Conq 
 
 uest
 
 Desert Love 
 
 By Joan. Conquest: 
 They Were Alone . . . . 
 
 The magic of the desert night had closed 
 about them. Cairo, friends, civilization as 
 she knew it were left far behind. She, an 
 unbeliever, was. in the heart of the trackless 
 wastes with a man whose word was more than 
 law. 
 
 And yet, he was her slave 1 
 
 "I shall ask nothing of you until you shall 
 love me," he promised. "You shall draw your 
 curtains, and until you call, you shall go 
 undisturbed." 
 
 And she believed him! 
 
 Do you want to see luxury beyond your 
 imagination to conjure, feel the softness of 
 silks finer than the gossamer web of the 
 spider hear the night voices of the throbbing 
 desert, or sway to the jolting of the clank- 
 ing caravan? 
 
 Egypt, Arabia pass before your eyes. The 
 impatient cursing of the camel men comes to 
 your ears. Your nostrils quiver in the acrid 
 smoke of the little fires of dung that flare 
 in the darkness when the caravan halts. The 
 night has shut off prying eyes. Yashmaks 
 are lowered. White flesh gleams against 
 burnished bands of gold. The children of 
 Allah are at home. 
 
 And the promise he had given her? let 
 
 Joan Conquest, who knows and loves the 
 East, tell you in 
 
 DESERT LOVE
 
 THE 
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 and shall be punished accordingly.
 
 DESERT LOVE
 
 DESERT LOVE 
 
 BY 
 
 JOAN CONQUEST 
 
 Author of 
 
 "Leonie of the Jungle" 
 "The Hawk of Egypt" 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE MACAULAY COMPANY
 
 Copyright, 1990 
 BY THE MACAULAY COMPANY 
 
 PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAKT I 
 
 FAGS 
 
 THE SEED * 
 
 PAET II 
 THE FLOWER . . 201 
 
 PAET III 
 
 THE FRUIT . . ,.. . . * . . 277 
 
 2224600
 
 PART I 
 
 THE SEED
 
 DESERT LOVE 
 
 CHAPTEK I 
 
 JILL looked at the East ! 
 
 At her feet sat huddled groups of women, just bundles 1 
 of black robes, some with discs about their necks, some 
 with chains or golden crescents upon the forehead, all 
 wearing the burko l covering the entire face with the ex- 
 ception of the eyes, and held in position between the eye- 
 brows by the quaint tube-shaped selva, fastening it to the 
 tarliah, the flowing black veil which nearly touches the 
 ground behind, covers the head, and pulled down to the 
 eyebrows leaves just the beautiful dark eyes to be seen, 
 glancing up timidly in this case at the golden- 
 haired, blue-eyed girl above them. 
 
 Men of different classes stood around, or squatted on 
 their heels upon the ground, all in flowing robes of dif- 
 ferent colouring and various stages of cleanliness, some 
 with heads covered in turbans, some with the tarboosh, 
 others with the kahleelyah or head handkerchief, all 
 chattering with the exception of the higher classes and 
 the Bedouins, the latter clothed in white, with the dis- 
 tinctive thong of camel's hair wound about the head cov- 
 ering, arms folded and face passively serene, looking as 
 though they had stepped right out of the Old Testament 
 
 i Yashmak or face veil. 
 
 9
 
 10 DESERT LOVE 
 
 on to the fly-ridden, sunbaked station of Ismailiah; 
 whilst vendors of cakes, sticky, melting sweets, and small 
 oranges, wandered in and out of the crowd screaming 
 their wares. Shouts of laughter drew Jill's attention to 
 the other side of the station, where, with terms of en- 
 dearment mixed with blood-curdling threats, a detach- 
 ment of British soldiers getting ready to start en route 
 for Suez were urging, coaxing, striving to make that 
 most obstinate of animals, the camel, get to its feet some 
 time before midnight. 
 
 From them she looked at a group of native dwellings 
 made of sunbaked clay. Small square buildings, look- 
 ing in the distance like out-houses, with scarcely percep- 
 tible windows, and flat roofs given over to poultry. 
 Near them the patient bullock did its monotonous round, 
 drawing the precious water from the well with which to 
 moisten the arid little patch of earth from which the 
 fellah extracts the so very little necessary to him in his 
 life. 
 
 A clump of slender palms, like forgotten scaffolding, 
 stood out clear against the intense blue of the sky ; the 
 desert, that wonderful magnetic plain, stretched away in 
 mile upon mile of yellow nothingness, until as minute as 
 flies on a yellow floor, growing more distinct at every 
 step, with solemn and exceeding great dignity stalked a 
 string of camels, each animal fastened by a rope to the 
 saddle of the one in front, each apparently unconscious 
 of its seemingly overwhelming burden, as with heads 
 swaying slightly from side to side with that air of dis- 
 dain which the dame of Belgravia unsuccessfully tries 
 to imitate when essaying to crush the inhabitant of 
 Suburbia by means of long-handled lorgnettes resting on
 
 DESERT LOVE 11 
 
 the shiny arch of her aristocratic nose, they responded 
 without fail to the soft musical voice of the Arab seated 
 cross-legged on the leader. 
 
 Then her eyes turned to the West. 
 
 To the mixed mob which had rushed from the Nord- 
 deutsclier Lloyd at Suez, leaving the great liner to the 
 wise few, while perspiring and querulous, and altogether 
 unpleasant, they had filled the little train which chuffs 
 its way along the edge of the canal to Ismailiah, and 
 through the dust and fly-laden miles to Cairo, where it 
 turns its burden out to clamour and argue vociferously 
 with the wily dragoman who would take a herd of ele- 
 phants to " do " the Pyramids in one hour if the back- 
 sheesh proved substantial enough. 
 
 With absolute loathing she gazed at those with whom 
 she had passed so many weary days on the return jour- 
 ney from Australia. 
 
 There were of a certain type of English women not 
 a few, sunburnt, loud of voice, lean of breast and 
 narrow of hip. 
 
 Their sisters, wiser and better endowed by nature, 
 had remained on the liner, taking advantage of the 
 empty conditions of the boat to repair the ravage done 
 to complexion and wardrobe by the sizzling, salt-laden 
 wind which had tortured them since Colombo had been 
 left behind. 
 
 Two daughters and a mother stood aloofly in the 
 shade thrown by the indescribable waiting-room; the 
 mother still labouring under the delusion that if you 
 can't afford to send your girls properly wardrobed on 
 a visit to relations in India, the next best method 
 of annexing husbands for them is to take them hack-
 
 12 DESERT LOVE 
 
 ing on a long sea voyage. For has it not been known 
 that many a man driven to the verge of madness by 
 the everlasting sight of flying fish, and the as enduring 
 sound of the soft plop of the little bull-board sandbag, 
 has become engaged to " a perfectly im-poss-ible person 
 in the second class, you know," so as to break the deadly 
 monotony of his surroundings. 
 
 They did not want to see Cairo or any other part 
 of Egypt, for the East said nothing to them, even a 
 rush view of the Pyramids failing to stir their shallow 
 hearts; but they knew to a shade the effect on their 
 less fortunate friends when in course of time they 
 should murmur, " You remember, dear, the winter we 
 were in Cairo." 
 
 Added to these there were raucous Australians, clum- 
 sily built guttural Germans, in fact the usual om- 
 nium gatherum unavoidable, alas! on a sea voyage, 
 clothed in short skirts, shirt waists, squash hats, and 
 thick boots as " they were going tramping about the 
 sands," and each, of course, loaded with the inevitable 
 camera which gives dire offence to many an eastern 
 of higher rank, who hates being photographed willy- 
 nilly along with all the other " only a native " habits 
 of the westerner, who with the one word " nigger " 
 describes the Rajah of India, the Sheik of Arabia, the 
 Hottentot and the Christy Minstrel. 
 
 Free for one day from the restraining manners of 
 those others who at that very moment were doubtless 
 returning thanks on deck to Allah for his manifold 
 blessings in the shape of some few hours of perfect 
 peace, a few men of different nationalities were either 
 boisterously chaffing the less plain of their companions,
 
 DESERT LOVE 13 
 
 or ogling the shrinking Eastern women crouching on 
 the edge of the platform. Mr. Billings in fact, in un- 
 clean canvas shoes and a frantic endeavour to find 
 favour in the bistre enlarged eyes of a certain slim 
 black figure, was executing the very double shuffle 
 which had " brought down " the second class dining 
 saloon honoured for the nonce by the presence of the 
 first class, on the occasion of one of the purgatorial 
 concerts habitual to sea life as known on board a liner.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 JILL stood by herself! 
 
 Personally I consider as infinitely boring those de- 
 scriptions written at length anent the past lives of 
 the characters, male and female, which go to the build- 
 ing of a novel, so in as few words as possible will 
 try to outline the years which had brought Jill Garden 
 to the dreary task of waiting hand and foot upon the 
 whimsies of a neurotic German woman of great wealth, 
 and still greater disinclination to part with the smallest 
 coin of any realm she might be travelling through. 
 
 Jill, an only child and motherless, had led a glorious 
 care-free existence. 
 
 Adored by her father and her two friends, Moll, 
 otherwise the Honourable Mary Bingham pronounced 
 Beam, of the neighbouring estate, and Jack, otherwise 
 Sir John Wetherbourne, Baronet, of the next county, 
 big brother to Jill and worshipper at the shrine of 
 Moll. Jill was also loved by all who waited on her, 
 and sought after by not a few on account of her great 
 wealth, and had laughed her way through seventeen 
 years of life, to find herself suddenly minus father and 
 money, with nothing left in fact but an estate mort- 
 gaged to the smallest pebble, and a heart-whole propo- 
 sition from her chum Moll to " just come over the 
 wall " and restart laughing her way as her adopted 
 sister through the bit of life which might stretch from 
 
 14
 
 DESERT LOVE 15 
 
 the moment of disaster to such time that she should 
 find a life companion with whom she could settle down 
 and live happily ever after ! 
 
 But although Jill's head was outwardly covered with 
 great plaits of auburn hair, through which broke riot- 
 ous, frivolous curls, the inside held a distinctly active 
 and developed brain, which had acquired the habit of 
 thinking deeply upon such subjects as woman, wife and 
 motherhood. 
 
 Added to this, which is already quite enough to put 
 out of gear the life of any girl brought up in convention 
 bound England, she had a heart as big as her out- 
 rageous longing for, and love of adventure, neither of 
 which bignesses she had so far been able to satisfy. 
 
 As I have said this was quite bad enough, but 
 through and above all, her whole rather exceptional 
 being was desirous of love. Not the shape which 
 clothes its diseased body in soiled robes of imitation 
 something at one and elevenpence three farthings per 
 yard, and under ferns in conservatories, in punts up 
 back-waters, in stifling tea-rooms, hotels, theatres and 
 night-clubs, exchanges sly look for sly look and soiled 
 mouth for soiled kisses, in its endeavours to pass itself 
 off as that wonder figure which, radiant of brow and 
 humorous of mouth, deep of breast and profound of 
 thought, stands motionless in high and by-ways with 
 hands outstretched to those futile figures, blindly hurry- 
 ing past the Love they fondly imagine is to be found 
 in the front row of the chorus, the last row of the 
 cinema, or the unrestrained licence of the country house. 
 
 Jill had never flirted and therefore had known no 
 kiss excepting her father's matutinal and nocturnal
 
 16 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 peck. She looked upon her beautiful body as some 
 jewel to be placed in the hands of the man she loved 
 upon her wedding-night, so it was as unsoiled and as 
 untainted as her mind, although she knew that once 
 she loved she would go down before that mighty force 
 as a tree before a storm. Dull, you will say all this. 
 May be! but mighty refreshing in these days when 
 amourette follows amourette as surely as Monday fol- 
 lows Sunday, the only difference in the stock being 
 the trade mark, which stamps the one with the outline 
 of a perfect limousine, and the other with the front 
 seat on the top of an omnibus; though believe me the 
 Mondays and Sundays differ not at all. 
 
 Jill's ideas on franchise and suffrage, and a " good 
 time " as seen from the standpoint of the average so- 
 ciety girl or woman were absolutely nil. 
 
 She wanted first of all a master, then a home, and 
 then children, many of them. 
 
 Her idea of love was utter submission to the man 
 she should love. Her ideal of happiness his happiness, 
 and although she had no fixed idea of her home, she 
 was positively certain she did not want lodge gates and 
 forelock-pulling peasantry, nor tame deer inside elab- 
 orate palings, nor the white-capped nurse stiff with 
 starch trundling a perambulator with a fat, ordinary, 
 rosy heir to the palings, deer, and pullers of locks. 
 
 So she sweetly but very definitely said no to a certain 
 millionaire, who had earned his banking account and 
 the thanks of many thousands by his invention of a 
 non-popping champagne cork, and who, adoring the 
 girl, had hastened the very day the news of the smash 
 had spread through the country, like fire on a windy
 
 DESERT LOVE 17 
 
 day, to lay his portly self and all that thereunto ad- 
 hered at her beautiful feet. The disgust of her rela- 
 tives upon her want of common sense was outspoken ; 
 for having overstocked their respective quivers with 
 commonplace female arrows, they quite naturally looked 
 with dismay upon an almost beautiful and quite penni- 
 less and homeless girl about whom, after having read 
 the will they referred to as " poor Jill, for whom I 
 suppose we must do something don't you know ? " with 
 a quavering inflection at the end of the phrase. 
 
 But Jill did not stop on refusing the eligible owner 
 of an unmortgaged estate. No! she set out to look 
 for work off her own bat, and actually found it in that 
 occupation which, far less paid than more, opens up a 
 perfect vista of possible adventures under the guise of 
 a travelling companion. 
 
 She spoke French, German, and Italian like natives, 
 which was all to the good. She danced like a Vernon 
 Castle, knew almost as much about fencing as a Sa- 
 violo, shot like a George V., and rode like a cowboy, 
 all of which qualifications she erased from her list on 
 the termination of the freezing half-hour of her first 
 interview with her first would-be employer, who, until 
 the enumeration of the above sporting qualifications, 
 had seemed desirous of taking her along with a bron- 
 chitic pug to winter in Bath. 
 
 Since then she had done Europe and Africa pretty 
 well with never the suspicion of an adventure, and, 
 when you meet her on the station of Ismailiah, where 
 you change for Port Said, she was returning from 
 Australia, with a wardrobe at last beginning to fret 
 about the hem, and shine around the seams, a condition
 
 18 DESERT LOVE 
 
 accounted for by the emaciated condition of her purse; 
 a memory of good things and hours worn thin by the 
 constant nerve- wracking routine of capsules, hot drinks, 
 hot water bottles, moods and shawls; and a fully de- 
 veloped rebellion in her whole being against the never- 
 ending vista which stretched far into the future, of 
 other such hours, days, months, yea ! even years ! 
 
 But everything was capped by a still more fully 
 developed decision to brave it out, and out, and out, 
 rather than return to ask the help of those whose hand- 
 clasp had weakened in ratio to the dwindling of the 
 gold in her coffers.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 A.ND why did she stand by herself ? 
 
 This is no riddle, the answer being too easy. Men 
 ft mid have answered, " Guessed in once, she was 
 p*etty ! " And the women would guess in once too, 
 but would keep silent, the pretty ones merely smiling, 
 having sampled the Coventry-sending powers of plain 
 women in the majority on board, and the plain ones 
 from that unwillingness inborn or inherited in every 
 woman to admit good looks, or good anything for that 
 matter, in a member of her own sex. 
 
 And she was pretty, with the prettiness of youth al- 
 lied to genuine red-gold hair, and the bluest of blue eyes, 
 which looked at you in disconcertingly straight manner 
 from between the longest black lashes you ever saw. 
 
 She sounds very much like a " Dainty Novel heroine," 
 but I have met her and I know, and she also had a 
 mouth turned up at the corners, and the loveliest teeth, 
 a nose which also turned up, not unduly, and a skin on 
 which lay the merest suspicion of powder like dust on 
 a butterfly's wings, also two jet black grains de beaute, 
 one at the corner of her mouth and the other on top of 
 the left cheek, just under the outside corner of the eye. 
 
 Ravissante! Her beauty was nature's own, and she 
 had the loveliest, longest, narrowest feet ever shod and 
 silken hosed by Audet, and as lovely out of the silken 
 hose as in. 
 
 But all that, though it pleased the eye, did not really 
 constitute her real charm. It was more the idea of 
 strength, and buoyancy, and the love of humanity she 
 
 19
 
 20 DESERT LOVE 
 
 gave out, that attracted young and old, rich and poor, 
 dogs, children, and the sick of soul and body to her. 
 
 The type of woman who owns the husband of a 
 roaming disposition and has not got accustomed to 
 the disposition, or the woman eager to acquire a hus- 
 band of any disposition whatever, liked her not at all, 
 failing to see that she was genuinely uninterested in 
 other people's male belongings. 
 
 Those who think to lure men by the mystery of a 
 tobacco cloud permanently around the head, or to stim- 
 ulate by the sight of a glass which looks like lemonade 
 but isn't, nestling among the everlasting cards and 
 cigarette debris, disliked her intensely, not so much be- 
 cause she did not ally herself with them, as for the fact 
 that she did not range herself against them, having even 
 been heard to remark that the world would be a deadly 
 dull place if everyone enjoyed the same pleasure and 
 the same wickedness. Just three more items to add to 
 the long list against her on this particular voyage. 
 
 Firstly, had she not one sizzling Red Sea day ap- 
 peared with her hair hanging in two great plaits reach- 
 ing below her knees ? Which escapade might have es- 
 caped uncensured if accompanied by the whitish eye- 
 lashes, forceful freckles, and pungent aroma usually 
 allied to reddish hair, but as it was, the combination 
 of the red-gold glory with blackest curling lashes, skin 
 like satin, and the faintest trace of Devonshire lav- 
 ender, created a perfect scandal among those whose 
 locks were either limply curtaining their owner's cheeks 
 or blinding the eye, or cached under some head cover- 
 ing were acquiring a wave which might with luck last 
 out the dinner and bridge hours.
 
 DESERT LOVE 21 
 
 Secondly, although a penniless companion, she al- 
 lowed no familiarity from the men and no condescen- 
 sion from the women; and thirdly, her shoes gave rea- 
 son for envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, 
 being on the day you met her exquisite champagne col- 
 oured things, her critics little guessing that the reason 
 she wore them was that she had none thicker, and no 
 money wherewith to buy any. 
 
 This last point sounds almost absurd, but those who 
 know will any day back the woman with dainty ankles, 
 pretty feet, the glimpse of white lace and a plain face, 
 against the really beautiful countenance up above the 
 shapeless ankle-calf combine, and the foot that in two 
 days gives a shoe the shape of the bows of a dinghey. 
 
 So because of all these reasons, also because all the 
 nice, wise people who loved her having stayed behind, 
 she stood alone, her heart clamouring for life and 
 adventure, which comes to about the same thing, and 
 which she sensed is to be fou^id so much more easily 
 in the East she was leaving behind in the space of a 
 few hours. The rest of her rebelling against the West, 
 the monotonous days on the boat racing her back to 
 England in November, with nothing to do, too much to 
 eat, and the trail of medicine glasses, cushions, gouty, 
 dyspeptic, and neurotic employers lengthening into the 
 drab future. 
 
 " Allah ! help me ! " she whispered, and really mean- 
 ing it, as she turned to look again at the camels stalking 
 on into the desert, and finding herself instead looking 
 straight into the eyes of an Arab standing behind her. 
 
 And here, I hope, endeth the dullest part of the book.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ARABS as a race are tall, most of them having a grave 
 look of nobility, all without exception inheriting from 
 their forefathers Ishmail or Johtan that air of studied 
 calm, that seldom smiling, never restless attitude, which 
 expresses the height of dignity and gravity. There 
 were many of them in this motley station crowd, also 
 Bedouins, smaller of stature, and the members of the 
 many other tribes which go to populating the great 
 Egyptian desert. But not one of all the men, mag- 
 nificent though some of them were, could compare with 
 Hahmed the Camel King, who, standing alone and mo- 
 tionless with folded arms, let his eyes rest upon this 
 most fair woman from the West. 
 
 Jill was accustomed to being looked at, from the 
 impudent stare of Frenchmen, the open look of admira- 
 tion, both male and female, of the Italian, to the never- 
 to-be-forgotten look of Berlin that had seemed to un- 
 dress and leave her naked in the street. 
 
 But now under grave scrutiny she felt the colour, 
 which made her even more lovely, rising from chin 
 to brow, and longed to cover her face or to run away 
 and hide, though there was nothing but a wondering 
 respect in the Arab's eyes. 
 
 For one moment his eyes met hers, then she slowly 
 lowered the heavy white lids with their fringe of curling 
 lashes, and, turning, stood looking out over the desert. 
 
 22
 
 DESERT LOVE 23 
 
 where she no longer saw the stretches of yellow sand, 
 nor the string of camels stalking away into the dis- 
 tance, nor the mud houses and patient bullocks. No! 
 nothing of all these, but instead, just one man's face, 
 oval, lean-featured, eyes brilliantly black and deep-set 
 under thick eyebrows, an aquiline nose, the lower part 
 of the face covered in a sharp pointed beard, and the 
 thick virile hair by a snow-white kahleelyah, bound by 
 a band to the well-shaped head. 
 
 A man was he indeed with a width of shoulder rarely 
 seen in an Arab, standing well over six foot, in spotless 
 white robes sweeping to his feet, a cloak of finest 
 black cloth falling over all in swinging folds, failing, 
 however, to hide that look of tremendous strength which 
 impresses one so in some of the long-limbed, lean, mus- 
 cular inhabitants of the desert. 
 
 Jill walked over to the edge of the platform which 
 as a rule is only raised a few inches above the rail, and 
 after a few seconds beckoned her employer's special 
 dragoman, who had annexed himself at Cairo and pre- 
 sumably would only be shaken off on deck. 
 
 He came immediately, all smiles. 
 
 All the so-called lower classes smiled upon Jill, from 
 the coster in Whitechapel to the Kaffir at the Cape. 
 And why? Why, because she smiled when she asked 
 a service. 
 
 " Be more dignified ! " she would indignantly reply 
 when remonstrated with about the native. " They cer- 
 tainly show a varied degree of blackness in their skin, 
 and have less brains than some of us, but they are 
 human, so I shall continue to smile if I like," and smile 
 she did, and they smiled too and ran to do her bidding.
 
 24 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Not that she indulged in the " our dear black 
 brother " views of those people who, from utter lack 
 of knowledge upon the subject, believe that with the 
 exception of a certain difference in the pigment which 
 embellishes the skin, the lowest type of Hottentot has 
 the same ideals, desires, and outlook on life as the 
 highest born, or, as I think to be more correct, I 
 should say, the cleanest living individual in the Western 
 Hemisphere. 
 
 She did not approve of the promiscuous mingling of 
 the white and black as is so often and so unhappily 
 seen in London, where a servant girl maybe, will 
 ecstatically spend her evening out under the protection 
 of some ebony hued product of Africa and, labouring 
 under the delusion that the dusky swain is the direct 
 descendant of Cetewayo. also totally lacking all knowl- 
 edge of African history, will fondly imagine herself a 
 queen in embryo, instead of which she is merely the 
 means to feed the lustful longing for the white in some 
 Cape boy, who believes he hides the roll of his native 
 walk under an exaggerated skirt to his over-padded 
 coat. 
 
 And she equally hated to see the social butterfly 
 smile upon the high-born native of India, angling for 
 his lakhs with the bait of a fair white skin upon which 
 to fasten a string of priceless pearls, gathering her 
 fastidious skirts about her at the sign of any feeling- 
 more human than that which she would allow from a 
 respectable bank manager, recoiling disdainfully from 
 a man whose ancestors were mighty in the land 
 when hers were just beginning to break through the 
 crust of serfdom, as a toad will crack and throw
 
 DESEKT LOVE 25 
 
 back the caked mud under which it has blissfully 
 slept. 
 
 As a preventative to social and racial mishaps she 
 thoroughly endorsed the theory that " East is East and 
 West is West, etc." But in her heart, or rather in 
 her somewhat searching brain, she had often wondered 
 if there could be no exception to the ruling, if half of 
 the East and half of West could never combine to make 
 a perfect whole. 
 
 All smiles the dragoman ran forward, saluting her 
 with hands to forehead, mouth, and breast. 
 
 " Do you know who that man is ? " she asked, indi- 
 cating with a scarcely perceptible movement of the 
 head the Arab who had not moved a muscle since she 
 had turned away from him to look at his homeland, the 
 desert. 
 
 " 'Im ! My lady ! " replied the native, eyes and 
 white teeth flashing as he essayed in his best Anglo- 
 French to please the beautiful foreigner who so gra- 
 ciously spoke to him. " 'Im ? Oh, 'im ! is Hahmed 
 the Camel King. 'Im provide the camels for Govern- 
 ment ' Camels Corpse,' " pointing to the Camelry Corps, 
 where perspiring Tommies and a seething mass of 
 brown beasts were literally raising the dust on the other 
 side of the railroad. " 'Im," he continued, " is ze 
 great man, from far away over ze Canal from ze 
 greates' and best part of South Arabia. Is rich, oh! 
 rich ! Oh ! so very rich riche com/me le diable, Ma- 
 dame. Is master of many villages, many peoples, but 
 is 'ow say, my lady est etrange and feared. 'Is 
 word is ze law and 'is arm is ze iron and 'e can also 
 shoot ze fly on ze top of Cheops ! "
 
 26 DESERT LOVE 
 
 The man paused, literally from want of breath. 
 
 " He is evidently a very fine man," said Jill, it must 
 be confessed a little disappointedly, having expected 
 something a little less ordinary in the way of history, 
 *' but I can't say I see anything strange about it all ! " 
 
 The dragoman, slightly downcast by the lack of en- 
 thusiasm on the part of his audience, took in a huge 
 quantity of the absolutely stifling air and started afresh. 
 
 " Oh ! mais, Madame, ze strange zing is zat wiz all 
 'is rich, all 'is camel, all 'is 'ouse ah ! I forgot zat 
 is 'is Ismailiah 'ouse," pointing a long, brown finger 
 to a huge pink edifice, standing like a huge pink birth- 
 day cake under the blazing sun on the edge of the 
 town " 'e 'aj no woman no not an one not wile 
 not lady zere is tales of one wife long ago over 
 zere," pointing vaguely in the direction he imagined 
 South Arabia might be, " but feared, we say and ask 
 nozing no ! ze great Hahmed live alone not 
 
 zere " Once more pointing contemptuously to the 
 
 pink abode. " Zat but a business 'ouse ze most beau- 
 tiful place in one oasis ! Ze Flat Oasis ! Ah Madame ! 
 comme cest 61 lie I who 'ave been on camel business 
 can tell, ze 'ouse, ze shade, ze water but no lady, no 
 children, no son, no one 'e go and sleep and live 
 all by self alone trisie, Madame, because 'e is ze 
 great, ze just, but go always alone in ze night to 'is 
 oasis bien aimee and " 
 
 And here the uplifting of an angry guttural voice 
 caused him to turn and run hurriedly towards a figure 
 vehemently signalling with a huge fawn-coloured sun- 
 shade lined with green. 
 
 And as he ran the soul of the desert, born of the sun,
 
 DESEKT LOVE 27 
 
 palms, ennui, flies, the sand, and Allah knows what 
 besides, suddenly sat up in Jill's eyes and laughed, 
 and as she laughed the words " Go always alone in 
 ze night to 'is oasis bien aimee " rang in the girl's 
 ears, as a strange and startling idea flashed across her 
 mind. 
 
 For and against the idea ranged her thoughts; up- 
 held one moment by the insistent clamouring of her 
 whole soul for freedom; combated the next by the 
 inherited deference to convention planted by long dead 
 generations in the mind soil of almost every British 
 subject. 
 
 Why should she not break away and strike out on 
 her own, if only for a few hours ? But would she not 
 be running into positive physical danger if she did so ? 
 Still it would only be for a few hours a swift ride 
 into the desert a glimpse of a desert home a break 
 anyhow in the deadly, soul-stifling monotony of her 
 daily round. Yes ! but what did she know of the man 
 outside the eulogies of the dragoman, who for all she 
 knew might be leagued with him in nefarious schemes. 
 
 And yet, no one cared if she lived or died in soul or 
 body. Marry she would not for years, and years, 
 though of a truth that prospect would become more 
 and more remote as youth vanished and the waters 
 of her wealth remained at low tide. But the most 
 irresistible argument in favour of the mad idea was 
 that so far she had not had one single real adventure. 
 
 " Allah ! " she whispered, clasping her hands invol- 
 untarily. " Where is my path ? Show me the way 
 out!" 
 
 And even as she unclasped her hands, she heard a
 
 28 DESERT LOVE 
 
 faint tinkle of coins in the well-worn little bag hanging 
 from her wrist. 
 
 " Allah has heard ! " she murmured to herself, as she 
 fished for a coin. 
 
 " Heads I speak tails I go back to England," she 
 continued, placing the silver coin on her thumb nail, 
 flipping it into the air, and catching it on the back of 
 her hand. "Heads. Oh!" 
 
 And giving herself no time to think, whilst the soul 
 in her eyes first frowned and then laughed in glee, 
 she turned and crossed the few yards covered by the 
 sand which for centuries blown hither and hither had 
 been waiting to make a carpet for her lovely feet to 
 tread when Allah in his graciousness should show her 
 the path, which would lead her to the way out.
 
 CHAPTEK V 
 
 JILL had an entrancing speaking voice. She spoke 
 on a low note, and having trained the muscles of the 
 throat to relax or tighten at will, she was able to throw 
 all manner of inflection into the words, and all shades 
 of tone and melody into the chords of the beautiful 
 musical instrument which is so terribly neglected the 
 world over. 
 
 So that when she spoke, her words sounded like the 
 chiming of distant bells in the ears of the man, and 
 his heart seemed likely to be engulfed in the golden 
 stream of a voice through which continuously rippled 
 a gentle laughter. 
 
 " Monsieur will forgive me for speaking in this 
 abrupt way, but the moments are few in which to 
 make my request. I hear that in the desert is a beau- 
 tiful oasis, and many beautiful Arabian horses. I 
 have never seen an oasis, for you see I know nothing 
 of Egypt, but I once had an Arab mare. She was 
 wonderful and white. Perhaps Monsieur has some of 
 her brothers or sisters? And just for once I should 
 like to see the desert stars at night, and the desert sun 
 at dawn. Could Monsieur take me to see these things 
 
 if " And then the golden voice stopped short, and 
 
 the girl involuntarily took one step backward. 
 
 Those who know the race know that the Arab has 
 a tremendous control over his emotions. He can love
 
 30 DESERT LOVE 
 
 and kill in one moment, but until the woman is liter- 
 ally swept off her feet, or the man or woman is dead 
 in a heap, neither by voice or gesture will he betray 
 the passion consuming him. 
 
 The voice, the greatest betrayer of mankind, is es- 
 pecially under control of these exceedingly strong men. 
 No matter what paroxysm of rage, revenge, or desire 
 may be shaking the man to the innermost depth of his 
 being, his voice flows on just as musically, just as 
 softly. 
 
 But Jill, being observant, had noticed that although 
 the hands lay folded on the crossed arms, the nails 
 were dug into the palms, and raising her eyes to the 
 sombre face for explanation, had encountered two eyes 
 blazing with a mighty anger. 
 
 There are many ways in which to incite the Arab to 
 wrath, but believe me, the way which will most surely 
 lead to sudden murder, or to long bloody feud drawn 
 out over many years, passing from generation to gen- 
 eration, is the way of ridicule. 
 
 Let him think that you are laughing at him, and I 
 should advise you to take the nearest camel, train, or 
 boat, or any other means of locomotion to hand, and 
 fly the country. 
 
 The country mind you, for hide you ever so craftily, 
 he will find you, even though your hair be white, and 
 your figure bent with the passage of years, and then, 
 only then will he be appeased, when -the real or im- 
 agined jest at his expense has been lost in the deep 
 colour of your rich red blood. 
 
 So that when the Arab spoke a light of understand- 
 ing dawned upon Jill, for, touching his forehead,
 
 DESERT LOVE 31 
 
 mouth, and a spot on his raiment just above his heart 
 with his right hand, and murmuring the customary 
 salutation, " May peace be upon you," he paused for 
 a moment, and then continued, " But it pleases Ma- 
 dame to jest with me. She awaits the train to take 
 her to the boat, how therefore could she come into the 
 desert to-night ? " 
 
 But Jill was absolutely unafraid! Having known 
 no master, she cared not one sou for any son of man, 
 or any untoward position she might find herself in, so 
 opening wide her very beautiful eyes she simply smiled 
 back into the angry ones which looked down upon her 
 from some considerable height, and, with a little shrug 
 of her shoulders, a habit acquired from one of a suc- 
 cession of foreign governesses, she made reply in her 
 turn, and in words which though absolutely common- 
 place served as the golden key with which to unlock 
 the bejewelled, golden casket of this man's love. 
 
 In any Western country the situation would have 
 been absurd! An English girl, minus scenery and 
 every accessory due to a book heroine, capable in five 
 brief minutes of smiting the heart of one of Egypt's 
 most renowned men ! 
 
 Ridiculous ! 
 
 Perhaps in the lands of fogs and fires, grey skies 
 and east winds, but not in Egypt, where the sun, sky, 
 winds, and memories serve rather to force the growth 
 of the love-plant and hasten the budding of the passion- 
 flower. 
 
 Studiously buttoning up the last button which she 
 always left undone on her last pair of suede gloves, 
 smooth as a newly born whippet puppy, and as yet
 
 32 DESEET LOVE 
 
 unruffled from the cleaner's manipulations, she spoke 
 with a ripple of laughter which made it impossible to 
 decide if she was speaking seriously or not. 
 
 "Madame permits herself to do just as she pleases.' 
 If by some unforeseen circumstances she were to miss 
 the train, would she be taken to see the oasis, and the 
 horses, and the stars ? " 
 
 And let it be understood that, in her utter ignorance 
 of deserts, she imagined the oasis could be reached 
 after a journey of a few hours. 
 
 For one moment there was dead silence between 
 these two, the strings of whose lives Fate was inex- 
 tricably mixing in her fingers, palsied by age, and 
 fretted by the constant tugging and straining of those 
 other threads which, in moments of senile anger or 
 childishness, she gets into such hopeless tangles. 
 
 Then as the shriek of an engine whistle shrilled 
 faintly in the distance the man spoke, his voice sink- 
 ing to that deep note which no other nation attains, 
 resembling in no way the Russian bass, and which in 
 the Arab upon rare occasions alone betrays some emo- 
 tional upheaval. 
 
 " Listen, woman of the West, who even at this mo- 
 ment stands in my shadow, between that faint en- 
 gine whistle and the grinding of the brakes as the 
 train comes to a standstill, you must make your choice. 
 A few moments ago I saw you toss a silver coin and 
 decide quickly that which had been decided already for 
 you since the beginning of all time. 
 
 " Once more you shall cast your die. The table 
 is the sand of Egypt, the dice-cup is your hand, the
 
 DESERT LOVE 33 
 
 dice are your life and my life, the stakes our happiness. 
 Decide again and quickly for I hear the rumbling of 
 wheels. Make known your choice, for although we 
 travellers through the desert of life lie down to sleep, 
 and rise again to live, to fight, to hate, and above all 
 to love, in obedience to the will which counteth and 
 heapeth the particles of sand upon this station, yet 
 are we allowed to voice our desires, being mouth- 
 pieces of Fate. Nay! wait one moment until I make 
 clear the way, so that you may not put down your 
 beautiful feet blindly upon a trackless waste of doubt 
 and mistrust. If you come with me to-night, you 
 come alone. I have no woman in my desert home, 
 excepting one old hunchback slave, a withered bough 
 but faithful. No woman has set foot within the belt 
 of palms surrounding my house, and without the sand 
 stretches ! Mile upon mile of pathless sanji ! 
 
 " You will come into the desert alone with me, and 
 the sand will close in upon you and keep you in the 
 desert alone with me ! 
 
 " If you come, be at the gate of yonder pink house 
 at nine to-night ; if you are not there I shall know that 
 your heart has failed." 
 
 But the soul of the desert glinted for one moment 
 in the English girl's eyes. 
 
 " There may be no woman there, but there will be 
 a man a man indeed ! " she whispered, as though 
 communing with herself. 
 
 And the eyes so soft and blue looked up, and then 
 down, down into the soul of Hahmed the Arab, so 
 deeply indeed that a shiver ran from her brain to her
 
 34 DESERT LOVE 
 
 finger-ends, causing her to draw herself together sharply 
 and to turn and walk away. 
 
 So it came about as it was written that she had 
 decided when the brakes grinded, and that after re- 
 trieving her employer for the last time, and placing 
 her in a dusty corner of the stifling carriage, she 
 slipped away on the excuse of finding her dressing- 
 case, which she did, taking it with her into a corner of 
 the deserted waiting-room just as the engine announced 
 its immediate departure. 
 
 Without a qualm she watched " her crowd " jostle 
 and push their way into the small carriages, and the 
 train move out, leaving her alone alone in the desert 
 town, alone with the dweller of that desert. 
 
 A wave of exultation rushed through her as she 
 thought of this her great adventure, of this her free- 
 dom for at least a short while, and of the unknown 
 quantity she was mixing into her portion of daily 
 bread which, up to this moment, had consisted of the 
 plainest, wholesomest, most uninteresting bun-loaf, not 
 even resembling that extremely dull and unappetising 
 cake named, I believe, Swiss roll, which hides its stale- 
 ness under the glass case of Life's shop window, ly- 
 ing fly-blown on the plate and heavily and unimagina- 
 tively on the digestive powers of those who consume 
 it for the thin layer of jam to be discovered between 
 its wedgeo of sullen dough. A soul-stifling mess to 
 be found in the drab sideboards of most English house- 
 holds along with its sister made of a pastry so flimsy 
 that it chokes, filled with a cream that is merely froth, 
 the whole hiding its cheapness under an application
 
 DESERT LOVE 35 
 
 of highly coloured paint essence, the consuming of 
 which will prove as fatal as the Swiss roll. 
 
 So she raised her hands to the grimy ceiling of the 
 dirty waiting-room and whispered to the dust, the 
 buzzing flies, and vivid ray of sunlight. 
 
 " Verily, and indeed I have burned my boats behind, 
 or perhaps I should say my liner before me 1 "
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 JILL, very fair indeed to look upon, and with seven- 
 and-sixpence in odd money in her bag, stepped out 
 bravely on to the road, scorched by the midday sun, 
 with a curl at the corner of her mouth, a medley of 
 disconnected thoughts in her madcap head, and a feel- 
 ing of unromantic emptiness somewhere in the vicinity 
 of her white leather waist belt. 
 
 A wisp of a boy, clad in very dirty garments, shrilled 
 the equivalent of " Carry your bag, miss," in the 
 Egyptian tongue, calling down the displeasure of Allah 
 upon the foreign woman when she shook her head, 
 and changed the heavy dressing-case to the other hand. 
 
 Ismailiah is no place for a beautiful English girl to 
 wander in unchaperoned, especially when out of respect 
 to the slenderness of her purse she gets off the beaten 
 track in search of a cheap restaurant. 
 
