"You are suffering," she said. "They broke your arm."
"Dislocated it anyhow."
"Let me see."
With infinite gentleness, she passed her smooth little hands over my
shoulder.
"You tell me that there is a white Targa on guard before my door,
Tanit-Zerga," I said. "Then how did you get in?"
"That way," she said, pointing to the window. A dark perpendicular
line halved its blue opening.
Tanit-Zerga went to the window. I saw her standing erect on the sill.
A knife shone in her hands. She cut the rope at the top of the
opening. It slipped down to the stone with a dry sound.
She came back to me.
"How can we escape?" I asked.
"That way," she repeated, and she pointed again at the window.
I leaned out. My feverish gaze fell upon the shadowy depths, searching
for those invisible rocks, the rocks upon which little Kaine had
dashed himself.
"That way!" I exclaimed, shuddering. "Why, it is two hundred feet from
here to the ground."
"The rope is two hundred and fifty," she replied. "It is a good strong
rope which I stole in the oasis; they used it in felling trees. It is
quite new."
"Climb down that way, Tanit-Zerga! With my shoulder!"
"I will let you down," she said firmly. "Feel how strong my arms are.
Not that I shall rest your weight on them. But see, on each side of
the window is a marble column. By twisting the rope around one of
them, I can let you slip down and scarcely feel your weight.
"And look," she continued, "I have made a big knot every ten feet. I
can stop the rope with them, every now and then, if I want to rest."
"And you?" I asked.
"When you are down, I shall tie the rope to one of the columns and
follow. There are the knots on which to rest if the rope cuts my hands
too much. But don't be afraid: I am very agile. At Gâo, when I was
just a child, I used to climb almost as high as this in the gum trees
to take the little toucans out of their nests. It is even easier to
climb down."
"And when we are down, how will we get out? Do you know the way
through the barriers?"
"No one knows the way through the barriers," she said, "except
Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh, and perhaps Antinea."
"Then?"
"There are the camels of Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh, those which he uses on
his forays. I untethered the strongest one and led him out, just below
us, and gave him lots of hay so that he will not make a sound and will
be well fed when we start."
"But...." I still protested.
She stamped her foot.
"But what? Stay if you wish, if you are afraid. I am going. I want to
see Gâo once again, Gâo with its blue gum-trees and its green water."