XXXI
If it had not been for Zorah and her twin sister Khadijah, Maieddinewould have said to himself at Ouargla, "Now my hour has come." Butthough his eyes saw not even the shadow of a woman in the Caid's house,his ears heard the laughter of young girls, in which Victoria's voicemingled; and besides, he knew, as Arabs contrive to know everythingwhich concerns others, that his host had daughters. He was well aware ofthe freemasonry existing among the wearers of veils, the dwellers behindshut doors; and though Victoria was only a Roumia, the Caid's daughterswould joyfully scheme to help her against a man, if she asked theirhelp.
So he put the hour-hand of his patience a little ahead; and Victoria andhe 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 ofnomads buried under sand, the region of beautiful jewelled stones of allcolours, and the region of the chotts, the desert lakes, like sad,wide-open eyes in a dead face.
As they drew near to the Zaouia of Temacin, and the great oasis city ofTouggourt, the dunes increased in size, surging along the horizon inturbulent golden billows. M'Barka knew that she was close to her oldhome, the ancient stronghold of her royal ancestors, those sultans whohad owned no master under Allah; for though it was many years since shehad come this way, she remembered every land-mark which would have meantnothing to a stranger. She was excited, and longed to point out historicspots to Victoria, of whom she had grown fond; but Maieddine hadforbidden her to speak. He had something to say to the girl beforetelling her that they were approaching another city of the desert.Therefore M'Barka kept her thoughts to herself, not chatting even withFafann; for though she loved Victoria, she loved Maieddine better. Shehad forgiven him for bringing her the long way round, sacrificing her tohis wish for the girl's society, because the journey was four-fifthsfinished, and instead of being worse, her health was better. Besides,whatever Maieddine wanted was for the Roumia's good, or would beeventually.
When they were only a short march from Touggourt, and could have reachedthere by dark, Maieddine nevertheless ordered an early halt. The tentswere set up by the Negroes among the dunes, where not even the tallspire of Temacin's mosque was visible. And he led the little caravansomewhat out of the track, where no camels were likely to pass withinsight, to a place where there were no groups of black tents in theyellow sand, and where the desert, in all its beauty, appeared lonelierthan it was in reality.
By early twilight the camp was made, and the Soudanese were preparingdinner. Never once in all the Sahara journey had there been a sunset ofsuch magical loveliness, it seemed to Maieddine, and he took it as agood omen.
"If thou wilt walk a little way with me, Ourieda," he said, "I will showthee something thou hast never seen yet. When my cousin is rested, andit is time for supper, I will bring thee back."
Together they mounted and descended the dunes, until they could nolonger see the camp or the friendly smoke of the fire, which rosestraight up, a scarf of black gauze, against a sky of green and lilacshot with crimson and gold. It was not the first time that Victoria hadstrolled away from the tents at sunset with Maieddine, and she could notrefuse, yet this evening she would gladly have stayed with LellaM'Barka.
The sand was curiously crisp under their feet as they walked, and thecrystallized surface crackled as if they were stepping on thin, drytoast. By and by they stood still on the summit of a dune, and Maieddinetook from the hood of his burnous a pair of field-glasses of the mostmodern 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 outat 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 farabove her head, as if she were a fly in the midst of a stormy ocean. Themonstrous yellow shapes came closing in from all sides, threatening toengulf 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 hadseen them roused, never could they look the same again.
The effect upon the girl was exactly what Maieddine had wanted. For onceVictoria acted as he expected her to do in given circumstances. "She isonly a woman after all," he thought.
"If thou wert alone in this sea of gold, abandoned, to find thine ownway, with no guide but the stars, then indeed thou mightst say 'it isterrible,'" he answered. "For these waves roll between thee and thenorth, whence thou hast come, and still higher between thee and thedesired end of thy journey. So high are they, that to go up and down islike climbing and descending mountains, one after another, all day, dayafter day. And beyond, where thou must soon go if thou art to find thysister, there are no tracks such as those we have followed thus far. Inthese shifting sands, not only men and camels, but great caravans, andeven whole armies have been lost and swallowed up for ever. Forgravestones, they have only the dunes, and no man will know where theylie 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 myhead the other way, or if I saw something dreadful thou wouldst at oncebegin to chant a song of happiness, to make me forget. Why dost thouwish to frighten me now?"
