If it had not been for Zorah and her twin sister Khadijah, Maïeddine
would have said to himself at Ouargla, "Now my hour has come." But
though his eyes saw not even the shadow of a woman in the Caïd's house,
his ears heard the laughter of young girls, in which Victoria's voice
mingled; and besides, he knew, as Arabs contrive to know everything
which concerns others, that his host had daughters. He was well aware of
the freemasonry existing among the wearers of veils, the dwellers behind
shut doors; and though Victoria was only a Roumia, the Caïd's daughters
would joyfully scheme to help her against a man, if she asked their
help.
So he put the hour-hand of his patience a little ahead; and Victoria and
he were outwardly on the same terms as before when they left Ouargla,
and passed on to the region of the low dunes, shaped like the tents of
nomads buried under sand, the region of beautiful jewelled stones of all
colours, and the region of the chotts, the desert lakes, like sad,
wide-open eyes in a dead face.
As they drew near to the Zaouïa of Temacin, and the great oasis city of
Touggourt, the dunes increased in size, surging along the horizon in
turbulent golden billows. M'Barka knew that she was close to her old
home, the ancient stronghold of her royal ancestors, those sultans who
had owned no master under Allah; for though it was many years since she
had come this way, she remembered every land-mark which would have meant
nothing to a stranger. She was excited, and longed to point out historic
spots to Victoria, of whom she had grown fond; but Maïeddine had
forbidden her to speak. He had something to say to the girl before
telling her that they were approaching another city of the desert.
Therefore M'Barka kept her thoughts to herself, not chatting even with
Fafann; for though she loved Victoria, she loved Maïeddine better. She
had forgiven him for bringing her the long way round, sacrificing her to
his wish for the girl's society, because the journey was four-fifths
finished, and instead of being worse, her health was better. Besides,
whatever Maïeddine wanted was for the Roumia's good, or would be
eventually.
When they were only a short march from Touggourt, and could have reached
there by dark, Maïeddine nevertheless ordered an early halt. The tents
were set up by the Negroes among the dunes, where not even the tall
spire of Temacin's mosque was visible. And he led the little caravan
somewhat out of the track, where no camels were likely to pass within
sight, to a place where there were no groups of black tents in the
yellow sand, and where the desert, in all its beauty, appeared lonelier
than it was in reality.
By early twilight the camp was made, and the Soudanese were preparing
dinner. Never once in all the Sahara journey had there been a sunset of
such magical loveliness, it seemed to Maïeddine, and he took it as a
good omen.
"If thou wilt walk a little way with me, Ourïeda," he said, "I will show
thee something thou hast never seen yet. When my cousin is rested, and
it is time for supper, I will bring thee back."
Together they mounted and descended the dunes, until they could no
longer see the camp or the friendly smoke of the fire, which rose
straight up, a scarf of black gauze, against a sky of green and lilac
shot with crimson and gold. It was not the first time that Victoria had
strolled away from the tents at sunset with Maïeddine, and she could not
refuse, yet this evening she would gladly have stayed with Lella
M'Barka.
The sand was curiously crisp under their feet as they walked, and the
crystallized surface crackled as if they were stepping on thin, dry
toast. By and by they stood still on the summit of a dune, and Maïeddine
took from the hood of his burnous a pair of field-glasses of the most
modern make.
"Look round thee," he said. "I have had these with me since our start,
but I saved them for to-day, to give thee a surprise."
Victoria adjusted the glasses, which were very powerful, and cried out
at what she saw. The turmoil of the dunes became a battle of giants.
Sand waves as high as the sky rushed suddenly towards her, towering far
above her head, as if she were a fly in the midst of a stormy ocean. The
monstrous yellow shapes came closing in from all sides, threatening to
engulf her. She felt like a butterfly in a cage of angry lions.
"It is terrible!" she exclaimed, letting the glasses fall from her eyes.
The cageful of lions sat down, calmed, but now that the butterfly had
seen them roused, never could they look the same again.
The effect upon the girl was exactly what Maïeddine had wanted. For once
Victoria acted as he expected her to do in given circumstances. "She is
only a woman after all," he thought.
"If thou wert alone in this sea of gold, abandoned, to find thine own
way, with no guide but the stars, then indeed thou mightst say 'it is
terrible,'" he answered. "For these waves roll between thee and the
north, whence thou hast come, and still higher between thee and the
desired end of thy journey. So high are they, that to go up and down is
like climbing and descending mountains, one after another, all day, day
after day. And beyond, where thou must soon go if thou art to find thy
sister, there are no tracks such as those we have followed thus far. In
these shifting sands, not only men and camels, but great caravans, and
even whole armies have been lost and swallowed up for ever. For
gravestones, they have only the dunes, and no man will know where they
lie till the world is rolled up as a scroll in the hand of Allah."
Victoria grew pale.
"Always before thou hast tried to make me love the desert," she said,
slowly. "If there were anything ugly to see, thou hast bidden me turn my
head the other way, or if I saw something dreadful thou wouldst at once
begin to chant a song of happiness, to make me forget. Why dost thou
wish to frighten me now?"
