. - -Death! - -With her plan of revenge in her mind she looked across at her throwing -spears hanging upon the wall, then laughed as she caught sight of herself -in one of the many long mirrors her intense vanity had caused her to -place about the room. - -As she crossed the floor she made the gesture with her fingers, used by -the superstitious all the world over, against the thought of death which -filled her mind, then took her favourite spear from the wall. Damascus -steel, inlaid with gold, with razor edges to the slender, needle-pointed -blade. She smiled as the thought of the day, those years ago, when with -it she had transfixed the greyhound accepted as a gift by her father’s -guest. - -“Death!” she cried, as she stood, a magnificent figure of youth, with the -spear raised and poised for throwing. “Nay, revenge upon those who try -to humiliate me. I will gather my men together and will promise gold, -horses, women, what they will, to those who overtake and bring back to -me, alive or dead, the prisoners who have escaped. Love! I in love with -any man, be he white or black or of mixed blood! Nay, by the beard of -the Prophet I love naught but power. Let them flee into the desert, -even until the sun is risen, so that Helen R-raynor-r’s countenance be -blistered and as roundly swelled as yon knob of wood, the which, to see -if my hand hath not lost its cunning, I will pierce with the spear.” - -She ran back a space, caught her foot in a rug, staggered, and, in an -effort to recover her balance, involuntarily flung the spear. - -She stood for a moment petrified with horror, then screamed and screamed -until the place rang. - -Thrown off her balance, she had flung the spear straight at the mirror. -As she stood it transfixed her reflection through the heart. - -Hundreds of torches flared below, where her men stood looking up, -watching the women as, with exclamations of fear, they ran to answer the -dreaded summons of the gong. - -“By the beard,” said Bowlegs to Yussuf’s Eyes, “something is amiss.” - -A shout went up as Zarah appeared, wrapped in her great riding cloak, -spear in hand. “She leads us to battle, little brother who cannot speak.” -Bowlegs turned, laughing as he spoke, and stared in amazement. The dumb -youth was not there, but in his place towered the gigantic Nubian. - -“Verily to battle or the hunt, brother,” said Al-Asad. “Battle methinks, -for of a truth the woman I love seems in no patient mood. Ha! canst hear? -She calleth for Namlah! Ha! she smites the Abyssinian across the mouth. -The tiger-cat! Yet do I love her the more for her cruelty. Her small hand -is like a flower petal blown against the rock when, in her childlike -wrath, she smites me. I could pinch the breath from her throat, which is -like unto the jewelled column in yon hall, ’twixt thumb and finger, yet -love I to anger her so that her little hand shall smite me. Ha! Harken! -She calleth for the blind one, for Yussuf. Look, brother! Is she not as -the wind from the south in her wrath?” - -Zarah faced her terrified women slaves, amongst whom Namlah was not to be -found. - -“Search for the white woman, you black dogs!” She smote the Abyssinian -across the face as she spoke. “Find her and bring her to me. Namlah will -you find with her. Search, all of you, and hasten, lest I drive you -down to the sands of death.” The women turned and fled down the steps, -touching their amulets, praying to Allah, whispering the one to the other. - -“Whither, my heart’s delight? Whither in such haste, with thy beautiful -countenance distraught with fear?” - -Bowlegs’ second wife tore herself from his detaining grasp and ran as -fast as her weight would allow her, and literally for her life. “We run -in search of the white woman, who is not to be found, and Namlah, who——” -The rest of her words were lost as she disappeared in the throng of her -panting sisters. - -“Oh! ho!” said Bowlegs. “Now find we the kernel in the nut. The beautiful -Zarah calleth for Yussuf.” He turned and scanned the band of laughing, -interested men. “Behold are the blind and the dumb ones not to be seen. -Let me hide in thy shadow, O Lion, lest thy mate-to-be scratches out mine -eyes as she passes.” - -Al-Asad took no notice. He stood watching the beautiful Arabian as she -ran down the steps. The men made a passage for her, and closed in behind -and around her as she passed between them, wrapped in her riding cloak. - -“Yussuf!” she said sharply. “Where is he? Thou who standeth above thy -fellows, seeth thou him?” She laid her hand on Al-Asad’s arm as she spoke -and looked up into his eyes, which were alight with love. “Is he here?” - -The wind blew her cloak against him. Starving for love, he caught it and -held it crushed in his hand, and stood looking down at her, his eyes full -of worship, whilst the men, intuitive as are all Orientals, watched the -little scene, pressing close upon each other. - -“Her veritable mate,” whispered one. “Seeth thou that his right hand -holds her cloak?” - -“Yea! I bear no malice towards the white man, but ’twere well to send him -with the white woman back to the country where the white race is bred,” -answered the Patriarch. - -“Seest thou Yussuf?” - -“Yussuf guards the white man, O Zarah!” said Al-Asad slowly. - -“Bring him and the white man. Hasten, thou——” She pointed with her spear -at a youngster, who, terrified, turned and ran towards the men’s quarters. - -“My amulet for a death in battle, against thine for many sons amongst -thy children,” whispered the Patriarch, “that the lad finds neither the -blind one, nor the dumb one, nor the white man?” - -The gamblers slipped their amulets from about their necks. - -“Thinkest thou that they have escaped, O Father?” - -“Nay, that I know not, but the bitch that so hateth our woman ruler -turned from her meat and howled thrice at the moon! Naught but death can -follow the sign! From fear of disaster amongst the dogs, she has been -separated from her companions and placed by herself for the night in the -small kennel amongst the rocks.” - -“_Aï, Aï!