"It is not that I mean to give thee pain, Ourieda." Maieddine's voicechanged to a tone that was gentle and pleading. "It is only that I wouldhave thee see how powerless thou wouldst be alone among the dunes, wherefor days thou mightst wander, meeting no man. Or if thou hadst anyencounter, it might be with a Touareg, masked in blue, with a long knifeat 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 Maieddine. "But there is a thing I need to tellthee. My need is very sore. Because I have kept back the words I haveburned to speak, my soul is on fire, oh Rose! I love thee. I die forthee. 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 herhands go, and caught her to his heart, folding her in his burnous as ifhe would hide her even from the eye of the sun in the west. But shethrew herself back, and pushed him away, with her palms pressed againsthis breast. She could feel under her hands a great pounding as of ahammer that would beat down a yielding wall.
"Thou art no true Arab!" she cried at him.
The words struck Maieddine in a vulnerable place; perhaps the only one.
He had expected her to exclaim, to protest, to struggle, and to begthat he would let her go. But what she said was a sharp, unlooked forstab. Above all things except his manhood, he prided himself on being atrue Arab. Involuntarily he loosened his clasp of her waist, and sheseized the chance to wrench herself free, panting a little, her eyesdilated. But as she twisted herself out of his arms, he caught her bythe wrist. He did not grasp it tightly enough to hurt, yet the grip ofhis slim brown hand was like a bracelet of iron. She knew that she couldnot escape from it by measuring her strength against his, or even bysurprising 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 noteven try to struggle, but stood still, looking up at him steadily. Yether heart also was like a hammer that beat against a wall; and shethought of the endless dunes in whose turmoil she was swallowed up. IfStephen Knight were here--but he was far away; and Maieddine, whom shehad trusted, was a man who served another God than hers. His thoughts ofwomen 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," Maieddine answered. "I mean no harm to thee,but only good, as long as we both shall live. My white angel wills thatthou shalt be my
wife. Thou shalt not say I am no true Arab. I am trueto 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 willto be thy wife. We have drunk from the same cup. Thou art pledged toloyalty."
"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 towait till thou wert in thy sister's arms; but since the night when I sawthee dance, my love grew as a fire grows that feeds upon rezin. If Ioffend thee, thou alone art to blame. Thou wert too beautiful thatnight. I have been mad since then. And now thou must give me thy wordthat thou wilt marry me according to the law of Islam. Afterwards, whenwe can find a priest of thine own religion, we will stand before him."
"Let my hand go, Si Maieddine, if thou wishest me to talk further withthee," Victoria said.
He smiled at her and obeyed; for he knew that she could not escape fromhim, therefore he would humour her a little. In a few more moments hemeant to have her in his arms again.
His smile gave the girl no hope. She thought of Zorah and the court ofthe oranges.
"What wilt thou do if I say I will not be thy wife?" she asked, in aquiet voice; but there was a fluttering in her throat.
A spark lit in his eyes. The moon was rising now, as the sun set, andthe two lights, silver and rose, touched his face, giving it an unreallook, as if he were a statue of bronze which had "come alive," Victoriathought, just as she had "come alive" in her statue-dance. He had neverbeen so handsome, but his dark splendour was dreadful to her, for he didnot 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 myheart, oh soul of my soul! I tell thee fate has spoken. The sand hasspoken--sand gathered from among these dunes. It is for that reason inpart 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 ownheart. Look, oh Rose, where the moon glitters on the sand--the sand thattwined thy life with mine. See how the crystals shape themselves likelittle 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-crystalssparkled in the sunset and moonrise, like myriads of earthboundfireflies. Their bright facets seemed to twinkle at her with cold, fairyeyes, waiting to see what she would do, and she did not know. She didnot know at all what she would do.