THE ANSWER
Mary laughed a little unsteadily. Surely it was a strange miracle
that her gold cross had worked. She did not think it luck. In her
woman soul there was no thought of fate. God's care had shielded the
life of the man she loved.
Timur was speaking.
"Bassalor Danek is well content," she heard. "Beforetimes, he was
warmed by the sight of your fairness. But now it is verily a thing
assured. Gela, the Kha-Khan, son of my son, commander of the
_tumani_, has conceived love for you. Bassalor Danek has granted his
wish that you may become the wife of his abode and hearth."
Hearing, she did not yet understand.
"Gela?"
"He who took you from the evil priests. Because of the talisman you
wear it is fitting that you should be his bride."
She looked from one to the other, in sudden discomfort.
"Thus will you truly become kin to the Wusun," nodded Timur.
"I?"
"Bassalor Danek, in his wisdom, has decided."
The joy of her brief victory faded swiftly. The reaction weakened
her, made this new obstacle disheartening. But she drew strength
from a fresh thought.
"Take me to the white man!"
"Nay--it is not fitting. The bond of Gela's love is upon you."
To their bewilderment, the girl laughed. For a brief moment hysteria
had claimed her, wearied by the hardships she had undergone. In her
sudden stress she clung to the thought that had brought her
consolation.
She was a woman unnerved. In reality, she was instinctively calling
upon the aid of Gray's strength.
"Are you still blind?" she begged unevenly, the tears not far from
her eyes. "Have you not seen the love of the white man for me? How
can Gela take me from him, when I am already bound to him?"
Gray had said nothing to her of his love. But she had read in his
face what he had not spoken.
"Fools!" she stamped angrily. "You cannot take me from the arms of
the One-Who-Kills-Swiftly. He will hear of this." She was speaking
somewhat wildly now, feeling all her strength ebb from her. "He will
claim me. He will keep me---- Oh, truly, you are blind."
To the Wusun her sudden emotion was a display of the temper that
undoubtedly was the heritage of her royal blood.
Mary was, however, on the verge of a breakdown, and sought the
shelter of her own room, since she could not see Gray. She hurried
hither, with the woman who had waited without the shrine, at her
heels. To tell the truth, she fled.
In her chamber she flung herself down on the cushions and gave
herself up to a most unqueenly fit of weeping. The woman waited
stoically.
When Mary sat up and dried her tears, the woman smiled. Mary's face
was wan, and her hair disheveled. Glancing into a bronze mirror that
the woman brought her, she was almost glad that Gray could not see
her now. Whereupon she fell into reflection, and presently sent the
handwoman for brush and black ink-like paint which is the writing
fluid of the Wusun.
Then she diligently sought for any scraps of white stuff that might
serve as paper. She selected her handkerchief, but was forced to
place it in a window to wait until it dried.
She watched it in the process, a very sad looking woman, her hands
clasped about her knees and her head resting sidewise on her hands.
Meanwhile, the post-meridian shadows were lengthening across the
enclosure of Sungan. Shepherds were driving their few flocks from
the outer strips of grass; children who had bathed in the canals were
playing in the last of the sunlight. Groups of warriors emerged from
the ruins and walked slowly toward the fires where the evening meal
was preparing. Elders sought the council hall.
There was even greater bustle without the wall, where the Chinese
were gathering.
It was now the time of the sunset hymn. Gray, pacing the stone floor
of his tower room, heard the chant of many voices. It came from the
temple below, and the voices were repeating words the meaning of
which the owners no longer knew. Gray glanced impatiently from his
window, wondering why he had not heard from Bassalor Danek.
It might have been an hour after sunset that steps sounded outside
the door of the chamber. Garluk opened the door and stepped back
with a gesture of respect.
Gray looked up eagerly, thinking that Bassalor Danek or the lame
Timur had come. Instead a tall figure strode into the room.
It was a young man of powerful bearing. He carried his shapely,
olive head proudly. His dress was the white lambskin of the
Gur-Khan, but without the gold ornaments. A broad, leather belt
girdled his waist, and from this a straight sword hung in a bronze
scabbard.
The newcomer lifted his hand in greeting--a gesture that Gray
returned. He squatted down on the carpets silently, beckoning to
Garluk. Gray eyed him appraisingly, thinking that he had seldom seen
a man of such fine physique. The stranger's shoulders were shapely,
his arms heavily thewed, his waist slender. He moved with the ease
of a man poised on trained muscles.
The three sat in silence until Garluk bethought him to speak.
"This is the Kha Khan, O Man-from-the-Outside," the _tumani_
observed. "Gela, the leader of the _tumani_, and grandson of
Bassalor Danek."
"I give him greeting," returned the white man, wondering what his
visitor had to say.