_” whispered his companion, spreading his fingers against -disaster. “Behold! the lad returneth with a face like troubled waters.” - -The lad flung himself at Zarah’s feet, speechless from terror. - -“Speak! Where are they?” - -Zarah kicked him as he lay, and turned and half raised her spear in the -direction from which had come a murmuring. - -“The dwelling of the white man is empty, O mistress! Neither is the blind -one nor the dumb one to be found for the searching.” - -“Make a way for yon black dog!” - -Zarah’s voice, high pitched in fury, rose above the men’s. They pushed -each other back as the gigantic negress came running lightly, and smote -her playfully upon her broad shoulders as she passed amongst them, up -to where her mistress and the Nubian stood. Almost as tall as Al-Asad, -she made a superb picture as she stood, thoroughbred and perfect in -form, beside the two half-castes. Arrogant in her breeding, aware of the -rebellion seething in the camp, she eyed them insolently as she revenged -herself for the blows her mistress had rained upon her since she had been -bought in the slave market. - -“Thy prisoners have escaped, O Zarah!” she said slowly, contemptuously. -“The white man has fled with the white woman. Black stallion with black -mare, white stallion with white mare, and Allah’s curse upon the foal of -different colouring.” - -She turned her back upon the Arabian, and walked away with the insolent -gait of the thoroughbred negro. - -Speechless with rage, Zarah raised her spear, then, in a flash, realized -that she no longer had the power to move her men to the madness of hate -or to the lust of battle. They stood between her and the negress, but -she kept her spear raised as she made a mighty effort to regain her hold -over them. She stepped back and shouted the battle-cry with which she had -been wont to gather the men for a foray into the desert or about her in -battle. The words were echoed a thousand times from the mountains, but -not from one throat of the men about her; she called aloud her promise of -horses, gold or women as a reward for the capture of the prisoners; she -drove a way between the men until she stood upon the outer edge of the -throng, then once more she shouted the battle-cry, until the women, who -had been watching, ran and hid amongst the rocks and some of the younger -men felt stealthily for their knives. - -“Is there not one among you who dare face the white man?” - -A voice from the centre of the throng quoted an Arab proverb, a voice -with a mocking note in its clear tones: - -“‘It is written upon the cucumber leaf,’ O Zarah, ‘that from a house from -which thou eatest thou shalt not pray for its destruction.’” - -The Patriarch, with Bowlegs at his side, pushed his way to the front. -“The white man, my daughter, we will not for master,” he said, “but for -his patience and his strength, yea! and his love for his own woman, we -love him as a brother. Behold has he lived and eaten like a dog in yon -hut and worked amongst us, to teach us his tricks of skill, with no word -of complaint upon his lips. Nay! let him be, with his own woman. Their -ways are not our ways, and their lives are in the keeping of Allah the -one and only God. Likewise let the friend of thy father with his dumb -friend be gone upon their own business. They irk the Sanctuary with their -infirmities, as does the busy Namlah with her wailings for her lost son.” - -But Zarah had long since passed the stage of sane reasoning. She was -white with fury as she faced these men, who would not move hand or foot -to help her in her need and looked at her with laughter in the depths of -their mocking eyes. - -“_Thou!_” - -Her voice trembled with rage as she looked across to Al-Asad, who stood -surrounded by men. - -He shook his head. - -“Thou art my woman!” he said simply, “and if I cannot have thee, thinkest -thou that I would strive to bring back one thou lovest and who has -escaped?” - -“Thou fool! Bring him back dead, slung across thy shoulders——” - -“Nay! I love him as a brother, let him go!” - -“Then will I bring him back myself!” - -The men looked at each other as she laughed shrilly and turned and ran -across the plateau towards the stables, and gripped the Nubian as he made -a movement to follow her. - -“Let her be,” said the Patriarch. “She but makes mock of thee. What can a -woman armed with a spear do against those who are fully armed? She will -hide amongst the rocks until hunger drives her forth, then will we wed -her to thee, O brother, or carry her to the sands of death, for we tire -of her moods and would find her a master.” - -But Zarah was in no vein for trickery. - -Desperation had swept her completely off her course towards the whirlpool -of impulsiveness, into which the hot-headed flounder, to struggle, sink -and drown. - -A moment’s thought, a whole-hearted surrender to her subjects’ wishes, a -joke at her own expense, a laugh, and she might even then have won back -her hold upon the men who, as all Arabs, were swayed by the emotions of -the moment and as easily placated as they were easily roused. - -Her love had passed; the mockery in her men’s eyes, the insolence in the -black slave’s words, signalled her defeat; the future, bereft of power, -loomed cold and barren, yet, in the smart of the wound dealt her colossal -vanity, she gave no thought to aught but swift, sure revenge upon those -who had been the chief cause of her downfall. - -The grooms of the stables standing half-way down the slight incline, -devoured by curiosity, fled at sight of her, and rushed to their quarters -at the back of the buildings. - -She