Part 61 (1/2)

”I promise, if----”

The pounding ceased. In the courtyard there was a certain confusion--the sound of running feet, and murmur of excited voices, though eyes that looked through the holes in the door and window could not see past the barricade.

Then, suddenly, the pounding began again, more furiously than ever. It was as if demons had taken the place of men.

”It is Maeddine, I'm sure!” cried Victoria. ”I seem to know what is in his mind. Something has made him desperate.”

”There's a chance for us,” said Stephen. ”What I believe has happened, is this. They must have stationed a sentinel or two outside the bordj in case of surprise. The raised voices we heard, and the stopping of the work on the roof for a minute, may have meant that a sentinel ran in with news--good news for us, bad news for the Arabs.”

”But--would they have begun to work again, if soldiers were coming?”

”Yes, if help were so far off that the Arabs might hope to reach us before it came, and get away in time. Ben Halim's one hope is to make an end of--some of us. It was well enough to disguise the whole band as Touaregs, in case they were seen by nomads, or the landlord here should escape, and tell of the attack. But he'd risk anything to silence us men, and----”

”He cares nothing for Saidee's life or mine. It's only Maeddine who cares,” the girl broke in. ”I suppose they've horses and meharis waiting for them outside the bordj?”

”Yes. Probably they're being got ready now. The animals have had a night's rest.”

As he spoke, the first bit of ceiling fell in, rough plaster dropping with a patter like rain on the hard clay floor.

Saidee cried out faintly in her corner, where Nevill had fallen into semi-unconsciousness behind the screen. Rostafel grumbled a ”sapriste!”

under his breath, but the Highlanders were silent.

Down poured more plaster, and put out the last candle. Though a faint dawn-light stole through the holes in door and window, the room was dim, almost dark, and with the smell of gunpowder mingled the stench of hot tallow.

”Go now, dearest, to your sister,” Stephen said to the girl, in a low voice that was for her alone.

”You will come?”

”Yes. Soon. But the door and window must be guarded. We can't have them breaking in two ways at once.”

”Give me your hand,” she said.

He took one of hers, instead, but she raised his to her lips and kissed it. Then she went back to her sister, and the two clung together in silence, listening to the patter of broken adobe on the floor. At first it was but as a heavy shower of rain; then it increased in violence like the rattle of hail. They could hear men speaking on the roof, and a gleam of daylight silvered a crack, as Stephen looked up, a finger on the trigger of his revolver.

”Five minutes more,” were the words which repeated themselves in his mind, like the ticking of a watch. ”Four minutes. Three. Can I keep my promise to her, when the time comes!”

A shout broke the question short, like a snapped thread.

He remembered the voice of the marabout, and knew that the sisters must recognize it also.

”What does he say?” Stephen called across the room to Victoria, speaking loudly to be heard over voices which answered the summons, whatever it might be.

”He's ordering Maeddine to come down from the roof. He says five seconds' delay and it will be too late--they'll both be ruined. I can't hear what Maeddine answers. But he goes on working still--he won't obey.”

”Fool--traitor! For thy sentimental folly wilt thou sacrifice thy people's future and ruin my son and me?” Ca.s.sim shouted, as the girl stood still to listen. ”Thou canst never have her now. Stay, and thou canst do naught but kill thyself. Come, and we may all be saved. I command thee, in the name of Allah and His Prophet, that thou obey me.”

The pounding stopped. There was a rus.h.i.+ng, sliding sound on the roof.

Then all was quiet above and in the courtyard.

Saidee broke into hysterical sobbing, crying that they were rescued, that Honore Sabine was on his way to save them. And Victoria thought that Stephen would come to her, but he did not. They were to live, not to die, and the barrier that had been broken down was raised again.