 Indeed Jill was beginning to feel a little uncomfort- 
 able at the way the natives stared and even turned to 
 look after her as she plodded on, so that it was with 
 a feeling of relief that she espied " Cuisine Frangaise " 
 written across the window of a fairly clean-looking 
 restaurant in a small street, into which place she turned, 
 to be confronted by a fat, oily individual hailing from 
 the Levant, who looked as though his business was any- 
 thing but that of the kitchen. 
 
 Unsophisticated Jill, however, saw nothing wrong in 
 
 36
 
 DESERT LOVE 37 
 
 the person who bowed, and smiled, and rubbed the 
 palms of his hands in a rotary movement; and being 
 taken up in trying to amalgamate the scantiness of 
 her money, the prices on the carte, and the enormity 
 of her hunger, neither did she notice the burning eyes 
 in the handsome, sensual dark face of a middle-aged 
 native fixed upon her hungrily from behind a half- 
 open door, where he had been hurriedly summoned by 
 the man who advertised his skill in " la cuisine Fran- 
 
 To pass away the time Jill lingered over her meal 
 until she was alone in the place save for the waiter, 
 who was aching to get away to smoke a cigarette, 
 and the native who had noiselessly entered and slipped 
 into a seat in the far corner. 
 
 Once Jill, inadvertently looking straight into his 
 eyes, and hurriedly looking away, had picked up a 
 paper lying on the chair beside her; glanced at the 
 first page, and dropped it like a hot plate, whilst a 
 wave of scorching red rushed over her neck and face. 
 
 " Allah ! " she thought, " what an awful place, and 
 what on earth am I to do with two shillings in my 
 pocket, and not a cinema handy ! " And feeling the 
 native's eyes still fixed on her, she beckoned to the 
 waiter, paid her bill, and once out in the street turned 
 sharply up the first on the right just as the native 
 and the Levantine came to the restaurant door in time 
 to see the last inch of her disappearing skirt. And yet 
 through all her haste and her annoyance the inner 
 membrane of Jill's mind, that delicate fabric woven of 
 intuition and divination, which gives women the pull 
 on so many occasions, and on certain courses get her
 
 38 DESERT LOVE 
 
 past the post lengths ahead of man, whispered to her 
 that it had not failed her earlier in the day, and that 
 if she could but stick out the next few hours she would 
 find a sure reward for her present distress. 
 
 But she stopped short and clicked her teeth angrily 
 when she met the native of the restaurant face to face 
 in a narrow street, and turned and walked in the oppo- 
 site direction as quickly as her dignity would allow. 
 
 But after the same thing had happened three times, 
 and that it had suddenly struck her that she was being 
 headed in the direction of a quarter where unveiled 
 women peered from windows with great eyes made 
 larger by the rims of kohl smeared on the lid, and 
 the cheeks rendered dead white with the powder that 
 proves so strangely attractive to the eastern prostitute, 
 she suddenly made up her mind to get herself out of 
 the danger and difficulty. She was utterly lost, and 
 walking at a pace that was almost a run, turned into 
 the street she found nearest. 
 
 Not one open door did she see ; at least, not one that 
 was not congested with women sitting smoking or eat- 
 ing sticky sweetmeats, or drying their heads plastered 
 in the henna clay which would eventually dye their hair 
 the red favoured of man. 
 
 She was wellnigh breathless and wondering for how 
 long she could continue when the man suddenly ap- 
 peared at the top of the street into which she had just 
 turned, and seeing her salaamed deeply. 
 
 Back she twisted like a hunted hare and raced up 
 the street through which she had just passed. 
 
 It was empty, but on her left standing ajar was a 
 door painted bright blue.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 WITHOUT pausing to think she entered, closing it 
 behind her just as the man relentlessly pursuing her 
 passed in ignorance on the other side. 
 
 In the middle of the courtyard two Eastern women 
 in the domestic act of disembowelling a kid looked up 
 lazily, and one smiling, pointed to the upper storey of 
 the house, through the small windows of which came 
 the sound of stringed instruments, and seeing that the 
 stranger did not understand, explained her gesture in 
 broken French : 
 
 " A u premiez etase voz amieze les anglaiseez." 
 
 No idea of any further possible danger entering her 
 head, and at a complete loss to understand, but thank- 
 ful for her present safety, Jill crossed the court, slip- 
 ping unromantically on a piece of the animal's entrails 
 which lay about, and entering a low door mounted the 
 stairs. 
 
 Through a curtained archway the distinct twang of 
 an American voice came to her as a message of peace, 
 so pushing back the stuff she entered to find herself 
 confronted by ten pairs of eyes of different nationality. 
 
 " Come right in," twanged the same voice, " guess 
 you're from the same boat ! Cute of you to find your 
 way here all by your lonesome ! " 
 
 The well-corseted wife of a Can-King, flanked on one 
 
 side by her thin, leather-skinned, neat daughter, and 
 
 39
 
 40 DESERT LOVE 
 
 on the other by the inevitable Italian marquis, whose 
 tailor had evidently been a sartorial futurist, pointed 
 to a cushion on the nobleman's off side, on which per- 
 plexed Jill squatted in imitation of the others. The 
 party consisted of the aforementioned trio, two flash- 
 looking English women, who had in tow a certain type 
 of man who is only to be found on board ship, an obese 
 German, a French widow whose weed, grew more from 
 utility than necessity, and a dapper little Frenchman 
 who twinkled his over-manicured fingers for the bene- 
 fit of a healthy, jolly looking Australian girl sitting 
 uncomfortably on the adjacent cushion. The party's 
 dragoman proffered a cup of coffee and a cigarette. 
 The former was excellent, the latter, after one puff, Jill 
 extinguished on the floor, for she knew tobacco when 
 she smoked it, and guessed at hasheesh without having 
 to look at the slightly brightened eyes of those who sat 
 smoking the same brand around her. 
 
 Then she glanced curiously round the room. Long, 
 low, with four tawdry glass and gilt chandeliers hang- 
 ing from the not over-clean ceiling, cushions spreading 
 all over the floor excepting in the middle where lay 
 an exquisite Persian carpet, long mirrors on all sides, 
 little inlaid tables, and at the far end, built into the 
 wall with steps leading up to it, a bed behind gilt bars, 
 the door in which was fastened by a gilt padlock. 
 
 It seemed that their dragoman had brought them 
 to the house so as to add yet more perquisites to his 
 daily remuneration by regaling them with an exhibition 
 of Eastern dancing. 
 
 " What kind of dancing ? " asked Jill with a slight 
 frown, as the twinkling music suddenly stopped.
 
 DESERT LOVE 41 
 
 K Guess we can't tell you ! " replied the American 
 mother, whose corsets were not in exact accord with 
 the cushions upon which she sat, breathing heavily from 
 her upper whaleboned register. 
 
 "Nous esperons le mieux," said the Frenchman, 
 winking at the dragoman. 
 
 And that moment they were enlightened. 
 
 The two English women emitted each a little screech, 
 tho American mother caught convulsively at her daugh- 
 ter, who coldly raised her long-handled lorgnettes the 
 mure fully to survey the picture before her. The Aus- 
 tralian girl sat quiet, as did the Englishman who had 
 be^n there before, the Italian ejaculated '' Per dio" 
 and the Frenchman " Mon Dieu," as the widow, pull- 
 ing one side of her veil across her face, hid her over- 
 crvmson mouth, but in no way impeded her view, whilst 
 Jill looked round hastily for a way of escape, but sud- 
 denly remembering the certain peril in the street de- 
 cided, as she edged as far as possible from the marchese, 
 t?> sit out the difficulties of the moment.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 To natives, a dressed or undressed dancer is nothing 
 more than a plaything, or something to help pass the 
 hour; he will look at and criticise her with much less 
 enthusiasm than he would a she-camel, and remunerate 
 her or her owner according to the measure of pleasure 
 he has found in her posturing. 
 
 But it is difficult, wellnigh impossible, to describe the 
 feeling of the occidental women when three orientals 
 of their own sex, without a vestige of clothing, suddenly 
 one after the other, like ducks, sidled into the room. 
 
 They were none of them in their first youth, and 
 the dragoman, after watching their movements, de- 
 cided once and for all to withdraw his patronage from 
 the house, and sat wondering how much he dared try 
 to extract from his patron's pockets for such an exhi- 
 bition, while Jill, who felt as though she had been sud- 
 denly struck between the eyes, sat hypnotised by the 
 undulating forms before her, until she was overcome 
 by a frantic desire to bury her face in a cushion and 
 to give way to unrestrained hysterical laughter. This 
 same feeling has been known to overcome one in Church 
 when a hen, side-tracking through the open door, takes 
 a constitutional up the aisle on a Sunday morning in 
 the country ; also it has been known to seize you in its 
 grip at a levee, when your predecessor's shoe-buckles, 
 
 not having been properly adjusted, flip up and down 
 
 42
 
 DESERT LOVE 43 
 
 like shutters as their owner, in solitary state, stalks up 
 the audience chamber; worse and stronger still is it 
 when your revered bishop uncle, of whom you have 
 great expectations, insists at morning prayers upon those 
 things which have been left undone, when before your 
 earthly eyes gapes the cotton dress of Eliza the cook, 
 whose comfortable dorsal proportions have forbidden 
 the matutinal union of a couple or so of buttons and 
 buttonholes. 
 
 Try as she would she could not overcome it, neither 
 could she remove her gaze from the three females who, 
 poor things, were but doing their best to add to the fam- 
 ily coffers. Up and down, and round and round they 
 went, the string band twanging an accompaniment, un- 
 til the gauze scarf of the middle lady catching in the 
 hanging chandelier put an end to their rhythmical 
 swayings, while like hens with a suspended cherry they 
 hopped in turn off the ground in their effort to dis- 
 entangle their one and only bit of covering. 
 
 Everyone sat still until the disentanglement had taken 
 place, upon which event the dancers once more ad- 
 vanced in force, each selecting a special man victim, 
 until Jill, absolutely helpless and afraid of raising na- 
 tive wrath by allowing even a glimmer of a smile to 
 appear, buried her pretty head on the marchese's over- 
 padded shoulder, which action he of course took for 
 a sign of encouragement, responding to it by slipping 
 his arm round the girl's waist, but circumspectly enough 
 so that it should not be seen by the Can-King's rela- 
 tions, while Jill prayed for strength to resist until the 
 end. 
 
 The end came in a positive Catherine-wheel exhibi-
 
 44 DESERT LOVE 
 
 tion of posturing, and a deathly silence on the part of 
 the audience; the men not daring to make any com- 
 ment, the women not daring to look at each other, 
 until the widow, suddenly seizing upon the situation, 
 clapped her little hands roguishly, and avowed in a 
 babyish voice that " C'etait bien gentil et original, nest 
 ce pas" which she didn't think at all really. 
 
 Anyway her opinion served as a break, so that on 
 the exit of the dancers in single file, which was ten- 
 fold more trying to the spectators than their entry, 
 with stretching of cramped limbs and stereotyped ut- 
 terances such as " how very Eastern," " so unexpected," 
 the entire party rose to their feet, the dragoman hold- 
 ing a hurried whispered conversation with the men who 
 each, and successively, and vehemently, shook their 
 heads, leaving the women asking of themselves how on 
 earth they were to continue existing relations with the 
 men during the interminable weeks to Australia. 
 
 Jill, feeling almost faint from suppressed emotion 
 and a revival of hunger, stood a little on one side 
 watching them. An Eastern dancing house is a strange 
 place in which to make the final decision of one's life, 
 but in just such a spot she made hers. She knew that 
 she had only to make up the tale of a lost boat, and 
 something would be done for her; in fact she could 
 probably go as lady's maid to the Americans on their 
 tour de monde, having overheard them complaining bit- 
 terly of their own French maid who had not been re- 
 trieved at Algiers. But her whole soul suddenly rising 
 in mutiny against the stultifying civilisation of the 
 West, she finally made up her mind to stay with the 
 strangers until the hour came when she could slip on* of
 
 DESERT LOVE 45 
 
 the hotel where they were staying the night, into orien- 
 tal liberty, and glamour, and unknown possibilities. 
 So she sat next the marchese at dinner, whose love- 
 making was on exactly the same line as his clothes, and 
 having found out from the maid in the ladies' room, 
 just how to get to the end of the town in which was 
 situated the Camel King's house, she waited for a de- 
 sirable opportunity, and slipped out of the hotel on 
 the pretence of looking at the stars, knowing that her 
 unwitting hosts would think she had simply gone to 
 bed.
 
 CHAPTEK IX 
 
 JILL'S memory being of the kind which retains only 
 the pleasant word and act, the disagreeable episode of 
 the afternoon had completely evacuated that cell which 
 in one second can raise us through the bluest ether to 
 the heaven as understood by the prayer-book, or send 
 us diving to the mud flats of the ocean bed to co-habit 
 for a time with wingless and non-temperamental oddi- 
 ties. 
 
 Having stopped several times to discover by ear and 
 eye if she was being followed from the hotel, and being 
 satisfied that the sight of her dressing-case had in no 
 wise aroused the hall porter's curiosity, she propped 
 her luggage against the base of a palm tree growing 
 casually in the middle of a small street and proceeded 
 to take her bearings. 
 
 " Somehow it seemed quite easy to find when the 
 maid was explaining," she communed to herself as she 
 dug a hatpin afresh into her hat as is the way of 
 woman when at a loss. " How stupid of me to try a 
 short cut, because she distinctly said I was to stick to 
 the main street until I came to two mosques side by 
 side, and then to turn oif sharply to the right. Oh! 
 well, I turned off too soon and am lost and I don't 
 like these little streets no ! not one little bit, but that 
 big red star hangs right over the house so I can but 
 follow it here goes ! " 
 
 46
 
 DESEET LOVE 47 
 
 She picked up her case, and then drew back quickly 
 behind the tree as a white-robed figure slowly crossed 
 the street, turned up another and disappeared. 
 
 " Oh ! Moll and Jack, what on earth would you think 
 if you knew I was alone in Egypt. Alone ! but free ! 
 Free ! at last, quite, quite free ! " 
 
 And stretching out her arms on each side and giving 
 herself a little shake, J ill laughed ever so softly in pure 
 exuberance of that feeling of freedom, which seems to 
 make an air pocket all about you and in the middle 
 of which you float contentedly, oblivious of the winds 
 raging on the outside. 
 
 So glancing up at the red star, and once more pick- 
 ing up her bag, she too crossed the street and disap- 
 peared up a narrower one, halting for a moment at 
 the sight of a man standing with bent head in the 
 attitude of prayer and the beads of Allah hanging from 
 the hands crossed upon the breast. 
 
 Jill's intuition was intense, and never once in all her 
 life had it failed her, and though to her all Eastern men 
 seemed exactly alike in the moonlight, yet her inner 
 consciousness began to tap out a message of warning, 
 and the bristles of her self-protection to rise at the 
 threatening^ of danger. 
 
 " Bother ! " however, was her only comment as, keep- 
 ing the star ahead, she walked steadily onward. 
 
 But she made a silent, strenuous, but unavailing 
 struggle when something white and soft was slipped 
 over her head and a hand placed firmly upon her mouth, 
 as she felt herself lifted in a pair of strong arms and 
 carried some considerable distance until she heard the 
 click of a key, the opening and shutting of a door, and
 
 48 DESERT LOVE 
 
 her captor's soft footfall through what seemed to be, a 
 deserted house. 
 
 She stood perfectly still when planted on her fetjt, 
 and looked around her when the cloth had been re- 
 moved from about her head. 
 
 White was her face indeed, but a little smile twisted 
 the corner of her mouth as she noted the oriental lux- 
 ury of the room in which she stood. 
 
 Ornate could hardly describe it so offensive was it 
 in its multitudinous hangings, mirrors, lamps, and 
 clutter of stools, tables, divans, and couches, inlaid or 
 plastered with glittering sequins, bits of glass, and col- 
 oured imitation jewels. 
 
 But scorn simply blazed in the great blue eyes as 
 she looked into those of a man standing in front of 
 the one and only door to the whole apartment. 
 
 " You brute ! " she said undiplomatically and in 
 French as he moved a few steps nearer and salaamed 
 deeply. " Why, you're the man who followed me from 
 the restaurant to-day! What do you want? Back- 
 sheesh? I haven't any so you had better let me go 
 at once unless you want the police after you! You 
 can't treat English women in this off-hand way with 
 impunity, I can assure you. Open the door immedi- 
 ately if you please ! " 
 
 Poor little Jill, who by involuntarily harking back 
 to the insular belief that the veriest heathen will quake 
 in unison with the British culprit at the mere threat of 
 British law, showed the absolute yarborough she held 
 in this game, the stakes of which she guessed were 
 something more precious than life itself, and in which 
 she held not a single winning card.
 
 DESERT LOVE 49 
 
 " Let not Madame cause herself worry," answered 
 the oriental also in French, as he approached nearer 
 still, his eyes ablaze with passion of sorts as he looked 
 the girl up and down from head to foot. " The po- 
 lice the law you are in Egypt, Madame, or I 
 should say Mademoiselle I think. Money! when a 
 man holds heaven itself within his grasp, does he open 
 his hand to grasp a passing cloud ? " 
 
 " I should advise you to let me go at once," repeated 
 Jill, " if you don't want my friends to raise trouble ! " 
 
 But her bluff was of no avail as she was soon aware 
 when once more the man salaamed with a world of 
 mockery in the action. 
 
 " But Mademoiselle has but now run away from her 
 friends ! No ? she has but little oh ! very little 
 money ! yes ? and nowhere to go it is for that 
 that I have thrown my protection around her ! " 
 
 Jill thought hard for a moment, wondering how 
 much the man knew of her escapade. 
 
 " How do you know ? Who told you I had no 
 money ? I have a friend as it happens ! " 
 
 " Mademoiselle has no friend but me," interrupted 
 the man ; " she left them at the hotel when she went 
 to take a walk." 
 
 And Jill retreated step by step before him as he 
 came closer still, his voice sinking to a whisper, his 
 hand within an inch of her wrist. 
 
 " I will not harm you because you are oh, very 
 beautiful ! You are a feast of loveliness and I I am 
 hungry ! " 
 
 But still the little smile twisted the corner of Jill's 
 red mouth as she looked unflinchingly into the brown
 
 50 DESERT LOVE 
 
 eyes in the depths of which smouldered a something 
 which was not good to look upon. 
 
 " I suppose you have stolen my dressing-case too," 
 was her next, somewhat irrelevant remark. " Men of 
 your type I dare say can find a use for everything from 
 women to hair-pins. You hlack dog, who are you ? " 
 
 Red murder flared in the room for one moment and 
 then died down, leaving a little smoke cloud of uncer- 
 tainty in the man's mind. 
 
 He was used oh, very used to the breaking in of 
 women, for was not his name notorious in Northern 
 Egypt, and were there not whispers of many young 
 and beautiful who had mysteriously disappeared. 
 
 Were not men and women in his pay in every corner 
 of the big cities posing as honest individuals ? And 
 was he not in direct communication with them ? And 
 had he not a coterie of jackal friends who hunted with 
 him, though of a truth not half so successfully or ar- 
 tistically as he? 
 
 And yet this slip of a girl, this pale white blossom, 
 held him at bay, more by her seeming indifference to 
 the fate before her than by any effort of will she made 
 to combat the danger. 
 
 Blase to tears of the exquisite women of his own 
 country with their lustrous brown eyes, marvellous 
 languorous figures, and well-trained, inherited ideas on 
 love, the man was violently attracted by the whiteness 
 of this girl allied to her indifferent manner and an 
 intense virility which seemed to envelop her from head 
 to foot. 
 
 True, there are natives of a white and surpassing 
 beauty, but which whiteness when compared to the
 
 DESERT LOVE 51 
 
 genuine colouring of a very fair Englishwoman has 
 the same effect on the purchaser or temporary owner 
 as would a white sapphire bought in mistake for a dia- 
 mond. 
 
 Very, very beautiful, but somehow giving an impres- 
 sion of masquerade. 
 
 " Your so valuable dressing-case is behind those cush- 
 ions, Mademoiselle, but you shall have things of gold 
 to adorn your apartment, at least for a time. I tire 
 easily even of the most perfect fruit, but I have friends, 
 oh, many who are not so easily wearied ! " 
 
 The man paused a moment as though awaiting some 
 outburst, but none forthcoming continued the enlighten- 
 ing discourse. 
 
 " Who am I ? that will you know shortly. A 
 merry chase you gave me this afternoon, and even 
 baffled me for a time, but surely I have not enjoyed 
 an hour so much for many a day. You are unique, 
 therefore not to be run to earth by a common black 
 dog, otherwise I could have secured you earlier in the 
 day and by now " 
 
 The man's lips, of an almost negroid fullness, curved 
 in a smile, the abomination of which sent a little shud- 
 der from Jill's high held head to her steady little feet. 
 
 " But I have you now, beautiful maiden, and if you 
 will not bend to rny will, I will break you to it, even if 
 I spoil your satin skin and the soles of your small feet 
 by the lash of the whip ! " 
 
 " So ! " said J ill after an interval in which the at- 
 mosphere, charged with the electricity of anger, lust, 
 scorn, and all the kindred sisters of evilness, resembled 
 what might be the result of a cross between a spitting
 
 52 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 eat and a wireless installation. " So ! Am I to under- 
 stand that you have vulgarly kidnapped me and are 
 holding me not for ransom, but for your evil pleasures 
 and those of your friends ? " 
 
 " Quite so, Mademoiselle ! Your words are as clear 
 as the stream running through a certain oasis which 
 long I coveted, but which fell to my greatest enemy 
 because he had a few more piastres than I and maybe 
 a little more diplomacy a man who would kill me if 
 he could but find the excuse, the moral breeder of 
 camels, the fanatic son of Solomon, Hahmed the great, 
 Hahmed the most noble pah ! " 
 
 For one brief second Jill's eyes scanned the sensual 
 face in front, but seeing nothing more subtle than an 
 intense hatred therein for the absent man, shrugged 
 her shoulders and then flung up her hand sharply as 
 the man's hand suddenly fastened on her wrist. 
 
 ^Let go my hand at once," she said as indifferently 
 as though she were asking for a glass of water, but 
 she wrenched herself free and fled behind a divan al- 
 most hidden in a bower of growing tropical plants 
 as the man let go at her command to suddenly grip 
 her about the waist. 
 
 " I shall scream the place down, and bite, and kick, 
 and scratch, if you touch me again." 
 
 For one moment they looked at each other across 
 the pile of silken cushions, the dark shining leaves of 
 the plants throwing up the girl's wonderful colouring, 
 the white petals of a flower falling like snow about her 
 as she stood waiting for the next move in the exceed- 
 ingly dangerous game in which she was taking part. 
 
 The silence was absolutely deathly until the oriental
 
 DESERT LOVE 53 
 
 broke it, smiling the while as he might on a rebellious 
 child. 
 
 " If you make a noise you will bring women and 
 servants, and perhaps my friends, packing to the door 
 from the most distant corners of the house. They do 
 not know that you are here as I brought you in by a 
 secret door and private way, also no one is allowed 
 to place foot in my own quarter of the house without 
 my permission, with the exception of the guardian of 
 the big door itself; but their curiosity would outweigh 
 their prudence if they heard cries, for their delight is 
 unbounded when trouble reigns between their friend 
 or master and a woman. If you bite and kick and 
 scratch I shall have you overpowered and bound to 
 your great sorrow, and their greater delight. It has 
 been written that you shall be one of those whom I 
 honour with my favour, why then try to fight against 
 that which is ordained ? " 
 
 Jill answered never a word, contenting herself with 
 keeping a watch on the man's movements, though to 
 the very innermost part of her she longed to fling 
 herself upon him to mutilate or to kill. 
 
 " We will have coffee, O ! very lovely daughter of 
 the North, and consider this little matter settled even 
 before we were born. Does my suggestion find favour 
 in those eyes which are as the sky at night ? " 
 
 But for all answer Jill moved round the couch and 
 sat herself down upon the satin cushions, opened her 
 hand-bag, and finding her cigarette case lit a cigarette. 
 
 " By Allah ! but you are wonderful, you English girl. 
 I do not understand you. I have had women here 
 creaming, fighting, fainting, begging for mercy upon
 
 54 DESERT LOVE 
 
 their kneee. Pah! they sickened me, but you well! 
 I will go and order the coffee, not wishing to bring a 
 slave into your presence, and give orders also, Made- 
 moiselle, that no matter what noise may be heard I 
 must on no account be disturbed ! And death by knife, 
 or whip, or water, is the ordinary punishment for those 
 who disobey ! " 
 
 Jill blew a smoke ring through another and smiled. 
 
 " It's no good ordering coffee because I shan't drink 
 it!" 
 
 " You will drink it," was the sharp reply. 
 
 " Will you take a bet ? " was the ready answer. 
 
 For a moment the man who was becoming more and 
 more amazed stared in silence and then laughed softly 
 as the absurdity of the situation struck him. 
 
 " Certainly I will, for do not we orientals love a 
 seeming hazard ? So although I take an unfair ad- 
 vantage of you I will lay this emerald ring engraven 
 with my name against one kiss from your red mouth 
 that within the half of one hour you will have drunk 
 the coffee." 
 
 And taking the ring from his finger as he spoke he 
 laid it upon a small table beside JilL
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 SHE was sitting with her hands crossed on her lap 
 when he returned, carrying a small tray bearing two 
 cups filled with coffee. 
 
 " You have been a very long time," she remarked 
 casually. 
 
 " An especially delicious coffee had to be prepared 
 for Mademoiselle, and strict orders given that we were 
 not to be disturbed until I give the signal. Also that 
 this quarter of the house, which is mine, is to be cleared 
 absolutely of all inhabitants. Therefore shall we be 
 at peace even until this time to-morrow if I make no 
 sign. Also to emphasise my orders, I ordered that a 
 certain person be bastinadoed. She sickens me with 
 her outpourings of love, and was loitering about this 
 door seeking doubtlessly to enter. When she does she 
 will most certainly not enter upon her feet if my orders 
 have been strictly carried out." 
 
 And even as he spoke a distant piercing scream, 
 followed by another, and yet another, rent the air, 
 causing Jill's mouth to shut like a steel trap, and her 
 eyes to blaze like fires. 
 
 " That is what happens when I am disobeyed, Made- 
 moiselle ! Here is your coffee, drink it! " 
 
 The tone was brutal, and Jill meekly put out her 
 hand to take the little porcelain and silver trifle the 
 
 man was bringing to her, laying it beside the emerald 
 
 55
 
 56 DESERT LOVE 
 
 ring upon the table as he turned to fetch his own cup. 
 
 "Drop that!" 
 
 Jill had not raised her voice, but a certain unmis- 
 takable quality in it caused the man to wheel sharply. 
 
 He stared in blank amazement for a fleeting second, 
 and then, still carefully holding the cup, backed hastily 
 and sideways out of the direct range of a very small 
 but very useful-looking revolver in Jill's right hand. 
 
 There was a curious lifelessnesa in the whole situa- 
 tion, and a quite distressing lack of drama until the 
 oriental smiled contemptuously. 
 
 " Do not think to frighten me with that plaything, 
 because I am totally unafraid. We hear of the Eng- 
 lishwomen who shoot and ride like men, but well ! 
 we hear so many tales of Europe. Put up your little 
 toy, Mademoiselle, and remember in future that no 
 one with any respect for his life ever gives me an 
 order!" 
 
 With an indifference that was not in the least as- 
 sumed, he raised the cup he was still holding. 
 
 There was a crashing report in the luxurious room, 
 a tinkling of broken china, and a wisp of smoke be- 
 tween a smiling girl and a very surprised man. 
 
 " Don't be a fool, and do as you're told if you have 
 any respect for your life," said Jill tersely, as she 
 moved her hand slightly so that her aim was on a 
 dead level with a big button ornamenting an inch or 
 so of satin on the middle left of the man's undervest. 
 
 He stood like an image carved out of consternation, 
 whilst streaks of rage seemed to flash across his livid 
 face. Be it confessed, he was not in the least afraid, 
 but no word in the Egyptian or any other tongue could
 
 DESERT LOVE 57 
 
 be found to express the depths of humiliation in whicfr 
 he stood neck deep. 
 
 " Now, drink this coffee ! " said Jill pleasantly, point* 
 ing with her left hand to the cup she had placed on the 
 little table. 
 
 "Never!" 
 
 Jill smiled icily. 
 
 " I thought as much. You scoundrel ! So it is 
 drugged, and I, having drunk it, would have lain un- 
 conscious at your mercy. God! to think that such 
 brutes as you are allowed to live." 
 
 The man was watching the girl's every movement, 
 ready to spring like a cat from the area steps upon the 
 unsuspecting sparrow in the road, but neither her eyes 
 nor her hand moved as she continued speaking very 
 gently. 
 
 " Listen ! I should have killed you myself to-night, 
 feeling myself justified, so that other wretched girls 
 should escape the fate you had prepared for me you, 
 lower than the beasts of the field; but I am not going 
 to do it, as happily I know of one more powerful than 
 I who will enjoy it thoroughly. Think of what I say 
 when you see his messenger with your ring upon his 
 finger, to-morrow or next month or next year perhaps 
 and when your time comes, watch the procession of 
 betrayed and tortured girls as they pass before you to 
 catch your soul in their slim hands as it leaves your 
 body. Now ! drink that coffee ! " 
 
 But the man stood stock still, and Jill frowned, for 
 she was not a paragon of patience at any time, and the 
 obstinacy of the man fretted her already jagged nerves. 
 
 " Very well," she said, " I give you one more chance.
 
 58 DESERT LOVE 
 
 If you refuse again I shall put a bullet straight through 
 your head just between the eyebrows, as I shall now 
 put one through that brooch kind of thing in your 
 turban." 
 
 There was another deafening report, and the turban 
 flew from the oriental's head just as a paper-bag will 
 fly before a March wind. 
 
 " Go and pick that turban up and put it on your 
 head. Hurry now, or we shall have the police or some- 
 one coming to inquire about the shooting gallery." 
 
 The eyes of the boa-constrictor in the Zoo were gems 
 of humanity in comparison with those of the negroid- 
 Egyptian's as he turned to obey, and then stopped 
 mulishly until a third little reminder chipped splinters 
 from the marble at his heel, whereupon he stooped and 
 recovered his headgear, minus the brooch, but plus a 
 neat little hole fore and aft. 
 
 " Now come and drink the coffee ! It won't be very- 
 nice as it is almost cold. And remember in future if 
 you are allowed to live, which I very much doubt, that 
 such supreme indifference as mine could only possibly 
 be the outcome of an absolute sense of perfect security." 
 
 Jill patted the silly-looking little ivory and silver 
 thing she held. 
 
 " You mongrel ! " she continued sweetly, " I was 
 simply playing with you until the right moment the 
 coffee moment which I knew must happen should 
 arrive in which to give you a lesson. Why! when I 
 saw your eyes in the restaurant I took my little friend 
 from my pocket and made sure he was in order. I 
 may look a fool, and I may act in a manner still more 
 foolish, but I am not exactly what you would call a
 
 DESERT LOVE 69 
 
 born fool ! Now drink that, I am late already ! And 
 don't spill a single drop or I'll shoot you on the 
 spot!" 
 
 There was nothing for it hut to obey, though the 
 brute took the only revenge he could in pouring out 
 a torrent of language beyond description, until Jill 
 suddenly rose and levelled her revolver at his head, 
 which seemed to send the sickly contents post-haste 
 down his throat, after which Jill ordered him to stretch 
 himself comfortably upon the flower-screened divan. 
 
 He did so smiling stupidly, the drug having begun 
 to take effect; and the big eyes closed and opened and 
 closed again, and the mouth relaxed as a gentle snore 
 told Jill that as far as the present danger was concerned 
 she was safe. 
 
 She stood for a second looking idly down upon one 
 of the world's greatest criminals, and then at the 
 thought of the dangers which might still be awaiting 
 her on the other side of the door, unloaded her re- 
 volver and slipped a fully loaded clip into her little 
 friend. 
 
 Then picking up the emerald ring from the table, 
 and her dressing-case from behind the cushions, she 
 crept gently across the room, and gently oh ! so very 
 gently, opened the door which yielded noiselessly to 
 her touch, and stepped into a deserted hall only to 
 recoil violently from something at her feet. 
 
 Across the threshold lay a girl. 
 
 The agonised eyes in the beautiful dark face gazed 
 up in terror at Jill, whilst a little hand searched weakly 
 for a jewelled plaything of a dagger at her waist. 
 
 " Oh ! Poverina ! " said Jill, as she knelt to raise
 
 60 DESERT LOVE 
 
 the little head, and then stared in horror at the girl's 
 shoulders and the hem of her satin trousers. 
 
 Some expert hand had flicked the delicate flesh off 
 the back in a criss-cross pattern; what was left of the 
 feet lay in a pool of blood, the deep red of which 
 stretched across the hall far into the distance, showing 
 the path along which the child, left by her torturers 
 for dead, had dragged herself. 
 
 " Poor little, little thing ! " whispered Jill, as she 
 made to raise the body in her arms. But the dusky 
 head shook feebly, and a dainty henna-tipped finger 
 pointed to a window across the hall, and Jill, feeling 
 herself pushed away ever so slightly, rose as three words 
 were whispered over and over again: 
 
 " Vite allez mort vite allez mort! " 
 
 And understanding that there was nothing more to 
 be done she bent and kissed the child upon the cheek 
 and turned away, looking back as she opened the win- 
 dow which gave on to a balcony about ten feet above 
 the level of the deserted street, and even as she looked, 
 saw the door of the room she had just left being pushed 
 back inch by inch as the dying girl, strengthened by 
 love and agony, dragged herself slowly into the room 
 in which lay the man she worshipped asleep.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 TEN o'clock ! half-past ! eleven ! 
 
 The usual noises of a night in an Egyptian town 
 were at their height. 
 
 The distant and never-ceasing shuffling of slippered 
 or naked feet on stone, or sand, made a dull accom- 
 paniment to the sharper notes of men's voices crying 
 their wares of sticky sweetmeat or fruit, and the bark- 
 ing and growling of innumerable dogs. 
 
 Muffled ejaculations could be heard, little gurgles of 
 laughter, which in Egypt, thanks be to Allah, do not 
 degenerate into giggles, the swish of a whip in the 
 shadow, followed by a woman's cry, and through all, 
 above all, unfinished catches of music. 
 
 All kinds of humans, including tourists, writers, Eu- 
 ropean officials and desert dilettanti, have affixed every 
 kind of adjective to Egypt's music. 
 
 Ethereal, melancholy, wailing, plaintive, nebulous, 
 and pathetic are but a few. Why why try to tie a 
 label to something which slips from the fingers even as 
 they close about it? Why try to describe that which 
 cannot be described ? There is, or was, a certain line 
 which in the heat of an Egyptian noon, or the stillness 
 of an Egyptian night, when the first notes of a human 
 voice, or stringed instrument, or rudely cut pipe-reed 
 reach the ears, would creep out of some memory cell. 
 
 One loved the vagueness of those words : 
 
 "Out of the nowhere, into here! " 
 61
 
 62 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Loved the infinite space they opened up with their 
 aloofness and indefiniteness, until, alas ! they took con- 
 crete shape when chosen as title to the picture of a 
 robust, Royal Academy, Fed-on-Virol looking babe, 
 which doubtless, when trying to grab some passing 
 Olympian butterfly, fell off the lap of the Gods into a 
 sitting position upon Mother Earth. 
 
 Also, one thinks of that mist wraith which on a 
 cloudless day stretched across some mountain's breast, 
 lies lightly upon the air, with diaphanous ends coming 
 out of and going into nothingness; for in just such 
 manner does the music fall across an Egyptian day or 
 night 
 
 These catches of music have no end, and no begin- 
 ning ; they rise, linger a moment, and are gone, leaving 
 behind them an indescribable loneliness of soul, and a 
 longing to stretch one's hand back down the centuries 
 to pluck their meaning from the past. 
 
 Under the sand, the granite, the marble, buried deep 
 in the pyramids or merely covered by the earth of 
 shallow graves, there must surely be many instruments 
 of music wrought in gold or silver, studded in jewels, 
 or cut out of humble wood; many strings still un- 
 broken, and near them many whitened bones of dusky 
 hands which, for all we know, at odd moments of day 
 or night set those strings a-thrumming, or lift the reed 
 pipes to ghostly lips. 
 
 Who knows but that the British Museum at night, 
 rid at last of those who gape at Egypt's dishonoured 
 dead, may not be filled with snatches of music from 
 throat or hand of those unfortunates, priest, priestess, 
 fair woman and honoured man, dug out and laid upon
 
 DESERT LOVE 63 
 
 a slab of grass for the education of the revellers of a 
 wet Bank Holiday, or those others from Northern 
 climes, who bid their snuffling, sticky progeny to " coom 
 oop, lad, an' look at t' stuffed un ! " 
 
 And on this night of which I write, music was caught 
 up, and carried hither and hither upon the breeze 
 which clittered the leaves of the palms, and softly 
 moved the flowing robes of Hahmed the Arab, who, 
 perfectly motionless, stood in the ink-black shadow cast 
 by the bougainvillaea, which trailed its purple masses 
 over the walls of the house, shining faintly pink under 
 the silver moon. 
 
 At the man's feet lay three camels, superb beasts. 
 One red brown and one-humped, packed with a seem- 
 ingly huge load which in reality it hardly felt, and two 
 Bactrian or two-humped, pacing dromedaries of Dhalul, 
 one of deepest black and therefore most rare, with 
 black saddle cloth embroidered in silver, the third of a 
 light golden colour, decked out in cloth of softest silk 
 patterned with glistening jewels, and shimmering crys- 
 tal specks, cushions padding the saddle-seat, to which 
 hung stirrups of silver. 
 
 About this beast's neck, outstretched upon the sand, 
 lay a garland of flowers, upon the ground by its side 
 lay K Eftsieirs rag of purple shade, covered inches 
 deep in flowers of every kind. 
 
 There was no grumbling or snarling, they knew their 
 master and lay still, until, with a slight grunt, one 
 raised its head and looked towards the East, as the man 
 with a muttered " Allah " slowly moved towards the 
 gate. 
 
 Putting his hands to his lips and forehead and mur-
 
 64 DESERT LOVE 
 
 inuring, " Peace be upon you ! " he took Jill's dressing- 
 case from her. 
 
 
 
 " I'm sorry to be so late," she said in a voice devoid 
 of anything in the way of tone or inflection, " and I 
 had to bring my dressing-case, it would be so tiresome 
 'to be stranded in the desert with no looking-glass or 
 xace cream, wouldn't it ? " 
 
 " It would be terrible ! " was the answer, as though 
 a dearth in dates was in discussion. 
 
 And then Jill sat down upon a convenient block of 
 marble, and searching in her cheap bag for one of 
 those Russian cigarette cases of wood, which had the 
 advantage of being inexpensive and distinctive com- 
 pared to those of gold, silver, or silver gilt, which 
 jingle so irritatingly against the universal gold, silver, 
 or silver gilt bag, took out a cigarette, lit it, and began 
 to make conversation. 
 
 It is very difficult to describe the girl's frame of mind 
 at this moment when she stood upon the verge of great 
 happenings, or in fact of any moment when danger, 
 possible or certain, confronted her. 
 