paid no attention. - -Time pressed, and she required but a halter-rope with which to guide -Lulah, the fastest mare in all Arabia, across the desert. There was no -necessity for questioning; the fresh tracks of the camels or horses -ridden by the fugitives would show plainly on the sand in the light of -the coming day. In the agony of her humiliation she gave no thought to -weapons; all she wanted was to find the white man with his woman, to get -within spear range, and then to leave the rest to Allah the Merciful and -Compassionate. - -Terrified at the gleam of the white cloak, Lulah backed across the loose -box, then lashed out until it seemed she must break the partition with -her dainty, unshod hoofs. Her beautiful, soft eyes rolled as she backed -into the corner, and she jerked her head, lifting Zarah from the ground, -when the Arabian caught her by the halter-rope; she stood quite still for -a moment, snuffing at the cloak, then suddenly rushed for the open door -and bolted, slipping, sliding, with the girl running at her side, down -the passage between the stalls, through the outer door, and out on to the -broad ledge upon which the stables had been built. - -She reared when Zarah vaulted to her back, then, exhilarated by the dawn -and under the pressure of the girl’s knees, danced sideways towards the -edge, whilst the men, who watched the splendid picture, held Al-Asad -forcibly, and Yussuf’s Eyes peeping from behind the rock which hid them, -tapped an answer to the blind man’s question. - -The black mare reared until struck between the ears, when she crashed to -her feet, slipped them over the edge, tried to regain her foothold, then, -under her own impetus and the pressure of the girl’s knees, who was too -savagely impatient to pull the beautiful beast back to the made track, -slithered like a goat down the path from the stables to where it joined -the upward track which led to the cleft. - -Zarah took her up the steep incline at a terrific rush, and pulled her -at the top until she reared again. For one instant they stood sharply -outlined against the night sky in which the morning breeze blew out the -stars one by one, then vanished, as the battle-cry, mocking, challenging, -rang through the air down to the men standing close together upon the -plateau. - -“His Eyes,” who watched, turned and tapped a message upon his blind -friend’s arm. - -“To the kennels?” answered Yussuf. “Yea, verily will we hasten whilst our -brothers and sisters gossip of the flight. Zarah the Merciful will have -no time in which to spy the swiftest dromedary in Arabia hidden behind -the rocks.” He raised his right hand as he spoke. “By the honour of the -Arab, when I have finished with her who plucked the light from my eyes, -behold will her laughter be ‘as the laughter of the nut when cracked -between two stones’!” - -He laughed savagely as he quoted the proverb, staring down at the boy he -could not see, then took his hand and, without faltering, passed quickly -along a path he had made for himself between the rocks up to the kennels, -deserted for the moment by the grooms, who had rushed to talk over the -doings of the past hour with the distracted grooms of the stables. - -“Allah keep her tongue still!” whispered Yussuf as “His Eyes” opened the -door of the isolated kennel amongst the rocks and softly whistled the -bitch. Whimpering with delight, the beautiful creature flung herself upon -the men whom she had so often followed across the desert. She loved them. -They had petted her when in disgrace, and had fed her with bones between -the regulation and none too satisfying meals. Yussuf’s hour of revenge -had struck. Vengeance for the loss of his eyes, for the mutilation of his -once handsome face, for the humiliations which had deftly been heaped -upon him throughout the years by the woman who had failed to recognize -the intensity of his hate for her. - -For just such a moment had he longed and prayed, for just such a moment -had he fostered the hate of the bitch, who, only on account of her -unblemished pedigree and for the gentleness of her ways to all but the -Arabian, had not been destroyed long since. For years she had followed -the scent of one of the Arabian’s discarded sandals which “His Eyes” had -trailed upon a string across the desert, mile upon mile, to be rewarded -at the end by some dainty fastened to a staff, thrust into the sand, for -which she had been taught to leap and fight. - -She knew the way down the narrow path to the spear stuck fast between the -two rocks, and had never forgotten the severe lessons which had taught -her to keep silent until well out in the desert; she whimpered softly and -thrust her muzzle into Yussuf’s hand as he passed quickly to the rock -which marked the beginning of the path leading up to the cleft. - -“They gamble, thou sayest, ‘Mine Eyes,’ seated upon the ground, with the -Lion, a prisoner, in their midst. Then bending low will we make our way -to the cleft, praying to Allah to bind their eyes to the dice until we -can be no longer seen. How light is it? As light as the feathers upon a -pigeon’s breast? Then must we hasten!” - -Bent double, they crept up the steep path to the cleft, through which -Yussuf passed, just as the first sunbeam shot from behind the edge of the -world, and a great shout rang out from the plateau. - -Al-Asad, chafing against the restraint put upon him and longing for the -woman he loved, turned to look up at the cleft through which she must -pass upon her return. - -Outlined against the sky he saw the disappearing figure of the blind -man, whom he knew hated the woman he loved with a bitterness beyond -description; upon the near side he saw, waiting to pass, Yussuf’s Eyes, -holding the bitch who hated the Arabian with a hatred which equalled that -of the blind man. - -The men leapt