Part 50 (1/2)
As he stared ahead of him, his eyes beginning to adjust themselves now to the peculiar conditions of the desert atmosphere, he caught sight of a speck upon the sand which, unlike the majority of desert objects, the scanty tamarisk bushes, the low humpbacked hills which here and there formed an apparently endless chain, appeared to move, to grow almost imperceptibly larger as the distance between them diminished.
During their ride over the desert they had met no other human beings.
Once or twice they had seen, to right or left of their track, a collection of mud huts, overshadowed by the plumy tufts of tall date-palms, betokening the presence of a handful of _fellaheen_ scratching a livelihood from the unfriendly sand. Again they had twice beheld in the far distance a caravan winding its leisurely way upon some mysterious errand to an unknown destination; but these last had been too far away for their component parts of horses, camels, merchandise, to be distinguished; and after a brief glance towards the long snaky lines as they wound their way through the sand, Sir Richard and Anstice had wisely refused to strain their eyesight further.
But this solitary unit on the vast face of the desert was a different matter; and Anstice gazed steadily ahead in an as yet fruitless attempt to make out what this thing which appeared to move towards them might be.
At first he said nothing, thinking that his eyes might quite conceivably be playing him tricks, that this apparently moving figure might possibly be a figment of his brain, or one of those delusive sprites which are said to haunt the unwary traveller in the desert; but at length, as the distance between the object and himself diminished more and more rapidly, until he could have sworn he caught the flutter of a blue robe, Anstice felt it time to point out the vision or whatever it might be to his as yet unseeing companion.
”Sir Richard,” he said, so suddenly that Sir Richard, who had been jogging along sunk in reverie, started in surprise. ”Do you see anyone coming towards us over the sand?”
Sir Richard, thus appealed to, sat up more erectly in his saddle; and gazed with his keen old eyes in the direction of Anstice's pointing hand; and Anstice watched him with an anxiety which was surely out of place.
After a moment's fruitless search Sir Richard unslung the field-gla.s.ses which he carried, and applied them to his eyes; and in another moment, having adjusted the focus, he uttered an exclamation.
”By Gad, Anstice, you're right! It's a native of sorts, and he is coming directly towards us. He is too far off for me to distinguish his features--you look and see what you can make of him.”
He handed the gla.s.ses to Anstice, who raised them to his eyes; and after adjusting the lenses to suit his younger, keener sight, he swept them round in an attempt to focus the distant object.
First an apparently illimitable expanse of sky and sand swam slowly into view, each insignificant landmark in the desert magnified almost incredibly by the powerful gla.s.ses; and at last the blue-robed native appeared suddenly as though only a stone's throw away from the man who searched for him.
The gla.s.s revealed him as an Arab of an ordinary type clad in a faded blue djibbeh, over which he wore the short grey coat so inexplicably beloved of the native. On his head was a scarlet fez; and his blue robe was gathered up in such a way as to leave bare his brown and sinewy legs as he paddled ruthlessly and unhesitatingly over the burning sand.
As he lowered the gla.s.ses Anstice gave a short description of the advancing native to Sir Richard, adding:
”He seems to be in something of a hurry--he's covering the ground in a most energetic fas.h.i.+on--and he really does appear to be making straight for us!”
All at once Sir Richard's lately-born optimism fell from him like an ill-fitting garment. Taking the gla.s.ses back he adjusted them once more with fingers that absolutely trembled; and when after a long and steady stare he lowered them and turned to his companion his face was very serious.
”Anstice, I hope to G.o.d I'm mistaken, but that fellow looks uncommonly like Ha.s.san--and from the haste he's making I should say he had been sent out to meet us. And that can only mean disaster--either Bruce is worse, or----” He broke off suddenly, his fine old face suddenly grey.
”Oh, it won't be so bad as that, sir!” Unconsciously Anstice replied to the unspoken suggestion. ”Possibly your daughter has sent this chap to relieve your mind--Cheniston may have taken a turn for the better--heaps of things may have happened.”
”Quite so.” Sir Richard was replacing his gla.s.ses in their case with oddly fumbling movements. ”But I wish to G.o.d we were safely back ... we can't even see the village for these confounded palm trees!”
As though the horses understood and sympathized with the mental tension of their riders they sprang forward with renewed energy; and some hard riding brought the two men within hailing distance of the approaching native.
”It is Ha.s.san all right,” said Sir Richard with a rather painful attempt at composure. ”Let us hurry on and find out what is amiss at the village.”
As the native drew nearer it was easy to see that he was the bearer of important news. His coffee-coloured face was s.h.i.+ning with drops of perspiration, and his breath came in pitiful gasps as he hurried up to Sir Richard and began pouring out his story in a flood of mixed Arabic and English which was quite unintelligible to Anstice.
”Speak slower, man, slower!” Sir Richard spoke emphatically, and for a s.p.a.ce the native obeyed; but it was evident from the look of mingled consternation and rage in his hearer's face that the story was one of dire import.
When, presently, the Arab ceased, his tongue positively lolling out of his mouth like that of a thirsty dog, Sir Richard turned to Anstice with an air of determination.
”Things have been moving, with a vengeance, in our absence,” he said grimly. ”It seems that yesterday morning early young Garnett found a couple of Bedouins prowling about his place and helping themselves to his choicest produce; and being a hotheaded young fool he let fly at them with his revolver, the result being that by a most unlucky chance he winged one of the rascals and the other a.s.sisted him off, vowing vengeance on the whole little English colony of eight souls. It was not an empty threat either; for when Ha.s.san, feeling uneasy at the idea of harm coming to Iris, slunk into the village to find out, if possible, what mischief was afoot, he ran slick into a conclave of the brutes, and hiding behind a rock heard their plans.”
”They were pretty deadly, I suppose?”
”They merely embraced the wholesale ma.s.sacre, under cover of night, of the English men and women who had been fools enough to trust their good faith,” returned Sir Richard shortly. ”Well, Ha.s.san, whose wits are as sharp as his ears are long, lost no time in going back to his mistress with the information; and between them they evolved a plan which might, with the most marvellous luck, be successful.”