 She was perfectly calm, in fact a little dull, with a 
 heart which physically neither slowed nor hastened. 
 
 Yet it was not the fearlessness of blissful ignorance, 
 or the aggravating recklessness of the foolhardy. 
 
 Three times she had been in actual danger of death : 
 once when her horse bolted, making straight for the 
 cliffs a short way ahead; another time when the reced- 
 ing tide had caught her, pulling her slowly out to sea, 
 and never a boat in sight; and again when taking a 
 pre-breakfast stroll on the Col di Tenda, she had en-
 
 DESERT LOVE 65 
 
 countered a fugitive of the law desperately making for 
 the frontier, who, half crazed with fear, sleeplessness, 
 and hunger, literally at the point of an exceedingly 
 sharp knife had demanded money, or bracelet, in fact 
 anything which could be transformed into a mattress, 
 and coffee, polenta, cigarette or succulent frittata. 
 
 After each of the preceding incidents she had tried 
 to analyse her utter want of feeling, her inability to 
 recognise danger, her almost placid confidence in an 
 ultimate happy ending. 
 
 " It doesn't seem to be me, Dads," she had once ex- 
 plained, or tried to explain, to her father, who, in the 
 depths of an armchair and the Sporting News, had no 
 more idea of what she was talking about than the man 
 in the moon. " I seem to be standing outside myself 
 looking at myself. A sort of something seems to come 
 right down, shutting the danger right away from me. 
 i know I'm in it and have to get out of it, but though 
 I pulled Arabia for all I knew, and swam for all I 
 was worth to reach Rock Point, and bluffed that poor 
 devil out of taking Mumsie's bracelet, I kind of did it 
 mechanically, not with any intention of putting things 
 right, for I knew I was not going to die that time, 
 because I'm sure that I shall know when I've got to 
 die . . . understand, Dads ? y> 
 
 To which Dads had replied : 
 
 " Quite so, my dear, quite so ! Personally I don't 
 see how it could be otherwise. I agree with every word 
 you say ! " patting his red setter's head, which in the 
 firelight he fondly believed to be his daughter's.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 AND so it was now as she sat under the African moon, 
 whilst little rings and puffs of smoke helped to irritate 
 the insects ensconced in the leaves of the creeper. She 
 seemed to be standing on the other side of a wall, 
 watching the outcome of the tossing of a silver coin. 
 
 " I've had a perfectly awful day," she announced 
 with a ripple of genuine amusement in her voice as 
 she proceeded quite unconcernedly to recount the do- 
 ings of the last few hours. 
 
 " So naturally I was followed from the restaurant," 
 she went on after a moment's pause, " and my bag 
 was so heavy, and I was absolutely lost, and only just 
 managed to give the man the slip by hiding behind a 
 half-open door, painted bright blue of all colours." 
 
 " Allah ! " murmered Hahmed. " An English girl 
 hiding in a house with a blue door ! " 
 
 " But," she went on, having for some unknown rea- 
 son omitted the dance episode from her narrative, " that 
 wasn't the worst part " and continued, quite uncon- 
 cernedly, to give a detailed account of the night's hap- 
 penings. Whilst she was speaking the Arab moved 
 nearer until he stood over her ; there was neither shadow 
 nor frown upon the fine face, or movement of lip or 
 hand, but the air seemed to throb with the intensity of 
 the white-hot rage within him. 
 
 " By Allah 1 " he said quite gently, as he took thd 
 
 66
 
 DESERT LOVE 67 
 
 emerald ring Jill held out. " I do not need this, for 
 behold for many years I have known of the doings 
 of this thing of whom you speak. And yet so great 
 has been his cunning, that until to-night I have never 
 been able to lay hands upon him in his guilt. But 
 to-morrow will dawn a brighter day for Egypt, in that 
 she will be rid of one of her greatest evils. And were 
 you not afraid ? " 
 
 Jill smiled up into the eyes fixed with love, plus 
 worship, plus reverence, upon her. " I ? Oh ! no ! 
 Why should I be when I am supposed to be one of the 
 finest shots in Europe ? Are you going to kill him ? " 
 
 " He will be dead ere the sun rises, and I beg you 
 to forgive me if I leave you for a while, for I must 
 go to give orders as to his death." 
 
 Jill's thoughts can be most aptly described as tu- 
 multuous, but her smile was a festival of youth as 
 she watched the Arab, in whom she had put her trust, 
 walk up the long avenue, stop, and clap his hands. 
 
 She could hear no word of the orders given to the 
 servant, who ran from ont a clump of trees to kneel 
 at his master's feet, but she guessed that it was the 
 engraven emerald ring which passed from one to the 
 other to be hidden in the servant's turban; and she 
 felt a wave of absolute satisfaction sweep through her 
 whole being at the thought of the man's death before 
 the dawn. 
 
 At which sensation she mentally shook herself, feel- 
 ing that the young tree of her experience, unrestrainedly 
 shooting out in all directions within the space of a few 
 hours, would require the sharp edge of the pruning 
 knife if it was to be kept to the merest outline of the
 
 68 DESERT LOVE 
 
 shape common to the ordinary life she had led up to 
 now. 
 
 " It is well ! He dies before the dawn ! " announced 
 the Arab prosaically, as he came towards this woman 
 who, on the edge of a new life which might, for all 
 she knew, bring ruin, despair, or even death in its 
 wake, could so tranquilly talk of the risks she had al- 
 ready encountered in the course of the first few steps 
 she had taken upon the path she had chosen to follow. 
 
 " And tell me, O ! woman, whose courage causes me 
 to marvel, how once happily escaped from the house 
 of few windows and but one apparent door, did you 
 find your way to these gates ? " 
 
 " Oh ! that ! " said Jill, as she sat with her hands 
 about her knee and her face upturned to the moon, 
 which, throwing a deep shadow from the hat brim 
 across the upper part of her face, made of the deep 
 eyes a mystery, and a delirious invitation of the red 
 mouth. " Amongst other till now useless accomplish- 
 ments, I have learned to guide myself by the stars, 
 though I'm positive they move over here. I had no- 
 ticed that big one there, which we haven't got in Eng- 
 land, that very big sparkling one, hung over the quarter 
 in which the waiting-maid told me lay your house." 
 
 " Yes ! " replied the man who, though he knew the 
 West so well, was secretly wondering at the trait in 
 a character which allowed a woman, on the edge of 
 something unknown, fraught, perhaps, with every kind 
 of danger, to talk unconcernedly of hotels, face creams, 
 blue doors, and stars. " That is the Star of Happi- 
 ness, it hangs also right in the middle of my oasis, right 
 over my desert dwelling," and the string of beads hang-
 
 DESERT LOVE 69 
 
 ing from the waist slipped through the long fingers as 
 words of prayer fell softly on the perfumed air. 
 
 The girl got up and walked over to the camels. 
 
 " So I followed my star and suddenly found myself 
 at the gates ! Is this my ship of the desert and what 
 a beautiful coat, the dear thing," starting back as the 
 dear thing turned its head suddenly, bared its teeth 
 and snarled. 
 
 " Don't be afraid, she is always nervous with stran- 
 gers, also is she a little spoilt, being the fastest and 
 most perfect Bactrian camel in the whole of Egypt 
 and Arabia. Her pedigree, on parchment embossed 
 with gold, goes back almost to Ismael, and is kept in 
 a Millwell safe in my oasis, which shows that East 
 does meet West occasionally. She has, up to to-night, 
 known no rider but me, and is used only for short 
 journeys of about seven days ; you see these two-humped 
 beasts can only go three days with comfort without a 
 drink, but their pace is so smooth that it almost in- 
 duces one to sleep. Also Taffadaln, which means wel- 
 come, a name given to her after her mother had foaled 
 three he-camels, has a special guard both day and night, 
 for there are many who covet her, for she is the queen 
 of camels, with her blood and breeding enhanced by 
 many years of training and special treatment. But 
 alas! though her coat is as silk, the cushions of her feet 
 without fault, and her teeth unblemished ivory, her 
 manners are as ill-bred, and her indifference to those 
 who love her as great as that of the lowest of her species 
 which pollute the streets of Cairo." And leaning down 
 he patted the beast's head, speaking to her in the na- 
 tive tongue, whereupon she made juicy, gurgling sounds
 
 70 DESERT LOVE 
 
 in her long throat, and nuzzled the flowing sleeve, which 
 might have meant affection in any other animal but a 
 camel. 
 
 " More extremes," he added, as a long, soft blast 
 of a motor-horn sounded just outside the walls. " Will 
 you not sit dov/n whilst I explain things for the last 
 time," unwinding, as he spoke, the soft black cloak 
 from about him, and folding it to make a cushion for 
 the stone, standing silhouetted against the shadow of 
 the walls, whilst the slight breeze blowing the snow- 
 white raiment outlined the tremendous width of shoul- 
 der, the slimness of the waist, and the muscular leanness 
 of the whole body. 
 
 A.nd Jill sat down with a suddenness surprising in 
 so controlled a person, and to hide a sudden rush of 
 rosy colour which swept uncontrollably from chin to 
 brow, extracted another cigarette from the Russian 
 case. 
 
 " ' Simon A/tz,' I am sure ! May I not offer you 
 one of mine? They are all made especially and only 
 for me. And do you prize the case ? No ! " 
 
 As the girl shook her head he took the wooden trifle 
 from her, closed his hand gently, and, crushing it to 
 matchwood, dropped it soundlessly on to the sand. 
 
 And when Hahmed, the Arab, had finished speaking, 
 Jill Garden, the English girl, understood that with her 
 only rested the decision, that even now, at the eleventh 
 hour, she was still absolutely free to go. 
 
 Outside the gates waited the man's car, ready to 
 take her wherever she listed on her way home! At 
 her feet lay the camels, ready to take her to all the 
 possibilities of the unknown!
 
 DESERT LOVE 71 
 
 There was absolute silence as she sat motionless, 
 looking into the future. In the West she saw boats, 
 trains, hotels, inner cabins, middle seats, back bed- 
 rooms ; felt women, mothers, and wives clutching their 
 mankind so as to keep them from the pariah, the penni- 
 less, pretty companion ; heard the clink of the five or 
 ten shillings a week paid monthly in silver, and all this 
 to be repeated over and over again until she died, un- 
 less she married a man she did not love and " settled 
 down " for ever and ever and ever ; though even this 
 possibility seemed to have receded into the remote dis- 
 tance with the receding of her fortune. 
 
 Then she looked up to the stars, and down to the 
 sand, and out to the East, seeing her freedom if she 
 dared grasp it, if she dared venture out on the many 
 days' journey which, to her astonishment, she had 
 learned stretched between Ismailiah and the oasis. 
 
 She scrutinised the man before her this Arab with 
 the impassive face, the camels at his feet, her life in 
 his hands if she went with him. 
 
 His what ? Wife ! to settle down for ever and ever 
 and ever. 
 
 His plaything? This was not the man to play or be 
 played with, for had he not said: 
 
 " If you come with me, fear not that you will be a 
 prisoner. The oasis, the house, my servants, houses, 
 camels, all will be yours, and there will be nothing 
 to prevent your leaving it all nothing except the 
 desert, the miles of pitiless sand, trackless, pathless, 
 strewn with the white bones of those who have essayed 
 to escape from Fate, the never-changing, ever-different 
 ocean which beats about my dwelling."
 
 72 PESEKT LOVE 
 
 Then once again she looked into the dark eyes which 
 were reading every passing emotion on the mobile face, 
 and putting out her hands made one step towards the 
 camel, whilst the soul of the desert laughed with her 
 scarlet mouth.
 
 A SHAEP word of command and the pack-camel rose, 
 moved a few paces on its noiseless feet, swaying from 
 side to side as though to readjust its load, whisked its 
 miserable tail, and stretching out its long neck began 
 to nibble the leaves of a flowering shrub. 
 
 Jill followed the beast, stroked its silky coat, and 
 prodded one of the water skins filled to bursting. 
 
 " Will that be enough to last us all the way ? And 
 what happens when we want to rest? And do we do 
 all the cooking and washing-up ourselves, just like a 
 picnic ? What fun ! " Which shows that Jill had no 
 idea of what unlimited money can do to mitigate the 
 discomfort of desert travelling by providing every pos- 
 sible comfort, even luxury. 
 
 " My servants have gone ahead with a caravan con- 
 taining all that I think will be necessary for your com- 
 fort. The journey takes many nights of travelling 
 when the cool wind has tempered the scorching sands. 
 At sunrise we shall find our tents pitched, and you 
 shall rest from then, an hour after dawn, until just 
 before sunset, for it is unwise to be asleep at sunset 
 in the desert. When we halt your bath will be ready, 
 your meals as you desire, your bed as soft and spotless 
 as your own." 
 
 " Really ! " said Jill, who had imagined herself 
 camping out under the stars with scorpions and spiders 
 
 73
 
 74 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 as bedfellows. " But if the men have to go on ahead 
 of us, we shall have to get up early so as to let them 
 pack and give them a start." 
 
 The ^rab gravely shook his head, with never a glim- 
 mer of a smile rear the mouth or eyes. 
 
 "Ah! no! you need not worry, a caravan of many 
 persons has preceded us." 
 
 "Many people!" ejaculated Jill. "What a lot of 
 servants for two ! " 
 
 " Let me explain ! In Egypt, Arabia, or Persia, 
 when we speak of sheep or horses we say so many 
 ' head/ but not so of the camel. The camel is the most 
 cherished possession of the Arab. 
 
 " There are three events which bring joy to us, and 
 which are occasions of greatest festival, namely, the 
 birth of a son, the birth of a she-camel, and the birth 
 of a mare. The she-camel provides her master with 
 food for both himself and his horses; for in an area, 
 or season, where there is little water but an abundance 
 of juicy grass in which the camel finds both food and 
 drink, the camel's milk is given to the horses in lieu 
 of water, the master's covering and tent are made of 
 the hair, the waterless places are known to him through 
 her. There are many other ways in which the animal 
 is useful, and for which we daily return thanks to Allah, 
 therefore we speak of them as persons, so many persons 
 in a herd, because as the proverb says, ' God created 
 the camel for the Arab, and the Arab for the camel.' 
 
 " Therefore for each resting-place there are two one- 
 humped camels to carry all things necessary for your 
 eight's sojourn." 
 
 " Why one-humped ? " asked the girl, who was of au
 
 DESERT LOVE 75 
 
 inquiring turn of mind, and was getting slightly mixed 
 with her first endeavour to grasp something of Eastern 
 life. 
 
 " The one-humped or, as we say, the Dyemal-mai, 
 which means water-camel, although they cannot carry 
 so heavy a load as the Bactrian, can go even up to eight 
 or nine days without water. 
 
 " There is only one well between here and the wa- 
 ter, and it is usually surrounded by caravans, with 
 water as thick as the mud in a London street in No- 
 vember, and dirtier, 'being polluted by the filth of man 
 and beast. 
 
 " This we will pass, contenting ourselves with the 
 water we carry for ablutions and cooking, and with 
 wine or coffee to drink. If there is water to spare the 
 camels can have it, if not they can go without, with 
 the exception of the two that carry us. 
 
 " But you will find the going irksome even on Tai 
 fadaln, and so that you may rest, beautiful woman, 
 whose name even I do not know, Howesha, which 
 name, being translated, means that she is a past mis- 
 tress in the art of grumbling, carries all that will give 
 you repose if you should desire to stop before we reach 
 our caravan." 
 
 And just as though she understood, Howesha the 
 Grumbler, opening wide her mouth, proceeded to give 
 a series of very fine imitations, including those of a 
 nest of spitting snakes, a sobbing woman, and a chok- 
 ing dog all of which she concluded by her master- 
 piece, of a child masticating sticky sweets, when her 
 master, to stop her querulous upbraidings, thrust dates 
 between her polished teeth.
 
 76 DESERT LOVE 
 
 And then he turned to Jill, who was laughing de- 
 lightedly, and stroked her camel's coat. 
 
 " Later you shall have servants, many of them, who 
 hand and foot, shall do your bidding, and carry out 
 your slightest wish, but to-night and for ever I am 
 your slave. Allah! to think that I, the worst feared 
 man in Egypt, whose word is law, who condemns to 
 death by the lifting of a finger, of a race who looks 
 upon women as a useful plaything, at the most as 
 a potential mother of sons, I crav^e to serve you from 
 your lying down in the heat of the day to your rising 
 up, when the sunset breeze shall blow the soft curls 
 about your flower-face. Do you think I would allow 
 a servant, some low-born son of a bazaar-dweller, to 
 throw his shadow upon the ground over which your 
 lovely feet must tread, or to touch a vessel which your 
 white fingers might hold, to breathe the air which 
 maybe has just passed from your sweet mouth, on 
 this night when you make your journey into Egypt, 
 real Egypt ; for to us, Cairo and other such places are 
 but tourist centres which we give to the foreigner 
 readily, traversing many miles of sand and rock and 
 hills ourselves, before we can lie down upon the soft 
 breast of our own motherland. 
 
 " Come, woman ! The moon tarries not, neither 
 does the sun, and we have many miles to go." 
 
 With the exception of a twopenny ride at the Zoo, 
 few Europeans ever mount or ride a camel, thereby 
 missing an art or a pastime or sport, which to the 
 novice, until he has been thoroughly and literally broken 
 in, is the most back, heart, and nerve- wearing means
 
 DESERT LOVE 77 
 
 of locomotion he could possibly choose in all the wide 
 world. 
 
 Jill stood ankle-deep in flowers looking down at her 
 mount, the prize of the desert. 
 
 " I do not know how you will fare, woman of the 
 West. I dare not put palanquin on Taffadaln for fear 
 that she might bolt from terror and take you far into 
 the desert, there to die. But arrived at our destina- 
 tion she shall be broken in at once, however, for in all 
 my stables there is no other camel with her sliding 
 step, not one who would not make you feel as though 
 your spine had snapped after one hour's journey upon 
 its back. We Arabs can sit a camel in more than one 
 way, but the easiest for you, and Allah knows it will 
 be hard enough after a time, is, if your skirt permits, 
 to sit astride and put both your feet round the pummel 
 in front. That, anyway, will prevent you from be- 
 ing twisted as you are with the shocking ladies' saddle 
 you use in England." 
 
 " Oh, but I ride astride," volunteered Jill, as she 
 raised her skirts, settled herself, and taking the gold- 
 studded rein, held firmly to the front and back peak 
 of the saddle as instructed, and awaited the word of 
 command. 
 
 A camel rises from its front or hind legs just as the 
 fancy seizes it, so that if you do not keep a fair balance, 
 also yourself in complete readiness to lean forward or 
 backward according to your mount's final decision, you 
 will assuredly find yourself ignominiously pitched in a 
 heap over the quadruped's nose, or just as ignomini- 
 ously hanging head down in the vicinity of its tail, 
 either of which positions will cause her to chortle glee-
 
 78 DESERT LOVE 
 
 fully before the next lurch, which gets the rest of her 
 feet into order. 
 
 A final touch is given by the imitation of an infan- 
 tile earthquake as she arranges you to her taste, and 
 then you may consider yourself ready to start out on a 
 journey which may make you more sea-sick than any 
 rough channel-crossing in boat or aeroplane.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 IT was with a feeling of exultation that Jill, from 
 her elevated seat, looked down into the Arab's face, 
 outlined in the scented dimness of the garden by the 
 snow-white head-cloth, and her brilliant mouth widened 
 in a low laugh of pleasure as she pulled down a bough 
 of fluffy mimosa to sniff its perfume, and she also gave 
 a little shriek of dismay as Taffadaln, taking matters 
 into her own enormous feet, and utterly ignoring the 
 frantic tugging of the silken reins, suddenly stalked 
 off towards the gate. 
 
 There was a sharp word of command bringing the 
 animal to a stan Istill, then a throaty exclamation from 
 somewhere in the long neck as she pitted her hereditary 
 obstinacy against the man's will. 
 
 Five times, with a blatant wink towards her sisters 
 and a snee"" : a her hideous mouth, she journeyed to- 
 wards the gate, and five times was she Drought back 
 to the starting-place, to be fastened at last by a strong 
 lead to the bridle of her more submissive sister, who 
 was making disgusting masticatory noises over a tough 
 twig. 
 
 Then, upon the fastening of the lead, there arose a 
 concerto of such growlings, fretting, sobbing, groaning, 
 and roaring, as to make the inexperienced Jill beg to 
 be allowed to dismount, for fear of having caused hurt 
 to the hateful brute. 
 
 But it seemed that all the fuss came about through 
 
 79
 
 80 DESEET LOVE 
 
 the Queen of the Desert's objection to the unknown 
 lady on her back, an objection which was causing her 
 to twist her long neck backwards in the diabolical hope 
 that the loose-lipped mouth in the spite-contorted face 
 might reach something to bite, be it foot or saddle, 
 cloth or skirt. 
 
 " O ! hateful, impatient descendant of a dissatisfied 
 mother!" suddenly ejaculated the man. "More fool- 
 ish than an ostrich, and as poisonous as a scorpion, 
 yet have I to put up with thy whims and fancies be- 
 cause of thy specially formed stomach. I, who long 
 to strike thy repellent face again and again, and dare 
 not, for the fear that thy evil, dwarfed brain, twisted 
 with jealousy, might make thy beautiful rider the ob- 
 ject of thy revenge, tearing her limb from limb, and 
 rolling upon her ; 1 but behold ! in as much as Allah 
 made thee, yet shalt thou, through thy disobedience 
 and ill-manners of to-day, be put to stud with thy 
 elder brother, who, for a camel, rejoiceth in seeming 
 good manners. Then shalt thou be chastened, and thy 
 milk given to the feeding of horses." 
 
 This harangue might have been a psean of praise for 
 all the change it made in the beautiful Eastern voice, 
 and the girl's low laughter rang out like bells on the 
 night air, as the man explained that the animal was 
 inordinately jealous of all and sundry who, in her sin- 
 laden brain, she feared might do her out of a handful 
 of sugar or bucket of water. 
 
 i To revenge the lash or whip camels have been known even 
 after a lapse of months to seize their victim, tearing and tram- 
 pling him to pieces, and then with infinite relish proceed to roll 
 time and again upon the remain?
 
 DESEET LOVE 81 
 
 From all time women have revelled in a novel sensa- 
 tion, but never surely so much, or in such a one, as 
 did Jill in hers, as, with peace restored, she passed 
 through the gates with her companion, on her way 
 to a life about which she had not allowed herself the 
 slightest analysis. 
 
 And a great silence fell on the girl as they left the 
 town, padding noiselessly through the outskirts where 
 no one met them, and no sound was to be heard save 
 for the barking of dogs, and the occasional wail of an 
 infant ; for the strangeness of everything had suddenly 
 made her realise that of her own will she was standing 
 on the threshold of a new life, laden though this the 
 usual narrow outlook and education of the West pre- 
 vented her from understanding with a love and pas- 
 sion and womanhood which cannot, and never will be, 
 realised in countries where the dominant colour is grey. 
 
 Gone was her laughter, and vanished the merry ex- 
 clamations and remarks, as she began to glean some 
 idea of the width and breadth of the desert which was 
 slowly engulfing her. 
 
 Once or twice she had looked behind at the ever- 
 receding town, with the sheen of the fresh water canal 
 becoming fainter and fainter at each step, until it at last 
 vanished into nothingness. And the living silence of 
 the desert seemed to close in upon her, and the canopy 
 of heaven, weighty with stars, to press down upon her, 
 and the snapping and breaking of generations-rooted 
 conventions to deafen her, until like a lost child she 
 suddenly sobbed, and dropping the rein, held out her 
 hands to the man who, although she knew it not, had 
 been watching and waiting for just such an outburst.
 
 82 DESERT LOVE 
 
 For he worshipped the sand and pebbles and rocks 
 and dunes and hills of his adored desert, and knew the 
 effect it sometimes made, even at the paltry distance 
 of a mile or two from some teeming city, upon both 
 male and female denizens of the West, who bloom 
 palely in the heat of a coal-fire, and lift their faces 
 thankfully to the red lozenge which, for eight months 
 of an English year, represents the sun shining through 
 fog or cloud. 
 
 Also must it be confessed that Jill's head was begin- 
 ning already to swim a little with the sway of the 
 camel, though of nausea she suffered not at all, and 
 it was with a feeling of joy that she felt the animals 
 come to a halt, saw the black one, upon a word of com- 
 mand, get docilely to its knees, heard Howesha grum- 
 bling fiercely to the moon as she went through the same 
 gymnastic performance, and felt her own rocking and 
 pitching until it came to the ground. Whereupon she 
 dismounted lightly, and reeled against the man as the 
 entire desert, herself and camels included, turned a 
 complete somersault, after which she meekly sat down 
 on Taffadaln's back and watched proceedings. 
 
 The pack-camel lay supinely as its master with strong 
 deft fingers unbound and unknotted the various ropes 
 until everything desired was found. 
 
 A rug of many colours was laid at Jill's feet, and 
 cushions thrown thereon, upon which, with a great 
 sigh of relief, she laid herself down, until something 
 softly crawling round her neck brought her to her feet 
 shaking with disgust. 
 
 " It is doubtlessly a sand-spider," explained the man. 
 " They are perfectly harmless and to be found every-
 
 DESERT LOVE 83 
 
 where, and are even welcomed in some houses as they 
 help to reduce the plague of flies from which we have 
 suffered, with other things, since the time of Pharaoh. 
 I am so sorry, but insects are a nuisance we have totally 
 failed to conquer, though in your house, believe me, 
 there will be none, not even the smallest." 
 
 Upon which assurance Jill sat down, took off her 
 hat, arranged her hair in a pocket mirror, flicked a 
 shadow of powder upon her nose, and settled down to 
 watch and wait. 
 
 The man's agile fingers arranged some charcoal, 
 which he lighted quickly in some desert fashion inside 
 a square of four bricks, over which he placed a brass 
 tripod. 
 
 There was a gurgling sound as water ran from a 
 skin into a brass pot which hung from a hook on the 
 tripod, and in a few minutes the water began to bub- 
 ble furiously, as the fire, leaping and falling, cast giant 
 shadows on the Arab's flowing robes. 
 
 Small boxes were opened, and the contents laid on 
 plates: sandwiches, cakes, sweetmeats, fruit, and wine, 
 red and white, in skins, poured into empty earthen- 
 ware jugs in which to cool it. Small cups of Egyptian 
 coffee, a " Cona Machine " for the Western idea of 
 coffee, and a box of cigarettes. 
 
 " If I had known you would be a-hungered, I would 
 have brought the wherewithal to make a repast of 
 substance ! " 
 
 " Oh, but it is all so topping ! " cried the girl, and 
 then stopped. 
 
 The slang words had suddenly struck her as foolish 
 and silly, and out of place in a country where the
 
 84 DESEET LOVE 
 
 syllables of words sound sonorously, and time passes 
 like a slow moving river with its banks unchoked with 
 " hustle weeds." And from that day, or rather night, 
 Jill gave up slang, and one by one all the little dreary 
 habits which rub the bloom off the Western maid.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 A STRIKING and unrealistic picture the two made a 
 they lay on their cushions alone in the desert. The 
 girl in her white dress, which in truth was somewhat 
 crumpled, her white neck rising like a gleaming pillar 
 from the low-cut blouse, the little curls rippling round 
 the face which, under the moonlight and the stress of 
 the past hours, showed white with shadow-encircled 
 eyes, gazing at the man who rose and knelt with a 
 towel of softest linen, and a basin of brass filled with 
 water. 
 
 Jill happened to be one of those lucky individuals 
 who can with impunity wash their face anywhere, and 
 at any time of the day, and look the better for it. 
 Neither had she to fear a futurist impression in vivid 
 colours of Dorin rouge and blue pencillings mixed 
 with liquid powder appearing on her face after a sud- 
 den rain storm. 
 
 So she put her face right into the basin, lifted it 
 sparkling with laughter and rainbow drops to bury it 
 in the snowy cloth. Her sleeves she turned back, and 
 ran the water up and down her arms. 
 
 " And you must wash your feet, woman, for so small 
 are they, they must assuredly be fatigued ! " 
 
 And without hesitation the girl proffered her shoe to 
 be unlaced, whilst without lifting her skirt, with a 
 quick movement she undid the suspender which held 
 her last pair of real silk stockings to the infinitesimal 
 
 85
 
 86 DESERT LOVE 
 
 girdle she wore instead of the usual figure-distorting 
 corset, peeled off the silken hose and put the prettiest 
 foot in the world in flesh, painting, or marble, into 
 another basin of brass laid upon the ground, and also 
 filled with water. 
 
 " Allah ! " whispered the man, as he dried each little 
 foot, " so small, so slender, rivalling the arch of Ctes- 
 isphon, dimpled as the sky at dawn, never in the 
 most perfect Circassian have I seen feet so wonderful, 
 glory be to Allah, whose prophet is Mohammed." 
 
 And then the Arab, filling another basin, moved to 
 the far corner of the rug, where facing towards the 
 East he made ablutions of his mouth and hands and 
 feet, and raising his hands to heaven, gave praise to 
 his God for the wonder of the day, and bowed himself 
 in obeisance. 
 
 " I was returning thanks to Allah for you, O ! Moon 
 Flower," he said simply, and led her to the cloth of 
 finest damask upon which the repast was spread, prais- 
 ing Allah anew as he poured the contents of the wine 
 jars upon the sands when Jill announced that she only 
 drank water. 
 
 Rested and cheered, the girl chatted merrily all 
 through the al fresco meal, in her turn inwardly giving 
 thanks for the Arab's perfect manners and knowledge 
 of table methods, for in her heart she, particular to 
 the point of becoming finicky about the usually so 
 unpleasant process of eating, had looked forward with 
 absolute horror to the moment when the man's fingers 
 should close upon some succulent portion of a mess of 
 pottage or chicken, and convey it to his mouth with 
 charitable distribution of rice grains upon the beard.
 
 DESERT LOVE 87 
 
 Reassured, her laughter rang out sweetly when the 
 absence of methylated spirit for the " Cona Machine " 
 was discovered. 
 
 " And I would really rather have yours," said she, 
 " for am I not to become an Eastern " and sud- 
 denly stopped, for looking up she found the man gazing 
 at her with eyes ablaze with love. 
 
 And once more a great silence fell between them, 
 as they both sat staring wide-eyed over the desert, and 
 up into the starry heavens. 
 
 Few, very few of those who live in the West havo 
 had the privilege of sitting alone under the stars in the 
 desert. 
 
 This does not mean riding out on a tourist track 
 with dragoman and camel-driver, and retiring a few 
 yards from their perpetual chatter to gaze at the heav* 
 ens in what you imagine to be the approved style, tc 
 the accompaniment of correct gasps, after which, find- 
 ing you have left your cigarettes behind, you look ai 
 your wrist watch and wait another five minutes, until 
 you can with decency saunter back to your camel- 
 driver with the feeling of something quite well done, 
 and the unuttered hope in your mind that everyone 
 would not have gone to bed on your return. 
 
 No! it means, when wearied from long travel you 
 call a halt, perhaps just before the dawn, when the 
 very stars seem to commune with you. 
 
 Leaving your servants to pitch your tent, urge your 
 camel to the distance when the clattering of pans, and 
 the jar of inter-domestic feud shall not assail your hear- 
 ing, then urge your camel to its knees, and set you 
 at a distance so that the pungent odour of the
 
 88 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 beast shall not assail your nostrils, and then removing 
 little by little the outer covering of the worries and 
 pin-pricks which have made the passing of the day un- 
 bearable, give way to your soul, or second self, or what- 
 ever you call that which causes you to joy in the com- 
 ing of the spring, and to mourn when the fire refuses 
 to heat but a portion of the room in winter. 
 
 For this is what happened to Jill, the English girl, 
 as she sat on her cushions in the Egyptian desert, and 
 has nothing to do with table-turning, or ten-and-six- 
 penny visions in Maida Vale, or whisperings, or touch- 
 ings in a conveniently darkened room; neither must 
 you put it down to magnetism or hypnotism, or any of 
 those " isms " which we, of a glacier-born country and 
 a machine-made life, so irreverently tag on as terms 
 descriptive to all that which we cannot label and place 
 upon a museum shelf, or conveniently start by motor 
 power. 
 
 A long dissertation on the Eastern's power of con- 
 centration, love of meditation, and utter detachment 
 from self, would doubtlessly prove wearisome in the 
 extreme, neither for a true explanation thereof can help 
 be got from highly or lowly born native. Without 
 movement for hours he will sit or squat, as becomes 
 his station, staring, as we should say, vacantly into 
 space, in reality seeing and hearing that which others, 
 blinded by material enjoyment, can never hope to visual- 
 ise or hear. 
 
 Jill afterwards tried to explain the outcome of this, 
 her first step in the meadows of meditation, which she 
 took without help and without intention, and in which 
 uLe hurf become so versed, to the mystification of those
 
 DESEKT LOVE 89 
 
 ftbont her, who look upon woman as a hearer of chil- 
 dren, a plaything for sunny hours, useful in time of 
 rain, endowed with the brain of a pea-hen, and as much 
 soul as the priests see fit to mete out to her. 
 
 " Something had left me," Jill explained later. 
 " My body seemed to be sitting on the cushions, and 
 I could minutely describe the way Hahmed was sitting, 
 and the exact shape of the shadow cast before him by 
 the moon, which was setting behind us. But inside 
 I was quite empty, whilst all sorts of little things I 
 had known so long, crept out and stole away into the 
 desert. I was just a husk, with no more impatience 
 or quick temper or restlessness, and I can remember 
 wondering if I were likely to break in two or crumble 
 into dust, I felt so thin. And then I heard all sorts 
 of whisperings, just as though thousands of people 
 were standing near me, trying to make me understand 
 something, and a violet shadow suddenly appeared be- 
 tween Hahmed and myself, seeming to get deeper and 
 deeper in colour, and then get less and less; and as 
 it lessened, so did my feeling of being a mere husk 
 leave me, until at last, when it had all gone, I felt 
 well full is the only way to put it, and my heart was 
 thudding, and the blood pounding in my head, and well 
 that's all ! " 
 
 Very indefinite and very unsatisfactory, and of which 
 the whispering can easily be put down to the snuffling of 
 the camels, the passing of the faint breeze, or the intake 
 of the Arab's breath ; and the purple shadows to the 
 folds of his black cloak. For the effect of fatigue, ex- 
 citement, and strong Egyptian coffee upon the mind of 
 % Western maid is quite likely to turn the buzzing of a
 
 90 DESERT LOVE 
 
 fly into the flight of an aeroplane, or the dripping of a 
 tap into the roar of a Niagara. 
 
 Be that as it may, the Arab made no sound or move- 
 ment when with a low cry the girl sprung suddenly to 
 her feet, and with both hands upraised, although she 
 knew it not, turned towards the direction in which 
 Mecca lay. 
 
 For a full minute she stood absolutely motionlesa, 
 then gently moving towards the man, who had riser; 
 and was standing behind her, she put out her hand, 
 saying softly, " Behold ! I am ready to come witk 
 the*."
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IT was close upon dawn when the two figures sud- 
 denly and silently emerged from the tree shadows in 
 which they had been hiding for some considerable time. 
 
 Very simple and harmless they looked too, the taller 
 one in spotless galabeah and red fez, his smallpox 
 pitted face softened by the light of the dying moon; 
 the other, a mere bundle of clothes with the yashmak 
 covering all except the eyes, dragging back from the 
 hand which pulled her ruthlessly up to the door of a 
 house conspicuous by its length of wall unbroken by 
 windows. 
 
 The faintest sound of music from somewhere about 
 the immense building sounded as out of place at that 
 hour as would a boy's shrill whistling in the middle 
 of High Mass, but unperturbed thereby, the pitted-face 
 man knocked gently three times upon the door, vehe- 
 mently upbraiding the while his shrinking and protest- 
 ing companion, who tugged still more forcibly at the 
 restraining hand. 
 
 " Behold, art thou the daughter of ungrateful parents 
 and not fit to be honoured by the great lord who awaits 
 thee. Raise thy voice in protest, speak but one word, 
 and thy back shall resemble the red pattern upon thy 
 raiment, which has cost much hard toil to provide for 
 thee." 
 
 The female figure suddenly sank back in all humility 
 
 91
 
 92 DESERT LOVE 
 
 at the feet of the upbraider, as unperceived maybe 
 by both, a small portion of the door above their heads 
 slipped noiselessly back to show a gleaming eye glued 
 to the little grille, taking in the scene beneath it. 
 
 Unperceived or not, the elder man, taking a deep 
 breath, continued in a slightly raised tone to adminis- 
 ter his admonition. 
 
 " Comely art thou, and young, and good is the price 
 paid for thee, and may he who has purchased thee be 
 not annoyed at the hour in which I bring thee, for in 
 truth was thy mother against thy flight from the nest, 
 being not awake to the advantages of the new bough 
 upon which thou wouldst come to rest therefore was 
 I forced to bring thee by stealth. Perchance ! " 
 
 The gentle voice stopped suddenly as the door was 
 thrown open by a much armed individual, who angrily 
 demanded the meaning of the disturbance. 
 
 " The peace of Allah be upon thee and upon this 
 house, into which, by the order of thy master, O ! 
 brother, I bring a flower which he has deigned to pluck 
 from within the city. Comely is she, and gifted in 
 music and the dance, but young, is affrighted at the 
 honour before her. I " 
 
 Here the armed individual broke in ruthlessly upon 
 the paean of praise, drawing a most gleaming and 
 curved weapon from somewhere about his huge person. 
 
 " Begone, disturbers of the peace," he ejaculated with 
 the difficulty natural to one who has had his tongue 
 split. " My master awaits a flower in truth, being even 
 now overcome in sleep in the waiting, but the flower 
 will show a warrant the which will pass her through 
 this door of which I am the guardian. By Allah ! it is
 
 DESERT LOVE 93 
 
 not opened at the tapping of every chance weed which 
 the wind of poverty may cause to flutter across this 
 path!" 
 
 Things began to look somewhat awkward for the 
 humble flower wilting on the marble step, until her 
 friend, speaking suddenly and sharply, saved the situa- 
 tion by leaning down and quite violently snatching 
 something from the little hand fumbling most awk- 
 wardly among the many feminine draperies. 
 
 " Behold the warrant, O ! unbeliever. So desirous 
 of this maiden is thy master, upon whom may the bless- 
 ing of Allah rest, that he even gave unto her father the 
 ring of emerald from off his right hand. Art satisfied, 
 or is't best to risk the tempest by still further question- 
 ing and delay! " 
 
 The guardian of the door, not a little astounded, 
 snatched in his turn at the jewel, and seeming perfectly 
 satisfied after a prolonged scrutiny, stood aside and mo- 
 tioned the two to enter, and shutting the door behind 
 them and ordering them to stand where they were 
 until he returned from his dangerous mission of dis- 
 obeying, by breaking in upon his master's privacy, 
 stalked off with much dignity into the- perfumed, half- 
 lit, enormous hall. 
 
 Now if only he had been afflicted with one iota of 
 the curiosity apportioned by time to Lot's wife, that 
 man might have been alive even to this day. But he 
 neither turned his head nor pricked his ears, thereby 
 failing to note that with the lightning methods of the 
 eel the comely flower had in some miraculous way 
 slipped from her all enveloping sheath of draperies to 
 stand revealed a wiry, glistening-with-oil youth, who,
 
 94 DESERT LOVE 
 
 without a moment's pause, with knife in teeth, and as 
 silently as a lizard, glided across the dividing yards of 
 Persian carpet separating him from his quarry. 
 