to their feet at Al-Asad’s cry and flung themselves upon -him, then fell back when, making a bugle of his slender hands, he sent -the battle-cry ringing over the mountain tops out to the desert. - -At the sight of the bitch he had divined the revenge Yussuf the blind had -planned; he sent the battle-cry to reach the woman he loved, so that she -should know that help was coming. - -Again and again he called, until the birds rose twittering and screaming -in flocks and flew towards the sunrise, whilst Yussuf whistled to the -bitch trotting at the dromedary’s heels, as the great beast, under the -urging of the dumb youth, passed across the hidden path at a desperate, -dangerous speed. - -The women rushed from their quarters at the sound of the battle-cry, -which invariably heralded the death of one or more of their menfolk, and -beat their breasts as they watched the men, headed by the Nubian, running -towards the stables. - -“_Aï! Aï! Aï!_” - -The lamentation rose to high heaven as they watched the Nubian take his -stallion at a terrific pace down the short cut to the path. They screamed -when the magnificent beast fell and rolled to the bottom, where he -scrambled to his feet and limped forward a foot or so, whilst Al-Asad, -without hesitating, sped to meet the men as they tore like the whirlwind -down the made track. He caught the rope-halter of one who outdistanced -the rest, and, putting out all his almost superhuman strength, stopped -the horse dead in its tracks and hurled it back on its haunches. Clinging -to the mane with his left hand, he lifted the rider with his right, flung -him to the ground, bent and snatched the spear from his hand, and ran at -the stallion’s side up to the end of the path, where he vaulted across -its back and disappeared through the cleft with a challenging cry. - -Afraid of the Arab who lay stunned across their path, the foremost horses -stopped dead in their headlong career, bringing the others up against -them in a struggling mass, so that much time was lost as the men tried -to straighten out the confusion made by the horses jamming on the narrow -path as each struggled to free itself from its neighbour, whilst they -slipped and reared and fell. - -The rim of the sun had just shown above the horizon; the Nubian was a -speck in the far distance; of Yussuf and “His Eyes” and the Arabian there -was no sign in the shadows which still shrouded the vast ocean of sand, -when, headed by the Patriarch, with much shouting and firing of rifles, -the whole band, riding at full speed, swept across the desert. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - - “_Remove the gates of thy stable to another side._”—ARABIC - PROVERB. - - -An ominous dawning. - -Misty, silvery shadows fleeing before the coming light left no mark upon -the Crimson Desert, which stretched to the east and west a desolate -unbroken plain, to the north and south in motionless, blood-red waves of -sand. Sunrays, yellow, orange, red, spread like gigantic searchlights -across the sky from behind a mass of clouds which the west wind had -driven eastward and piled low down upon the horizon. - -Copper-coloured masses against a background of green and rose and dun, -concealing the end or the beginning of an arch of clouds, which flared, -a signal of disaster, a pennant of death, blood-red, high across the -sapphire firmament, where one great star still defied its enemy—the dawn. - -Over the empty plain, under the ominous arc, straight towards the -stupendous sunrise fled the three camels, leaving a dead-black trail -stretching back as far as eye could see. - -Namlah the body-woman glanced over her shoulder at the Morning Star and -touched the amulet of good luck which hung about her neck. She looked -round at the ill-omened sky and back over the miles across which the huge -beasts had raced, at the almost incredible speed to which the camel can -attain when urged to its greatest effort. Scarcely a word had the riders -said since the sky had lightened when, wondering if the alarm had been -given in the camp, they had turned to see if Yussuf overtook or if Zarah -pursued them through the misty, silvery shadows. - -Ralph and Helen rode side by side, their dromedaries almost touching, as -they raced death for their lives, their liberty, their love. Namlah, the -desert born, rode ahead, steering her course unerringly by the great star. - -She glanced back at Helen’s face, showing death white in the shadows of -the passing night and distressed at the signs of a great fatigue, anxious -to advise, to help, touched her camel upon the right shoulder, so that -it turned to the right in a wide circle, whilst its companions, ignoring -or totally unconscious of their leader’s change of route, and utterly -lacking in imagination, reasoning power or sense of any kind, forged -ahead on a non-stop run. - -Once more her keen eyes swept the vast plain which lay behind and across -which, like a band of jet on damask cloth, showed the path made by the -camels in their flight. She made no sound as she shaded her eyes and -stared and stared into the far distance, but touched the amulet for good -luck which hung at her own neck and, leaning far forward, touched the -amulet which had been fastened in a tuft of hair on the camel’s left -shoulder, thereby guaranteeing its safe arrival at the journey’s end. - -“‘O thou who troublest thyself about the care of others, to whom hast -thou left thine own cares?’” She muttered the proverb, then prayed to -Allah as she smote the camel so that it finished the half circle and -formed up with its companions, which utterly ignored its return. - -“What is it, Namlah?” - -Helen leant sideways as she spoke to the body-servant, in whose eyes she -had seen the light of a great fear, then turned and looked back in the -direction in which the woman pointed. She turned to her lover and pointed -back along the path by which they had come, to where, hardly discernible -and as a mere speck in the far distance, something moved. - -“We’re followed, Ra!” she cried, leaning towards him and stretching out -her hand. - -“I know we are, sweetheart. I’ve known it for some time. Let’s hope it’s -Yussuf.” He smiled at Namlah and shouted across to her. “We’ll put up a -good fight, little sister, if they overtake us, and I swear they shall -never take you two women alive.” - -“_Kismet!