"It is not that I mean to give thee pain, Ourïeda." Maïeddine's voice
changed to a tone that was gentle and pleading. "It is only that I would
have thee see how powerless thou wouldst be alone among the dunes, where
for days thou mightst wander, meeting no man. Or if thou hadst any
encounter, it might be with a Touareg, masked in blue, with a long knife
at his belt, and in his breast a heart colder than steel."
"I see well enough that I would be powerless alone," Victoria repeated.
"Dost thou need to tell me that?"
"It may be not," said Maïeddine. "But there is a thing I need to tell
thee. My need is very sore. Because I have kept back the words I have
burned to speak, my soul is on fire, oh Rose! I love thee. I die for
thee. I must have thee for mine!"
He snatched both her hands in his, and crushed them against his lips.
Then, carried away by the flower-like touch of her flesh, he let her
hands go, and caught her to his heart, folding her in his burnous as if
he would hide her even from the eye of the sun in the west. But she
threw herself back, and pushed him away, with her palms pressed against
his breast. She could feel under her hands a great pounding as of a
hammer that would beat down a yielding wall.
"Thou art no true Arab!" she cried at him.
The words struck Maïeddine in a vulnerable place; perhaps the only one.
He had expected her to exclaim, to protest, to struggle, and to beg
that he would let her go. But what she said was a sharp, unlooked for
stab. Above all things except his manhood, he prided himself on being a
true Arab. Involuntarily he loosened his clasp of her waist, and she
seized the chance to wrench herself free, panting a little, her eyes
dilated. But as she twisted herself out of his arms, he caught her by
the wrist. He did not grasp it tightly enough to hurt, yet the grip of
his slim brown hand was like a bracelet of iron. She knew that she could
not escape from it by measuring her strength against his, or even by
surprising him with some quick movement; for she had surprised him once,
and he would be on guard not to let it happen again. Now she did not
even try to struggle, but stood still, looking up at him steadily. Yet
her heart also was like a hammer that beat against a wall; and she
thought of the endless dunes in whose turmoil she was swallowed up. If
Stephen Knight were here--but he was far away; and Maïeddine, whom she
had trusted, was a man who served another God than hers. His thoughts of
women were not as Stephen's thoughts.
"Think of thy white angel," she said. "He stands between thee and me."
"Nay, he gives thee to me," Maïeddine answered. "I mean no harm to thee,
but only good, as long as we both shall live. My white angel wills that
thou shalt be my wife. Thou shalt not say I am no true Arab. I am true
to Allah and my own manhood when I tell thee I can wait no longer."
"But thou art not true to me when thou wouldst force me against my will
to be thy wife. We have drunk from the same cup. Thou art pledged to
loyalty."
"Is it disloyal to love?"
"Thy love is not true love, or thou wouldst think of me before thyself."
"I think of thee before all the world. Thou art my world. I had meant to
wait till thou wert in thy sister's arms; but since the night when I saw
thee dance, my love grew as a fire grows that feeds upon rezin. If I
offend thee, thou alone art to blame. Thou wert too beautiful that
night. I have been mad since then. And now thou must give me thy word
that thou wilt marry me according to the law of Islam. Afterwards, when
we can find a priest of thine own religion, we will stand before him."
"Let my hand go, Si Maïeddine, if thou wishest me to talk further with
thee," Victoria said.
He smiled at her and obeyed; for he knew that she could not escape from
him, therefore he would humour her a little. In a few more moments he
meant to have her in his arms again.
His smile gave the girl no hope. She thought of Zorah and the court of
the oranges.
"What wilt thou do if I say I will not be thy wife?" she asked, in a
quiet voice; but there was a fluttering in her throat.
A spark lit in his eyes. The moon was rising now, as the sun set, and
the two lights, silver and rose, touched his face, giving it an unreal
look, as if he were a statue of bronze which had "come alive," Victoria
thought, just as she had "come alive" in her statue-dance. He had never
been so handsome, but his dark splendour was dreadful to her, for he did
not seem like a human man whose heart could be moved to mercy.
For an instant he gave her no answer, but his eyes did not leave hers.
"Since thou askest me that question, I would make thee change thy 'no'
into 'yes.' But do not force me to be harsh with thee, oh core of my
heart, oh soul of my soul! I tell thee fate has spoken. The sand has
spoken--sand gathered from among these dunes. It is for that reason in
part that I brought thee here."
"The sand-divining!" Victoria exclaimed. "Lella M'Barka told thee----"
"She told me not to wait. And her counsel was the counsel of my own
heart. Look, oh Rose, where the moon glitters on the sand--the sand that
twined thy life with mine. See how the crystals shape themselves like
little hands of Fatma; and they point from thee to me, from me to thee.
The desert has brought us together. The desert gives us to one another.
The desert will never let us part."
Victoria's eyes followed his pointing gesture. The sand-crystals
sparkled in the sunset and moonrise, like myriads of earthbound
fireflies. Their bright facets seemed to twinkle at her with cold, fairy
eyes, waiting to see what she would do, and she did not know. She did
not know at all what she would do.