 Across the hall and through endless deserted rooms 
 they passed, the companion of the camouflage maiden 
 bringing up the rear. Right to the far quarter of the 
 house they went, one after the other, and the guardian 
 of the house felt little more than a pin-prick when, 
 just as his hand pulled aside the curtain screening a 
 door, the youth behind him raising his right arm drove 
 the knife clean under the left shoulder blade, catching 
 the dead body as it fell backwards to lay it noiselessly 
 upon the floor just as his friend appeared upon the 
 scene. 
 
 " It was well done, O ! brother neatly, and with 
 strength leaving no trace of blood to speak of. But 
 now must we proceed with cunning, else may we too be 
 lying lifeless upon our backs. Take even thy knife, 
 my brother, 'twere a pity to leave it in yon carcase ! " 
 
 Indifferently turning the body over, the boy drew the 
 knife, as indifferently wiping it on the dead man's rai- 
 ment, and stood for a moment as still as any one of 
 the exotic specimens of statuary which ornamented the 
 whole house. 
 
 Truly and implicitly had the orders of the master 
 been obeyed; there was no sound of any living thing 
 in or near the place, so that after a few whispered 
 words the curtain was gently pulled back and the door 
 opened just as gently inch by inch. 
 
 For a long minute the two men peered in through the 
 crack, their eyes searching swiftly for sign of him whom 
 they searched.
 
 DESERT LOVE 95 
 
 Unavailing at first, until with a motion of the head 
 the younger one pointed. 
 
 " Look ! Yonder he sleeps ! " 
 
 The room was still brilliantly lighted by the many 
 lamps hanging from the ceilings and the walls, but the 
 shadow of the great mass of growing plants fell upon 
 the divan upon which Jill had sat some few hours ago. 
 
 Inch by inch the door was opened, until it was wide 
 enough to allow the dusky slender body of the boy to 
 slip in. Round the wall he slid, his eyes a-glisten, and 
 the knife fast held between his teeth; then down upon 
 his hands and knees he sank to crawl as quietly as a cat 
 up to the back of the flowering plants. And then he 
 quite suddenly sprang to his feet, beckoning to his com- 
 panion, who sped straight across the room, knife in 
 hand. 
 
 "Behold! O! brother!" 
 
 And a world of disappointment rang in the whispered 
 words as the youth pointed disgustedly to the picture 
 before him. 
 
 Very peacefully lay the man whose name had been a 
 byword in the land of Egypt, and whose delight had 
 been in the moral and physical terrors of women. 
 
 His eyes were closed and his mouth slightly open, 
 showing the white teeth ; the hands were gently clasped, 
 but over the spot where should have been his heart, and 
 on the silken coverings of the cushions, spread a great 
 crimson patch of blood, whilst at his feet, lying prone 
 across the couch, was the body of a girl. Her eyes 
 were open, and a little smile widened the beautiful 
 mouth, but from the spot above the heart which had 
 so unwisely and so well loved, glittered the jewelled
 
 96 DESERT LOVE 
 
 hilt of a dagger. One hand touched the hem of her 
 master's coat, but what the bastinado had left of the 
 little feet seemed to shriek aloud for vengeance, venge- 
 ance for the dead child, and vengeance for all those who 
 had likewise suffered. 
 
 " Allah ! Allah ! " The cry cleft the stillness of the 
 room as the boy's eyes fell upon the terrible sight ; and 
 the knife flashed twice and thrice, and yet again, until 
 the evil beauty of the dead man's face had been entirely, 
 obliterated, and a strong hand gripped the supple wrist. 
 
 " Come, O ! brother ! Waste not thy strength upon 
 the dead. Behold ! Yon little maid has carried out 
 our master's wish, may she rest in the delights of para- 
 dise with the beloved of Allah whose prophet is Mo- 
 hammed, and may the spirit of him who is accursed en- 
 ter into the body of a pig to live eternally in filth and 
 dishonour ! " 
 
 And the sun had risen upon a cleaner day when the 
 twain departed from the house of shadows.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IT was close upon dawn when to Jill's ears was borne 
 a faint melodious sou^d. 
 
 Inexpressibly weary was she, exhausted to the point 
 of fainting, for in spite of numerous haltings, the 
 drinking of tea, coffee, and sherbet, and the eating 
 of cakes and curious Egyptian sweetmeats, had in no 
 way lessened the agony of her lower limba, which she 
 moved this way and that in the vain effort to relieve 
 the terrible cramp that seemed to creep from her spine 
 to her brain, and down again to her feet. 
 
 The stars danced before and around her, as she 
 swayed to and fro to the deadly lurching rhythm of 
 the camel's pace; one thing, and one thing only, hav- 
 ing so far saved her from the utter dissolution of fa- 
 tigue, and that being when, urged by their master's 
 voice, the three animals had broken into a gentle trot, 
 ending in a pace which literally took away the girl's 
 breath; but even that relaxation had had to be aban- 
 doned as the nature of the ground changed. 
 
 Most people's conception of the desert is that of one 
 huge expanse of smooth sand, with here and there a 
 palm tree to break the monotony; an entirely wrong 
 conception, bred partly, I think, from the highly col- 
 oured scriptural pictures of our youth. 
 
 There are tracts of sand extending for many miles. 
 
 such as those around big cities into which you wander 
 
 on
 
 98 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 on camel-back at so much an hour, and with the de- 
 scription of which you hold jour less travelled neigh- 
 bours enthralled, as you intersperse the munching of 
 muffins with the words " dragoman," " backsheesh," 
 and " Cheops." 
 
 But even on a week or ten days of genuine travelling 
 you are likely to pass through and over a variety of 
 grounds, from hard gravel which is delightful for tent- 
 pitching, ground covered with a liberal supply of rocks, 
 under which lurks the festive scorpion, great mounds 
 of limestone which in the desert take on the propor- 
 tions of mountains, marks of long-dried pools left by 
 long-dried torrents, defiles almost as narrow as the cam- 
 el's scriptural needle, and in places, an earth, the curi- 
 ous marking of which will almost lead you to believe 
 that it is cloud-shadowed, if the heat of your head, 
 the state of your throat, and the lamentable leathery 
 appearance of your skin did not tell you that for months 
 no such thing as a cloud had been known to appear in 
 the blazing heavens. 
 
 At the first faint, flute-like note Jill thought that she 
 must have awakened from sleep or delirium, and, it 
 must be confessed, really did not care which was the 
 solution of the mystery; sinking back into a state of 
 apathy so exhausted was she, until the three camels 
 came to a standstill, and the Arab, with something that 
 looked like a dark cloak across his arm, drew his beast 
 alongside of hers. 
 
 " Behold, woman, the hour of ISTamaz is at hand, 
 when throughout the land the Muezzin is called, for 
 it is the hour of dawn. The hour when the curtains 
 of heaven are drawn about the stars, so that they ma/
 
 DESERT LOVE 99 
 
 not be blinded by the glory of their golden master, 
 as I shall draw this cloak about the fairness of your 
 sweet face, and the outline of your gracious figure, 
 which Allah in his bounty has placed within my un- 
 worthy hands, to hide them from the eyes of the high- 
 born, and the eyes of the low-born, such as yonder 
 slave who, though he be the sweetest maker of music 
 in all Egypt, is but my head camel tender, though 
 before Allah who is God, his worth as such could not 
 be purchased for the price of rubies. 
 
 " And now shall your weary form rest a while, while 
 I give praise to Allah, whose prophet is Mohammed." 
 
 Grumbling, the three animals subsided. 
 
 " Is all well with you ? " 
 
 The girl nodded as she stumbled from her seat and 
 stretched herself full length upon the sands, the con- 
 vulsive twitching of her cramped limbs giving way at 
 last to the peace of oblivion. 
 
 " Will you forgive me if I leave you in your stress, 
 for behold, the hour of Namaz waits neither for weari- 
 ness or joy, nay, nor even death." 
 
 But Jill heard nothing, neither his light footfall as 
 he moved some yards from the unclean Christian whom 
 he loved, and placing his prayer-rug upon the ground 
 turned towards Mecca, which in Islam is called Keblah, 
 which, being translated, means " centre " ; nor the 
 splashing of water as he washed three times his nos- 
 trils, his mouth, and hands and arms to the elbow, the 
 right first as ordained, then head and neck, and ears 
 once and feet once, whilst murmuring a prescribed 
 form of words, these words being repeated in different 
 positions, standing erect or sitting, with inclinations
 
 100 DESERT LOVE 
 
 of the head and body, and prostrations in which the 
 Arab in all humility touched the ground with his fore- 
 head. 
 
 For Hahmed was a true Mohammedan, carrying out 
 the precepts of his religion as laid down by the Koran 
 as fully and conscientiously as is within the power of 
 man. But, you will say, he was voluntarily consort- 
 ing with a Christian, who, by the edicts of the Koran, 
 is considered unclean, inviting pollution by touching 
 the bare skin of her hands and feet. 
 
 True! but the man was no evil liver, picking up to 
 throw away, buying to regret the purchase within the 
 hour, attracted by this pretty face or that lovely form. 
 Nay. He loved the girl as it is unhappily given on 
 this earth for but few women to be so loved, and with 
 all the strength of his will he intended the outcome 
 of this love to be one more triumph to the glory of 
 Allah. 
 
 As for the pollution of her satin skin, did he not 
 murmur the prayer of purification when in contact with 
 it? 
 
 Neither did Jill notice that the man, his purification 
 and his prayers ended, had come Over to her, standing 
 gazing down at the almost tragic picture she made out- 
 stretched on the sands. 
 
 Her death-white face was buried in the curve of one 
 folded arm, the other, flung out, lay with the palm of 
 the hand uppermost. The little feet were crossed un- 
 der the crumpled skirt, from which peeped the folds 
 of her last white silk petticoat. 
 
 " Poor little bird," he murmured, as the sense of 
 mastership rose strong within him at the sight of the
 
 DESERT LOVE 101 
 
 helpless child at his feet. " So weary, so beautiful, 
 and so young. Behold, shall a nest be built for thee 
 in which thou shalt rest, shaking off the plumage harmed 
 in thy short passage through life, to appear at last 
 more beautiful than the most glorious bird in Para- 
 dise," and bending he touched her gently. 
 
 But Jill, who had had no real sleep since she had 
 left the boat, had passed at last into an almost coma- 
 tose condition, from which it was doubtful she could 
 have been awakened, even at the sound of Israfil's 
 Trumpet. 1 
 
 Crossing to the camels Hahmed considerably length- 
 ened the lead, and attaching the camels Taffadaln and 
 Howesha one on each side of his own, he bade the two 
 former rise, which they did with alacrity, leading one 
 to believe that they heard the flute-like music calling 
 them to the cool of the palm tree's shade, the doubtful 
 bucket of water, and the certain repast, terminating 
 with a handful of luscious dates. 
 
 Stooping, the man raised the unconscious girl from 
 the ground, holding her as lightly as a feather on one 
 arm, and draping the dark cloak around her so as to 
 cover the red-gold hair, drew a corner across the face. 
 
 Perhaps some may enjoy restraining the vagaries 
 of a lead horse, which sees fit to proceed sideways at 
 the encounter of anything in motion on the road, or 
 execute a pas seul on the hind legs at the flutter of a 
 leaf, without referring to what happens if a white 
 paper-bag should attract the nervous eye. 
 
 But it is mere child's play compared with the leading, 
 
 i In Islamism there are four angels particularly favoured by 
 Allah, who is God. Israfil is the name of one whose office will be 
 to sound the trumpet at the Resurrection.
 
 102 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 under certain circumstances, of one or more self-willed, 
 obstinate, vain-glorious camels. 
 
 Seated across his black camel the Arab drew the 
 girl's head against his shoulder, holding her gently but 
 firmly in his left arm. 
 
 A word, and the camel pitching and tossing finally 
 acquired an upright position. Things went well for 
 a score or so of yards, the three animals proceeding 
 at a stately demure pace, until verily the devil entered 
 into Taffadaln. 
 
 Suddenly she rushed sideways, then with front legs 
 wide apart came to a dead stop, jerking the black camel 
 violently. 
 
 " Thou awkward descendant of clumsy parents, what 
 aileth thee ? " exclaimed her master, as Jill's head 
 bumped violently against his shoulder. " Take heed 
 to my words. Enjoy this thy last ride through the 
 glory of the desert, for verily at the end shalt thou, 
 between the periods of bearing young, be put to the 
 lowest tasks apportioned to the lowest of thy species." 
 
 Whereupon Taffadaln turned solemnly towards the 
 speaker, and lifting her upper lip laughed, and with 
 no more ado faced towards the palm trees, which to 
 desert-trained eyes showed faintly some miles away, 
 took two steps forward, humped herself together, col- 
 lapsed on the ground, and stretching out her neck, half- 
 closed her eyes. 
 
 Imagine the helplessness of her master, seated so 
 high upon his camel as to render useless any chastise- 
 ment with the courbaash, which whip applied deftly to 
 certain less tough portions of the camel's body will 
 usually bring the brute to reason, if he who wields the
 
 DESERT LOVE 103 
 
 whip cares to risk the accumulation of revenge which 
 the punishment will infallibly store up in the camel's 
 brain. A veritable storm of anger raged in the man 
 as he looked down upon the girl lying peacefully in 
 his arms in a sleep which even the camel's uncouth 
 procedure could not disturb. 
 
 Once more groaning bitterly his camel and Howesha 
 grounded, which latter word describes best, in con- 
 densed form, the camel's method of lying down. 
 
 Out of one corner of her half-shut, insolent eye, the 
 beautiful Taffadaln watched proceedings, and just as 
 her master, holding Jill gently in his arms, was slip- 
 ping from the saddle, with a positively fiendish squeal 
 of triumph, and one gigantic effort which beat any 
 record for swiftness established in any camel's family 
 history, she rose suddenly, and rushing forward once 
 more to the end of her lead, caused the black camel 
 to fall sideways and the dismounting man to stumble, 
 and in order to save her, to place Jill with distinct 
 vigour upon the sand. 
 
 Not one syllable did he utter, not one line appeared 
 on the perfectly calm face, as he raised the girl and 
 carried her further from the camels, where she lay as 
 still as though the angel Azrael 1 had separated her 
 soul from her body. 
 
 Walking to Taffadaln he stood for some minutes ab- 
 solutely motionless in contemplation, whilst the object 
 of his thoughts, blissfully ignorant of what was in store, 
 and because it suited her mood of the moment, came 
 meekly to ground on the word of command. 
 
 i Azrael Angel of Death.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 I AM sure that those who read the following and know 
 the East will say that I exaggerate, that under no cir- 
 cumstances or stress of emotion would an Arab so 
 treat a camel, especially the most perfect of her species. 
 
 But against this wish to hurt must be weighed the 
 love that consumed the man, a love mighty and sudden, 
 and for the advent of which, and the enjoyment thereof, 
 he had trained himself from his youth, abstaining from 
 aught which might cause his perfect body to deteriorate, 
 and all that which by satisfying the senses might dull 
 his mind. A love, in fact, which, stronger than the 
 wind of the hurricane, swifter than the raging torrent, 
 swept all before it. 
 
 The Arab's love for his camel is a love of gratitude, 
 for does not the Koran say, " And hath also provided 
 you with tents and the skin of cattle, which ye find light 
 to be removed on the day of your departure, and easy 
 to be pitched on the day of your sitting down therein, 
 and of their wool, and their fur, and of their hair, hath 
 he supplied you with furniture and household stuff for 
 a season." His love for his horse is a love of delight in 
 her beauty, and her endurance and her swiftness, caus- 
 ing the master even at the point of death in battle to 
 pour forth the praises of his mare, and with his last 
 breath call aloud her pedigree to the lucky person to 
 
 whom she falls as booty. 
 
 104
 
 DESERT LOVE 105 
 
 But once let an Arab love a woman with the love 
 which has nothing to do with the arranged marriage 
 of his early youth, or his attraction to some beautiful 
 face which causes him to take the possessor thereof to 
 wife, of which Allah in his bounty allows him four, or 
 his desire for some one of his concubines, to the num- 
 ber of which there is no limit ; then I say will the love 
 of sons, love of beast, and thought for all save his reli- 
 gion, go down before it as a young tree before the 
 storm. 
 
 Hahmed the Arab loved the English girl with just 
 such a love, also had she been hurt through the brutish 
 manners of the animal, who had been expressly chosen 
 for the honour of carrying her, therefore his love for 
 his camel had turned to seething hate, and when that 
 happens in the East, it is time to remove thyself, and 
 that hastily. 
 
 Unfastening the lead from the pack camel, the man 
 knotted it firmly to the back of her flat saddle, which 
 usually makes the foundation for the animal's burden, 
 then urging her to her feet led her in front of Taffadaln, 
 who, a little at sea as to the proceedings, was marking 
 time with her head. The same thing happened to the 
 black animal, and then with a swiftness which thor- 
 oughly befogged the small brain of all this trouble, the 
 leathered thong across her soft muzzle was tightened 
 to the verge of cruelty, and the reins twisted twice round 
 the back of the head, and then knotted to the leading 
 reins fastened to the saddlebacks of her two inferior 
 sisters. 
 
 " Thus will I show thee who is master, O ! shrew ! " 
 observed her master, as he surveyed his handiwork.
 
 106 DESERT LOVE 
 
 " Thou wilt not walk, then shall thy sisters force thee 
 to run; thou wilt lie down, then shall they drag thee 
 until thy mouth runs blood. 
 
 " Behold hast thou brought misery to thy fair mis- 
 tress, O! curse of camels, and for each moment that 
 thou shalt have lost unto her the shade of the palm 
 tree, for each moment shalt thou shed a drop of blood." 
 
 Howseha of her own free will scrambled to her feet, 
 whilst the Arab raised the girl, who, sunk in a sleep 
 resembling unconsciousness, took no heed of these un- 
 toward events, and placing her so that her head lay 
 softly against his shoulder, mounted his camel and 
 brought the animal to her feet. 
 
 The forcing to their feet of three camels by voice 
 persuasion alone is no mean performance, but no voice, 
 not even the vocal chords of the Archangel Gabriel, 
 would have moved the cause of all this pother, for at 
 the word of command, in a tone which should have put 
 fear of death into her black heart, she slightly shifted 
 her hind-quarters and lay still. 
 
 " So thou wilt not move, thou daughter of a desert 
 snail ! Verily then shalt thou so remain ! " 
 
 A sharp word, and the two upstanding camels moved 
 forward, coming to a standstill as they felt the weight 
 of their recumbent sister. There was then heard a 
 sharp swish, as the courbaash delicately nicked each 
 astounded quadruped, astounded indeed, for never had 
 they felt the like before, and be it confessed, never had 
 their master been possessed of such a fury. 
 
 Simultaneously they bounded forward, if so one can 
 describe their action, bringing a snarl of rage from the 
 unrepentant Desert Pearl. Straining and tugging,
 
 DESEKT LOVE 107 
 
 with the whip constantly flicking and stinging, they 
 slowly dragged Taffadaln over the sand, until grad- 
 ually the agony of the tightening muzzle-thong cut not 
 only into the flesh, but into the very soul of the re- 
 bellious camel queen. 
 
 Foam began to gather round the bruised mouth, 
 dripping from the teeth only half closed by the leather 
 strap ; a drop of blood showed red near the corner, cut 
 by the cruel knot, sweat poured from the silky coat as 
 again and again she vainly tried to scramble to her 
 feet, whilst the eyes of her master, ablaze with hate, 
 watched her futile efforts. 
 
 Suddenly he halted the animals, and sat contemplat- 
 ing the beautiful Taffandaln, panting and moaning 
 upon the sand. 
 
 " Get up ! " he suddenly cried, with a ring of steel in 
 the usually soft voice, and obediently the brute scram- 
 bled to her feet, leaving red patches where had rested 
 her mouth. 
 
 " Now that I have almost broken thy neck, will I 
 essay to break thy heart." In which endeavour the 
 Arab entirely failed. 1 
 
 " Thou wouldst halt, therefore shalt thou run ! " 
 
 But Taffadaln was no fool, no, not one bit. For the 
 first few yards, as her sisters raced ahead, she hung 
 back, pulling on the blood covered thong, and tearing 
 her tongue between her vicious teeth. Faster, and 
 faster, sped the forerunners, and how fast that can be 
 may only be understood by one who has pressed this 
 swift moving animal's pace. Resisting less and less, 
 
 i Having four times successfully foaled a she-camel, Taffadaln, 
 the Glory of the Desert, was ultimately shot on account of br 
 demoniacal temper.
 
 108 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Taffadaln raced after, until the agony and outrage of 
 the proceedings suddenly drove her mad, and also to 
 her fastest speed, until with a positive shriek of hate 
 she rushed upon the pack camel, regardless of the 
 slackened reins which were like to trip her at every 
 step, a scream of agony announcing the fact that the 
 bloody teeth had met in the camel's side. " Allah ! " 
 ejaculated Hahmed as again and again he struck at the 
 animal's infuriated face, when she turned her attention 
 to her black sister, whom she had the full intention of 
 savaging, what time the three were tearing like the 
 wind towards those palms under which figures in white 
 could easily be discerned. 
 
 Finding she was unable to wreak her vengeance with 
 her teeth, her crafty brain conceived the idea of harass- 
 ing her fleeing companions, to whom she was ignomini- 
 ously fastened. 
 
 What were they but snails in speed compared to her, 
 and if she could not pass them for the bonds which 
 held her captive, she could at least urge them on until 
 they dropped from exhaustion. So into first one and 
 then the other she bumped, with an occasional nip at 
 the tails, whilst the air was rent with agonising shrieks, 
 through which tumult Jill slept sweetly upon the man's 
 heart, until at last they raced up to the caravan. 
 
 Many camels and four men watched the arrival, the 
 former grunting and groaning as they scented the trou- 
 ble, the men calling upon Allah to witness the madness 
 which had befallen their master. 
 
 At the sight of the tents and the men who had tended 
 them from birth, Howesha and the black camel stopped 
 dead, but too terrified to pay heed to the voice that
 
 DESERT LOVE 109 
 
 bade them get down, stood literally shaking with fear, 
 or wheeling sharply to dodge the gleaming teeth which 
 seldom failed to leave their mark, until Howesha, in 
 a moment of absolute terror, twisted and met her teeth 
 in the upper portion of the back part of Taffadaln's 
 hind-leg, of which there is no tenderer part in the 
 camel's anatomy, following which action ensued a 
 pitched battle. 
 
 With a scream, the rage-filled Taffadaln flung herself 
 upon the two camels and then upon her master and she 
 who lay in his arms and who was the real cause of 
 this unseemly fracas. The Arab, essaying to hold the 
 cloak around the girl, so as to save her from the in- 
 sult of a man's gaze, struck again and again at the 
 mouth which tore great pieces from his flowing robes, 
 the girl's covering, and chunks of hair from the shriek- 
 ing camel's body. 
 
 Blood and foam covered the animal's chest, the girl's 
 cloak, and the garments of the men, who, on account of 
 the inextricable knotting of the leads which bound the 
 animals one to another, and the three sets of teeth 
 which were snapping and tearing at everything within 
 their reach, found themselves helpless to calm the 
 tumult. 
 
 But suddenly there was peace, just as Jill opening 
 her eyes murmured, "What a dreadful noise the sea 
 is making," and closed them again. For the maker 
 of sweet music, and head-tender of camels, had grasped 
 the danger to his beloved master, also the disaster im- 
 pending among the seething herd, who were all upon 
 their feet and straining at their tethers. 
 
 Swiftly divesting himself of his long, white, outer
 
 110 DESERT LOVE 
 
 garment, he waved it in front of the Glory of the Desert, 
 whose price was above rubies, and temper a direct gift 
 from Eblis. 1 
 
 To her everlasting undoing, she paused for one mo- 
 ment to stretch her neck at length and eye the new 
 menace. A fatal delay in which the offending object 
 lighted upon and around her head, shutting her com- 
 pletely into outer darkness, whereupon she stood like 
 a lamb whilst hobbles were placed about her feet ; after 
 which the shade was lifted slightly, leaving the eyes 
 covered, whilst the blood-soaked thong was cut away 
 from the torn flesh, and a kind of leather cage slipped 
 over the muzzle, which would certainly prevent her 
 from biting, or indulging in her usual wide yawn of 
 indifference. 
 
 The covering being lifted from hei eyes, her bonds 
 were undone, and herself likened by the maker of sweet 
 music, unto all that the Koran calls unclean, even unto 
 the vilest of the vile, the pig, into the company of 
 which she was relegated for all eternity. She was then 
 ordered to ground in a manner reminiscent of the tones 
 used to bazaar dogs, which order was emphasised with 
 a flick of the courbaash upon a part which had known 
 the meeting of Howesha's teeth. 
 
 But when at sunset Jill opened her eyes all sounds 
 and signs of battle were stilled. 
 
 i The devil.
 
 CHAPTEK XIX 
 
 THE sun was sinking when Jill moved, stretched a 
 little, half opened her eyes, and closing them turned 
 over and went to sleep again for about two minutes. 
 
 Then she half opened her eyes again, stretched out 
 her hand to pull uncomprehendingly at the white net- 
 ting round her bed, through which she could see a 
 blaze of red, gold, and purple; and laughing in the 
 vacant manner of the delirious, or those but half- 
 awake, tried to collect her thoughts sufficiently to ex- 
 plain the strangeness of her surroundings, sitting up 
 with a jerk as the doings of the last twenty-four hours 
 suddenly stirred in her awakened mind. 
 
 Wide-eyed she sat with her hands clasped round her 
 knees, whilst the deadly stillness seemed to rise as a 
 wall around her, cutting her off from laughter, love, 
 and life, until wild unreasoning fear, seizing her very 
 soul, caused her to tear and rend the mosquito nets, and 
 force a way through them and out of the tent. 
 
 For a while she stood holding to the tent rope, look- 
 ing this way and that for the sign of some living thing. 
 Before her stretched one vast plain of gravel, miles 
 upon miles of it receding into nothingness, on each side 
 the same, behind her tent above, the palm trees wav- 
 ing gently in the evening breeze, and above again, a 
 sky such as is to be seen only in this part of the world, 
 for travel you ever so widely, you will find nothing to 
 rival a desert sunset in its design and colour. 
 
 HI
 
 112 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Above her head seemed to be stretched a canopy, 
 made by some Eastern magic, of a mixture of colours 
 woven by the hands of Love and Hate, Passion and 
 Revenge, underneath which she stood disheartened, di- 
 shevelled, in crumpled clothes and shoeless feet, with 
 fear-distended eyes in a fatigue-shadowed face, search- 
 ing vainly for something alive and near, be it human, 
 dog, horse or camel. 
 
 Owing to a sudden nervous reaction brought about 
 by the cessation of all physical and mental effort, the 
 girl's power of reasoning had gone, along with her will, 
 her common sense, and her fearlessness. 
 
 That there was another tent beside her own made 
 no more impression on her mind than the fact that a 
 slight smoke haze softened the intense blue of the 
 sky on her right. 
 
 She was absolutely terrified and ravenously hungry, 
 also unwashed, therefore altogether unhappy, so with 
 no more ado she flung out her arms, and with a great 
 sob rushed headlong into that which frightened her 
 most, the unlimited, uninhabited desert. 
 
 Her shoeless feet made hardly a sound as she sped 
 like a deer from the desolation she imagined, to the 
 certain desolation and death in front of her, but she 
 had hardly cut her little feet over more than twenty 
 yards when Hahmed, the swiftest runner in Egypt, 
 was speeding after her. 
 
 " Allah ! Be merciful to me ! For behold, I fail to 
 keep from harm that which Thou hast placed in my 
 keeping," he murmured, as he ran abreast with the 
 girl for a few yards, then putting his arm around her 
 lifted her off her feet, holding her gently to him, and
 
 DESERT LOVE 113 
 
 speaking no word until the paroxysm of sobs had sub- 
 sided. 
 
 " Where to fly you, O ! woman, and whyfore are 
 you thus afraid ? " 
 
 " I was simply terrified. I I thought you had 
 left me all alone to die, and I just ran and ran to find 
 someone or something else beside myself in the desert," 
 answered a voice, muffled by the snowy garments of the 
 man who held her so gently against his heavily beating 
 heart. 
 
 " I will take you back to your tent, to the bath and 
 repast which awaits you. I dared not loosen your rai- 
 ment without your permission, so having removed the 
 shoes from off your feet, laid you upon your bed, but 
 when you are bathed, I pray you wrap yourself in the 
 soft garments you will find, and clapping your hands 
 make known to your slave that you are ready to eat." 
 
 " Oh, there is a servant to wait on me. I thought 
 we were quite alone." 
 
 " I am your slave," simply replied the Arab, as he 
 placed Jill upon her feet in front of her tent, where 
 she stood with her hand on his arm, rooted to the spot 
 by the glory of the sky, whilst the man gazed down 
 upon her, as the dying sun struck the gold of her hair, 
 the blue of her eyes, and the cream of her neck. 
 
 " You, who are of those who are versed in music, 
 and of those who can make poetry, describe that glory 
 to me," imperiously demanded Jill, after a moment of 
 silence, with that suddenness and complete change of 
 mood which falls occasionally upon all women, caus- 
 ing the meek to scratch like cats, and the strong to give 
 in, often to their everlasting undoing.
 
 114 DESERT LOVE 
 
 " Bathe the white body of thy beloved in the blue- 
 green of Egypt's river, so that the coolness and fair- 
 ness may give delight to thee ! Drape the satin veil 
 of deepest blue about the red glory of thy love's hair, 
 and bind a band of gold, set deep in sapphires, above 
 the twin pools of heaven, which are her eyes. Set 
 turquoise, threaded with finest gold, a-swing in the 
 rose-leaf of her ears, to fall and wind about the snow 
 of her white neck. 
 
 " Fasten the blue flower which spies upon thee from 
 the shelter of the golden corn, within the glory of her 
 hair. 
 
 " Perfume her hair and her breasts, anoint her hands 
 and her feet, and wrap they delight in a garment of pas- 
 sion, sparing not the shades therein, for in them shalt 
 thou find thy delight. 
 
 " Let the garment be heavy with the gold of love, 
 rich with the purples of passion, aflame with the crim- 
 son of thy desire, forgetting not the caress of the rose, 
 nor the light mingling of opal and saffron, and the 
 faint touch of amethyst and topaz, in which shall she 
 find her delight. 
 
 " Bind thy love with the broad bands of the setting 
 sun so that she cleaves unto thee, and carry her unto 
 the twilight of thy tent, which shall slowly darken un- 
 til the roof thereof is swathed in purple gloom, through 
 which shall shine the stars of thy beloved. 
 
 " And there lie down in thy delight, until the hour 
 of dawn calleth thee to prayer." 
 
 The voice was stilled, whereupon Jill lifted her face 
 bathed in rosy colour, which might or might not have 
 been the reflection from the sky, whilst her red mouth
 
 DESERT LOVE 115 
 
 quivered ever so slightly, and her great blue eyes looked 
 for a moment into those of the man, and as quickly 
 looked away. 
 
 So seductive was she in her youth and utter helpless- 
 ness that the man stepped back two paces, and saluting 
 her for whom his whole being craved, gathered his cloak 
 about him and departed to his tent. 
 
 And Jill also entered her tent, and having earlier 
 and under the lash of terror departed therefrom in 
 blind haste, stood amazed. 
 
 She had imagined a mattress, a rug, an earthenware 
 basin on the ground, and sand over everything, and 
 on the top of the sand scorpions, spiders, and all that 
 creepeth and flieth both by day and by night. Not 
 at all. 
 
 A carpet of many colours stretching to the corners 
 of the desert tent, which is not peaked like the Eu- 
 ropean affair, into which you crawl fearing to bring 
 the whole concern about your ears, when if you should 
 be over tall you hit the top with your head. It was 
 as big as a fair-sized room, high enough for a man 
 of over six feet to stand erect, not so broad as long, 
 with sides which lifted according to the direction of 
 the sun, and through the uplifted portion of which the 
 faint delicious evening breeze blew refreshingly. A 
 white enamelled bedstead covered in finest, whitest 
 linen stood in the centre of the carpet, surrounded by 
 a white net curtain hanging from the tent ceiling, each 
 foot in a broad tin of water. In the corners were a 
 canvas folding dressing-table, a full length mirror, a 
 long chair and a smaller one, over which hung diapha- 
 nous garments of finest muslin, and a shimmering wrap
 
 116 DESERT LOVE 
 
 of pearl white satin, and through a half-drawn curtain 
 which hung across the narrower end of the tent, the 
 vision of a big canvas bath filled with water, big white 
 towels, and another canvas table upon which stood all 
 the things necessary to a woman's toilet. 
 
 So that it was a very refreshed Jill who, wrapped in 
 a loose Turkish bath-gown, with little feet thrust into 
 heelless slippers, went in search of raiment. And won- 
 derfully soft, simple things she found into which she 
 slipped, and out of which she slipped again, holding 
 them out at arm's length for inspection, then burying 
 her face in the soft perfumed folds in very thankful- 
 ness. 
 
 And she laughed a delicious little laugh of pure glee 
 as she replaced the garments on the chair, and slither- 
 ing hither and thither in her unaccustomed footgear, 
 tidied the tent and made her bed, regarding ruthfully 
 the torn mosquito curtain. 
 
 " Oh, for a maid," she sighed, as she wrestled with 
 the mattress, and *' Oh, for dear Babette," she sighed 
 again, as she wrestled with the masses of her hair. 
 
 And the tent was filled with a blaze of light, as, 
 wrapped in her bath-gown, she stood in front of the 
 steel mirror, plaiting and unplaiting, twisting and pin- 
 ning her hair, until with an exclamation of impatience 
 she let it all down, holding great strands out at arm's 
 length, through which she passed the comb again and 
 again, until the red-gold mass shone, and curled, and 
 rippled about her like a cloak of satin. 
 
 It is hopeless to try and describe the shining, wav- 
 ing masses which curled round her knees, and fluttered 
 in tendrils round her face, and it would have been
 
 DESERT LOVE 117 
 
 hard to find anything anywhere so beautiful as Jill 
 when, clad in the loose silk garment and soft satin 
 wrapper, with her perfumed hair swirling about her, 
 she stood entranced at the opening of her tent, until 
 the sun suddenly disappearing left her in darkness, 
 whereupon she clapped her hands quickly.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 JILL, had finished the first of many evening meals she 
 was to partake of in the desert, and was lying on a 
 heap of cushions listening to the clink of brass coffee 
 utensils and porcelain cups, whilst sniffing apprecia- 
 tively the aroma of Eastern coffee Easternly made, 
 which is totally different to that which permeates the 
 dim recesses draped with tinselled dusty hangings, and 
 cluttered with Eastern stools and tables inlaid with 
 mother o' pearl made in Birmingham, in the ubiquitous 
 Oriental Cafe at which we meet the rest of us at eleven 
 o'clock on Saturday morning at the seaside; nor does 
 it resemble in the slightest that which is oilily poured 
 forth in London town by the fat, oily, so-called " Son 
 of the Crescent " who, wearing fez and baggy trousers, 
 in some caravanserai West, Sou'-west or Nor'-west, has 
 unfailingly been chief coffee-maker to the late Sultan, 
 vide anyway the hotel advertisements. 
 
 She was smiling as she lay stretched full length 
 with her chin in her palms, thinking of the me^l just 
 eaten. Whilst waiting for it she had imagined a mess 
 of pottage perhaps, or stewed kid as piece de resistance, 
 with honey or manna as sweets, and a savoury of fried 
 locusts, which she, with many others, imagined tr be 
 the all-devouring insect. She knew by now, and re- 
 turned thanks, that the man neither ate with his mouth 
 
 open nor gave precedence to his fingers and teeth over 
 
 118
 
 DESERT LOVE 119 
 
 knives and forks, but in her wildest dreams she had 
 never imagined that such exquisite things, served in 
 such an exquisite way, could be laid before her in a 
 desert. 
 
 When the light had suddenly closed down upon the 
 two adventurers on the Road of Life, she had been led 
 to the tent adjoining hers, a sudden shyness preventing 
 her from asking where the Arab slept, which she found 
 alight with the soft glow of many candles, and spread 
 with a carpet upon which were many cushions. The 
 table had certainly been the ground, but everything 
 upon it had been of the daintiest, and all that she had 
 eaten, although she had had no notion of what it had 
 consisted, might have been the outcome of some cordon 
 bleu's genius. 
 
 " Our life is one long picnic," had replied the Arab 
 to her question anent the cooking facilities in waste 
 places. " So why should we not all, high and low born, 
 learn to make the picnic pleasant, for behold, we know 
 not what a day may bring forth, nor in what place the 
 night shall find us." 
 
 And Jill came quite suddenly out of her reverie 
 when asked if she would like to go outside for coffee 
 and cigarettes. " For though the moon in her youth 
 has gone early to bed, the stars are shining like your 
 eyes." 
 
 " Oh," said she, as she got into a half-sitting posi- 
 tion, " I thought we should have to pack up ; it's late 
 already, isn't it ? " 
 
 " You are tired from unaccustomed travelling, and 
 your limbs must ache, therefore if it pleases you we 
 will wait until to-morrow night, so that with many
 
 120 DESERT LOVE 
 
 baths and much refreshing sleep you will feel glad to 
 mount your camel, who is not the begotten daughter 
 of sin, Taffadaln, and come still further into the deseri." 
 
 So Jill went outside the tent and looked up to the 
 blazing stars, and the soft wind blew her hair so that 
 a burnished red-gold perfumed strand fell across the 
 man's mouth, and behold he trembled, fur great was 
 his desire, but greater still his love for this woman. 
 
 And when she sat down upon the cushions he stood 
 apart and watched her, until a little hand, like a white 
 moth fluttering in the dark, beckoned him, and he 
 moved towards her and sat at her feet; and the wind 
 whispered to the palms and the hours fled as the Eng- 
 lish girl lay on the cushions and listened, and she had 
 learnt of many things before she rose and passed into 
 her tent to sleep again. 
 
 Hahmed was of Southern Arabia, and therefore with 
 truth could claim direct descent from Kahtan. He 
 was the first-born of the great Sheik el Has'ad, his 
 father, and his favourite wife who, on her marriage, 
 besides much wealth, had brought a dowry of purest 
 blood, and wonderful beauty, to her lord and master, 
 so that the man who sat at the English girl's feet un- 
 der the stars, and who trembled at her nearness was 
 pur sang, and further than that you cannot go. 
 
 Worshipped by his father, idolised by his mother, at 
 the age of ten he had been betrothed to the daughter, 
 aged seven, of the Sheik el Ban j ad. She was also pur 
 sang, and already of looks promising great beauty. 
 
