Part 19 (1/2)

”Hasten, damsel, with thine incantations,” said he, ”the camp is now aroused and the dawn is at hand.”

Azrael cast a burning kiss with her hand in the direction whither Feriz had disappeared; then returning to the slave, she said, with her usual commanding voice:

”Remain here and count up to six hundred without looking after me, and by that time I shall have come back.”

Majmun counted up to six hundred with a loud voice.

Meanwhile, Azrael ran along the dam of the river bank till she came to the sluice, which she raised by the exertion of her full strength. The liberated water began to flow through the opening with a mighty roar.

Then Azrael hastened back to the negro.

”And now for the island,” said she.

And once more they traversed the dangerous way, Azrael lying on her back with a hand on the negro's head. In her bosom was a poplar leaf, which afforded her great satisfaction.

On reaching the island Azrael richly recompensed the negro, and said to him:

”To-morrow morning, at dawn, thy master, Yffim Beg, will seek thee and command thee to accompany him and Ha.s.san Pasha across the bridge to the other side where stands the camp of Feriz Beg. Thou wilt find no one there, but look at the place where we were this night, and if thou shouldst find there a nosegay or a wreath, bring it to me!”

Majmun listened with amazement. How could Azrael have found out all about these things?

Azrael returned to the kiosk, where Ha.s.san Pasha was still sleeping the deep sleep of opium. He awoke in the arms of his favourite, and he could not understand why her hands were so cold and her kisses so burning.

The odalisk told him she had been dreaming. She had dreamt that she swam across the river enticed by the singing of the Peris.

Ha.s.san smiled.

”Go on sleeping, and continue thy dream,” said he.

The sun was high in the heaven when Ha.s.san Pasha quitted the kiosk.

Yffim Beg was awaiting him.

”Wilt thou not ride to Pesth there to mark out the place for the camp of Feriz Beg, who has just arrived?”

Azrael shrewdly guessed that Yffim Beg was for leading the Governor to the Pesth sh.o.r.e to satisfy him as to the peasant girls whom he was said to have mistaken for soldiers by some evil enchantment. She also thought how convenient it would be for her that they should take Majmun with them for the whole day.

Ha.s.san accordingly accepted Yffim's invitation, and galloped with him and Majmun over to the opposite sh.o.r.e, where Yffim was amazed to discover that not a soul of Feriz Beg's host was visible.

In the night the suddenly released water had covered the whole ground of their camp, and they had been obliged to retire farther away from the river and seek another encampment beyond Pesth.

Yffim Beg would have liked to have torn out his beard in his wrath if he had not been restrained by the general's presence.

But Majmun, under the pretext of clearing the way, reconnoitred the scene of yesterday's interview, and there, in the roots of the silver birch, he found that a wreath had been deposited. He concealed it beneath his _burnush_, and carried it home to Azrael.

The wreath was composed of two pieces--a branch of laurel and a spray of thorn.

The damsel bowed her head before this answer. She knew that it signified: ”Suffer if thou wouldst prevail!”

CHAPTER XII.