_ Excellency,” cried Namlah. “Perchance ’tis the blind one -riding to join us, though verily there is but Lulah who could overtake -these three beasts, the swiftest in Njed, and the black mare Yussuf does -not ride. I pray thee let me have speech with Zarah if ’tis she, before -death claims either the one or the other of us, likewise, if so be it is -the will of Allah, allow me to approach the tyrant.” - -She spat as she made her request, and guided her camel close to Helen’s -and prayed to Allah, with frequent interludes of cursing, as they fled -like the wind towards the spot whence they would turn due north and, if -Allah the Merciful answered the prayers of the body-woman, would overtake -a caravan journeying towards Oman or Hareek. - -“’Tis the birds of prey, Excellency,” she said later, “calling as they -ever call at dawn. Perchance from the heavens the eagles and the vultures -spy food with which to break their fast.” - -Helen looked up at the sky, across which drifted and wheeled vultures, -eagles, hawks, and shook her head and smiled at the dusky little woman -who lied to allay her fears. - -“Nay! Namlah, it is a voice, it is—listen!” - -Faintly but clearly the cry came to them upon the morning wind. Helen -looked at her lover, and Namlah bent and touched the amulet upon the -camel’s shoulder so as to hide her eyes. The battle-cry, derisive, -challenging, even at a great distance, left no doubt as to who pursued -them. - -But Namlah was of the desert, with the eyes of a hawk and the tenacity of -those whose daily life is one long fight against the greatest odds. She -shaded her eyes suddenly and stared ahead. She pointed and laughed and -kicked her camel vigorously. - -But there was no sign of living thing in all the desert to Ralph and -Helen when they looked to where she pointed. - -“I see nothing, Namlah.” - -“Yonder, Excellency! See you not a band of men moving many, many miles -away. Allah! their backs are towards us. They go from us.” She turned -in her saddle and shook her fist at the speck in the far distance, then -put her hand to her ear. “Allah! ’tis verily a horse! Faster! Faster! -Excellencies, urge the camels, they but crawl, urge them, for in yon band -of men, be they robbers or starving Bedouins, lies our salvation.” - -Infinitesimal spots upon the desert, which, ridged and wrinkled, lay like -the outstretched hand of Fate, they urged the dromedaries until they fled -to outstrip the wind, under the sky of violent colouring. - -“Allah! open their eyes that they see us! Open their ears that they hear -us! Excellency! Excellency! is there no way by which to turn their heads -towards us!” Her words were lost in the rush of the tremendous speed, but -Helen, understanding the expressive gestures, turned and shouted to her -lover. - -The camels paid no heed when the desert rang with the double report of -Trenchard’s revolver, but Abdul, who journeyed in the company of the -Bedouins who had succoured him, in the hope of learning news of his -white master in Hareek, turned in his saddle and looked back, whilst -Zarah, oblivious of the strain she was putting upon the mare, shouted the -battle-cry derisively when the firing shattered the desert stillness and -drove the beautiful creature at full speed over the sands, urging her -with needle-pointed spear. - -Nor did she look back, else might she have seen Fate pressing hard upon -her heels. - - * * * * * - - “_On the day of victory no fatigue is felt._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -Like a darker shadow amongst the shadows thrown upon the desert from -the ill-omened sky, Rādi the bitch, the swiftest greyhound whelped in -Hasa, loped alongside the dromedary ridden by Yussuf, with “His Eyes,” -pillion-wise, behind him. She barely left a mark upon the sands so -lightly did she run, perplexed, upon a track which held but the common -scent of horse and camel. True, she ran in the wake of Lulah, her stable -friend, but of enemy there was no trace; therefore of what avail to spend -her strength in chasing shadows by the light of the rising sun? - -“His Eyes” frowned when she broke away, and like an arrow from a bow set -off hard upon the scent of something which had crossed the path after -Lulah the mare. - -“She has no interest, brother.” He tapped his message upon the blind -man’s shoulder. “Even now she turns to follow the scent of some small -beast of no account. Give me the sandal of Zarah the Cruel, so that she -holds in her fine nose the scent of the woman of whom as yet we see no -sign, but whom we hunt to the death.” - -Yussuf sent a long, low call ringing across the sands, and Rādi, with -every muscle in her gaunt body trained to a hair, without checking her -speed, spun round upon her hind feet and tore back in answer to it. She -ran at an angle to overtake the black dromedary, whose price was above -that of many rubies, and recognizing the object dangled just out of -reach, leapt at the sandal, missing it by an inch; then, as trained to -do, on touching the ground turned in a circle to the right and at the -top of her terrific speed, still at an angle, tore towards the dromedary -and launched herself straight upon its back. Catching her by the throat, -the dumb youth held her back, whilst, with claws clinging to the tufts -of hair upon the dromedary’s haunches, the bitch fought to reach the -sandal, the scent of which drove her to a veritable madness of hate and -filled her with a lust to kill. She had it between her teeth when firing -suddenly shattered the desert stillness, and she fought like a fury to -keep it, until “His Eyes,” putting out all his strength, hurled her to -the ground and, clasping Yussuf round the waist, leaned far sideways and -stared ahead. In his excitement he snatched the _mihjan_ from the blind -man’s hand and, leaning backward, smote the dromedary upon the fleshy -part of its hind leg above the knee, the tenderest spot of its tough -anatomy, so that with a scream of rage it increased its pace seemingly a -hundredfold and tore like a hurricane of wrath upon the path, at the far -end of which “His Eyes” at last discerned a moving figure. - -“_Bism ’allah!