 And so he had grown in the warmth of his parents' 
 love, trained in what we call outdoor sports, but which 
 are life itself to the Arab, until at fourteen no one
 
 DESERT LOVE 121 
 
 could snrpasse him in running or horsemanship or 
 spear-throwing, whilst with rifle or revolver he could 
 clip the hair off the top of a man's head, the which 
 strenuous accomplishments he balanced in passing his 
 leisure moments in the gentle arts of verse-making 
 and even music, in spite of the latter being condemned 
 by religion; also did he learn to converse in foreign 
 tongues. Do not think that these qualifications were 
 enumerated with the zest and glorification which usually 
 precede the distribution of dull books at a prize-giving, 
 for the man might have been talking of the sunshine or 
 the sand or the flies or any other part of that which 
 goes to the making up of Egypt, rather than that which 
 had helped to make him the finest man in the country. 
 
 And yet another trait which he touched upon lightly, 
 and which had served to make him the subject of com- 
 ment in the bazaars, and of gossip in the harems. 
 
 In regard to his womenfolk there is no man sterner 
 the world over than the Mohammedan, shielding them 
 from harm, and insisting on the absolute privacy of 
 their lives and their bodies. Upon just this subject, 
 from the first day of his understanding, Hahmed the 
 Arab was stern to fanaticism, intolerant even to in- 
 justice. He disapproved of licence in all things, but 
 especially in speech, food, and religion. When forced 
 by circumstances, he went to the feasts to which he was 
 invited, eating sparingly as was his wont, taking no 
 more interest in the more or less clothed dancing women 
 than in a set of performing dogs, departing thankfully 
 when the hour came. 
 
 Let me recount, in his own words, the happenings of 
 his youth, which served to change the whole tenor of
 
 122 DESERT LOVE 
 
 his life, and was to culminate in the high adventure 
 of an English girl. 
 
 "At the age of fourteen I was to marry and was 
 content, for the desires of my own woman had come 
 upon me, and I longed to possess the beauty of which 
 my mother told me, and which, save for her father, 
 had been seen by no man. 
 
 " My own woman I desired, I say, for bought women 
 were not for me, and I had refrained therefrom, there- 
 fore was I unsoiled at the time of my wedding. 
 
 " True my marriage had naught to do with my horo- 
 scope cast at birth, for it had been read that water 
 would bring me joy, and water would bring me grief, 
 and that water again would bring me everlasting hap- 
 piness, so I thought with others that it had lied, and 
 was amazed. 
 
 " But behold, when after great festival and feasting 
 my bride was in the care of her handmaidens who 
 prepared her for my coming, one came, and casting 
 herself at my feet, covered her head in dust, begging 
 a word with me. 
 
 " It seemed she was a master in the art of tinting 
 the fingers the pink which we Arabs love. 
 
 " I thought she had a boon to crave so listened to 
 her, but when she told her news I took her by the 
 throat to strangle her, but in choking breath she vowed 
 the great vow, therefore I listened again, and though 
 I were like to die of shame I took counsel with her, 
 asking her the price of her information, whereupon she 
 merely muttered ' revenge,' and showed her breast which 
 was a festering sore caused by the boiling water which
 
 DESERT LOVE 123 
 
 her mistress had flung upon her when the scissors had 
 proved over sharp. 
 
 " Whereupon I withdrew the handmaidens from the 
 beautiful Zuleikha with the exception of one, cross- 
 bred of French and Tunisian, who, though of passing 
 beauty, scorned all men, it seemed, and passed her 
 days in waiting upon the whims of her mistress, and 
 tending to the beauties of her body. 
 
 " I know not how far the women of the West are 
 versed in the knowledge of evil, therefore will I speak 
 in words that are veiled. Be it that I I, Hahrned, 
 the son of my great father, demeaned myself to spy 
 between the perfumed curtains of my bride's chamber, 
 to witness the passionate farewells of the two beauti- 
 ful women. Allah ! That such things should be. 
 Tears streamed down the cheeks of she who was to 
 share my couch, as the slave, the unclean half-caste, 
 beat her breast in her despair, and letting loose the 
 strands of thick black hair which covered her to the 
 knees, knotted it around until it covered, as a mantle, 
 the body of she who had been anointed for my pleas- 
 ure. 
 
 " And then I tore down the curtains and strode in 
 upon them, bound one to another in their disgrace, and 
 clapping my hands brought eight women as witnesses 
 to my shame. And still bound with the thongs of 
 hair I threw the sinners naked across my horse, and 
 made my way to the woman's house, and before a great 
 assembly, for behold, the guests had not yet departed, 
 I flung them at the feet of the woman's father, and 
 calling my witnesses spake my tale. And when I had
 
 124 DESERT LOVE 
 
 finished, the wailing of grief was heard in the land. 
 And then they were unbound and brought before me, 
 and the half-caste mocked me. Me! Until I took her 
 hair within my hands and twisting it about her neck, 
 stopped her speech for ever, and when she fell dead, 
 Zuleika my wife, Allah ! hear me, my wife ! screamed 
 in terror, for I ordered my slaves to seize her. And 
 then the Sheik el Banjad, her father, pronounced judg- 
 ment, quoting from the Koran as is written in the sec- 
 ond verse of the 24th Sura. 
 
 " ' Shall you scourge with a hundred stripes, and 
 let not compassion towards them prevent you from exe- 
 cuting the judgment of God, if ye believe in God, and 
 the last day.' 
 
 " And to the scourging was added the punishment 
 of death, for behold, the Moslem law is less lenient 
 than the Holy Book, also of such a case is it not 
 written in the Koran. And Zuleika, my wife, was 
 bound naked to a pillar and scourged with a hundred 
 stripes. And the city in which had taken place the 
 marriage, and in which both her father and my father 
 had great property being built upon flat ground, there 
 was, therefore, no height from which to throw her, 
 neither well in which to fling her without fear of 
 polluting the water, for time, alas, is making us softer 
 towards misdeeds, so that such places of punishment 
 are disappearing quickly." 
 
 Hahmed the Arab stopped short as with a little 
 rustling sound Jill raised herself to her knees, her 
 hair sweeping to the satin cushion, her hands stretched 
 before her face as though to blind her eyes to the
 
 DESERT LOVE 125 
 
 word-picture which the man was painting in a perfectly 
 indifferent voice. 
 
 " How awful ! How awful ! " she whispered. 
 " Surely, surely you never let them kill her ! " 
 
 For a moment the Arab sat silent, as he forced his 
 mind to an understanding of the Western outlook upon 
 what to him was so simple a matter. 
 
 " But she was unchaste, woman, therefore there was 
 nothing else to do! " 
 
 And at the tone of finality in the gentle voice, Jill 
 sat back on her heels and said, u And then ? " and 
 listened without interrupting until the tale was done. 
 
 " So," continued Hahmed, " she was taken scream- 
 ing to a public spot and there buried to her waist, and 
 after that her mother had thrown the first stone, was 
 put to death by men and women who, following the 
 edicts of the Moslem law, meted out death by stoning 
 to the unchaste. And from that day I fud my country 
 and my home. East and West I travelled, passing 
 many moons in England, hence it is that I can con- 
 verse with you in your own language. 
 
 " There are many good things in your country and 
 there are some bad, the greatest of the latter, to an 
 Eastern mind, being the freedom of the women, who, 
 even in their youth, go half-naked to the festival, so 
 that all men, yea, even to the slaves who serve at table, 
 may cast their eye of desire upon wife, or wife to be, 
 taking from the husband the privilege of possessing 
 all the beauty of the woman for himself. Also did I 
 see the women of the West go down to the salt waters 
 to bathe. Naked were they save for a covering which
 
 126 DESERT LOVE 
 
 clung as closely as the skin to a peach, so that if I 
 had had a mind I could have discoursed upon the 
 comeliness of the wife of el Jones, or the poor land 
 belonging to el Smith. Allah! I remember well a 
 bride-to-be of seventeen summers, comely in her outer 
 raiment, displaying to her future husband, without hesi- 
 tation, the poor harvest of which he would shortly be 
 the reaper, for I think that the majority of the women 
 of the West strive not to render themselves beautiful, 
 develop not the portion of the body which maybe lacks 
 contour from birth, bathes not her body in perfumed 
 waters, feeds not her skin with delicious unguents, 
 cares not if her hair reaches in wisps to her shoulders, 
 or falls below her waist as a natural covering under 
 which she may hide at the approach of her master, 
 neither does she daily perfume it, nor her hands, nor 
 &er feet, nor any part of her." 
 
 Once again Jill snapped the story thread, but this 
 time with laughter, for her mind's eye, aided by her 
 companion's scathing comments, had called up picture 
 after picture of friends and acquaintances who, at 
 balls, theatres, or by the sea, had draped themselves 
 or not according to what they imagined to be their 
 menfolk's outlook upon life. 
 
 " How funny ! " she laughed, " how too funny ! " 
 And added : " And then 2 " as she lit another ciga- 
 rette which she did not smoke. 
 
 " For many years," continued Hahmed, " I wan- 
 dered, even unto Asia and to America. In truth whilst 
 there the desert suddenly called me. My body craved 
 for the sun, my eyes for the great distances of the 
 sand, my ears for the familiar sounds of the East.
 
 DESERT LOVE Iz7 
 
 "But I could not return to the place of my shame, 
 likewise were my parents dead, leaving me an equal 
 part of their great wealth. 
 
 " So I went to other parts and bought ' the flat 
 oasis ' as it is called, on account of the many miles of 
 perfectly flat sand surrounding it, absolutely unbroken 
 by rock or bush or sand-dune. And perforce because 
 I needed it not I acquired wealth, and yet more wealth, 
 buying villages and great tracts of ground, breeding 
 and selling camels and horses, diverting myself with 
 my hawks, hunting with my cheetahs, or greyhounds, 
 to occupy my time, heaping up the jewels in my bank 
 at Cairo, keeping the best of everything for my wife, 
 the woman predicted in my horoscope, for there can 
 be no real happiness without a perfect helpmate, and 
 real happiness has been promised me. 
 
 "And all these things I have done for her, yet am 
 I looked upon as mad by many in that at twenty-eight 
 years I have not begotten me a son, for they could 
 not understand the disgust which had taken root in 
 my whole being, so that in love or passion or desire 
 I laid not hands upon women. 
 
 " You cannot understand, woman of the West, what 
 it means when I say this to you, for in the East a 
 man's greatest desire is to propagate his race, to have 
 sons, many sons, with a daughter or two, or more as 
 Allah wills, and to satisfy this longing in the shadow 
 of the law, Allah, who is God, in His all-powerful 
 goodness and bounty has allowed us as many as four 
 wives, and as many women slaves or concubines as a 
 man can properly and with decency provide for, the 
 children of the latter, if recognised by the father,
 
 128 DESERT LOVE 
 
 sharing equally with the offspring of the former. 
 Though why a man who has found his love should 
 wish to ciimher his house with other women, seething 
 with jealousy and peevish from want of occupation, 
 is beyond my power of comprehension. 
 
 " So I have none, because it is within me to love 
 one woman only, and to find the light of my life in 
 her and the children of her loins, and if Allah in his 
 wisdom sees not good to grant me this woman, who 
 must come to me of her own free-will and love, then 
 will I go to my grave in Allah's time without wife, 
 without child, although the Koran sayeth that he who 
 fails in his duty towards his race is accursed among 
 men." 
 
 And behold, a great trembling fell upon the Eng- 
 lish girl, as rising to her feet she stood to look out upon 
 the desert, and drawing the glory of her hair about 
 her so that she was covered from the gaze of the man 
 who stood apart, passed into her tent. 
 
 And the hour of prayer being at hand the man puri- 
 fied himself, and turning towards Mecca praised his 
 God, and divesting himself of his outer raiment laid 
 himself across the entrance of the woman's tent so 
 as to guard her through her sleep, until such time that 
 Allah, who is God, should open the entrance of her 
 chamber unto him, and place the delights thereof into 
 his hands for ever.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 AND the first day was like unto the second and the 
 third, for these two desert farers went but slowly. 
 
 Each dawn, if they had travelled in the night, they 
 found their tents pitched; each night they moved on, 
 or not, as pleased the girl's mood, each hour of the day 
 strengthening the love in the man's soul, each minute 
 of the night passing over him, as he lay outside the 
 entrance to her tent, so that, at the slightest sound 
 from the dim, sweet, scented interior, he might spring 
 to his feet, awaiting the little call for help which never 
 came. Jill slept as peacefully as a babe, stirring only 
 at a dreamed of, or imagined, swaying of the bed, as 
 does the seafarer sometimes who sleeps for the first 
 time after many months upon a bed, the four feet of 
 which stand firmly on the ground. 
 
 During the waking moments after her first night's 
 rest, uninitiated Jill had in imagination gone through 
 and ardently disliked the frightful hour in which she 
 would help collect, and clean, and pack a litter of 
 soiled pots and pans, and other such abominations, 
 which collecting, etc., seems to constitute one of the 
 chief charms of a Western picnic; so great had been 
 her relief on hearing that there was absolutely nothing 
 to do but to see that the cushions and coffee were safely 
 strapped upon Howesha's back, the only patient part of 
 
 the animal. They were standing in front of the tents 
 
 129
 
 130 DESERT LOVE 
 
 with the animals at their feet, the man watching the 
 girl's every movement. Jill herself, being vastly rested, 
 was absolutely radiant as to looks; strange dishes and 
 hot winds and cold causing no havoc to the skin, nor 
 the lack of Marcel methods unsightliness to her hair. 
 
 The dusk hid the dilapidation of her tailor-made, 
 which looked the fresher for being pressed under the 
 mattress; she always travelled boot-trees, so her shoes 
 were all right, and the two Jacob's ladders, falling on 
 the outside of her stockings, looked just like clocks 
 neatly mended ; her lovely hair rioted under her blue 
 hat, and her high spirits rioted in her blue eyes, as she 
 fed the camels with dates and wiped her sticky fingers 
 on the silken coats. 
 
 " What ! " she had exclaimed. " You don't mean to 
 say that you are going to leave all this for the first 
 thief to collect," withdrawing as she spoke her basket 
 of dates from the vicinity of her new camel's mouth. 
 
 Verily, a beast of great beauty and worth was she, 
 but shining as a mere rushlight, in comparison to the 
 Bleriot head-light radiance of the fallen Taffadaln. 
 
 " The Arab does not steal ! " 
 
 " Oh ! but " said Jill, putting a date into her own 
 
 mouth by mistake, and therefore speaking with diffi- 
 culty, " but they do steal, and murder, and do all kinds 
 of dreadful things like that I learnt it all in school ! " 
 
 " No," reiterated the man calmly, " the Arab does 
 not steal, he merely carries out the order of Allah, who, 
 when Abraham turned his son Ishmael from his door, 
 gave unto the boy the open plains and deserts as a 
 heritage, permitting him to take and make use of what- 
 ever he could find therein.
 
 DESERT LOVE 131 
 
 "And as it is written that every hand was turned 
 against Ishmael, so his descendants turn their hand 
 against the descendants of those who persecuted the 
 son of Abraham; but amongst their own tribe, or to 
 those who ask of their hospitality, you will find the 
 greatest honesty. 
 
 " In a camp everything is left unguarded, and noth- 
 ing goes astray. If you, clothed in fine linen and ar- 
 rayed in jewels, were to enter the tent of some half- 
 starving Arab, and ask of him hospitality, he would 
 share his last few coffee beans with you, and give you 
 his couch, if by chance he was possessed of such a 
 luxury, and speed you on your way the morrow, and 
 believe me, you would not find a ribbon missing from 
 your attire, even though you had left him without the 
 wherewith to make his beloved coffee." 
 
 The girl laughed, for she really cared not a rap 
 either way, and was only arguing for the sake of draw- 
 ing the man out, having found argument the best and 
 simplest method of breaking through the Eastern re- 
 serve, up against which she had more than once found 
 herself during the last few days. 
 
 " Well ! I call that splitting hairs. I really can't 
 say I see that the persecution of Ishmael makes steal- 
 ing different from stealing; to my mind, taking sugar 
 from a bowl that is not yours, and diamonds that are 
 not yours from a safe, are one and the same thing, as 
 both ornamental and necessary booty belong to some- 
 one else." 
 
 " And yet," replied the Eastern, " in the West a 
 man who cheats at cards is damned everlastingly, but 
 a nation is acclaimed who takes the land with all its
 
 132 DESERT LOVE 
 
 wealth from some wretched, half-educated native ; takes 
 it by force of arms or diplomacy, which, nine times out 
 of ten, means trickery. Yes! Acclaimed with such 
 adjectives as valiant, strong, beneficent, applauded to 
 the skies, whilst reams are written anent the glorious, 
 victorious campaign. Victorious ! Allah ! When the 
 nation goes out with artillery and unlimited forces to 
 meet a handful of men, whose strength lies in a spear, 
 and pride in some dozen flintlocks, which have been 
 sold to the benighted heathen for solid gold or shining 
 lengths of purest ivory. 
 
 " Besides, the Arab requires ' what he gains,' as is 
 his way of expressing himself. No people on earth 
 endure such hardships as this my people ; never enough 
 to eat, burnt in the summer, frozen in the winter, buried 
 in sand, tortured with thirst, fleeing from place to place, 
 never at peace, yet always happy in his miserable tent. 
 
 " For the ga.zu or raid on caravan or camp, which 
 will yield booty of horse, or camel, or women well ! 
 that is in the blood, and both sides are prepared. If 
 you or they should have the better horses, or the better 
 cunning, both of which we of the East so dearly love, 
 one can hardly be expected to sympathise with those 
 who lose from want of forethought." 
 
 And as he spoke, he raised a light spear, which he 
 held in his hand, and drove it through one edge of the 
 tent flap which covered the entrance, deep into the sand. 
 
 " That is a sign that I am coming back, and believe 
 me, the worst of Arabs would pass this way and seeing 
 the sign would leave my belongings unmolested. Yes ! 
 even if many moons passed, until the skins had rotted, 
 and the sands had covered the rotted remains."
 
 DESERT LOVE 133 
 
 After which explanation, Jill remained silent for a 
 space, and then approached her camel, feeling that the 
 rapping of her knuckles, however slight, had been quite 
 unwarranted, for her sympathy in human beings and 
 their feelings was great, and the understanding which 
 kept her from wounding the sensibilities of those hu- 
 mans even greater. 
 
 Her wish to draw out the man had caused her figura- 
 tive feet to make a faux pas, in fact she felt that her 
 pedestal had tilted ever so slightly, causing the drapery 
 of decency, and courtesy, to swing aside for one mo- 
 ment, exposing a particle of clay upon the ivory of 
 her beautiful feet to the eyes of the man whose outlook 
 on life was so broad, whose principles were so stern, 
 and whose people she had so rudely criticised. There- 
 fore she was dissatisfied with herself. Though, if she 
 had known it, the man looked upon her with the same 
 solicitude and tenderness, as you or I would look upon 
 the babe, who, in its first efforts to get from table to 
 chair, pulls the table-cloth about its unsteady little feet. 
 
 Also sensing that the woman he loved was troubled, 
 there was no gladness in the heart of the Arab, so that, 
 in his anxiety to remove the pebble from the path, he 
 approached her, as she stood with skirt lifted in readi- 
 ness to mount her recumbent camel, whereupon she 
 looked up at the grave face and apologised truly and 
 sweetly, and by her sweet and humble act, causing the 
 man of the East to marvel at her strength, and to salaam 
 deeply before her as he accounted himself as the sand 
 beneath her little feet. 
 
 " Now wait a moment ! " laughed Jill, whose worries 
 disappeared beneath the warmth of her happy nature
 
 134 DESERT LOVE 
 
 with the vanishing celerity of the dew beneath the sun. 
 " I am going to try my hand with the camels. I really 
 have a good deal of influence over animals domesti- 
 cated ones, I mean Oh ! Yes ! I suppose they 
 
 are, but of course in England we don't have them hang- 
 ing around as we do horses and dogs, you know. I 
 don't like cats, however I simply can't stand the way 
 they look past and through you, at the spirits I always 
 think, which we humans cannot see standing beside us. 
 
 " I had one once, I found her in the picture gallery- 
 one night, who positively made me creep. She would 
 get up suddenly from the fire and go sidling and wrig- 
 gling across the room in the most absurd fashion, 
 purring and simply confused with delight, to rub her- 
 self up and down the empty air, and by the way her 
 tail was flattened down and then shot up again, I was 
 positive she was being stroked. She almost lived in 
 the picture gallery, sitting staring at the pictures of 
 an ancestor of mine, who had the most frightful repu- 
 tation. 
 
 " The worst of it all was that the whole village began 
 to suffer from catalepsy as Dads said, and then it all 
 got into the newspapers, and occult societies camped at 
 the gates, water diviners drilled on the lawns, the Merry 
 Harvester was filled with 'ologists hailing from this 
 country, and some genuine catamaniacs, until I had the 
 bright idea of fastening a placard on the gates to say 
 that the cat was dead, though she had suddenly dis- 
 appeared the night the picture of the ancestress fell, 
 owing honestly to a faulty plug in the wall. Now ! let 
 me try and see if my knowledge of the Arabian tongue 
 is good enough to be understood by the camel."
 
 DESERT LOVE 135 
 
 Lowering her voice a tone, she suddenly cried " Get 
 up!" 
 
 Whereupon the animal rose clumsily to its feet, as 
 the girl, laughing aloud, clung to the man's arm. 
 
 " Oh," she cried, " did you ever know anything so 
 funny, though why, I am sure I can't say fancy a 
 camel obeying me." 
 
 " Get down ! " she suddenly ordered in her sweet, 
 broken Arabic, at which the camel knelt, leaving the 
 Arab astounded, for the beautiful, lazy woman of the 
 East troubles not her soul in the training of beasts, 
 nor has she any command over them. 
 
 Having mounted and got the three animals to their 
 feet, Jill laughed delightedly, announcing her intention 
 of starting the trio and leading them for a short space, 
 to which the man, craving to satisfy the slightest wish, 
 consented, fastening the pack camel to the off-side of 
 Jill's beast, so that she should be in the middle, upon 
 which they started off triumphantly, leaving the tent 
 to the stars and moon. 
 
 For an hour they travelled over the sand, covered in 
 patches with low shrubs, and broken here and there by 
 sand dunes, until JilLsuddenly stopped her chattering 
 and pointed. 
 
 " There's a caravan or something over there, and we 
 seem to be heading straight for it it's yes it's a 
 tent under some palms why ! Yes no ! yes it is 
 oh, it's our tent how can it be our tent when we 
 have been going straight ahead all the time, haven't 
 we?" 
 
 Without the glimmer of a smile, the Arab shook his 
 head.
 
 136 DESERT LOVE 
 
 " We have been describing a circle ever since we 
 started." 
 
 " But no ! " argued the girl, who was half mortified, 
 half ready to laugh, " there is no left rein, and I left 
 the right one hanging " 
 
 " Yes, but quite unconsciously you kicked your camel 
 with your left foot when we were some way from the 
 tent you didn't notice, but she immediatly began 
 to turn to the left; after that, you patted her contin- 
 ually on the left side, and camels, who, from pure 
 stupidity or hereditary instinct, will go straight on to 
 eternity untouched, are trained to turn in the direction 
 of the side touched by hand, foot, or whip; the single 
 rein is of very little use, and hardly ever used by a 
 native, for once a camel bolts, nothing will stop him, 
 excepting a cloth flung over his head, or the birth of 
 some passing fancy in his head, which serves to divert 
 the evil tenor of his benighted brain. And I defy any- 
 one unused to the desert and its markings to know if 
 they are really going straight or in a circle, and you 
 were too taken up to notice the stars. Try again! 
 Keep that red star straight ahead, those two close to- 
 gether, just behind your right shoulder, and you will 
 unfailingly reach the so-called mountain, in the shadow 
 of which we shall find our tent." 
 
 And the maker of sweet music bowed low from afar, 
 and salaamed with fervour, when, just before the hour 
 of dawn, three camels came to a halt, and knelt on the 
 word of command of this veiled woman, who spoke 
 his language sweetly, but as a stranger.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 FEW have or ever will make use of the route which 
 the Arab was explaining by means of a sharp stick and 
 a flat stretch of sand. And in truth 'twere wise to 
 leave it to those who are born of the desert, for even 
 if ignoring the danger signals of her cumbersome cov- 
 ering, the body, the soul should urge the would-be 
 traveller to tread the unknown path, he will, if he sets 
 foot thereon, find the discomforts out of all proportion 
 to the interesting dangers. 
 
 'Twere best to eschew it, keeping to the normal route 
 of boat or rail ; even if the soul of the desert, wrapt in 
 mystic garments, stands with plump, henna-tipped, 
 beckoning forefinger; for she is but a lying jade, out- 
 come of some digestive upheaval ; the spirit of the sand, 
 the scorpions and the stars, beckoning to but the very- 
 few, and baring herself to none ; though the wind may 
 lift her robes of saffron, brown and purple, revealing 
 for one sharp second the figure slim to gauntness, and 
 blow the thick, coarse black hair from before her face, 
 exposing those eyes of different colouring, and flaming 
 mouth, luring to kisses, which will steep the mind in 
 intoxication, and rasp the lips with stinging particles 
 of burning sand. No! take rather the boat from the 
 round ring, which the Arab drew in the sand, christen- 
 ing it Isniailiah ; whereupon Jill got up from her place 
 in the moon, and crossing over to the man, crouched 
 down beside him, the better to view the map, taking it 
 
 137
 
 138 DESERT LOVE 
 
 for an offering of prayer, when the sweetness of her 
 breath, and the savour of her perfume, assailing the 
 man's nostrils, he suddenly raised his hands to the 
 starry heavens, praying to Allah to give him strength. 
 
 The stick starting from the ring christened Ismail i ah 
 turned slightly to the West and continued in a line 
 which curved at every inch. 
 
 " I haven't the vaguest idea where we are," remarked 
 Jill, as she took a proffered cigarette, and proceeded to 
 blow smoke rings in the still night, from a mouth 
 contracted until it looked like one of those little leather 
 jug purses, whilst her head, thrown back, showed the 
 beauty of her bare throat. "Are we going towards 
 Cairo?" 
 
 " Nay, woman ! Having crossed the fertile land, 
 outcome of the fresh water canal at Ismailiah, we con- 
 tinued to the West for a space, and then came South, 
 winding in and out so as to miss the higher hills and 
 sand dunes. 
 
 " To-morrow we pass through the mountains of the 
 Jebel Aweibid range, and find the Haj road, which, 
 glory to Allah, will be free of pilgrims until next moon. 
 That road we will follow as far as the fertility of Airud, 
 passing that spot afar off, as even in this month cara- 
 vans will congregate there; then crossing the canal a 
 space higher than Suez, where crowds embark and dis- 
 embark, we will pick up the Haj road on the far side, 
 making use of it to pass through the Jebel Rabah range, 
 leaving it, once through, to strike to the East, and find 
 our way at last to the peace of my own habitation/' 
 
 Upon which explanation Jill sat back on her heels, 
 and wrinkled her brow.
 
 DESERT LOVE 139 
 
 " But surely the easiest way would have been by boat 
 to Suez!" 
 
 " True, O ! woman, whose eyes ringed with the shad- 
 ows of fatigue are as blue flowers growing in the moun- 
 tain's purple shade. I pondered long before I made 
 decision in my choice of roads. Upon the one we 
 traverse, you could but meet fatigue, and in this month, 
 but few travellers upon the way that leads to Mecca. 
 
 " Upon the boat you would have met many of your 
 land, friends maybe, who perchance would have turned 
 upon you the eyes of suspicion, the shoulder cold with 
 disdainful convention, whilst their tongue, more poison- 
 ous even than the forked tip of the cerastes comutus, 1 
 might, nay, would, have striven to corrupt your mind 
 with a festering mass of doubt and suspicion and mis- 
 giving. Therefore have I brought you on this journey, 
 which is so much longer, and is likely to kill you with 
 fatigue. \ 7 erily, for behold the half is not yet accom- 
 plished." 
 
 Jill, who had unconsciously taken the sharp stick 
 from the Arab, and had also, unconsciously, been draw- 
 ing monstrous beasts in the sand, lifted her head and 
 made a slight grimace. 
 
 " Oh ! but you will kill me, you will really ! And 
 to think that I thought you lived quite near Cairo! 
 Where are we going really ? " 
 
 And Hahmed, overcome by an almost irresistible 
 longing to take the girl in his arms and hold her close 
 against all dangers and discomforts, suddenly rose to 
 his feet, standing towering over her, and when she held 
 out both her hands, asking to be helped ^p, leant down 
 
 i The most poisonous snake in Egypt.
 
 140 DESERT LOVE 
 
 and raised her as lightly as though she were of thistle's 
 down. 
 
 Then there came about one of those pauses which 
 sometimes do come to pass between man and woman, 
 a pause in which, as there is no midway, either much is 
 won or lost. 
 
 As still as a mouse, Jill lay in his arms, until he very 
 gently set her upon her feet ; and though a little ripple 
 akin to disappointment disturbed the smooth surface of 
 her content, she said " Thank you," and smiled sweetly 
 into the grave face which showed no sign of a pulse 
 disturbed by a thudding heart. And then Jill sat down 
 again upon her cushions, drawing her knees up under 
 her chin and clasping them with her hands, and the 
 shadow of the man falling upon her, left her well con- 
 tent, and still more content did she feel when he 
 stretched himself full length beside her and continued 
 speaking. 
 
 " Where are we going ? Oh woman, who has placed 
 her hand in mine, we journey to my own country, unto 
 the desert of Arabia, until we shall come to the place 
 which was mine, but now is yours. Although, verily, 
 it is unworthy of your eyes, you will bear with it for a 
 few moons, until a habitation worthy of your beauty 
 is erected. Nay, as oasis, it is not over large, but it 
 is fertile beyond thought. Many have essayed to steal 
 it by force of arms, or buy it, but I prevailed through 
 the magic of much wealth and the virtue of patience. 
 I bought it bit by bit from those who owned it, and 
 now they rent it from me I did not want their 
 money, but I desired to make the ground productive 
 and the people happy.
 
 DESERT LOVE 141 
 
 " The grain plains require good workmen, also my 
 date groves, my paddocks, and stables for camels and 
 horses. The fruit and vegetables and other produce, 
 which were once mine and now are yours, are cultivated 
 and tended by some hundreds of especially trained 
 men, who, with their wives and numerous offspring, 
 live in the shadow of the acacia, loving, quarrelling, 
 hating, dying, but always happy. My own habitation 
 is in the shade of the palms, removed from the unseemly 
 wailing of children and barking of dogs, and as I have 
 told you, no woman has placed foot therein, save for 
 the hunchback. Verily the flat oasis is unique in the 
 desert annals, and to bring unto perfection requires but 
 a son to take on the work, when these mine hands are 
 clasped in the handshake of death." 
 
 But those very hands showed no sign of their mas- 
 ter's desire to close them upon those clasped whitely 
 round the girl's knees, neither did his voice portray 
 the desire of possession raging within him as he con- 
 tinued speaking. 
 
 " If later you should desire to travel, then shall the 
 boats, the cars which were mine, but are now yours, be 
 at your disposal, so that in comfort shall your journey 
 be made, wiping out the bitter memory of this your 
 first." 
 
 But there was no doubt about it that Jill was suffer- 
 ing acutely from a cumulative fatigue, engendered by 
 the unaccustomed mode of travelling, the intense heat 
 through which she essayed to sleep during the day, the 
 biting cold at night, when the temperature fell many 
 degrees, as is its agonising wont in that part of the 
 world, the strain of the mind as it valiantly essayed to
 
 142 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 accustom itself to the new way of everything; but 
 above all, the inability to change her under raiment, 
 which, strive against it as she would, managed to con- 
 ceal particles of sand and insects, which, though they 
 did not bite, crawled most successfully and irritatingly. 
 
 So that as in a dream she passed down the Haj road 
 to the water, with a vague recollection of a few way- 
 farers and beggars squatting on the roadside, many 
 men who salaamed with fervour at the water's edge ; a 
 boat, a quick passage, and more of those who salaamed, 
 and a three days' rest, when the tents were pitched on 
 the near side of the mountains. Three days in which 
 she slept, and slept, and slept, rising to bathe and eat, 
 grateful to the man who spoke only when she asked a 
 question, and who, though sign of servant there was 
 none, forestalled her every unuttered wish. Then fol- 
 lowed they the Haj road through the mountains and 
 left it to take a line in the Eastern direction, which 
 they also followed until the hour when the Arab called 
 his camels to a halt, and pointing straight ahead, ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 " Behold, woman, your land ! " 
 
 Upon which Jill strained her eyes in vain, for her 
 untrained sight revealed nothing but sand, and yet more 
 sand. 
 
 " Yonder lies the oasis, O ! woman of the West, and 
 beneath the star of happiness the dwelling which will 
 serve to throw a shadow upon your path in the heat of 
 the day, and from the roof of which you may watch the 
 changing of the moon, and learn the way of the Eastern 
 stars, whilst listening to the million voices of the desert 
 night."
 
 DESERT LOVE 143 
 
 The girl made no reply, neither did she turn to look 
 at the man. 
 
 There was no sound save for an occasional grunt of 
 satisfaction from one or other of the beasts, who sensed 
 their home and the termination of their labour. 
 
 There was nothing to break the silence, and nothing 
 to break the never-ending stretches of sand, as the two, 
 caught in the inevitable fingers of Fate, sat motionless, 
 looking ahead beyond the oasis, beyond the stars, to 
 the moment when the first wind blew a particle of sand 
 to find its mate, with which to multiply and form the 
 desert, the birthplace and burial ground of so many; 
 whilst gnarled hands playing with Life's shuttlecock 
 drew a golden thread to a brown, proceeding to weave 
 them in and out with the blood-red silk of the pome- 
 granate, the orange of the setting sun, the silver of the 
 rising moon, and the purples of the bougainvillaea, un- 
 til upon the background of dull greys and saffrons 
 appeared an amazing pattern of that which is called 
 Love. 
 
 And suddenly the girl looked up into the man's face, 
 and stretching out her hand spake softly, calling upon 
 him by name, so that his heart quaked within him, and 
 his being was suffused with love. 
 
 " Hahmed ! O ! Hahmed ! Is it happiness ? " 
 
 And Hahmed the Arab, raising his right hand, called 
 heaven to witness. 
 
 " As Allah is above us, O woman, it is happiness. 
 Glory be to Him Whose prophet is Mohammed."
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 LITTLE by little the face of the desert began to 
 change, just as changes the face of a fainted woman, 
 which, drawn and grey and pinched about the mouth, 
 starts to relax and fill out and to colour faintly, when 
 life begins to return to the limp form. Rough shrubs 
 grew in patches, giving way to rough grass growing 
 about the roots of short trees. A clump of palms and 
 then another, a mimosa tree scenting the air from its 
 diminutive yellow lanterns, and then great stretches 
 of land, some light with the grain silvered by the wan- 
 ing moon, some dark from the plough's drastic hand, 
 undivided by hedge or wall, yet as evenly marked out 
 as a chess-board, reminding Jill of a very great patch- 
 work quilt held together by some invisible feather- 
 stitching. 
 
 Her questions fell like rain, and in them the man 
 seemed to find great joy. That was an artesian well, 
 and this a grove of Tailik dates. Yes ! the rivulet 
 which would sing her to sleep on its way thnmgh 
 the sand was a very bounteous spring, more precious 
 than gold or jewels, holding only a second place to 
 Allah, Whose prophet is Mohammed, in the esteem of 
 the fellaheen, but being a playful spring, almost dis- 
 appearing at one moment to gush out the next, artesian 
 wells had been made so that the oasis should not de- 
 pend solely upon her caprices, though, be it confessed, 
 she had bubbled and laughed her way contentedly 
 
 144
 
 DESERT LOVE 145 
 
 through many years, and had even deigned to widen 
 into a diminutive lake, which lay between the prin- 
 cipal dwelling-place, which contained the sleeping apart- 
 ments and living rooms of the master, and the house 
 which had been built on the same principle for the 
 innumerable guests, and the quarters, hidden from 
 view by a belt of palms, in which such servants as were 
 necessary to the well-being of the house cooked and 
 worked and entertained such wayfarers as were of their 
 own station. 
 
 Many figures had seemingly sprung from nowhere 
 at the sound of the padded feet, which were only pre- 
 vented from breaking into a swift trot by the voice of 
 the man who guided them. 
 
 These figures had salaamed deeply, and lifted up 
 their hands to the starry heavens as though to call 
 down a blessing upon the heads of those who passed, 
 but they had not approached until the Arab suddenly 
 cried aloud a name, whereupon a figure, standing apart, 
 had sped quickly forward, salaamed, listened to his 
 master's words, and had sped away as silently as a 
 panther, as swiftly as a deer. 
 
 " Your runner, O ! woman, who, after your slave, is 
 the swiftest in all Asia and Africa. If ever you would 
 speak with me, and I were perchance afar off, bid that 
 man to your presence, give him your message in script 
 or word of mouth, and say but, ' Thy master Cairo,' 
 or wherever I might sojourn, and he will find me, over 
 desert sands or mountain range; he would die for me, 
 and therefore he would die for you. 
 
 " We approach the grounds around your dwelling, 
 may it find favour in your eyes."
 
 146 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Gradually the grass had deepened and softened, un- 
 til like a velvet carpet it lay spread. Great groves of 
 dates threw ink-black shadows, slender palms with feath- 
 ery heads swayed slightly in the dawn-coming wind, 
 when suddenly of their own accord the camels stopped. 
 
 To right and left as far as the dim light allowed, 
 Jill saw what looked to her like an impenetrable wall. 
 
 " This is the dividing line, a high wall with its naked- 
 ness covered in creepers, which separates your dwelling 
 from the land upon which common feet may tread. 
 No one can pass without the permission of Mustapha, 
 the blackest of all black negroes; no one can leave, not 
 even my guests, unless they are accompanied by some 
 one of the servants of my house. Thus will you be 
 safe in the care of black Mustapha, even if I should 
 be called to a distance from which I cannot guard you 
 from harm. Enter, O! woman, and may the blessing 
 of Allah fall upon you, even as the petals of the purple 
 flower will fall upon your head." 
 
 And they fell in showers from the purple bougain- 
 villaea which trailed its length over the wrought arch 
 above the gate, of which one half swung back by the 
 hand of the biggest, blackest man ever dreamed of in 
 nightmarious slumber. 
 
 " Master ! Master ! " cried the product of Africa, 
 and, prostrating himself, flung the desert sand upon 
 his woolly pate; then rising, ran towards the man who 
 owned him, lifting the black cloak to his huge mouth 
 through which scintillated white, unblemished ivories. 
 
 The Arab stretched out his hand, and laying it upon 
 the girl's cloak spake but one word, upon which the 
 negro once more prostrated himself before Jill's camel.
 
 DESERT LOVE 147 
 
 covering his already sandy hair with yet more glisten- 
 ing particles, murmuring something unintelligible, un- 
 til a sharp word brought him to his feet, whereupon 
 he backed towards the gates, flinging them wide apart, 
 falling upon his knees as the camels stalked disdain- 
 fully through the opening. 
 
 Through a long avenue of trees they passed, the 
 trunks twisted into uncouth shapes, the heads of long 
 spear-shaped leaves glistening as though drenched in 
 dew, the roots buried in masses of flowering shrubs, 
 behind all of which showed an occasional glint of dis- 
 tant water. 
 
 The camels made their sedate way across a great 
 plain of grass, stretching without a break from the 
 avenue up to a belt of palms, before which they stopped, 
 swayed a moment, grunting disapprovingly in chorus, 
 and knelt. 
 
