Part 34 (1/2)

”I have no lover, little white moon.”

”Si Maeddine will be thy lover, whether thou desirest him or not.”

”Thou mistakest, oh Zorah.”

”I do not mistake. If thou dost not yet know I am right, thou wilt know before many days. When thou findest out all that is in his heart for thee, remember our talk to-day, in the court of oranges.”

”I will tell thee thou wert wrong in this same court of oranges when I pa.s.s this way again without Si Maeddine.”

The Ghuara girl shook her head, until her curls seemed to ring like bells of jet. ”Something whispers to my spirit that thou wilt never again pa.s.s this way, oh Roumia; that never again will we talk together in this court of oranges.”

x.x.xI

If it had not been for Zorah and her twin sister Khadijah, Maeddine would have said to himself at Ouargla, ”Now my hour has come.” But though his eyes saw not even the shadow of a woman in the Cad's house, his ears heard the laughter of young girls, in which Victoria's voice mingled; and besides, he knew, as Arabs contrive to know everything which concerns others, that his host had daughters. He was well aware of the freemasonry existing among the wearers of veils, the dwellers behind shut doors; and though Victoria was only a Roumia, the Cad's daughters would joyfully scheme to help her against a man, if she asked their help.

So he put the hour-hand of his patience a little ahead; and Victoria and he were outwardly on the same terms as before when they left Ouargla, and pa.s.sed on to the region of the low dunes, shaped like the tents of nomads buried under sand, the region of beautiful jewelled stones of all colours, and the region of the chotts, the desert lakes, like sad, wide-open eyes in a dead face.

As they drew near to the Zaoua of Temacin, and the great oasis city of Touggourt, the dunes increased in size, surging along the horizon in turbulent golden billows. M'Barka knew that she was close to her old home, the ancient stronghold of her royal ancestors, those sultans who had owned no master under Allah; for though it was many years since she had come this way, she remembered every land-mark which would have meant nothing to a stranger. She was excited, and longed to point out historic spots to Victoria, of whom she had grown fond; but Maeddine had forbidden her to speak. He had something to say to the girl before telling her that they were approaching another city of the desert.

Therefore M'Barka kept her thoughts to herself, not chatting even with Fafann; for though she loved Victoria, she loved Maeddine better. She had forgiven him for bringing her the long way round, sacrificing her to his wish for the girl's society, because the journey was four-fifths finished, and instead of being worse, her health was better. Besides, whatever Maeddine wanted was for the Roumia's good, or would be eventually.

When they were only a short march from Touggourt, and could have reached there by dark, Maeddine nevertheless ordered an early halt. The tents were set up by the Negroes among the dunes, where not even the tall spire of Temacin's mosque was visible. And he led the little caravan somewhat out of the track, where no camels were likely to pa.s.s within sight, to a place where there were no groups of black tents in the yellow sand, and where the desert, in all its beauty, appeared lonelier than it was in reality.

By early twilight the camp was made, and the Soudanese were preparing dinner. Never once in all the Sahara journey had there been a sunset of such magical loveliness, it seemed to Maeddine, and he took it as a good omen.

”If thou wilt walk a little way with me, Oureda,” he said, ”I will show thee something thou hast never seen yet. When my cousin is rested, and it is time for supper, I will bring thee back.”

Together they mounted and descended the dunes, until they could no longer see the camp or the friendly smoke of the fire, which rose straight up, a scarf of black gauze, against a sky of green and lilac shot with crimson and gold. It was not the first time that Victoria had strolled away from the tents at sunset with Maeddine, and she could not refuse, yet this evening she would gladly have stayed with Lella M'Barka.

The sand was curiously crisp under their feet as they walked, and the crystallized surface crackled as if they were stepping on thin, dry toast. By and by they stood still on the summit of a dune, and Maeddine took from the hood of his burnous a pair of field-gla.s.ses of the most modern make.

”Look round thee,” he said. ”I have had these with me since our start, but I saved them for to-day, to give thee a surprise.”

Victoria adjusted the gla.s.ses, which were very powerful, and cried out at what she saw. The turmoil of the dunes became a battle of giants.

Sand waves as high as the sky rushed suddenly towards her, towering far above her head, as if she were a fly in the midst of a stormy ocean. The monstrous yellow shapes came closing in from all sides, threatening to engulf her. She felt like a b.u.t.terfly in a cage of angry lions.

”It is terrible!” she exclaimed, letting the gla.s.ses fall from her eyes.

The cageful of lions sat down, calmed, but now that the b.u.t.terfly had seen them roused, never could they look the same again.

The effect upon the girl was exactly what Maeddine had wanted. For once Victoria acted as he expected her to do in given circ.u.mstances. ”She is only a woman after all,” he thought.

”If thou wert alone in this sea of gold, abandoned, to find thine own way, with no guide but the stars, then indeed thou mightst say 'it is terrible,'” he answered. ”For these waves roll between thee and the north, whence thou hast come, and still higher between thee and the desired end of thy journey. So high are they, that to go up and down is like climbing and descending mountains, one after another, all day, day after day. And beyond, where thou must soon go if thou art to find thy sister, there are no tracks such as those we have followed thus far. In these s.h.i.+fting sands, not only men and camels, but great caravans, and even whole armies have been lost and swallowed up for ever. For gravestones, they have only the dunes, and no man will know where they lie till the world is rolled up as a scroll in the hand of Allah.”

Victoria grew pale.

”Always before thou hast tried to make me love the desert,” she said, slowly. ”If there were anything ugly to see, thou hast bidden me turn my head the other way, or if I saw something dreadful thou wouldst at once begin to chant a song of happiness, to make me forget. Why dost thou wish to frighten me now?”

”It is not that I mean to give thee pain, Oureda.” Maeddine's voice changed to a tone that was gentle and pleading. ”It is only that I would have thee see how powerless thou wouldst be alone among the dunes, where for days thou mightst wander, meeting no man. Or if thou hadst any encounter, it might be with a Touareg, masked in blue, with a long knife at his belt, and in his breast a heart colder than steel.”

”I see well enough that I would be powerless alone,” Victoria repeated.