_” yelled Yussuf, answering the message tapped upon his -shoulder. “Allah the Merciful delivereth the tyrant into our hands. The -mare faileth, sayeth thou; the marks of her hoofs show ever deeper in -the sand. Whence came the firing? From Zarah the Cruel or from our white -brother who fleeth with the women before her vengeance? Nay! Nay! Knowest -thou so little? Can’st not discern the difference ’twixt a pistol and a -rifle? Allah strike her hand so that it is useless, and strike the mare -dead so that the woman falls to the hound, who hates her even as I hate -her in my blindness.” - -He leaned down and called to the greyhound, exciting her with words as -he pointed ahead, until, sensing an enemy at last, she shot in front of -the dromedary. Then, sitting erect, he lifted his mutilated face to the -flaming heavens and chanted verses from the Korān to the honour of Allah -the one and only God, Who delivered the enemy into his hands: - - “_Flight shall not profit you if ye fly from death or from - slaughter, and if it would, yet shall ye not enjoy this world - but a little!_” - - “_Who is he who shall defend you against God, if He is pleased - to bring evil on you?_” - - “_O Lord, give her the double of our punishment; and curse her - with a heavy curse!_” - -The sonorous words range out on the stillness, barely broken by the -padding of the dromedary’s cushioned feet upon the sand, then he stopped -suddenly, alert, apprehensive. - -His hearing, sharpened by his blindness, had caught the sound of the -drumming of a horse’s hoofs upon the sand many miles behind. - -“Look once more behind, little brother, methought ’twould not be long -before her lover rode in pursuit. Ha! thou seest one riding like a leaf -before the wind. By the beard! ’tis the Lion riding to find his mate! -Allah smite that which he bestrides so that no harm befalls him.” He -turned round in the saddle and stared back along the path he could not -see. “Seest thou aught else behind the Lion, little brother? Far behind? -Thou seest naught! Yet is there a sound of thunder in mine ears, even the -sound of the hoofs of many horses tearing like the hurricane towards us.” - -He listened for a moment, then turned again and stared unseeingly in -front towards the figure of the woman who had blinded him. He smiled as -best he could for the distortion of his mouth and threw back his head. - -Zarah looked back, at last, as the challenge of the battle-cry came -to her on the wind, and, recognizing that speed alone would save her -from the death which hunted her down, drove her spear into the mare’s -hindquarters. - -The exhausted beast, ridden without mercy, her satiny coat dripping, her -chest asmother with foam, bounded forward under the agony of the goad, -crossed her feet, stumbled, flinging Zarah over her head as she crashed -to her knees, then, up before the Arabian could rise, turned and fled -into the desert towards the east, where the sun showed above the clouds. - - * * * * * - - “_One hour for thy love, one hour for thy Lord._”—ARABIC - PROVERB. - -A mighty picture made Al-Asad and the stallion as they rode in the race -to outstrip death. To aid the magnificent beast as it tore across the -plain the Nubian lay close to its satin neck, guiding with knees and -hand, coaxing and urging with his voice as it fled _ventre à terre_, -silken mane and tail flying like banners in the wind. - -There was naught but vision to tell him if he gained upon the dog or -not, and even in that he dare not put his trust. For how was he to tell -if the figures before him, the camel with its two riders, the dog ahead, -the girl upon the black mare still farther off, and the three camels, -mere dots upon the horizon, became gradually clearer because the stallion -lessened the distance between itself and them or because the light made -all things clearer as the sun rose from behind the clouds? - -He did not count Yussuf nor the dumb youth in the race for Zarah’s life. -A great brotherly love existed between them, protecting them from harm -one from the other; nor did he blame the blind man for taking his revenge -by setting the bitch to hunt the girl down. - -In his wild heart and simple mind love, hate and revenge were -inextricably interwoven in the web of life, circumstance alone deciding -which should triumph in the end. - -He would overtake them easily and pass them with a friendly shout, as he -rapidly lessened the distance which separated him from love and freedom. - -His plan was of the simplest. - -He would lift the woman he loved into his arms and ride away with her -to some distant part of the desert. There he would gather the fiercest -outlaws to him, and with them raid the country until his name should -become a byword in the land, whilst his riches should accumulate so that -his woman’s happiness should be great. He smiled as he rode with the -dreams in his heart and his eyes upon the greyhound and the spear loose -in his hand. - -He knew that the Bedouins, who had seen Rādi