 " Your journey's end is here, and even though it 
 should prove the last effort of your will to combat 
 the fatigue which surely crushes your slight form, yet 
 will I ask you to give me your hand so that I may lead 
 you to your dwelling, as by the will of Allah I will 
 lead you slowly or quickly to that which we call happi- 
 ness." 
 
 And as he spoke the Arab slipped from his camel, 
 to stand tall and straight beside the little figure en- 
 veloped from head to foot in a long dark veil, from out 
 of the folds of which stretched a little hand, pulling the 
 flimsy covering from the lower part of the face. 
 
 "Nay, that you must not do, for behold! although 
 you see them not the tenders of my camels hover 
 around, waiting till we have passed on to fall upon
 
 148 DESERT LOVE 
 
 those three beasts and lead them to their stables. 
 Come!" 
 
 The silence was intense between the two as Jill, with 
 her hand in that of the Arab, passed slowly over the 
 grass up to a long, low, two-storeyed house which, with 
 two wings, made a quadrangle round a great court, in 
 the middle of which splashed a fountain. A multitude 
 of figures stood absolutely motionless under the palms 
 surrounding the house, who, even as the two passed, 
 with one accord, called aloud as they raised their right 
 hands to heaven : 
 
 " Allah Jal-Jelalah ! " which, being translated, 
 means : " Praise to God the Almighty ! " disappear- 
 ing on a sign from their master as he turned to ex- 
 plain to Jill that this being his first visit in six months, 
 hie servants, with twenty-four weeks of grievances and 
 domestic feud upon their minds, and a near prospect 
 of being able to unburden themselves, were doubtlessly 
 delighted to see their master. 
 
 Jill passed into the house too dazed to notice much 
 of her surroundings, heard the swish of silk curtains 
 closing behind her, and stood alone in a most exquisite 
 room. 
 
 Six lamps, hung from the ceiling by bronze chains, 
 threw a shaded light upon the soft-toned Persian rugs 
 covering the floor; a divan piled high with silken cush- 
 ions of every shade of mauve, covered with silken 
 sheets, and smothered in the white folds of a mosquito 
 net, stood against the far wall ; there were small inlaid 
 tables, piles of cushions, and a dressing-table glitter- 
 ing with crystal and silver in the light of the lamps, 
 and a small fire which flung out sweet resinous odours
 
 DESERT LOVE 149 
 
 from the burning logs; stretching right across one 
 wall, a low cupboard showed gleaming satins and soft 
 silks behind its open doors, and through an archway 
 of fretted cedar-wood she saw a Roman bath of tiles, 
 into which you enter by descending shallow steps, and 
 over which hung a lamp with glass shade of many 
 colours. Little white tables smothered in towels and 
 bottles and little pots stood about, and across a low 
 seat was thrown a garment of shimmering gold and 
 silver cobwebby tissue. Dusty, tired Jill stretched out 
 her arms, opened the cupboard doors wider, and in- 
 spected the garments therein one by one. 
 
 And she frowned. 
 
 A net had been spun in which she had been caught, 
 her silly ears had listened to an absurd tale, she had 
 stretched out a greedy hand to pluck an unknown 
 fruit to find it bitter; in one brief word she had been 
 fooled. Whereupon she pulled back the silken curtain 
 of the door with a vicious rasp, which seemed to have 
 spread to her voice when she called aloud. The cur- 
 tain swung back as the Arab entered, murmuring the 
 Eastern prayer of greeting, and though furious, and 
 therefore ripe to cut and hurt with woman's weapon, 
 the tongue, the girl stood still and silent for a moment, 
 instinctively feeling that tale or no tale, net or no, 
 the great man before her was master here, though 
 no one would have guessed at her momentary weak- 
 ness as she flung open the cupboard doors to their 
 widest, and taking an armful of soft feminine attire, 
 held them out for the inspection of the grave Arab, 
 whilst her voice rang through the room, giving exactly 
 the same impression of trouble as does the wind which,
 
 150 DESERT LOVE 
 
 springing from nowhere, usually precedes the storm. 
 
 " You said no woman save an old peasant had ever 
 placed foot within this house. If so, what do these 
 Eastern things mean ? " holding out as she spoke a 
 feminine something which seemed to be composed of 
 sea-form and pearls. 
 
 " For myself I only see a few bedroom wraps, and 
 and a garment in in the bathroom." 
 
 And her heart suddenly stopped a beat, and then 
 made the blank up by multiplying the next, for she 
 had seen the man's face as he had taken the offending 
 garment, and tearing it across and again across, dropped 
 it at his feet, before he moved slowly towards her across 
 the dividing space to take her two hands in his, hold- 
 ing them against his breast in a clasp that hurt. 
 
 " Listen," he said. " I shall speak this once and 
 never again ! Listen ! " For a moment the quiet voice 
 stopped, so that the gentle cracking of the burning 
 logs could alone be heard above the heavy thud of the 
 girl's heart, which to her ears sounded like thunder 
 of the surf at dawn. " You are mine, mine, do you 
 understand ? You are no silly child, you knew what 
 you were doing when you came with me, neither am 
 I a man, for man or woman to play with. And now 
 I have you, as Allah is above us, I will never let you 
 go, for although the oasis and the camels and horses 
 are yours, you will find no soul to lead the beast across 
 the sands so covered with the bleaching bones of those 
 who have gone astray. Oh ! be not afraid," for the 
 little face beneath his was white. " You are mistress 
 here. You need but draw the curtain and no one will 
 enter, no one until you clap your hands and call fhem
 
 DESEET LOVE 151 
 
 by name. You will forgive the lowly room which en- 
 tours you, and the unseemly garments which in haste 
 I ordered, guessing at what you might require. To- 
 morrow you shall order what you will, and your slaves 
 shall bring all from the great cities at the greatest 
 speed, for as I have said, a dwelling worthy of your 
 beauty shall be erected before many moons have sped. 
 I will leave you, for doubtless you would remove your 
 dust-laden raiment. I will send your slave, who even 
 now is returning thanks to Allah in that I have found 
 her worthy to wait upon you, and who also prepares 
 some dishes for your refreshment. You are not hun- 
 gry, and you do not wish her presence! Then shall 
 she not disturb you." 
 
 And Jill found herself alone, upon which she took 
 stock of herself in a long mirror which stretched from 
 floor to ceiling, and hurriedly removed her outer gar- 
 ments.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 IT was a very beautiful girl who stood by the fire 
 listening to the intense silence which precedes the dawn. 
 The golden shimmering garment fell from her shoul- 
 ders in soft folds, clinging her and there as though it 
 loved the beautiful form it covered; her feet slipped 
 in and out of the golden mules, in which, try as she 
 would, she could not walk; her hair fell in two great 
 plaits far below her knees ; she was perfumed with the 
 perfumes of Egypt, than which there is no more to 
 say. 
 
 And she was afraid. 
 
 There was absolutely no sound, save for the fall of 
 a charred log which sounded like a pistol shot, the 
 rustle of her raiment, which sounded like the incoming 
 tide of some invisible sea, and the quick intake of her 
 breath, which might have meant unadulterated terror, 
 and did. 
 
 She shivered slightly, for of a sudden she saw a 
 woman's face in a corner unreached by the light of the 
 lamp. A long brown hand drew back the coarse hair, 
 which curled and tangled under a veil, black brows 
 frowned down on great eyes, which looked at her 
 steadily, but the mouth, crimson as blood, parted in a 
 smile wonderful to behold in its understanding, as Jill 
 called softly : 
 
 " Speak, woman ! who are you ? " 
 152
 
 DESERT LOVE 153 
 
 But when the silence remained unbroken, and the 
 girl, rushing swiftly across the room, touched just 
 ordinary wood, she looked quickly round for escape; 
 then hesitating, raised her hands and clapped them 
 softly ; raised them again when the silence remained un- 
 broken, dropped them and once more shook with terror, 
 which was really fatigue, when a something rustled be- 
 hind, being in truth the catching of her garment on 
 the fretted edge of a table ; then once more she clapped 
 her hands as she whispered, so low that the words hardly 
 seemed to carry beyond the firelight : 
 
 "Hahmed! Hahmed!" 
 
 Whereupon there was a faint rustle, the swinging to 
 and fro of the curtain door, and the man stood before 
 her. Not a sound broke the stillness, not a movement 
 caused a flicker to the flame of the shaded hanging 
 lamp, which, just above the girl's head, threw down 
 the light on the radiance of her hair, and the wonder 
 of her body which the diaphanous garment half con- 
 cealed and half revealed. 
 
 Xot a sign on the Arab's face, this dweller of the 
 desert, whose forefathers in wonderment had watched 
 the ways of wisdom with which Solomon in all his 
 glory had ruled more than one fair and obstreperous 
 woman among the scented Eastern sands. 
 
 Face to face they stood, whilst the racing blood fled 
 from the girl's face down to the finger-tips of her con- 
 tradictory hands. The hands she knew so well, the 
 square back, the square finger-tips, the long, square, 
 high-mooned, deeply laid nail. Hands which, coming 
 to her down the centuries through Quaker and through 
 Puritan, were calling to her to stand firm and hold the
 
 154 DESERT LOVE 
 
 scales well-balanced, whilst the soft, rounded palm, 
 hidden in the golden fringe of her garment, and the 
 over-sensitive finger-tips, with little nerve-filled cush- 
 ions at the end of each, clamoured aloud for beauty 
 and sweetness, tenderness and mastery, as the great 
 man, with the beads of Allah slipping noiselessly 
 through his fingers, reading the girl's thoughts as 
 though they were written on the wall, marked and 
 watched with sombre eyes in the breathless silence of 
 the coming dawn. 
 
 Slowly the girl raised her eyes and scanned the man, 
 from the snow-white turban on the dark head, the soft- 
 ness of the silken shirt, showing through the long, open, 
 orange satin front of the voluminous coat, which 
 reached almost to the ankles, leaving exposed the 
 trousers of softest white linen, fastened close above the 
 leather shoes, whilst quite subconsciously she wondered 
 what he would look like in European evening dress. 
 
 Slowly she stretched out her long thin arms, until 
 they almost touched the golden embroidery on the coat, 
 as slowly she turned her hands, and looked at the glit- 
 tering nails, the hands she knew and feared so much, 
 and turning them back again, with a little smile drew 
 a finger-tip over the hills and valleys of the palms. 
 Higher still, until the pink and scented palms were 
 on a line with the man's stern mouth, whilst a sigh, 
 faint as the passing of a fly's wing, left his lips, as 
 taking the little hands in his, he drew the girl closer 
 yet. 
 
 " Behold, you are beautiful, O ! woman, whom I 
 would take to wife. You start! Why! For what 
 manner of man have you taken me? Did you think
 
 DESERT LOVE 155 
 
 that being an Arab means being without honour ? Nay ! 
 When my eyes fell upon you standing in the sun, I 
 knew that my heart had found its desire, that the 
 woman who for all these years had, invisible to others, 
 walked beside me in my waking hours, and hovered 
 near me in my dreams, had come to life; that before 
 me, if Allah willed, stood my wife and the mother of 
 my children. I know that the English race, from lack 
 of sun perchance, love not in a moment with a love 
 that can outlast eternity. I do not ask you if you love 
 me, only that you will be my wife, honouring me above 
 all men, delighting me with such moments as you can 
 give me. 
 
 " Listen, O ! woman. I ask of you nothing until you 
 shall love me. You shall draw the curtains of your 
 apartment, and until you call me, you shall go undis- 
 turbed. When you shall call me then ah ! " and 
 his voice sank to infinite depths of tenderness as he 
 drew her to him " then you will be all mine all 
 lily of the night you are now rose of the morning you 
 will be then, and I I will wear that rose upon my 
 heart. You are even as a necklace of rich jewels, O ! 
 my beloved. Your eyes are the turquoise, your teeth 
 are the white pearls, even as the ravishing marks upon 
 your face, 1 and may be upon that part of your body 
 upon which my eyes may not rest, are as black pearls 
 of the rarest. Your lips are redder than rubies, and 
 your fingers are of ivory. 
 
 " And one day shall that necklace be placed in my 
 hands, and not alone the necklace, but the white ala- 
 
 1 Moles are considered a great beauty among the Egyptian 
 races.
 
 156 DESERT LOVE 
 
 bastei pillar of your body, from your feet like lotus 
 flowers, to the golden rain of your hair, shall you be 
 mine. 
 
 "And you shall not make me wait too long, for 
 behold, I love you. Allah ! how I love you as only 
 we men of the desert love. Allah help me," and hold- 
 ing the girl in the bend of his left arm, so that she 
 felt the racing of his heart, he raised his eyes and right 
 hand to Heaven. " Allah ! God of all, give me this 
 rose soon ! " 
 
 For one long moment the girl was still, with face as 
 white as death, and great eyes troubled even as the 
 ocean when swept by gusts of wind; for to the very 
 depths of her stirred her heritage of tremendous pas- 
 sions, untouched, unknown, whilst that which is in all 
 women, from queen to coster, coming down from the 
 day when they were slaves, that which urges them to 
 cry aloud, " Master ! Master ! " upon their bended 
 knees, stirred not at all ; so that even as her eyes, so 
 was her soul troubled, knowing that love had not yet- 
 laid hand to draw the curtains from about her woman- 
 hood. 
 
 Freeing herself gently, she moved towards the fire, 
 trailing the golden raiment after her so that it pulled 
 against the beauty of her body. For a moment she 
 stood unconsciously silhouetted against the wall, vir- 
 ginal in her whiteness and her slinmess, and yet, in 
 her build alone, giving such promise of greater beauty, 
 in the maturity of love. 
 
 Slowly, whilst her mind worked, she traced the blue 
 vein from her wrist up her forearm, up until the finger
 
 DESERT LOVE 157 
 
 stopped suddenly, upon a tiny mark tattooed just above 
 the elbow. 
 
 A faint shadow of incomprehension swept across the 
 man's face, for from nowhere, in one brief instant, a 
 little wind, laden with straying particles of fear, dis- 
 trust and memories, swept between the two, as the 
 girl's voice, biting in its coldness, searing great scars 
 upon the Arab's raging, storming, totally hidden pride, 
 let fall slowly, cruelly, light-spoken, mocking words of 
 French. 
 
 " Please tell me my woman's name, so that I may 
 call her, for I would disrobe, being overcome by a great 
 desire to sleep ! "
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE sun in a great red-gold ball was slipping behind 
 the sharp edge of sand which like a steel wire marked 
 the far horizon, the sky resembling some gorgeous 
 Eastern mantle stretched red and orange and purple 
 from the West, fastened by one enormous scintillating 
 diamond star to the pink, grey, fawn and faintest helio- 
 trope shroud which the dying day was wrapping around 
 her in the East. 
 
 Terrific had been the heat throughout he month, 
 wilting the palms, drawing iridescent vapours from the 
 diminished stream, making the very sand too hot even 
 for native feet. 
 
 The green reed blinds sheltering the great balcony 
 room, and over which, in the heat of the day, trickled 
 a continuous stream of water, were drawn up to allow 
 the sunset breeze to pass right through the long two- 
 storeyed building which, the essence of coolness, com- 
 fort, and beauty, in the past months by the efforts 
 of countless skilled workmen, hailing from every con- 
 ceivable corner of Asia and Egypt, and regardless of 
 expense and labour, had been built for one beautiful 
 English girl, who, in a moment of ever regretted con- 
 trariness, had refused to participate in the planning 
 and devising of the work, thereby shutting herself off 
 from that most fascinating pastime, house-building; 
 leaving everything down to the minutest details to the 
 imagination, ingenuity, and inventive genius of the 
 
 158
 
 DESERT LOVE 159 
 
 Arab. For months she had listened to the monotonous 
 chant of the men at work, the tap of hammer, swish of 
 saw, and dull thud of machinery, and also to the grunt- 
 ing and grumbling of the camels who, in great cara- 
 vans from every point of the compass, had complain- 
 iiiii'ly brought their burdens of riches. 
 
 The groves of great date palms around her tem- 
 porary abode had prevented her from seeing the out- 
 come of all the noise, her misplaced pride or temper, 
 or whatever you will, likewise preventing her from in- 
 quiring as to the progress made from the Arab, who, 
 at her bidding, would come and sit with her, talking 
 gravely upon absolutely indifferent subjects, neither 
 showing by word or gesture if she were any more to 
 him than the rug beneath his feet. 
 
 Just a month ago, when the moon was at the full, 
 Jill had made what she whimsically called the moon- 
 light flitting. 
 
 Veiled closely, she had put her hand into that of 
 the man, and confidingly walked with him through the 
 pitch blackness of the palm groves, and out into the 
 moon-filled space beyond the lake, until they reached 
 and stopped before a heavy iron door let into a mas- 
 sive wall, the top of which bore a crown of flashing, 
 razor-edged, needle-pointed steel blades. 
 
 " The treasure of the world will be safe behind those 
 walls, for behold, there are but two golden keys with 
 which to open the door, one is yours the other mine. 
 To Mustapha has been confided the safe-keeping of the 
 walls, and with it power to kill whoever should ap- 
 proach within ten yards without your permit." 
 
 And the girl turned quickly as the door swung to
 
 160 DESERT LOVE 
 
 softly, with the scarcely perceptible click of a lock, and 
 then moved forward with as much indifference as she 
 could muster on the spur of the moment, feeling the 
 eyes of the Arab upon her. Gardens stretched before 
 her with groves, and arbours, and every device con- 
 ceivable for throwing shade upon her path. The 
 stream, bending in an S, rippled and laughed its way 
 under the little bridges; fountains splashed, seats of 
 marble, Beats of scented wood, little tables, silken awn- 
 ings and screens, hanging lanterns of many colours, 
 and swinging hammocks made of the place a fairyland ; 
 until suddenly, as she turned the last curve of the 
 stream, she saw the marble building, built as it were 
 by the waving of a magic wand, glistening in the silver 
 light. 
 
 Imagine four buildings about the height of Buck- 
 ingham Palace, without the attic windows, or whatever 
 they represent, built to form a square of snow-white 
 gleaming marble, with verandahs built out and sup- 
 ported by fairy marble pillars, so as to throw the lower 
 rooms into complete shade; more fairy pillars spring- 
 ing from the upper side of the verandahs to support 
 the wide edge of the roof, and so make a great covered- 
 in balcony to the second floor. 
 
 The French windows, divided by columns of differ- 
 ent coloured marble, terminated in perfect arches, 
 studded with great lumps of uncut amethyst, turquoise 
 matrix, and blocks of quartz in which dully gleamed the 
 yellow of gold, reminding Jill somewhat of the outer 
 decorations of a shop she had once seen in the Nevski 
 Prospekt, the owner of which, dealing in objeis d'arts,
 
 DESERT LOVE 161 
 
 and precious bibelots of jade and sich, had quite suc- 
 cessfully thought out the novel and expensive advertis- 
 ing method of plastering the front of his shop with 
 chunks of the precious metal with which the bibelots 
 were made. The drops of a myriad slender fountain 
 jets, caught in the light of the hanging lanterns, spar- 
 kled and flashed like handfuls of precious stones, and an 
 almost overpowering perfume filled the air from flowers 
 only half-asleep. 
 
 A great gate of silver and bronze opened silently to 
 admit them to the inner courtyard, only the rolling, 
 glistening eyeballs of Mustapha, the eunuch, showing 
 that there was any life whatever in the massive black 
 hulk standing within the shadow. 
 
 Just for a moment the girl stood absolutely motion- 
 less, and then turned sharply as a noiseless shape stole 
 past her, and purring loudly rose on its hind feet and 
 laid its velvety paws upon the Arab's shoulder, drop- 
 ping back in a crouching position as Jill, exclaiming 
 softly, involuntarily stepped forward and laid her hand 
 protectingly upon the man's arms. 
 
 It takes a long time to write, but hardly a second 
 had passed before the great animal, snarling viciously, 
 shot out its velvety paw, plus a row of steel-strong 
 claws, and ripped the girl's cloak open from neck to 
 knee. And then indeed did black Mustapha rise to 
 the occasion, and in his master's esteem, as also with- 
 out a sound he shot out an ebony black arm, gnarled 
 and knotted like any centuries old bough of oak, 
 terminating in an ebony black hand, which could have 
 easily been divided between four normal men, and
 
 162 DESERT LOVE 
 
 still left a bit over, and picking up the fighting, claw- 
 ing animal by the neck, held it lightly at arm's length, 
 whilst awaiting dumbly his master's order. 
 
 " Kill it," said Hahmed briefly. 
 
 And whilst Jill pinched herself to see if she was 
 really there or no, the eunuch, with joy-filled eye, and 
 teeth glistening in a smile of utter satisfaction, gently 
 tightened his grip on the velvety, tawny throat. 
 
 There was a stifled growl, a click, and the dead ani- 
 mal was laid at the girl's slender feet. 
 
 " My favourite hunting cheetah, O ! woman ! Be- 
 hold, Mustapha, shalt thou spread the news of its un- 
 timely end as a warning to all those who, by sign of 
 hand or word of mouth or thought of brain, should 
 desire to do harm to thy mistress. And even shalt 
 thou tell me how yon dead beast came to be prowling 
 in the seclusion of thy mistress's abode." 
 
 Great beads of perspiration broke out on the face 
 and neck of the scared man, as he salaamed deeply 
 before his master, and knelt to beat his forehead upon 
 the ground before the woman. 
 
 " Behold, O ! master ! And may Allah grant me 
 years of life within the blessing of thy shadow. A 
 slave returning from the exercising and feeding of 
 four, O ! master, of thy hunting cheetahs, came to me 
 this noon full of idle curiosity. Behold, I spoke with 
 him outside the open gate, and perchance yon dead 
 brute crept in unnoticed, whilst I pointed out the evil 
 of his ways and those of his ancestors ; also, perchance 
 fatigued and full of meat, the animal lay down and 
 slept until she heard the tread of thy honoured foot- 
 steps; perchance also thy slave, fatigued and also full
 
 DESERT LOVE 163 
 
 of meat, passing the hours in slumber, troubled not 
 to count the animals in his care." 
 
 For one moment there was silence as the Arab stood 
 looking at the trembling man, then Jill, laying her little 
 hand gently upon the satin sleeve of him whom she 
 loved, whispered softly: 
 
 " A boon, O ! Hahmed ! I know I feel that you 
 are planning the death of this wretched man. I ask 
 his life ! " 
 
 By this time Mustapha was prone upon his face, 
 piling imaginary dust from the spotless mosaic pave- 
 ment upon his woolly pate, scrambling to his shaking 
 knees on a word from his master. 
 
 " Get to thy feet and make obeisance to thy mistress, 
 who in her manifold bounty has saved this time thy 
 worthless life. For behold, I had planned to give my 
 people a holiday in which to see thee whipped round 
 the wall of thy mistress's dwelling, until thou had died ; 
 then would thy black skin have been ripped from thy 
 worthless carcass, and pinned to the ground before the 
 camel paddock, so that in their goings in and coming 
 out they would have befouled what remained of thee 
 uneaten by the vultures." 
 
 And taking Jill's hand he crossed the square, leaving 
 the eunuch absolutely gibbering with relief. 
 
 Through a massive iron door they passed into the 
 house, Jill exclaiming softly at the beauty of the place. 
 Room after room they traversed until they came to 
 a standstill before a satin curtain. Hahmed lifted it 
 and Jill entered a great room, the floor of which was 
 of pink marble, covered in Persian rugs, their colour- 
 ing softened in the passing oi' many, oh ! many moons ;
 
 164 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 the walls panelled in soft brocade, and great mirrors 
 reflecting the simplicity of the exquisite hangings, the 
 tint of flowers, the statuary gleaming half hidden in 
 the corners, the great chairs, the piles of cushions, 
 and the swinging lamps suspended from the ceiling by 
 silver chains. 
 
 " I will explain, O ! woman, how this house has been 
 built, though verily would I have had your help in 
 these past months, for how was I to know in what or 
 which your desires lay. 
 
 " Behold, the rooms upon the level of the ground 
 are rooms for your repasts, and rooms for receiving 
 your guests; above are the rooms for your slumber, 
 and your toilet, for the bathing of your white body, 
 and for your entertainment. In the latter you will 
 find all that appertains to music, to the dance, to the 
 study of books, to the flash of the needle. Above ag&ie 
 are the rooms open to the breezes of the night, screened 
 by light screens to enable you, unveiled, to look out 
 upon the world, and yet keep you hidden from the 
 curious eyes of your many slaves who, under the rule 
 of black Mustapha, live within the walls and near to 
 hand to do your slightest bidding, but hidden until 
 you call so as not to disturb you by their unseemly 
 presence. They may not die within the wall, neither 
 may they give birth therein, still leas may they make 
 merry without your permission. The slightest breach 
 of your laws will see them flogged to death and cast 
 out into the desert sand. One suite of rooms is pink, 
 and one white, and one is palest heliotrope, and yet 
 another black, and there are many others. May it 
 find favour in your eyes. If perchance it pleases not,
 
 DESERT LOVE 165 
 
 then shall it be razed to the ground, and rebuilt upon 
 your design." 
 
 And Jill had walked through a building such as she 
 had not dreamed of in her wildest fantasies, and hav- 
 ing very sweetly thanked the Arab, had clapped her 
 hands, and being of perverse mood, had indifferently 
 bidden him good night, and entered the rose pink sleep- 
 ing-room where the couch had been designed by love, 
 and the colouring reflected by the great mirrors by pas- 
 sion ; to slip from out her perfumed raiment, and step 
 down into the pink marble Roman bath and hide be- 
 neath the rose-tinted waters, the rose-tinted glory of 
 her perfect body.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 AND just as the dead cheetah was laid at Jill's feet, 
 a huge bull dog, with a face like a gargoyle to be seen 
 on the Western transept of Notre-Dame, and a chest 
 like a steel safe, supported on legs which had given 
 way under the weight, walked across from Sir John 
 Wetherbourne, Bart., of Bourne Manor, and other de- 
 lectable mansions, to lay his snuffling, stertorous self 
 at the feet of his mistress, the Honourable Mary Biug- 
 ham, pronounced Beam, in whose sanctum sat the man 
 on the bleak November evening, and of whom he had 
 just asked advice. 
 
 People always asked advice of Mary, she was of that 
 kind. On this occasion she sat looking across at the 
 man she loved, and had always loved, just as he loved 
 and had always lover her, since the days they had 
 more or less successfully followed the hounds on fat 
 ponies. She sat meditatively twisting a heavy signet 
 ring up and down her little finger. The finger, the 
 one which advises the world of the fact that some 
 man in it has singled you out of the ruck as being fit 
 for the honour of wifehood, was unadorned, showing 
 neither the jewels which betoken the drawn-up contract, 
 nor the pure gold which denotes the contract fulfilled. 
 Those two had grown up in the knowledge that they 
 would some time marry, though never a word had been 
 uttered, and being sure and certain of each other, they 
 
 166
 
 DESERT LOVE 167 
 
 had never worried, or forced the pace. And then Jill 
 had disappeared ! Gone was their pal, their little sis- 
 ter whom they had petted and spoiled from the day she 
 too had appeared on a fat pony, gone without a trace, 
 leaving these two honest souls, in a sudden unnecessary 
 burst of altruism, to come to a mutual, unspoken un- 
 derstanding that their love must be laid aside in folds 
 of soft tissue, that they must turn the key upon their 
 treasure, until such time as definite news of the lost 
 girl should allow them to bring it out with decency, 
 and deck it with orange blossom. And worry having 
 entered upon them, they both suddenly discovered that 
 uncertainty is a never-failing aperitif, and they both 
 hungered for a care-free hour like unto those they had 
 carelessly let slip. 
 
 Foolish perhaps, but they loved Jill, making of them- 
 selves brother and sister; hurt to the quick when after 
 the debacle she had sweetly declined all offers of help, 
 and worried to death when she had started out on the 
 hare-brained scheme of earning her own living off her 
 own bat. 
 
 Mary Bingham was one of those delightful women 
 peculiar to England, restful to look at, restful to know. 
 Her thick, glossy brown hair was coiled neatly in plaits, 
 no matter what the fashion; her skin, devoid of pow- 
 der, did not shine, even on the hottest day; her smile 
 was a benison, and her teeth and horsemanship perfect. 
 
 Her clothes? Well, she was tailor-made, which 
 means that near a horse she beat other women to a 
 frazzle, but on a parquet floor, covered with dainty, 
 wispy, fox-trotting damsels, she showed up like a div- 
 ble magenta-coloured dahlia in a bed of anemones.
 
 168 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 Jack Wetherbourne was of the same comfortable and 
 honest type, and they loved each other in a tailor-made 
 way ; one of those tailor-mades of the best tweed, which, 
 cut without distinctive style, is warranted with an occa- 
 sional visit to the cleaners to last out its wearer ; a gar- 
 ment you can always reply on, and be sure of finding 
 ready for use, no matter how long you have kept it 
 hidden in your old oak chest, or your three-ply ward- 
 robe, or whatever kind of cupboard you may have man- 
 aged to make out of your life. Although no word of 
 love had ever passed between them, you would have 
 sworn they had been married for years, as they sat on 
 each side of the fire ; Mary in a black demi-toilette, cut 
 low at the neck, which does not mean decollete by any 
 means, but which does invariably spell dowdiness, and 
 Jack Wetherbourne with his chin in his hand, and a 
 distinct frown on his usually undisturbed countenance. 
 
 A great fire crackled in the old-fashioned grate, the 
 flames jumping from one bit of wood to another, throw- 
 ing shadows through the comfortable room, and draw- 
 ing dull lustre from the highly polished floor and 
 Jacobean furniture. It was an extraordinarily restful 
 room for a woman, for with the exception of a few 
 hunting pictures in heavy frames on the wall, a few 
 hunting trophies on solid tables, some books and a big 
 box of chocolates, there were no feminine fripperies, 
 no photographs, nothing with a ribbon attachment, no 
 bits of silver and egg-shell china. 
 
 Oh! But the room was typical of the Honourable 
 Mary Bingham, into whose capable hands had slipped 
 the reins controlling the big estate bounded on one 
 side by that of the man opposite her.
 
 DESERT LOVE 169 
 
 " There is only one more thing I can suggest," said 
 the deep, clear voice, " and that is that you go over to 
 Egypt yourself. Who knows if you might not pick 
 up a clue. Detectives have failed, though I think we 
 made a mistake in employing English ones, they hardly 
 seem tactful or subtle enough for the East." 
 
 Certainly one would have hardly applied either ad- 
 jective to Detective John Gibbs, who. bull-necked and 
 blustering, had pushed and bullied his way through 
 Egypt's principal cities in search of Jill. 
 
 " How like Jill not to have sent us a line," remarked 
 Jack Wetherbourne for the hundredth time as he lit a 
 cigarette. 
 
 " Oh, but as I have said before, she may have had 
 sunstroke, and lost her memory, or have been stolen 
 and put away in a harem. She's not dead, that's cer- 
 tain, because she had her hand told before she left on 
 her last trip, and she's to live to over eighty." 
 
 " That's splendid," was Wetherbourne's serious an- 
 swer to a serious statement, as he rose on the entry of 
 Lady Bingham, who, having at the same moment fin- 
 ished her knitting wool and the short commons of con- 
 secutive thought of which she was capable, had mean- 
 dered in on gossip bent, looking quickly and furtively 
 from one to the other for signs of an understanding 
 which would join the estates in matrimony, a pact 
 upon which her heart was set. And seeing none, she 
 sat down with an irritated rustle, which gathered in 
 intensity until it developed into a storm of expostu- 
 lating petulance when she heard of the proposed pro- 
 gramme. 
 
 On the stroke of eleven Mary got up and walked
 
 170 DESERT LOVE 
 
 down the broad staircase, and through the great hall, 
 and out on to the steps beside the very splendid man 
 beside her, and they stood under the moon, whilst a 
 nightingale bubbled for a moment, and yet they were 
 silent. 
 
 " Dear old girl," said Jack Wetherbourne, as he 
 pushed open the little gate in the wall which divided 
 their lands, and waved his hand in the direction of the 
 old Tudor house. 
 
 " Dear old Jack," murmured Mary as her capable 
 hand reached for a chocolate as she sat on the window- 
 seat and waited until she heard the faint click of the 
 gate, upon which she waved her handkerchief. 
 
 Prosaic sayings, prosaic doings, but those three pro- 
 saic words meant as much, and a good deal more to 
 ihem, than the most exquisite poetical outburst, written 
 or uttered, since the world began, might mean to us.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 BY degrees Jill had become accustomed to the habits 
 of the East, sleeping peacefully upon the cushion- 
 laden perfumed divan, sitting upon cushions beside 
 the snow-white napery spread upon the floor for meals, 
 eating the curiously attractive Eastern dishes without 
 a single pang for eggs and bacon and golden mar- 
 malade, revelling in her Eastern garments, from the 
 ethereal under raiment to the soft loose trousers clasped 
 above her slender ankles by jewel-studded anklets, de- 
 lighting in the flowing cloaks and veils and over-robes 
 and short jackets of every conceivable texture, shape, 
 and colour, passing hours in designing wondrous gar- 
 ments, which in an incredibly short time she would find 
 in the scented cupboards of her dressing-rooms. 
 
 Then would she attire herself therein, and stand 
 before her mirror laughing in genuine amusement at 
 the perfect Eastern picture reflected, and drawing the 
 veil over her sunny head, and the yashmak to beneath 
 her eyes, and a cloak about her body, would summon 
 the Arab to her presence. 
 
 Which shows that knowing nothing whatever about 
 the Eastern character, she merely added a hundredfold 
 to her attractions, for if there is one thing a man of 
 the East has brought to perfection, it is his enjoyment 
 of procrastinating in his love-making, passing hours 
 and days and weeks, even months in touching the edge 
 
 171
 
 172 DESERT LOVE 
 
 of the cup, until the moment comes when raising it 
 to his lips, he drains it to the last drop. 
 
 To keep herself physically fit she had found stren- 
 uous recreation in two ways. Firstly, she had made 
 known that her wish was to learn something of the 
 dancing of the East, whereupon for a sum which would 
 have made Pavlova's slender feet tingle in astonish- 
 ment, the finest dancer in all Egypt and Asia had, for 
 many months, taken up her abode in the beautiful house 
 especially built for honoured guests just without the 
 wall. 
 
 The supple, passionate Eastern woman found it in 
 her soul to love the slender white girl who laughed 
 aloud in glee, and showed such amazing aptitude in 
 learning the A.B.C. of this language, especially re- 
 served in the East for the portrayal of the history of 
 love and all its kin. Presents were showered upon 
 the teacher who, with the craft of the Oriental mind, 
 in some cases forbore to fully explain the meaning 
 of certain gestures, so that unintentionally a veritable 
 lightning flash of passion blazed about Jill's head one 
 night, when with the innocent desire of showing the 
 Arab how well she was progressing in the art, she 
 suddenly stood up before him and made a slight move- 
 ment of her body, holding the slender white arms 
 rigidly to her side, whilst her small, rose-tinted right 
 foot tapped the ground impatiently. 
 
 " Allah ! " had suddenly exclaimed the Arab, as he 
 had seized her arms and pulled her towards him. " You 
 would mock me, make fun of me, you woman of 
 ice! 
 
 " How dare you make me see a picture of you in
 
 DESERT LOVE 173 
 
 ah ! but I cannot speak of it in words, suffice that one 
 dav I will Allah ! you you dare to mock me with 
 a picture of that which you refuse me } " 
 
 " I haven't the faintest idea of what you are talking 
 about," had replied a very ruffled Jill, as with golden 
 anklets softly clinking she withdrew to a distance. 
 " If that is the effect of my dancing I will never dance 
 for you, never! " 
 
 " But, woman, do you mean to tell me that you 
 have no idea of the translation put upon your move- 
 ments % " 
 
 " Evidently not," haughtily replied the inwardly 
 laughing gii-L 
 
 " That you do not know the movement you made 
 just now meant that in the dimness of the night I 
 oh! I cannot tell you, but I swear before Allah that 
 I I, Hahmed, who have known no woman, will teach 
 you the translation of every movement of all that you 
 liave learned." 
 
 Whereupon Jill, having seated herself upon the 
 stuffed head of an enormous lion skin, murmured 
 " soil" and proceeded to light a cigarette. 
 
 Her second and favourite pastime was riding, and 
 in as few words as possible, so that my book shall not 
 ramble to unseemly length, I will tell you how the 
 fame of her horsemanship had come to be spoken of, 
 even in the almost untrodden corners of Asia and 
 Egypt. 
 
 The whim seizing her, she would bid the Arab to 
 her presence, sometimes to her evening repast, some- 
 times to sweet coffee and still sweeter music, some- 
 times to wander on foot or on camel-back through the
 
 174 DESERT LOVE 
 
 oasis, to the desert stretching like a great sea beyond, 
 and still beyond. 
 
 Everything, as you will note if you have the patience 
 to get through to the end of this book, happened to 
 Jill in the light of the full moon. On this night in 
 question, clad all in black, with the moonbeams strik- 
 ing rays from the silver embroidered on her veil, and 
 the anklets above her little feet, she seemed small and 
 fragile, altogether desirable, and infinitely to be pro- 
 tected to the man beside her on the edge of the sand. 
 Still more so when she waxed ecstatic with delight on 
 the approach of two horses, one bay ridden by a man 
 clothed from head to foot in white burnous, and a led 
 mare as white as the man's raiment. 
 
 "Hahmed! O! Hahmed! Stop them!" had she 
 cried, forgetting the ice out of which she had elected 
 to hack herself a pedestal. " Oh, you beauty, you 
 priceless thing! " she continued, when the mare, whin- 
 nying gently, rubbed its muzzle on her shoulder ; where- 
 upon she took the rein from the servant who had dis- 
 mounted, and led the beast up and down. 
 
 Perfect she stood, the Breeze of the Desert, with 
 her flowing tail high set, her streaming mane, the little 
 ears so close together as to almost touch, her great 
 chest, and dainty hoofs which scarcely deigned to touch 
 the sand. 
 
 Bit and bridle she had none, her sole harness con- 
 sisting of a halter with a leather rein on the right 
 side, and a rug upon her back hardly kept in place by 
 a loose girth. It seemed that she was of the Al 
 Hamsa, which, being translated, means being a direct 
 descendant of one of the five great mares of the time
 
 DESERT LOVE 175 
 
 of Mohammed ; also she was a two-year-old and playful 
 but not over friendly, therefore was it astounding to 
 see her as she listened to the girl's musical voice, and 
 showed no fretfulness at the touch of a strange hand. 
 
 And then there was a quick run, a cry, and a rush 
 of tearing hoofs! For Jill, in the twinkling of a star, 
 had let fall the enveloping cloak, standing for one sec- 
 ond like some exotic bit of statuary in her black billow- 
 ing satin trousers and infinitesimal coatee over a silver- 
 spangled frothy vest, her great eyes dancing with glee 
 over the face veil. She had swiftly backed a few yards, 
 and before either man or horse had guessed her inten- 
 tion, with a quick run and a full grasp of the great 
 mane had swung herself into the native saddle, and was 
 away over the desert to wherever the horse listed. 
 Neither was there a second lost before the bay was 
 racing after the mare; and Jill, riding with the loose 
 seat of the native, turned and waved hilariously to 
 Hahmed as he tore like the wind beside her, shouting 
 something she could not distinguish in the rush of the 
 air past her face. 
 