Presently Gela turned his dark head to Garluk and spoke in a low tone
that carried resonantly, from a deep chest. Evidently he did not
know the dialect that Gray spoke. The majority of the Wusun were
ignorant of Chinese.
"Bassalor Danek," interpreted Garluk, "has seen the talisman on the
breast of the Kha Rakcha. He has pondered, in his wisdom, the words
you spoke. And he has made answer to Wu Fang Chien."
Once more Gela spoke, while Gray waited impatiently.
"Bassalor Danek, who is lord of the Wusun, listened to the complaint
of Wu Fang Chien, governor of Sungan. And his decision was as
follows: Undoubtedly both you and the white woman came to seek the
Wusun. While you have slain many of the men of the Buddhists, they
also have killed the men of the caravan. So, there is no debt to be
avenged."
Gray smiled at this simple, but logical way of looking at the
situation.
"Furthermore," interpreted Garluk, at Gela's prompting, "since you
have sought the Wusun, you may stay here. In the covenant it was
agreed that the penalty of attempting to escape is death; still,
there is no punishment for entering Sungan. You and the Kha Rakcha
will stay in Sungan."
This was good news. Gray was surprised, but he did not permit this
to appear in his face.
"What said Wu Fang Chien?" he asked.
"He will try to seize you and the woman. He will call in the
soldiers with guns from the desert."
"Will Bassalor Danek protect us?"
"He has given his word. Moreover, he is bound to guard the woman."
Gray did not at first heed this last remark. He was wondering just
how far the Chinese would go in their attempt to gain possession of
himself and the girl. Probably, he decided, Wu Fang Chien was not
over-desirous of forcing an entrance into Sungan. But the mandarin
would lose no chance of capturing himself, or possibly of sniping him
from the outer wall.
But for the present he reasoned that they were safe. Then Garluk's
reference to Mary returned to his mind. He recalled that Timur had
mentioned that Mary must remain with the Wusun.
Gela had risen, his message delivered. Gray halted him with a
gesture.
"Why is Bassalor Danek bound to keep the Kha Rakcha?" he asked,
inspired by a new and potent uneasiness.
Gela himself answered this, and Garluk interpreted.
"Have you not heard?" he smiled. "Gela, the Kha Khan, desires the
White Spirit for himself. Tomorrow night he will marry her,
according to the custom of the Wusun. Bassalor Danek has agreed."
Gray checked an exclamation with difficulty.
"That may not be," he said sternly. "The White Spirit is not one to
marry among the Wusun."
Garluk laughed. "Did not Gela, the strongest of the Wusun, take her
from the yellow priests? Does she not wear the talisman which is the
same as that of our shrine? Gela as yet has no wife. Why should he
not marry?"
While the two watched him, Gray considered the new turn affairs had
taken. All his instincts prompted him to cry out that the thing was
impossible. Mary must be protected. Yet he knew the futility of a
protest.
"Has the Kha Rakcha agreed to this?" he playing for time.
"She does not know of it," asserted Garluk complacently. "Why should
a maiden be told before she has the armlet"--he pointed at the bronze
circlet about Gela's powerful arm--"of her lord bound about her
throat?"
Gela interrupted brusquely.
"The Kha Khan asks," said Garluk, "if you are the husband of the Kha
Rakcha?"
"Good Lord!" meditated the American. He thought of asserting that he
was. Then reflected that Mary, who knew nothing of what was passing,
would hardly bear out his story. But he could not let the
opportunity go by without asserting some claim to the girl. "I was
to marry her," he compromised, "when we returned from the desert."
Gela barked forth a curt word and strode from the door, after a keen
glance at the American.
"The Kha Khan says that he will take her. Doubtless there are many
women where you come from. He desires the Kha Rakcha, whose life he
saved. Wu Fang Chien would have slain her. So said the yellow
priests."
Gray glowered at Garluk, who smiled back.
"Gela has never seen such a woman as the Kha Rakcha. She is as
beautiful as an aloe tree in bloom," chattered the _tumani_. "She
will bear him strong children, and a son to wear his sword when he is
old."
"If she does not agree--what then?"
"It will make no difference. Bassalor Danek has said that she will
be a worthy wife to his grandson. Does she not wear the talisman at
her throat? That is a good omen for the Wusun. Did she not come
here to seek the Wusun? Moreover, if Gela marries her, then Wu Fang
Chien cannot take her."
"What if I forbid?" asked Gray dryly.
"No one will heed you," explained Garluk frankly.
Gray considered the matter, frowning.
"Take me to the Kha Rakcha," he ordered.
Garluk made a gesture of denial.
"It is forbidden. To-morrow night the maiden is to be married.
There will be a feast, and a great chant. We will drink wine of
mare's milk."
"Then send Timur to me."
"It is night, and he is lame. After sunrise, perhaps he will come."
With that Garluk slipped from the door. Gray heard the sound of a
bar falling into place. He was shut in for the night.