hunting across the desert, -had come to swear by her endurance and resistance, and to boast to the -stranger within the land of how she hunted the night through without -water or food or rest. - -Likewise she held an unbroken record. - -She had never failed to kill. - -He looked down at Lulah’s hoof-prints and called to the stallion as -he caressed the glossy neck. The mare’s hoof-prints showed deeper and -deeper, and in two places where she had crossed her feet under the strain -of a great fatigue. For speed she was renowned throughout the Peninsula, -but in endurance the lowest hireling from the bazaar could beat her. - -And behind her ran the greyhound which had never been known to fail in a -kill. - -He felt the stallion’s pace increase as he stroked the glossy neck; then, -clutching the silvery mane, he swung, head down, listening to a sound -which had come to him along the sand even above the pounding of the -stallion’s hoofs. He swung himself erect and turned and looked along the -path marked out by those who fled and those who pursued. - -Led by the Patriarch, the men of the Sanctuary, stretched out in a line -across the horizon, raced towards him. They rode with the lance at rest, -and shouted as they rode, until the heavens were filled with the sound of -their voices and the thunder of their horses’ hoofs. - -There was no help to be sought of them. - -They rode in the joy of the hunt, in the hope of a kill, just as they had -ridden to the attack upon the white man’s camp, led by the woman who had -revolted them at last with her tyranny, and who, in the secret places of -their inconstant hearts, they hoped would die rather than the white man -and the white woman who fled before her. - -Then Fate jerked the strings which hobbled them all to their destiny. - -Al-Asad, riding with his eyes upon the greyhound, looked up and ahead -when Yussuf’s challenging cry came to him on the wind. Breathlessly he -watched for an instant of time, then sat back and raised his spear as the -mare stumbled and flung Zarah to the ground. In an unconscious effort -to catch the mare he pulled the stallion to the left, then pressed the -beast hard with his right knee, bringing it back to the path, and touched -its neck with the tip of the needle-pointed spear, so that it leaped -forward under the unexpected goad and hurled itself on the track of the -greyhound, which tore like the wind to where the girl stood. - -The half-caste just glanced at Yussuf and “His Eyes” as their dromedary -suddenly left the path and sped away across the desert. He knew the -dromedary was being driven along a circuitous route by which it would -ultimately join up with the white people; he knew that Yussuf felt sure -of his revenge and had left the end to the will of Allah; he felt no -hatred in his heart as he looked after them, fleeing to the safety which -was their birthright; he felt no anger as he raised his spear above his -head, so that it glittered in the risen sun, and shouted the battle-cry -as he drove the stallion to the rescue of the girl who stood alone, so -far away, facing him and the greyhound who had never failed to kill. - -He turned for an instant to look at the men who followed hard upon his -track, magnificent in his desperate need, his face alight with the glow -of battle. He raised his spear in answer to the Patriarch, who raised his -in salutation, and raised it again in greeting to the men, his friends. - - * * * * * - - “_A day which is not thine do not reckon it as of thy - life._”—ARABIC PROVERB. - -With the fatalism of the Arab, Zarah stood watching the race between the -greyhound and the man who loved her. - -She had glanced at the black dromedary carrying Blind Yussuf and “His -Eyes” to freedom; she had looked at the magnificent sight of the men she -had ruled so tyrannically as they deployed so that they should encircle -her when they reached her; she did not turn to look in the direction -taken by the girl she hated and the man she had loved passionately and -for so brief a time. - -Yet did hate outweigh the danger of the hour. - -“By Allah,” she cried, lifting her spear, “if I live I will lead my men -upon them and trample them and those who help them under foot. Yea, by -the honour of the Arab I swear, if I throw the spear so that it pierces -the heart of yon cursed dog, that not one of them shall be left alive -within the hour.” - -She dropped her white cloak from her shoulders and stepped clear, -weighing the slender spear as she measured the lessening distance between -the stallion and the greyhound. Her heart quickened not one beat, nor did -the slightest shadow of fear show in the tawny eyes. She did not despair -as the bitch seemed to gain upon the stallion; she did not hope as the -thunder of the stallion’s hoofs sounded clearer and clearer every moment. - -She was alone in her hour of desperate need, and only upon the strength -and skill of her right hand and the judgment of her eye could she depend -for life if the Nubian failed to reach her in time. - -Yet even when that life trembled in the balance she could not refrain -from tormenting the man who had been her willing, humble slave from the -moment his eyes had first met hers, and who alone raced to help her in -her peril. - -She held out her arms towards him and called his name and smiled, even -though she could almost see the red gleam of hate in the greyhound’s -eyes, so near was the revengeful beast. - -“Al-Asad!” she called. “Al-Asad!” - -Her voice sounded like a peal of bells in the desert stillness, her -beauty flamed like the sky above, her courage was superb as she measured -the distance between herself and the maddened greyhound. - -Then she leant forward and screamed, screamed till the echo of the -terrible sound carried to Yussuf’s ears, so that he turned and looked -back in the direction of the girl he could not see. - -Death was upon her; death with a crown of red above its snow-white face; -the death Yussuf had prophesied when she had struck him blind. - -She ran back so that the white cloak stretched between; she looked round -and up, up to the sun which was her birthright, forward to the closing -of her day. She flung out her arms, her hands, fingers widespread as -though to clutch the last moments of the life she loved so well. Life was -nigh spent; she stood within the shadows of Eternity; but, true to her -father’s race, true to the relentless desert to which she belonged, she -would die fighting. - -She shouted the battle-cry as she raised her spear. - -“_Ista ’jil! Ista ’jil! Ista ’jil!