 Half-frightened, half -maddened by her own tremen- 
 dous pace, the Breeze of the Desert laid herself out to 
 beat all speed records. 
 
 Mile after mile flew under her dainty feet, whilst 
 Jill by little cries urged her still faster yet, the all- 
 enduring bay keeping alongside without any apparent 
 effort, until at last the Arab, leaning forward, struck 
 the mare lightly upon the left side of the neck, where- 
 upon without slackening speed she turned instinctively 
 in that direction, turning a little each time she felt 
 the light touch, until Jill at last perceived the outline
 
 176 DESERT LOVE 
 
 of the oasis and the figure of the Arab servant standing 
 with folded arms awaiting the return of his beloved 
 horses or not, as should be the will of Allah; being, 
 however, shaken from his native calm when this woman 
 when some hundreds of yards from him in a straight 
 line, without stopping the speed of the racing horse, 
 suddenly slipped from the saddle, remaining upon her 
 feet without a tremor, whilst the " Breeze " stopped 
 of her own free-will within a few feet of her attendant. 
 
 " And our master whom Allah protect," as recounted 
 the native afterwards to an astonished, almost unbe- 
 lieving bevy of listeners, " bringing his horse in a 
 circle, suddenly picked up that woman ri'der. Yea ! 
 I tell thee, thou disbelieving son of a different coloured 
 horse, a woman-rider, even she for whom the palace 
 has been built; and swinging her across the saddle so 
 that her feet, as small as thine are big, thou grandchild 
 of a reptile with poisonous tongue, as I say her little 
 feet hung down on one side, and her head, and may 
 Allah protect me from the wrath of my master if I 
 say that it was as the sun in all its glory, hanging down 
 on the other, dashed into the night with her, but 
 where it is not meet for me to know." 
 
 The " where," as it happened, being Jill's palace, in 
 which, lying full length upon a white divan, with a small 
 brazier of sweet smelling incense sending up spirals of 
 blue haze around her dishevelled head, and an ivory 
 tray laden with coffee and sweetmeats at her side, she 
 promised never to run the risk of getting lost in the 
 desert again, on condition that the Breeze of the Desert 
 became her own property, and that she could ride un- 
 troubled whenever and wherever she liked; cheerfully
 
 DESERT LOVE 177 
 
 promising also to have made a habit, or rather riding- 
 dress, which would combine the utility of the West with 
 the protective covering properties of the East. After 
 which she got to her feet, standing the very essence 
 of youth and strength in the soft glow of the lamps, 
 smiled into the Arab's stern face with a look in the 
 great eyes which caused his mouth to tighten like a 
 steel trap, clapped her hands and disappeared through 
 a curtain-shrouded door without even looking back.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE recounting of which true episode has taken me 
 from the evening when the sun had just slipped behind 
 the edge of sand. 
 
 Jill sat motionless in a corner of her beautiful room, 
 with a pucker of dissatisfaction on her forehead. 
 
 Jill, the girl who only a few moons back had taken 
 the reins of her life into her own hands, and had 
 tangled them into a knot which her henna-tipped fingers 
 seemed unable to unravel. English books, magazines, 
 papers lay on tables, the latest music was stacked on 
 a grand piano, great flowering plants filling the air 
 with heavy scent stood in every corner, the pearls around 
 her neck were worth a king's ransom, the sweetmeats 
 on a filigree stand looked like uncut jewels ; in fact 
 everything a woman could want was there, and yet not 
 enough to erase the tiny pucker. 
 
 Months ago she had played for her freedom and 
 lost. 
 
 This exquisite building had been built for her, horses 
 were hers, and camels; jewels were literally flung at 
 her feet. 
 
 She clapped her hands and soft-footed natives ran 
 to do her bidding. Flowers and fruit came daily from 
 the oasis, sweetmeats and books each day from the 
 nearest city. Her smallest whim, even to the mere 
 passing of a shadow of a wish, was fulfilled, and 
 
 yet 
 
 178
 
 DESERT LOVE 179 
 
 A few months ago her mocking words had swung to 
 the silken curtains of her chamber, and since then she 
 had been alone. 
 
 Verily, there were no restrictions and no barriers, 
 but the yellow sand stretched away to the East and 
 away to the West, and obedience in the oasis was bred 
 from love and her twin sister fear. 
 
 True, the girl had but to bid the Arab to her presence 
 and the curtain would swing back. 
 
 But upon the threshold he would stand, or upon the 
 floor he would seat himself, motionless, with a face as 
 expressionless as stone. 
 
 By no movement, word or sign, could she find out 
 if she was any more to him than the wooden beads 
 which ceaselessly passed between his fingers. 
 
 Nothing showed her if he remembered the first night, 
 when for a moment the man had broken through the 
 inherited reserve of centuries. Had it been merely the 
 East clamouring for the out-of-reach, longed-for West ? 
 Perhaps ! Just a passing moment, as quickly forgot- 
 ten, and against which forgetfulness the woman in her 
 rebelled. 
 
 It had even come to her to lie awake during the 
 night following the days in which the man had been 
 away from his beloved oasis. The swift rush of naked 
 feet, taking her as swiftly to the roof, where peeping 
 between the carved marble she would look upon a 
 distant scene, which could well have illustrated some 
 Eastern fable. 
 
 Either the great camel would stalk slowly, solemnly 
 out of the night, kneeling at a word; or a pure bred 
 Arabian horse would rush swiftly through the palm
 
 180 DESERT LOVE 
 
 belt, its speed unchecked as its master threw himself 
 from the saddle. 
 
 She could even distinguish a murmured conversation 
 between the eunuch and his master, guessing that he 
 was inquiring as to her welfare, and issuing orders for 
 her comfort, before passing out of sight to his own 
 dwelling, she in. /ined, though she would rather have 
 died than have asked one question of those around her. 
 
 She craved for the nights when he would send to in- 
 quire if she would ride, often from sheer contrariness 
 denying herself the exercise she longed for. 
 
 In fact, feeling the mystery of love germinating 
 within her, she showed herself rebellious and contrary, 
 and infinitely sweet, surpassing in all things the ways 
 of women, who, since the beginning of all time, have 
 plagued the man into whose keeping their heart is 
 slowly but surely slipping. 
 
 And as the shadows fell, so did the pucker of dis- 
 content deepen, and a tiny blue-grey marmoset sprang 
 to the top of the piano, chattering shrilly, when a book 
 swished viciously across the floor, and a diminutive 
 gazelle, standing on reed-pipe legs, blinked its soft eyes, 
 and whisked its apology of a tail when a henna-tipped 
 finger tapped its soft nose over sharply, before the girl 
 clapped her hands to summon her bodywoman, who, 
 as silently as a wraith, slipped into the room. 
 
 " Light all the lamps and come and tell me the 
 news." 
 
 The little woman obeyed, and came to kneel beside 
 the girl, gazing up at the fair white face with positive 
 worship in her eyes.
 
 DESERT LOVE 181 
 
 " Great is the news, O ! mistress." 
 
 " Tell it." 
 
 The words were sharp, and the faintest shadow of a 
 smile glinted for a moment in the native's eyes. 
 
 " Behold, O ! beautiful flower ! Unto us, the slaves 
 of our great master, under whose feet we are but as 
 dust, it has been told that he upon whom may Allah's 
 greatest blessings fall, is about to take unto himself 
 a wife." 
 
 Silence ! Save for a little breath indrawn too 
 quickly. 
 
 " Well, proceed with the wonderful news ! " The 
 words were icy, but a smile flickered for a moment 
 across the native's face, and was gone. 
 
 " Behold has he, the greatest man in Egypt and 
 Arabia, before whom all are but shadows, and unto 
 whom is offered the love and respect of all those who 
 live within the bounty of his great heart, yea! behold 
 has he deigned to look upon Amanreh, the thirteen year 
 old daughter of Sheikh el Hoatassin, second only in 
 wealth and prowess to our own master. Fair is she 
 and young, in very truth meet to wed with him who 
 rules us with a hand of iron, bound in thongs of softest 
 velvet. 
 
 " Beautiful, yes ! beautiful as the day at dawn, and 
 straight as yon marble pillar, and as delicately tinted, 
 rounded as the bursting lotus bud, and fit to carry the 
 honour of bearing her master's children ! In a few 
 moons it ! " 
 
 "Begone!" 
 
 The word cracked like a whip through the scented
 
 182 DESERT LOVE 
 
 room, but as the little hunchback crept swiftly through 
 the curtains, the smile passed from the eyes to the 
 mouth, as softly she whispered to herself: 
 "It is well done!"
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 OUT on to the balcony and back, this way, that way, 
 to and fro, paced Jill in her black room. Black skins 
 lay upon the black marble floor, black satin cushions 
 upon the skins. Curtains of scented leather, as soft 
 and supple as satin, hung before the doors let into the 
 walls of black carved wood. 
 
 A long couch of ebony, untouched by silver or by 
 gold, stood under one of the gigantic black marble 
 statues, which represented an Ethiopian slave or some 
 wild beast, holding in hand or mouth a lamp with shade 
 of flaming orange, the one touch of colour in the whole 
 room. 
 
 There was no sound save for the occasional crackle 
 of resinous log burning in a brazier placed in a far 
 corner, before which Jill suddenly crouched, shivering, 
 though the night was warm. Weary was she from want 
 of sleep, weary was her heart from loneliness, weary 
 hor mouth, laden with unuttered words of the great 
 love, which, day by day, hour by hour, yea ! even from 
 the moment she had turned to find her fate behind her, 
 had been growing and expanding until naught was left 
 of her but love and fear. For fear had been her com- 
 panion in the hours of the night, which she had passed 
 in restless pacing upon the balcony. 
 
 For two of these restless hours she had put on and 
 discarded the garments within her cupboards, until she 
 had found that which she desired. And an hour ^he 
 had spent likewise in the adorning of her beauty, beiore 
 
 183
 
 184 DESERT LOVE 
 
 she stood satisfied in front of her mirror. The volumi- 
 nous trousers of softest black fabric, hardly revealing 
 the exquisite whiteness of her perfect limbs, were 
 caught by heavy golden anklets above the little feet, 
 with henna-tipped toes and reddened heel. 
 
 Her bare waist shone like a strip of creamy satin 
 above the belt and stomacher of black leather encrusted 
 in black pearls, her arms were bare, also the supple 
 back and glistening shoulders, but the rounded glory of 
 her breasts was hidden by a covering of soft inter- 
 laced ribbon, sewn with pearls. Her hair wound round 
 and round her head, and, fastened by great combs, 
 shone like a golden globe, and over it she had thrown 
 a flimsy veil, and around her a swinging cloak. 
 
 There was no touch of paint upon her face, nor did 
 she, with the exception of her anklets, wear loose jew- 
 els, or the ornaments which cause that nerve-break- 
 ing clatter so beloved by the Eastern woman, and so 
 superlatively irritating to the Western ear. In fact 
 she was the most ravishing picture of delight imagin- 
 able, her first shyness and awkwardness of her unac- 
 customed attire having long since vanished, though, be 
 it confessed, that until this night she had never intended 
 that human eye should rest upon her loveliness. 
 
 But the earth of discontent and the waters of lone- 
 liness make fertile soil for the seeds of fear, even if 
 those seeds be planted by the hand of a misshapen 
 slave; but a little smile and a sigh of satisfaction had 
 been the outcome of a prolonged scrutiny in a mirror, 
 before which she had stood whilst quoting certain words 
 which ran thusly: 
 
 "Beautiful as the dawn, rounded as the bursting
 
 DESERT LOVE 185 
 
 lotus bud." And then she had shrugged her glistening 
 shoulders and frowned, and smiled again, before stretch- 
 ing her long arms towards the silken curtains which, 
 though she knew it not, gently blew against the figure 
 of a man, who, prone upon his face, clenched his 
 fingers in the soft stuff, striving to quieten the mad 
 beating of his heart at the sound of the footsteps or 
 the rustle of the raiment of the woman he loved, yea, 
 and desired. 
 
 "Hahmed! Oh, Hahmed!" 
 
 As faint as the rose of the breaking dawn, as tender 
 as the notes of a cooing dove calling gently to its mate, 
 as soft as the touch of a flower-petal the words drifted 
 through the curtain. With a whispered cry to Allah, 
 his God, the man was upon his feet. With the strength 
 of the oriental, which has its root in patience and its 
 flower in achievement in all that appertains to love, he 
 had uncomplainingly waited through month succeeding 
 month, making no effort to further his cause by either 
 word or movement, content to leave the outcome to 
 the Fate which had inscribed upon the unending, non- 
 beginning rolls of eternity the moment when that voice 
 should break across the desert place in which lay his 
 seed of love. 
 
 A rustle of the curtain, and he stood before the 
 woman who loved and desired him, until her soul 
 waxed faint within her. 
 
 For a space they stood, the light from one great 
 lamp striking down upon the little veil-wrapped figure 
 and the man in flaming orange cloak over soft satin 
 trousers and vest of black, one huge diamond blazing 
 in the turban upon his dark head.
 
 186 DESEET LOVE 
 
 Silently Jill pointed to a chair carved out of ebony, 
 the ends of the arms representing the snarling face of 
 some wild beast, with great fangs of ivory, and staring 
 ruby eyes flashing in the lamplight. 
 
 As silently Hahmed sat down, never once removing 
 his eyes from the girl who stood motionless upon a 
 black panther skin, looking back over her half-turned 
 shoulder at him for whom she was bidding against the 
 unknown. Have you ever watched a rosebud unfold 
 in the warmth of the sun, each petal quivering, widen- 
 ing, until the intoxicating scent of the flower goes to 
 your head like wine as you faintly perceive the rose 
 heart within ? 
 
 In just such a way did Jill unfold her treasures to the 
 Arab, sitting as some carven image in the shadow. The 
 veil from her head slipped to the ground, leaving ex- 
 posed her white face with its crimson mouth and 
 shadow-laden eyes; slowly the cloak dropped from her 
 shoulders, so that the whiteness of her skin blazed sud- 
 denly in the black marble room. For one long mo- 
 ment she stood before her master in the strength of 
 her virginal beauty, and even as a faint sigh broke 
 the stillness, she moved. 
 
 Do not imagine for one moment that she copied the 
 strenuous movements of Salome as understood at the 
 Palace Theatre, London, or the disgusting contortions 
 of certain orientals born in Montmartre, and favoured 
 by the denizens of Paris. 
 
 Of very truth she moved not her lower limbs at all, 
 though her exquisite body swayed as if by a passing 
 breeze, her little hands elaborating that which the body
 
 DESERT LOVE 187 
 
 originated, the tiny feet punctuating the love story of 
 both. 
 
 By one slight movement of her right arm she had 
 told the man she loved him, by half-arrested gestures, 
 a little shrug, an infinitesimal undulation of her body, 
 a faint tapping of the left foot or the right, she de- 
 scribed the delights of love, she who knew nothing, to 
 him who knowing all, had denied himself all. 
 
 Heaven alone knows if she really understood that 
 which she described; be that as it may, the man rose 
 to his feet as she turned with outstretched arms towards 
 him, moving almost imperceptibly from the waist, tell- 
 ing him that which her lips would not utter, until sud- 
 denly with a great cry he sprang towards her, and 
 sweeping her into his arms, tore the coverings from her 
 breasts, until indeed like a lotus-bud she lay silent upon 
 his heart. For one second he stood, and then he raised 
 her above his head upon his outstretched hands, so that 
 the great pins fell from her head and the perfumed 
 hair like golden rain about his shoulders, then he flung 
 her upon the bed of cushions and stood above her with 
 blazing eyes and dilated, quivering nostrils. 
 
 And then he knelt beside her, covering her gleaming 
 nakedness with the cloak, and spoke softly in the East- 
 ern tongue. 
 
 " I leave you, woman, to go and give orders for your 
 journey to Cairo. There shall you become my wife, 
 my woman, for behold, I will no longer wait. 
 
 " Let not your thoughts dwell upon caprice or tricks 
 of woman, for if you say me nay, yet will I make you 
 my wife, and force you unto me. But you will not
 
 188 DESERT LOVE 
 
 gainsay me, for behold you love me, so rest upon your 
 bed for the three weeks which must pass before the 
 caravan is ready for the journey, so that in health and 
 strength and surpassing loveliness you will come to 
 me." 
 
 And having knelt to kiss the rosy feet, he withdrew 
 from the presence of his beloved, and the English girl 
 turned on her face and sobbed, and then, gathering her 
 cloak around her so as to hide the dishevelment of her 
 raiment, passed to the roof above to hold conclave 
 with the stars.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 IT seems wellnigh impossible that an English maid 
 could look with such equanimity upon the prospect 
 of marriage with a man, an Eastern, of whom she 
 knew nothing outside the tales and anecdotes recounted 
 to her of his exploits and prowess, the which stood 
 good to rival even the adventures of Haroun al Raschid, 
 
 As if an English girl, you will say, could ever dream 
 of such a thing a girl brought up in England's best 
 society ! 
 
 True! brought up within a wall of convention, with 
 her ears for ever filled with the everlasting tag, " It'a 
 not done, you know," that shibboleth which for stulti- 
 fying all original effort surpasses even the mythical but 
 revered sway of Mrs. Grundy. A girl whose brain, and 
 originality, and deep passions, must under the said 
 circumstances and environment inevitably culminate in 
 the same silver-haired, pink-cheeked, grandchildren- 
 adoring old lady, who sees the regulation ending in 
 England of the brilliant girl, just as she sees the end 
 of the girl whose brain registers the fact that the sea 
 side is a place to be visited only in August; whose 
 originality finds vent in the different coloured ribbons 
 with which she adorns her dogs and her lingerie ; whose 
 passions oh well ! who bothers about the little placid 
 stream flowing without a ripple between the mud flate 
 of that drear country habit ? 
 
 199
 
 190 DESERT LOVE 
 
 No doubt about it, if money troubles had not given 
 her the opportunity for which she had always craved, 
 Jill would have finally metamorphosed her brilliant 
 self into that dear old dame who is as beloved and 
 ubiquitous and uniform as the penny bun. But seeing 
 her chance she had clutched at it with eager out- 
 stretched hands, and in all these months she had not 
 had one single regret, or one moment of longing for 
 peaceful, grey-tinted England, or the friends with whom 
 she had visited and hunted and done the hundred and 
 one trivial things wealthy beautiful girls are accus- 
 tomed to do in England, and who in her case had con- 
 tinued their social career without breaking their hearts 
 or engagements on account of the monetary debacle of 
 their one time companion. Her instinct had not failed 
 her in regard to the man who, without consulting her 
 in any way, was even at that hour starting forth to 
 arrange their marriage, and she troubled not her head 
 with the thought of what might have happened to her if 
 her instinct had failed her, though the chances are that 
 rather than have even the outer petals of her womanhood 
 bruised by the closing of a trap into which she might 
 have placed her feet, she would have sent the vessel of 
 her soul afloat down the great wide river ending in the 
 ocean of eternity. 
 
 She was that most interesting and most rare cross- 
 bred result of the elusive something, be it soul, imagi- 
 nation, or ecstasy which had turned a woman ancestress, 
 created for the great honour of bearing children, into 
 the nun, whose maternal instincts had feigned find 
 solace in the marble or plaster child-image, and even 
 that out of reach of those hands which should have
 
 DESERT LOVE 191 
 
 trembled over swaddling clothes; and that passion for 
 love and light which had driven the dancing wayward 
 feet of a Belle Marquise ancestress from love to love, 
 until they had come to a standstill before Madame la 
 Guillotine, who bothered not herself with those two 
 minute extremities. 
 
 So that on waking after sweet slumber, Jill kissed 
 the misshapen slave upon the cheek and told her the 
 news, whereupon the dusky little woman raised her 
 eyes and hands heavenwards, gibbering like a monkey, 
 albeit she had just left an excited coterie of serving 
 folk who, in the mysterious native way, had become 
 acquainted with the news of the impending function 
 without the uttering of one word from those most in- 
 terested in an event which would mean fulfilment of 
 dreams to more than one of those who had, for months 
 past, pondered and commented on the strangeness of 
 their master's love-affair. 
 
 And Jill in the softest pink raiment sat like the 
 perfect heart of a perfect rose in the scented coolness 
 of the pink chamber, and passed the days designing 
 garments of which it is useless to give a description, 
 seeing that the womenfolk in Northern climes have 
 only two notes on which to ring the changes of their 
 wardrobe; the long, shroud-looking thing in silk or 
 crepe de Chine or good honest nainsook, picked out in 
 different coloured ribbons, or the romance killing, stove- 
 pipe giving effect of the masculine pyjama. 
 
 From camel back Jill had watched the departure of 
 the first caravan of swiftest camels, laden with gifts 
 on their way to Cairo. The jangling of bells, the 
 musical cries of the drivers, and the roaring and grum-
 
 192 DESERT LOVE 
 
 bling of the beasts, causing her to laugh aloud from 
 sheer happiness ; whilst the natives, many of whom had 
 not seen the mystery woman their master was about to 
 take to wife, fumbled with the packs so as to get a good 
 look at the little figure, who, Allah! had intercourse 
 with the man before the wedding. 
 
 " And may the blessings of Allah fall upon her, for 
 it is not for us to inquire into the strange ways of our 
 master upon whom may the sun shine, and beside 
 whose path may a stream of purest water for ever run 
 For long years has he lived alone, knowing no woman ; 
 may she whom he hath chosen be fruitful, bearing 
 many sons, so that our children may live in the blessed 
 shadow of our master's children for generation after 
 generation." 
 
 That was the outlook of the happy oasis upon the 
 most untoward proceedings, for in the East the be- 
 trothed child passes her life in the seclusion of her 
 family until the very moment of the wedding, the man 
 depending absolutely upon the words of his mother or 
 female relatives as to the appearance and character of 
 his future partner. 
 
 On the second day started another caravan of cam- 
 els, laden with the household goods with which the 
 wealthy Eastern always travels, yet more caravans 
 following, carrying the wherewithal of the enormous 
 retinue with which Hahmed the Arab saw fit to sur- 
 round his bride ; the ensuing days passing in the prepa- 
 ration of the greatest caravan of all, that which was 
 to take Jill to the place where, steam up, the great white 
 yacht at the water's edge was waiting.
 
 DESERT LOVE 193 
 
 Hahmed and Jill were on the broad balcony tbe 
 night before the start, the Arab lying at the feet of 
 the woman sitting in an ebony chair covered with 
 cushions of every shade of purple, with the faint haze 
 of incense about her little head, and the light of a 
 great love in the softness of her eyes. 
 
 Holding the hem of her cloak in his hands he made 
 love to her by words alone, for in all the time since 
 their first meeting, his hands had not held hers, neither 
 had their lips met; but the music of his words served 
 to send the blood surging to her face, then to draw it 
 back to her heart, leaving her as white as the crescent 
 moon above her. 
 
 " Tell me, O ! Hahmed," she suddenly exclaimed 
 softly, after a long silence, " will not your people think 
 it strange that I, a bride, should have lived these many 
 months with you ? Will they believe that I am pure, 
 will they not think harm of me, throwing your good 
 name in shadow '? " 
 
 The man raised himself so that his face was on a 
 level with hers as he laid one hand upon her chair. 
 
 " Woman, I speak not in pride when I say that I, 
 Hahmed the Arabian, have never sought and never de- 
 sired the opinion of those about me. 1 do as my heart 
 iuclineth, let that suffice. Were I a poorer man these 
 things could not be, but with my wealth I have bought 
 my freedom, loosening the iron shackles of convention 
 from about my feet with a key of gold. Wealth can 
 accomplish all things. 
 
 " This oasis is mine because I was the only bidder 
 with wealth enough to pay the exorbitant prices de-
 
 194 DESERT LOVE 
 
 manded, other oases are mine, and villages and tracts 
 of rich lands. Also the respect of my neighbours, also 
 are their tongues tied on account of my riches. 
 
 " I live for years without wife, or woman or child, 
 they say no word. 
 
 " I marry a Christian and a white woman, and they 
 will say no word ; that she is my wife will suffice them, 
 though doubtless whispers in the harems will not be 
 all sweet, seeing that for years the quarry has eluded 
 the traps laid by the henna-tipped fingers of relentless 
 hunters and huntresses. Wealth! It buys peace and 
 freedom, O! woman, so let not your thoughts disturb 
 you. You will be the greatest woman in all Egypt and 
 Arabia but listen, some one sings the bridal song, 
 which has come down to us unchanged from the time 
 of the great Sesostris."
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 THE love-song broke the stillness of the desert night 
 with the suddenness and sweetness of the nightingale's 
 call in the depths of an English garden, laden with the 
 perfume of June roses. 
 
 So softly as to be hardly distinguished from a whis- 
 per, the wonderful voice called called again and 
 stopped, whilst the stars seemed to gather closer until 
 the sky hung as a canopy of softest purple velvet 
 picked out in silver lightings over the heads of those 
 who listened to the call of love, and from very ecstasy 
 were still. 
 
 Again, and yet again, the voice cried aloud to its 
 heart's desire, rising like incense from some hidden 
 spot in the village, twining among the feathery leaves 
 of the palms to drop like golden rain upon the heart 
 of some maiden, who doubtless sat upon her roof-top, 
 modestly veiled if in company of friends or relations, 
 but otherwise, I am positively certain, might be found 
 peeking over the top of the balustrade as have peeked 
 the hearts' desires from the beginning of all time. 
 
 Jill's face was white as death, as she too sat motion- 
 less, listening to the love-song, whilst her great eyes 
 blazing like the stars above watched the man at her 
 feet. 
 
 Closely veiled was she, for this was the eve of her 
 wedding journey to Cairo, also had the spirit of per- 
 
 195
 
 196 DESERT LOVE 
 
 versity prevailed within her for the last month, caus- 
 ing her to resemble the coldness, warmth, eastiness, 
 sweetness, and general warpiness of the English cli- 
 mate, sparkling one day with the dew-drop-on-the-grass- 
 freshness of an early summer morning, to hang the next 
 as passing heavy on the hand as the November fog 
 upon the new hat brim; veering within twelve hours 
 to the sharpness of the East wind, which braces skin 
 and temper to cracking point, and to make up for it 
 all, for one whole hour in the twenty-four, resembling 
 the exquisite moment of the June morning, in which 
 you find the first half-open rose upon the bush just out- 
 side your breakfast-room. 
 
 She was consumed with love of the man who lay at 
 her feet, with the hem of her rose-satin veil against 
 his lips, and her heart had melted within her as the 
 love-song thrilled, and sobbed, and cried its love through 
 the night ; melted until she suddenly leant forward and 
 stretching out her hand laid it for one moment on the 
 man's dark head, whereupon he rose to his knees so that 
 the dark beauty of his face was on a level with hers, 
 the tale in his eyes causing her heavy white lids to 
 close, whilst speechless she lay back among her satin 
 cushions. 
 
 " Woman ! O ! woman ! The touch of your hand is 
 like the first breeze after the scorching heat of the day, 
 and yet must I await your word before the love that 
 consumes me may throw aside its coverings to stand 
 in the perfumed freshness of the wind which maketh 
 the delight of the desert dawn. 
 
 " Together we have watched the goings out of the 
 caravans on their way to Cairo, laden with gifts and
 
 DESERT LOVE 197 
 
 all that is necessary for the feasting of those who are 
 invited to attend the marriage of one who, by the won- 
 der of Allah's bounty, has been allowed to gather the 
 glory of his harvest. In your graciousness you have 
 troubled your heart with misgivings as to the outcome 
 of a marriage between a Mohammedan and a Christian, 
 and I have answered you that there are many such mar- 
 riages in the East, of which great happiness has been 
 the outcome, though not such happiness as shall well 
 forth from the union of our love." 
 
 And the man rose to his feet, standing straight as a 
 pine against the fretted wood-work of the balcony, and 
 the girl watching him from under the half-closed lids, 
 suddenly tearing the veil from before her face, sprang 
 also to her feet, and stood against him with her face 
 upraised, so that the glory of her red mouth came to 
 the level of his shoulder, and the thudding of her heart 
 caused the diamonds on the embroidery of her vest to 
 flash in the starlight, and the perfume of her skin to 
 scent the night air. 
 
 And the man bent down until it seemed that their 
 lips must meet in this their first kiss, but instead be 
 withdrew one pace, though the agony of love drew 
 all blood from his face, until it shone palely in the 
 gloom. 
 
 " Yea, woman, you love me, else would not your 
 eyes be suffused with the pain of unsatisfied longing! 
 Yet have I not said that until you come to me, and 
 whisper, ' Hahmed, I love you ! ' until that moment 
 I will not in love touch even the fairness of your hand, 
 though as Allah is above us it taxes my strength to 
 the uttermost shred.
 
 198 DESEET LOVE 
 
 " Perchance I am foolish, missing the untold and 
 unknown delights of wooing the woman of my heart, 
 but in such wise am I built. I will have all the fruit 
 at the plucking or none, for where is the delight of the 
 sweetest peach if the stem, the leaves, the bloom have 
 been bruised by much handling. 
 
 " One day, nay in the stillness of one night shall I 
 hear you call me then, ah ! Allah ! " 
 
 The voice stopped suddenly, though the man made 
 no other sign, when the girl before him, beside herself 
 with anger which springs from love denied, suddenly 
 struck him full upon the mouth, and then shaking from 
 head to foot, with rage, and love, and fear, broke the 
 deadly silence. 
 
 " Nay, man ! In that you are mistaken, for you 
 shall never hear my voice calling you in love. That 
 may become the woman of your land, but not the 
 woman from the West. I will marry you, for I will 
 not bring derision upon a man who has treated me with 
 such courtesy and gentleness. But love ! Nay ! better 
 far buy some beautiful Circassian upon our wedding 
 trip, for surely you shall never hear my voice upraised 
 in love ! " 
 
 And gathering her swirling draperies about her, she 
 made to depart, knowing that she had spoken hastily, 
 making vows she could not keep for the very love she 
 denied. Her hand was upon the silken hangings of 
 her door when she was swung round by the shoulder 
 to face the very essence of cold rage. 
 
 " So, woman, you are one of those who have ever 
 hidden an inner chamber of perversity, for surely had 
 I thought to have come to the end of your store of
 
 DESEET LOVE 199 
 
 moods and whims. Listen ! By striking me across the 
 face you have but made my love the greater, but as 
 Allah is above me, I will make you pay, as you say in 
 your far cold country. You will come to me one day, 
 because such love as ours is not to be denied, and 
 when you come, for that blow I will bruise your lips 
 until the red blood starts from them, and I will bruise 
 your body until marks of black show upon its startling 
 fairness, but above all will I bruise your soul with 
 unsatisfied longings, and unrequited desires, until you 
 lie half dead at my feet; then only will I take you in 
 my arms and carry you to the secret chamber, which 
 Pate has prepared somewhere for the fulfilment of my 
 love." 
 
 And as the love-song died on the night, Jill passed 
 slowly into the inner chamber, failing to see the man 
 kneel to kiss the rug impressed by the passage of her 
 little feet.
 
 PART II 
 
 THE FLOWER
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 THE Rolls Royce containing representatives of the 
 Savoy and Shepherds in the shapes of beautifully 
 gowned, handsome, placid, somewhat dull, the Hon- 
 ourable Mary Bingham, pronounced Beam, her friend 
 Diana Lytham, and the rotund personalities of Sir 
 Timothy and Lady Sarah Ann Gruntham, drew up 
 behind the menacing hand of a policeman alongside 
 a limousine containing representatives of Shepherds and 
 the Savoy in the shapes of two rotund-to-be daughters 
 and one thin son of the race of Gruntham, and the 
 Honourable Mary's faded mother, who were all racing 
 home in the search of cool baths, or cooler drinks, or a 
 few moments' repose in a darkened room in which to 
 forget the stifling half hours of a series of social func- 
 tions, given in honour of Cairo's most festive week of 
 the season, before starting on a dressing campaign 
 against the depredations made upon the skin by flies, 
 heat, sand, wind, and cosmetics. 
 
 The past middle-aged Sir Timothy of the latest birth- 
 day honours, partner in life of Lady Gruntham, and 
 therefore part possessor of the Gruntham family, was 
 whole owner of an army of chimney stacks which, 
 morning, noon, and night, belched thick oily smoke 
 across one of England's Northern counties in the process 
 of manufacturing a substitute for something; also he 
 owned a banking account almost as big as his honest 
 old heart. 
 
 La famille Gruntham were breaking their first wide- 
 eyed, open-mouthed tour de monde in Cairo, i<*ring 
 
 203
 
 204 DESERT LOVE 
 
 selected their hotel from an advertisement in the A.B.C. 
 
 The Honourable Mary's nondescript mother sat pa- 
 tiently waiting the decisive moment which would see 
 her en route once more to tea in her bedroom and the 
 last chapter of a Hichens novel, as she had patiently 
 awaited decisive moments for years, having uncom- 
 plainingly allowed the reins which controlled the large 
 estate, and large fortune, to slip into the large, capable 
 hands of her daughter, just as she had also either as 
 uncomplainingly criss-crossed the world in the wake of 
 her daughter's unaristocratically large footsteps, or sub- 
 missively remained at home for the hunting, in which 
 field the Honourable Mary excelled. 
 
 Diana Lytham, spinster, through no want of trying 
 to remedy the defect, expert at bridge, razor-edged of 
 tongue, but still youthful enough to allow the lid of 
 Pandora's casket to lift on occasions, also to be de- 
 scribed by those who feared the razor-edge as petulant 
 instead of peevish, and cendree instead of sandy, passed 
 the tedious moments of waiting in a running commen- 
 tary upon the idiosyncrasies and oddities of the people 
 and refreshments of the past hours, with a verve which 
 she fondly believed to be a combination of sarcasm and 
 cynicism, but which, in reality, was the kernel of the 
 nut of spitefulness, hanging from the withering bough 
 of the tree of passing youth. 
 
 She, having an atrocious seat and knowing it, with 
 the excuse of England's winter dampness had fled the 
 hunting. The Gruntham's younger generation, know- 
 ing not the difference between a hunter and a carriage- 
 horse, had not given the subject a thought, but Mary 
 Bingham had made a whole-hearted sacrifice of the
 
 DESERT LOVE 205 
 
 month she loved best because, although loving her horses 
 with a love of understanding, she knew that the love in 
 her heart for just the one man, was a love passing all 
 understanding whatsoever; feeling, therefore, that the 
 sacrifice brought its own reward in the qualified bliss of 
 being near the one man of her heart, whilst he passed 
 weeks and months in the vain endeavour to find their 
 friend, who had been lost to them in the land of the 
 long-dead Pharaohs. 
 
 " Most annoying indeed great negligence on the 
 part of the city police to allow a hold-up like this at 
 this hour of the afternoon. No wonder Egypt's in the 
 mess of ruins it is if this is the way traffic has always 
 been regulated," fumed and fretted Sir Timothy, whilst 
 Mary Bingham twirled her sunshade over her hat and 
 gazed unseeingly at the domes, cupolas, and minarets 
 of the distant mosque of the Mohamet AH; and the 
 thin heir of the race of Gruntham pondered upon the 
 allurements of the yashmak, which hid all but the eyes 
 of the few Eastern women who glanced timidly in pass- 
 ing at the occupants of the motor-cars. 
 
 " Now then, dearies," smiled the irate old knight's 
 comfortable wife, " don't you take on so, though I do 
 allow it's a nuisance, considering I have to get into 
 my apricot satin to-night, with all those hooks. Pity 
 Sir John Wetherbourne ain't isn't here, it u'd never 
 have happened I'm sure if he had been, seeing the 
 way he has with him, though I can't say as 'ow I 
 approve of him so young and good-looking and all 
 these Eastern hussies around wandering about so 
 much by himself. I do wonder whait 'appened all 
 right, lad, there's many a slip between the aitch and the
 
 206 DESERT LOVE 
 
 noovoh rich lip, h'appened to the girl he's looking for. 
 Over a year ago you say, Mary, my dear, since she 
 disappeared at Ishmael, and not heard of since, and 
 Sir John scouring Egypt with all the energy I used to 
 use to the kitchen floor, and not half the result to show 
 for it, eh, Timothy lad ? Do you think he was in love 
 with her, or is it a case of oh, what's them two 
 words which mean that you can't think of anything but 
 one -thing." 
 
 " Ide fixe," enlightened Diana Lytham. 
 
 " Eyedyfix ! Sounds like one of those cocktails that 
 heathen feller-me-lad's always trying to poison me with, 
 eh, Miss Diana," chuckled the old manufacturer, who 
 worshipped the cloth of aristocracy, and even rever- 
 enced the fringe. 
 
 " Oh, you bet he was in love all right, don't yoi. 
 think so, Mary dearest," and the small grey eyes 
 snapped spitefully across at the good-natured, healthy 
 girl, who had raised a weak resemblance of hate in 
 her whilom school friend's breast, more by the matter- 
 of-course, jolly way she had helped lame dogs over 
 stiles than the fact that such obstructions had never 
 lain in her path. 
 
 " Are you talking about Jack and Jill ? Everybody 
 loved her, and she was made to be loved, was beautiful, 
 wilful Jillikins. I wish he could find her, or a trace, 
 or some news of her ! Oh, but surely we are intruding 
 upon his own affairs too much, and I wonder what 
 
 has Oh, but listen do listen, did you ever hear 
 
 such a noise, and just look at the crowds! Why, the 
 whole of old Cairo is coming this way." 
 
 Even as she spoke, two Arabs, mounted on superb
 
 DESEKT LOVE 207 
 
 horses, and brandishing spears, dashed past the cars, 
 shouting continuously what would be the equivalent of 
 " clear the way " in English, just as to the sound of 
 shouting and singing, the beating of drums, and clash- 
 ing of cymbals, a stream of natives, dancing and waving 
 their arms, poured into the square. 
 
 Round and round they spun about six great camels, 
 which, hung with bells and decked from head to stubbly 
 tail with glistening harness and embroidered saddle 
 cloths, stalked ahead, unheeding of the tumult; whilst 
 riders of restless horses did their best to regulate the 
 action and pace of the nervous animals. 
 
 Behind them walked scores of young men in snow- 
 white galabeah, their impassive, delicately curved faces 
 surmounted by the scarlet tarboosh, chanting that old 
 Egyptian marriage song of which the music score was 
 lost some few thousand years ago, lying perhaps se- 
 curely hidden in a secret chamber, undiscovered in 
 the ruins of Karnak, but which song, without a single 
 alteration of note or word, has descended from Rameses 
 the Second down through the history-laden centuries 
 to us, the discoverers and worshippers of ragtime. 
 
 But the greatest crush surged round two camels 
 which walked disdainfully through the throng, seem- 
 ingly as oblivious of the excited multitude as the one 
 made herself out to be of the man who walked beside 
 her with a fantastic whip, and the other of the golden 
 chains which fastened her to the blackest eunuch of all 
 Africa. 
 
 Upon the one of the golden chains, rested a golden 
 palanquin, closed with curtains of softest white satin, 
 a-glitter with precious stones.
 
 208 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Around the brute's neck hung great garlands of flow- 
 ers, from its harness chimed golden bells of softest 
 tone, whilst tassels of silver swung from the jewel en- 
 crusted net covering her shining coat. 
 