_” - -The desperate, defiant words were carried across the sands as she flung -the spear, flung it as Rādi the bitch, increasing her speed in a last -desperate effort to revenge her pup, changed her course by a few inches, -so that the spear barely grazed the shoulder as it flew past and buried -itself in the sands. - -Then fear came to Zarah the Cruel, not the fear of death, but fear of an -ignominious end in the eyes of her men. - -“Kill me, Al-Asad! Kill me!” - -She called desperately to the Nubian as she caught the bitch by the -throat as she leapt upon her. - -“Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!” - -The terrible cry rang in the Nubian’s ears as, misjudging his strength, -he hurled the spear even as the greyhound leapt. - -He shouted with triumph as the greyhound fell back dead, then flung -himself from the stallion as he swept past at full speed and threw -himself upon the girl he loved as she lay still. - -The point of the spear which had killed the greyhound had buried itself -in Zarah’s heart. - -He did not hear the shouting of the men as they swept down upon him from -every side; he did not seem to see the sun in the heavens as he knelt and -drew the weapon free; he did not hear the call of life as he lifted the -girl and held her against his heart. - -“Zarah,” he whispered softly, holding her gently on his arm. “I love -thee! No kiss have I wrested from thee awake. Behold, is it for me to -snatch one from thee in sleep?” He turned her face to his shoulder and -touched her hair gently, winding one curl about his slender fingers. “I -love thee, mate of mine. I hunger for thee, I thirst for thee. Yea, by -the wind of dawn I cannot live without thee. Behold, is there a smile -lurking in the corner of thy mouth, and thine eyes, like unto clear water -winding across the sands, laugh at me between thy lashes. Thou art gone -but a space before me across Life’s desert, and I hold the hem of thy -garment in my hands so that thou canst not escape me. I hear thee calling -me in the wind, I see thee beckoning me ’neath the sun.” He bent and -kissed her hair, then looked up to the sun, to the heavens, to that which -awaited him. - -He raised his spear above his head and smiled. - -The men, racing towards him in a great circle, raised their spears -and shouted a salutation as they pulled their horses back upon their -haunches. He shifted the girl a little upon his left arm, then threw back -his head and shouted the battle-cry, shouted until the desert rang with -the triumphant cry, as the men, divining his intention, charged down upon -him. - -He shook the spear above his head and laughed. - -“Zarah! My woman! Zarah, I follow thee!” - -He shouted the words, shouted with joy, then drove the spear deep down -into his faithful heart. - - - - -EPILOGUE - - -The Holy Man, motionless, gaunt, his eyes filled with the peace of Allah, -the one and only God, stood afar off, outlined against the blazing sky. - -He looked to the north, where had passed a party of Bedouins with a white -man and a white woman in their midst—a white woman with eyes like stars -of happiness and hair like unto a golden flower. - -He looked to the east, where passed a body of men, driving their horses -at greatest speed as they rode silently, swiftly, into the unknown, with -the lance at rest. - -Leaderless they rode, a black line across the limitless, relentless -desert, their spear points glittering in the sun. - -They faded into the distance, they were gone. - -To the south lay the Holy Man’s path, the south where the wind blows -hottest, where the sands burn the sandal from off even holy feet, which -search salvation in distress throughout the years. - -“_And deliver them from evil._” - -He leant upon his staff, older by some score years than when he stood to -watch two horsemen fleeing for their lives across the desert. The beads -of Mecca slipped between his fingers as he bent to read the inscription -from the Korān which the Patriarch had roughly scratched with spear point -upon the sand. - -He lifted up his voice in the wilderness above the spot where Zarah the -Arabian, wrapped in her great white cloak, lay upon Al-Asad’s heart, -asleep beneath the sands of the desert to which they both belonged: - - “_For whomsoever thou shalt deliver from evil on that day on - him wilt thou have mercy; and this will be great salvation._” - -The wind from the south carried the sonorous word from the Korān up to -heaven as the Holy Man passed on the one solitary figure moving in the -relentless desert, the forcing-ground of hate and fear and revenge, the -burial place of love and hope and peace, above which the birds of prey -wheeled and called as they drifted to the north and the south, the east -and the west, as they have drifted since the day every grain of sand was -numbered. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ZARAH THE CRUEL*** - - -******* This file should be named 61014-0.txt or 61014-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/0/1/61014 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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