 What or who was inside, no one seemed to be able to 
 coherently explain, though the setting alone told of 
 some priceless treasure. 
 
 There was no doubt as to the rider of the other 
 camel ! 
 
 " Hahmed ! Hahmed ! Hahmed ! " rose the un- 
 ceasing cry from old and young, whilst blessings rang- 
 ing from the continued comfortable shape of his shadow, 
 to the welfare of his progeny unto the most far-reaching 
 generation, through a life perpetual of sun, sweetmeats, 
 and shady streams, rose and fell from the pavements, 
 roofs, and balconies crowded with the curious, upon 
 the impassive man who held his camel harnessed with 
 native simplicity, just one pace behind its companion. 
 
 The crowning touch was added to this delirious mo- 
 ment of festival by the simply scandalous distribution 
 of golden coin, golden mind you, which attendants 
 clothed in every colour of an Egyptian sunset, and 
 mounted upon diminutive, but piire bred donkeys, 
 threw right and left with no stinting hand, to the dis- 
 tribution of which largesse responded shrill laughter, 
 and still shriller cries, and thwack of stick on dark 
 brown pate and cries of pain upon the meeting of youth- 
 ful ivories in the aged ankle or wrist. 
 
 No doubt about it, Cairo, real Cairo I mean, had 
 been in an uproar from the moment two special trains 
 had chugged into the Central Station a few hours back.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 CROWNED and uncrowned queens travel in comfort 
 all the world over, a comfort of over-heated special 
 trains, the most stable part of the boat, the most skilful 
 chauffeur, allied to the most speedy car, an elaboration 
 of the luncheon basket, and the heartening effect of 
 strips of red baize; but the comfort of a church pew 
 compared to the downy recesses of a Chesterfield, against 
 the comfort and regal luxury of Jill's mode of travelling. 
 
 Surrounded by an armed guard under the absolute 
 control of black Mustapha, armed to the teeth, chap- 
 eroned by Mrs. Grundy in the shape or, as I should 
 say, represented in the shapeless person of a dusky 
 duenna of many moons, a good heart and a vitriolic 
 tongue, who coyly peeped from behind the sombre cur- 
 tains of her middle-aged palanquin, Jill started on her 
 wedding journey. Over a carpet of flowers, through 
 a long lane of palm leaves, held by veiled maidens, so 
 as to form an arch, she passed, whilst the sweetness of 
 the girls' voices rose to the tops of the acacia and mi- 
 mosa trees, and gigantic date palms, in the Egyptian 
 bridal song. 
 
 In no way did Jill's return journey across the desert 
 find through the mountains to the canal's edge resemble 
 the out going. 
 
 She did it with leisure and comfort this time, to find 
 the Arab's great white steam yacht waiting to race her 
 to Ismailiah. 
 
 209
 
 210 DESERT LOVE 
 
 She had looked round for the man she loved, but 
 had seen him only when, with great pomp and circum- 
 stance, she landed on the other side. 
 
 The whole of the town had turned out, so that the 
 white ear in which she made the short trajet between 
 the landing-place and the station passed between a lane 
 lined with male faces, dusky, dark brown, and light 
 tan, thousands of soft eyes sparkling over the all-hiding, 
 all-attractive yashmak, and a dotted line, well in the 
 forefront of the leather-brown, European physiogno- 
 mies, of those who nudged and pointed, exclaiming 
 aloud, so that their words carried even into the interior 
 of the closed car, upon their luck of seeing a real native 
 show. 
 
 With grave obeisance to the woman, Hahmed the 
 Arab had entered his special train, which preceded Jill's 
 by ten minutes, so that when she arrived at Cairo Cen- 
 tral Station, surrounded by her armed guard, and with 
 her duenna rocking painfully by her side in a pair of 
 over small shoes, a little scared at the sea of faces, and 
 the echo of the voices of those who stood outside, kept 
 in order by the swash-buckling native police of fez 
 ornamented heads, she had stood transfixed, wondering 
 what on earth she should do next. 
 
 Verily, the Eastern can carry off a situation which 
 would undoubtedly fill the Western with consternation. 
 
 Perhaps the clothing has as much to do with it as any 
 national traits, for surely no man in stove-pipe trousers, 
 and all that goes to the well-looking of these garments, 
 could have so composedly traversed the broad flower- 
 strewn carpet, laid with the consent of the authorities 
 and no little distribution of backsheesh upon the dusty
 
 DESERT LOVE 211 
 
 station, and making deep obeisance, have so serenely 
 led the little cloaked and veiled figure to the gorgeously 
 caparisoned (if one may apply that term to the ship of 
 the desert's rigging) camel, which sprawled its neck 
 upon the ground for the benefit of the motley crowd 
 without. 
 
 Anyway, it was an unbelievable thing to happen in 
 Egypt, the land of veiled and secluded women. It was 
 wonderful enough to know that the great Hahmed was 
 taking unto himself a wife, but that that wife should 
 suddenly appear from out of the desert unknown, un- 
 seen well, it took one's breath away, indeed it did, 
 but well again seeing the wealth and power of the 
 man, it was wiser to rejoice than to quibble and gossip 
 upon such doings. 
 
 So all along the Sharia Clot Bey, which is the elec- 
 trically lit, motor filled, modern shop-lined road lead- 
 ing from the station, Jill peeped between the curtains 
 at the throngs of jubilant natives, and the surrounding 
 Western looking buildings. 
 
 She felt hurt to the soul by the modernity of the 
 latter, just as she had been hurt on arriving in Rome 
 and Venice, until later on she had found balm in the 
 old stones and streets and buildings of both placea 
 hidden behind the twentieth century. 
 
 Jill knew that she was being taken to the palace of 
 the old Sheikh, uncle of the man she was about to wed, 
 but where it was she had no idea, nor of the names of 
 the streets, the mosques or the palaces and the mansions 
 she could spy upon, from between her satin curtains, 
 on her way to the Bab-es-Shweyla gate. The route they 
 had taken in the glow of the setting sun, once they had
 
 212 DESERT LOVE 
 
 left European Cairo behind, lay through the El Katai 
 quarter, having chosen the road leading from the 
 mosque of Sultan Hassan, through the Bazaar of the 
 Amourers to reach the great gate, the very heart of old 
 Cairo. 
 
 And the girl's whole being seemed inundated with 
 the light of the gorgeous heavens above her as she 
 passed down the Sukkariya, the broad and pleasant 
 path running under the gate, and her eyes shone as 
 they rested on the huge and ancient El-Azhar, the uni- 
 versity of all Islam. 
 
 Past mosque and tomb in the El-Nahassin, whilst 
 minarets turned from gold to rose, and rose to crimson 
 in the dying sun, up through the Gamahyia, danced 
 arid sang the ever increasing multitude, until the armed 
 guard suddenly came to a standstill, forming a circle 
 round the two camels, who had haughtily condescended 
 to kneel, as Jill with her hand in that of her chaperon, 
 passing between rows of salaaming servants, wonder- 
 ing what had become of Hahmed, and where she was 
 going, and if tea could possibly be forthcoming instead 
 of coffee, entered a courtyard, beautiful beyond words, 
 and passing through the gates leading to the harem, 
 heard them shut behind her; whilst with little cries of 
 greeting, the four wives and many inhabitants of this 
 secluded spot swept down upon her, their dainty, henna- 
 tipped fingers quickly removing her cloak and veil, 
 their little exclamations of astonishment testifying to 
 their appreciation of the radiant little vision who smiled 
 so sweetly upon them, and returned their greetings in 
 such prettily broken Arabic. 
 
 Only one contretemps had marred the perfect organ-
 
 DESERT LOVE 213 
 
 isation of the proceedings, and that happened when the 
 advance guard, turning a corner at full speed, regard- 
 less of the life and limbs of the seething mass of adults, 
 babies, and dogs, had found themselves forced to edify 
 the spectators with an exhibition of haute ecole, as their 
 terrified horses, suddenly rearing, pawed the quivering 
 air above a brace of camels, who had lawlessly and 
 obstinately stretched themselves forth upon the soft 
 bed of mud and house garbage spread liberally through- 
 out one of the narrowest streets in El-Katia. 
 
 Proddings of spears, and kickings of tender ana- 
 tomical portions availing nothing, the last means for the 
 hasty moving of obstreperous camels had been resorted 
 to with success. 
 
 The following is the recipe : 
 
 Take two or more camels, fully laden for choice, 
 stretched at length across a narrow street. For re- 
 moval of same, apply a vigorous drubbing by means 
 of a stick or sticks. If no result, apply foot with yet 
 more vigour. If this fails, gather an armful of good 
 dry straw, fix it cunningly under the animal's belly, 
 apply match, and fly for your life to the nearest sanc- 
 tuary.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 JILL had been married a fortnight. Everything 
 down to the minutest detail had passed off perfectly, 
 everything had been duly signed and sealed and con- 
 ducted in the most orthodox and binding manner, leav- 
 ing the witnesses breathless at the thought of the land, 
 jewels, houses, and cattle with which Hahmed the 
 Arab endowed this woman who brought him nothing 
 excepting beauty, which was not exactly beauty, but 
 rather colouring, plus brain and charm. 
 
 Not even love had she brought it seemed, or obedi- 
 ence, for had not her lord and master uncomplainingly 
 allowed her to keep the door of her apartments closed, 
 neither had he insisted on the dyeing of her golden 
 hair to that henna shade, of which so much is thought 
 in the land of black hirsute coverings. 
 
 The feasting and rejoicings of the past ten days had 
 surpassed anything ever dreamt of on the banks of the 
 Nile. 
 
 There had been tournaments and exhibitions of 
 strength and agility and horsemanship in the day, and 
 dancing by the most famous dancers in the land by 
 night dances, let me tell you, in spite of what you 
 gather by hearsay or ocular proof in such cesspools as 
 Port Said and kindred towns, which were lessons in 
 modesty compared to that blush-producing exercise 
 called the Tango and its descendants. 
 
 214
 
 DESERT LOVE 215 
 
 The harem was a cage of excited love-birds to whom 
 were duly brought detailed accounts of the nightly and 
 daily doings. Never had there been such a commotion 
 within the somewhat over-decorated walls, nor had the 
 great mirrors reflected such sheen of wondrous silks, 
 and satins, and flashing jewels; whilst sweetmeats, 
 coffee, and cool drinks were the order of the day for 
 the sustenance and refreshment of the never-ending 
 stream of high-born ladies, who from far and near and 
 in all kinds of covered vehicles hastened with the excuse 
 of greeting the wife of the great Arab, to gather first 
 hand delectable morsels of gossip anent her strange 
 methods of procedure, and her master's still stranger 
 leniency towards her. 
 
 " Truly," remarked Fatima (which is not her real 
 name), the thirteen-year-old and latest addition to the 
 harem, and therefore favourite of the old Sheikh, as for 
 the eighth time she changed her costume, and with the 
 tip of her henna pink finger skilfully removed a too 
 liberal application of kohl from about her right and 
 lustrous eye, whilst chatting with her maid. " Truly, 
 I say, the man is either besotted with love, or suffering 
 from some strange malady. Nigh upon the passage of 
 ten days and nights, and yet he bends not the woman 
 to his will, and she more luscious than a peach from 
 the southern wall. Thinkest thou it's love, oh Fuddja? 
 And thinkest thou the whiteness of my bosom shows to 
 advantage against the gold of my neckband ? " 
 
 And Fuddja, dutifully likening the beauties of her 
 mistress to those of the white doe, whereas in verity 
 they favoured the contour of the plump poussin, with 
 promise of distinct obesity within the passage of a
 
 216 DESERT LOVE 
 
 very few years, proceeded to recount the latest news, 
 which was none other than the fact that within the next 
 few days Hahmed would remove his wife unto his own 
 habitation on the other side of the city.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 HAVING just wrested a promise from Hahmed that 
 he would take her one moonlight night to the summit 
 of the Great Pyramid, in spite of the strict rules against 
 such nightly excursions, Jill sat very still and quite 
 content upon her camel gazing at the Sphinx. She 
 turned and looked in the direction where the great eyes 
 were staring, and then turning once more towards the 
 mystery of all ages, she urged her camel on until it 
 stood close to the base, and then, dissatisfied, she urged 
 it back until she could look once more from a distance, 
 and shaking her head with a little sigh, spoke in a 
 whisper to the man at her side. 
 
 " I wonder, Hahmed," she said, holding out her hand 
 as was her habit when perplexed or distressed, " I won- 
 der who conceived the idea. No! I mean something 
 quite different it is how shall I say I wonder 
 who it was who, having the meaning of that face in his 
 mind, had the power and the will to hold it there while 
 he carved or chipped it oh ! so slowly into stone. It 
 is easy enough to paint from a model, or hew blocks of 
 marble in the shape of a man or a woman or animal, 
 isn't it when you have them in front with their 
 expressions and their forms? But how did the man 
 who did this with only a picture in his mind to rel^ on 
 dare to use a chisel ? Because you can't rub oat mis- 
 takes in stone, and sketches wouldn't have helped him, 
 
 217
 
 218 DESERT LOVE 
 
 would they, because even photographs give one no real 
 idea of all the Sphinx means ? And I wonder where 
 the look lies in the eyes or the whole face, or the set 
 of the head, or what ? The eyes are rather like a dog's, 
 aren't they a sort of wistfulness and steadfastness." 
 
 " Many have asked, O ! woman, though not many who 
 have looked upon the Sphinx have, I think, thought 
 upon just your first point. What do we know about 
 this living stone before which the mightiest, and most 
 wonderful, and most beautiful works of even the greatest 
 masters seem as nothing ? Who was he ? WTiose brain 
 conceived, and hands gave birth to this mystery ? Why 
 is his name not engraved somewhere for us pigmies to 
 read ? Though doubtless it is in the depths of the hid- 
 den chambers in the base which up to now have only 
 been superficially examined." 
 
 " Yes ! " broke in Jill, " but whoever he was, slave or 
 prince, captive or free, ivlio taught him what eternity 
 looks like; for that surely is is what the Sphinx sees, 
 the circle with no join, the world not this one not 
 Egypt without end. We all say for ever and ever, 
 but our brains reel when we think for one minute on 
 eternity. Do you think his brain snapped when he put 
 the last stroke? Do you think he was buried with 
 decency with his chisels beside him ? " 
 
 " No ! surely not ! Otherwise, Moonflower. some- 
 body would have dug him out along with the Pharaohs, 
 and priests, and courtesans, so that we should have 
 learned something about him by turning his mummified 
 body inside out, and unwinding the burial cloth from 
 about those fingers which have given us the Sphinx. 
 Strange! that a woman's whim, born of vanity, should
 
 DESERT LOVE 219 
 
 be spoken of with bated breath, even to this day! A 
 woman melts a pearl and the world continues to cry Ah ! 
 through all time; a man creates this, and no record is 
 left of him. Verily Allah has blessed me in giving you 
 into my hands, for behold your thoughts are as sweet 
 to me as the wind that blows through the mimosa trees 
 at dawn." 
 
 The girl turned a serious face towards Hahmed and 
 smiled sweetly. 
 
 " How small and futile we are, Hahmed, in front of 
 this great thing. See how it, I say it because surely 
 there is no sex in any one part of it, brushes us aside, 
 not in indifference, but just because to it we simply do 
 not exist any more than the sand, even less so, because 
 the sand in time would even blind those eyes. How I 
 wish I could see it lying uncovered on its base. And I 
 somehow can't imagine that Mary laid the Infant Christ 
 to rest between its paws ! How did they cross the desert 
 on one poor ass ? How would they, so humble and so 
 poor, be able to approach the Sphinx with its guards 
 about it ? And I wonder if they will ever open up the 
 abaft and search until they find the history on the walls 
 of the base which, I am sure, buries somebody down in 
 its depths. 
 
 "Eternity! and yet I fret and worry, get cross 
 cross, Hahmed, which is so much more little than angry 
 and love to tease and give pain. Forgive me ! " 
 
 And something had crept into the girl's voice which 
 caused the man to lean forward, and very gently to tilt 
 Jill's face upward so that the moon struck down full 
 upon it. 
 
 But the heavy lids veiled the eyes, so that nothing
 
 220 DESERT LOVE 
 
 could be seen of the wonder of all-time reflected therein. 
 A wonder of the birth of which there is no record; a 
 mystery which has a million times million shapes, each 
 shape fashioned afresh, yet always the same ; a mystery 
 besides which the Sphinx is as a grain of sand. The 
 mystery of Love. 
 
 And Hahmed the Arab, who had waited since all 
 eternity for this moment of time, raised one hand to 
 heaven and praised his God, and then leant forward 
 to readjust the veil before the woman's face. 
 
 " The Sphinx shall not see your face, neither shall 
 the stars, nor shall the wind touch your mouth, O ! my 
 beloved! For I would take you to the ruins of the 
 Temple of Khafra, where the rose colour -of the stone 
 shall tint your face and your hands, where eyes shall 
 not see nor hear the story of the love I have to 
 tell you." ' 
 
 And leaning across he put his arm about Jill and 
 lifted her from her saddle, and laid her across his knees 
 with her head in the hollow of his shoulder. 
 
 " I am of the desert, O ! my woman, of the sandstorm 
 and the winds, the rocks, and the heat I have no 
 desire this night for soft cushions, nor for the fra- 
 grance of the hanging curtains of your chamber. I love 
 you, Allah, and this time I will not wait. You have 
 played with me for many moons ! Not even once have 
 I laid my lips upon even the whiteness of your hand 
 since Allah in His greatness made you my wife in the 
 name before the law. At your wish I have denied my- 
 self all, until I have longed to bring you to my feet 
 with the lash of the whip yet have I waited, knowing
 
 DESERT LOVE 221 
 
 that the moment of your surrender would be the sweeter 
 for it. 
 
 " And the spirits of the past shall be your hand- 
 maidens, and the moon shall be your lamp, and the sand 
 shall be your marriage-couch this night and I, O ! 
 woman I shall be your master." 
 
 And who knows if it Avas not love who wrought upon 
 the granite until the Sphinx was born? For after all 
 Love is eternal, and eternity is Love.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 THE silver shafts of the full moon struck down into 
 the ruined outer courts of the Temple of Khafra, 
 turning the rose-colour of the granite to a dull terra- 
 cotta, and picking out the pavement with weird designs 
 of gigantic beasts and flowers, the which, when Jill put 
 her foot upon them, proved to be nothing more harmful 
 than the shadows thrown by the walls and huge blocks 
 of fallen masonry. 
 
 Slowly she crossed the court and as slowly climbed 
 the incline leading to the chambers of long dead priests 
 and priestesses, pausing at the opening with a little 
 catch of the breath and a quick glance at the man she 
 loved beside her. 
 
 The darkness of Egypt is a common enough expres- 
 sion on the lips of those who know nothing of what 
 they are talking about, and Jill, who had often used the 
 words, stood transfixed at the abysmal blackness in 
 front of her. 
 
 Outside it was as clear as day, inside it was darker 
 than any night, and like a flash the girl compared it 
 with her life at that very moment. 
 
 Up to now she had been her own mistress, in that she 
 had deliberately and of her own free will done the 
 things she ought and ought not to have done, and had 
 been content with the result. 
 
 True, she was married to the man beside her, bound 
 to him by law, his in the eyes of the world, and of Allah 
 
 222
 
 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Who is God, but she knew full well that untii dhe called 
 to him and surrendered herself in love, that she was as 
 free as any maiden could be in that land, and, she 
 thought, that doubtless in time he would tire of her 
 caprice and let her go, taking unto himself another as 
 wife. In which surmise she was utterly mistaken ! 
 
 Should she move forward into the darkness ? Should 
 she turn back into the light ? 
 
 If she crossed the threshold she knew she would seek 
 the protection of his arms against the'threatenings of 
 the shadows which surely held the spirits of the past; 
 and in his arms, why! even at the thought her heart 
 leapt and her face burned beneath the veil. 
 
 If she turned back she would return to her position 
 of honoured guest in the man's house, a barren, unsatis- 
 fying position for one in whom youth cried for love and 
 mastery. 
 
 If only Hahmed would make a sign, a movement ; if 
 only he would say one word. But he stood motion less 
 just behind her, waiting himself, with the oriental's 
 implicit belief for some deciding sign from Fate. 
 
 There was no sound, no sign of life as they stood 
 waiting, and then the night breeze, gently lifting a 
 corner of the Arab's full white cloak, wrapped it like 
 some great wing about the girl. 
 
 A thrill swept her from head to foot as she pressed 
 her hands above her heart, and then with eyes wide 
 open and alight with love stepped across the threshold 
 into the shadows, unknowingly turning the corner of 
 that block of granite which hides the opening, leaving 
 one in complete and utter darkness. 
 
 She flung out her hands and felt nothing, turnod
 
 224: DESERT LOVE 
 
 swiftly and flung them out again, vainly searching for 
 the Arab's cloak, and finding nothing let them fall to 
 her side. 
 
 " My God ! " she whispered, and moved a step for- 
 ward, stopped and listened and moved back. " Hahmed ! 
 Hahmed ! " 
 
 She called aloud in fear, she who had never known 
 what it was to be afraid, and she gave a little sob of 
 pure relief when the Arab answered from the distance 
 of a few feet. 
 
 " Wherefore are you afraid, O ! woman ? Behold I 
 am near you, watching you, for my eyes are trained for 
 the night as well as for the day, even though your eyes, 
 which are as the turquoise set in a crown of glory, may 
 not pierce the darkness, being unaccustomed to the vio- 
 lent contrasts and colourings of the East." 
 
 Then fell a silence. 
 
 And then the perfume of the night, and the scent of 
 the sand and the spirit of the dead women who had 
 lived and loved even in that temple chamber, assailed 
 the nostrils of the girl, entering in unto her and causing 
 a wave of longing and unutterable love to rise and flood 
 her whole being, so that she smiled sweetly to herself 
 and held out her arms, and trembled not at the thought 
 of the moment awaiting her. 
 
 " Hahmed ! Hahmed ! " she called softly from love, 
 and hearing no sound called again and yet more softly. 
 " Come to me, Hahmed ! come to me because I 
 love you ! " 
 
 And her master held her in one arm whilst he gently 
 removed the veil from before her face, which she turned
 
 DESERT LOVE 225 
 
 and laid against his heart as he poured forth his soul in 
 an ecstasy of love. 
 
 " Behold ! " he cried, as he removed the outer cloak 
 from about her. " Behold is my beloved like unto a 
 citadel which has fallen before my might, and the gates 
 thereof are unbarred before the conqueror ! 
 
 " Behold." and Jill's head veil fell to her feet, " is 
 the citadel fair to look upon, from the glistening of the 
 golden cupolas to the feet awash in the River of Love. 
 
 " Surrounded by the ivory wall of innocence is she, 
 and unto her lord is the glory of measuring the circum- 
 ference thereof. 
 
 " Even as a flowering tree is she, and beneath my 
 hands shall the bloom of love turn even unto the passion 
 flower. 
 
 " Like unto a Court of Love is my heart's delight, 
 and many are the chambers therein, in which in the heat 
 of the day and the coolness of the night I shall find 
 repose. 
 
 " Her fingers are as the lattice before the windows of 
 her joy, through which she shall peep, looking for the 
 coming of her lord; her lashes are the silken curtains 
 which she will draw before the twin pools of love 
 which arc her eyes ; her body is as a column of alabaster 
 in the shadow of which I shall find my delight ! 
 
 " Yea ! the citadel has fallen, and the walls about it 
 are riven at my approach. Allah ! Allah ! Allah ! " 
 
 And the shadows crept gently about them as once 
 more the silence fell, and gathered again into the cor- 
 ners as Jill sighed softly. 
 
 " Tremble not, my beloved ! for behold I love thee I
 
 226 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Gentle is love to such as thee, and soft is the sand of 
 Egypt which shall be thy couch. And yet, tho child 
 of love, even at this moment when my heart waxeth 
 faint within me from love of thee, yet will I Msten, 
 and take thee back unto thy dwelling and thy fragrant 
 chamber if so thou desireth ! " 
 
 But Jill, lifting her arms, laid her hands in utter 
 submission upon the man's breast, and sighed again in 
 perfect content beneath the kisses which covered *hem, 
 and her arms and her breasts and her beautiful mouth. 
 
 " As thou wilt," she whispered softly, " only a? thou 
 wilt." 
 
 And verily as a young tree she stood in the glory 
 of her youth with her feet upon the sands of Egypt, 
 and verily was her heart glad when she was carried into 
 the inner chamber, and passed into the keeping of her 
 master for ever.
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVII 
 
 SOME months had gone, and the sun sparkled on the 
 water of the little singing stream, though bitter winds 
 had hlown and all-enveloping sand had swirled about 
 the palms which surrounded Jill's beautiful home in 
 the oasis, of which the reins were gradually slipping 
 into fingers skilled in driving anything from a four- 
 in-hand to a donkey in a cart. 
 
 Three mornings a week, an hour after dawn, she 
 gave audience to all those who, with grievance or in 
 difficulty, desired her help or advice; for which cere- 
 mony, and having the dramatic instinct, she had caused 
 a clearing to be made in the shade of the palms, under 
 the biggest of which she had also had placed a great 
 chair of snow-white marble, in which, clothed always in 
 white, she would seat herself, her passionate mouth 
 smiling happily behind the yashmak whilst over it the 
 great eyes, into which had crept a look of infinite ten- 
 derness in the months that had passed, would scrutinise 
 the people standing humbly and astounded before her. 
 
 She would look across upon mothers with obstreper- 
 ous sons who would not work, or would not wed ; moth- 
 ers who beat their breasts in despair at the utter lack 
 of looks or grace in the unfortunately multiplied fem- 
 inine arrows within the parental quiver; young men 
 who craved a word of recommendation BO as to obtain 
 a certain post; older men who craved an overdraft at 
 
 227
 
 228 DESERT LOVE 
 
 the bank of her patience; young mothers whose in- 
 fants were either too fat or too lean, or with eyes 
 half-eaten away with disease ; all of whom having re- 
 ceived a full measure of help, pressed down and run- 
 ning over, and having bestrewn themselves upon the 
 ground around her chair, would depart in high fettle 
 to spread the news of this wonder woman, their mis- 
 tress, in whom they felt such inordinate pride; so that 
 one, then two, then more, from distances long and short, 
 would creep into the council with pretexts ranging 
 from the thin to the absolutely transparent, until one 
 morning the whole seance ended in an unseemly fracas 
 between the legitimate and the illegitimate seekers after 
 help in word or kind, whereupon Hahmed, rising in 
 his wrath, smote them verbally hip and thigh, and Jill 
 departed in high dudgeon, leaving the culprits to wilt 
 in the frost of her keen displeasure. 
 
 And from about that date, a month ago, everything 
 seemed to have gone wrong. 
 
 Days of depression would follow days of mad spirits, 
 hours when she was as the sweetest scented rose within 
 the hands of the Arab, followed by interminable 
 stretches of time when the points of the " wait-a-bit " 
 thorn were blunt compared to the exceeding sharpness 
 of her temper. 
 
 Days when all that was right was wrong, and all 
 that was wrong was wrong, so that her women crept 
 quietly, and Hahmed wondered sometimes if some 
 " afreet " l haunted the soil and had taken possession 
 of the soul of his beloved. 
 
 Jill swung to and fro in a hammock slung between 
 
 i Evil Spirit.
 
 DESERT LOVE 229 
 
 two palms at a very early hour indeed of this morning 
 late in December. 
 
 She had neither veil before her face nor shoes upon 
 her feet, and the flimsy mauve robe clung to the supple 
 body as she restlessly swung, until she clapped her 
 hands to summon her breakfast, and clapped them 
 again sharply so that a figure came running at high 
 pressure. 
 
 " Go, ask thy master if he will break bread with me 
 in the shade of the palms, oh Laleah, and let not the 
 shadows lengthen unduly in thy going for fear that I 
 give thee cause to hasten thy footsteps ! " 
 
 Which manner of speech shows that Jill had not 
 unduly tarried either in acquiring knowledge of things 
 Eastern. And Hahmed, as he stood before her and 
 greeted her in the beautiful Arabian tongue, wondered 
 if in all the world there could be found such another 
 picture as that of his wife, with the riot of red-gold 
 hair about her little face, which somehow seemed over 
 white in the shade of the palm, and the blueness of her 
 eyes, and the redness of her mouth, which neither the 
 one nor the other smiled at his approach. 
 
 " Do sit down and help yourself ! " said she indeed, 
 and clapping her hands sharply ordered fresh food and 
 drinks, both hot and cold, to be brought upon the in- 
 stant. 
 
 And her next remark, after the breakfast of tea in a 
 real teapot, a hissing kettle, strange loaves, purest 
 butter, honey, and fruits of every conceivable colour 
 had been laid upon a cloth upon the grass, fell like 
 a bolt from the blue, though the man made no sign of 
 disturbance from the impact.
 
 230 DESERT LOVE 
 
 " I want eggs and bacon, Hahmed ! " 
 
 For a moment he pondered the remark, whilst he 
 offered Jill a cigarette and lit one for himself. 
 
 " The eggs, my woman," and the musical voice made 
 a poem even of the absurd words, " now that thou hast 
 taught thy slaves to poach and scramble and prepare 
 them in divers and pleasant ways, are easy but bacon 
 no! that canst thou not have amongst these mv peo- 
 ple!" 
 
 And Jill swung ceaselessly to and fro, looking at 
 the man sitting a few yards from her on a rug, before 
 she answered in tersest English: 
 
 " Don't be dense, Hahmed ! I want eggs and ba- 
 con, and a starched finger napkin toast in a rack 
 covered dishes marmalade I'm I'm " 
 
 "Fed up!" 
 
 The deep voice filled in the pause also in tersest 
 English. 
 
 For one moment Jill sat up as straight as the ham- 
 mock would allow, and then for the first time in many 
 days broke into a peal of sweetest laughter, and swing- 
 ing herself clear of the net ran over and laid herself 
 down upon the rug beside the man, with her chin in 
 the palms of her hands, to find herself the next moment 
 in his arms, whilst he looked down into her eyes with- 
 out speaking. Whereupon she turned her face on to 
 his shoulder and burst into tears. 
 
 And Hahmed, being wise, let her cry until there were 
 no more tears, only little sobs which tore at his heart, 
 which lightened considerably when having mopped her 
 eyes with the edge of his cloak, she twisted herself into 
 a sitting position, and smiled as she laid her golden
 
 DESERT LOVE 231 
 
 head against his dark one, and entwined her slim 
 fingers in his. 
 
 And Hahmed smiled also, knowing that this was the 
 preliminary to some request of which his wife had 
 doubts as to the granting, hut never a word did he 
 utter, nor made sign to help, whilst Jill, somewhat at 
 a loss, lit a cigarette, and proceeded to blow rings 
 which on account of the breeze refused to pass one 
 through the other. 
 
 " Hahmed ! " she managed at last and stopped, and 
 then continued as she got up and moved away: 
 " Hahmed ! I'm feeling absolutely miserable. I think 
 I want a change I really do want all I said just now, 
 so so can't we go to Cairo and stay at an English 
 hotel for the New Year ? We could just do it if we 
 started at once couldn't we ? I know you have im- 
 portant business or something next month can't you 
 put it off ? " 
 
 Hahmed looked at her for a moment, as she stood 
 very fair and straight, with her beautiful feet peeping 
 from under her trailing gown; and frowned a little, 
 noticing the shadows round the big eyes, and the sus- 
 picion of a collar-bone showing above the embroidery 
 of her bodice. 
 
 " And why didst thou hesitate, little one, to ask 
 knowing as thou dost that thy wish is law absolute 
 to me? Business affairs, what are they? Let them 
 wait let the world wait as long as thou art happy. 
 Verily thou art pale and thin " Upon which un- 
 fortunate remark Jill turned like the spitfire she had 
 lately become. 
 
 " Seeing that you are allowed four wives, Hahmed,
 
 232 DESERT LOVE 
 
 there is no reason to bemoan your fate; this is not 
 Europe, where once married you are for ever tied to 
 the one girl, who, a bud in her youth, may as time 
 passes turn to one of those dreadful cabbage-roses, 
 which go purple and fat with age. I'm sorry," she 
 continued, as she held out both her hands, " you simply 
 must not notice me these days. I think I am be- 
 witched I have even sent my darling old Ameena 
 away because her deformity suddenly irritated me, and 
 I told Mustapha I would have him thrown as break- 
 fast to the cheetahs if he dared to make himself seen, 
 and he believed it, and no shampoo will ever get the 
 sand out of his hair." 
 
 " But he shall be thrown to the cheetahs if it would 
 please thee, beloved ! " 
 
 And the uncalculating cruelty in the man's voice sent 
 the red to the girl's white face, and moving over to 
 him made her lean down and kiss him upon the mouth. 
 
 And then she seated herself upon the ground and 
 made tea, laughing like a child when to please her the 
 Arab drank it protestingly. 
 
 " By Allah ! it is a poison which you drink in Europe, 
 and yet you would go and drink it in a crowded city." 
 
 " Are we going, Hahmed, oh Hahmed, are we ? " 
 whispered Jill, half afraid to break the spell by the 
 raising of her voice. 
 
 " But of course, beloved hast thou not expressed 
 the wish though surely it were better to go to thine 
 own dwelling, for it will go hard with thee to keep 
 thy face covered and remain undiscovered to thy many 
 friends, who doubtless will be seeking the solace of 
 Egypt's winter sun; for the time is not yet at hand
 
 DESERT LOVE 233 
 
 when I will permit thee to make thyself known to 
 them." 
 
 But Jill was ready to accept anything as long as her 
 craving could be satisfied, and Hahmed, longing to 
 satisfy her craving, looked with eyes of love upon the 
 sweetness of her face aglow with anticipation, so that 
 both were well content. 
 
 And an hour passed in which they ate and drank, 
 and Jill balanced pieces of sweet bread upon the noses 
 of two great hounds, who, scenting their master from 
 afar, had broken bounds and raced to him, leaping 
 the breakfast table to Jill's infinite delight, whilst their 
 groom lay upon the ground out of sight anticipating 
 the thrashing his carelessness merited him, but from 
 which he was spared by reason of his mistress' sweet- 
 ness. 
 
 " And so, Light of Heaven, I must leave thee, for 
 there is much to prepare if we would start at once, for 
 it is difficult to secure the strict privacy due to my wife 
 in these times when the world is overrun by the tourist 
 ants who should by right be underground. 
 
 " And my heart inclineth to hours spent with thee, 
 O ! Flower of the Desert, hours spent at thy feet in 
 the heat of the day whilst thou slumberest, hours upon 
 the roof of thy dwelling, watching the day prepare 
 herself for the coming of her lover, the night; and 
 yet must I leave thee when my being is overwhelmed 
 with love of thee, thou wind of caprice! Would that 
 I could tell the meaning of my gentleness towards 
 thee, I, Hahmed, who, like a love-sick youth, sleeps 
 the night without the silken curtain of thy door and 
 dare not enter in unto thee."
 
 234 DESERT LOVE 
 
 And his hands suddenly gripped the girl by- her 
 shoulders and pulled her towards him, at which rough- 
 ness she smiled, as women do when so treated, and 
 rested her sweet-scented head above his heart. 
 
 " Ah, Hahmed ! Who knows if thou are not over 
 timorous even for a love-sick youth," she sighed. 
 " And must thou go when my heart inclineth to hours 
 spent with thee? And yet at night the stars come out 
 so 'tis said, and can be seen from the roof of my dwell- 
 ing; and when the wind sweeps over chill across the 
 sands the fire throws shadows in my room of roses, 
 where the love bird with little wings hovers above my 
 couch suspended by a little silken cord." 
 
 And the man bent her back towards him so that the 
 ribbon of her bodice snapped and the beauty of her 
 lay under his hands, and she stretched both arms out- 
 wards and whispered so that only he could hear, " Kiss 
 me, Hahmed, oh my heart's desire! Kiss me, for I 
 am faint with love of thee." 
 
 And even as he bent downwards to her she fell un- 
 conscious at his feet, whereupon he raised her in his 
 arms and looked into the white face, speaking so that 
 only she might hear. 
 
 " And the love bird shall fly down to thy couch this 
 night, Delight of my Heart, and the shadows upon thy 
 sweet face shall deepen ere the dawn," and he kissed 
 the closed eyes and the red mouth and the white throat 
 and the shadow of a collar-bone which showed above 
 the roundness of her breasts, and then he laid her 
 upon the cushions on the ground, and, clapping his 
 hands, gave her into the care of her handmaidens.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 AN hour and more had passed before Jack Wether-* 
 bourne suddenly awoke, and stretching his arms above 
 his head apostrophised the full moon shining down 
 upon the Great Pyramid in the shadows of which he 
 was sitting. 
 
 " What the dickens Lady Moon brought me to this 
 place of all places to-night," he said lazily, as he struck 
 a match and lit a cigarette. " Let's hope my ship of 
 the desert hasn't upstreamed for Cairo all on her own, 
 else I see myself here until the advent of the next 
 Cook's party. Decent of the camel wallah to let me 
 take the apple of his commercial eye into the desert 
 unaccompanied." He stretched and settled himself 
 more comfortably, continuing to talk aloud. " What 
 a night what a country wish I'd brought Mary 
 with me ideal spot for a heart-to-heart talk. I might 
 have shaken her out of her e eyedyfix,' as old Gruntham 
 calls it. Silly idea that she won't get married until 
 Jill has been found why! what! who in heaven's 
 name are coming down the pyramid ? Well, I'm 
 blessed! two native wallahs been breaking the rules, 
 and I had no idea they were perched up there above 
 my head." 
 
 Safe in the protecting shadows he watched Hahmed 
 and Jill descend. 
 
 Little ripples of laughter fell on the night air as 
 Hahmed, letting himself down easily from one gigantic 
 block to another, held out his arms and lifted Jill 
 
 235
 
 236 DESERT LOVE 
 
 down, bending his head to kiss her each time he put 
 her on her feet. 
 
 They were at the last step but one when, with a little 
 scream, she swayed, and nearly fell to the step be- 
 neath. 
 
 " Hold me, Hahmed," she cried, " I'm dizzy, every- 
 thing is going round ! " 
 
 And Hahmed caught her and lifted her gently down 
 the last steps to the sand, bending to kiss her on the 
 toouth, and shifting her suddenly to his left arm so as 
 to catch Jack Wetherbourne by the throat as he dashed 
 shouting from the shadows upon them. 
 
 " Jill ! Jill ! It's I Jack ! don't let - 
 
 Until the grip tightening choked back his words, 
 when with a surprising swiftness the Arab let go his 
 hold, and getting one in on the point, sent the English- 
 man reeling backwards to fall in a heap against the 
 base of the pyramid, and then to scramble to his feet, 
 too dizzy to stop his adversary, who, flinging the veil 
 over the woman's face, passed swiftly to the place where 
 awaited the camels. 
 
 And too slow was Jack Wetherbourne to gain the 
 spot in time to stop the flight of the camel which with 
 its double burden was already racing straight ahead 
 into the desert ; and too bemused by the blow to recog- 
 nise the fact when he did get there that the hired brute 
 he was staggering too was built for speed in the image 
 of the tortoise compared to the hare-like-for-swiftness 
 contour of the abandoned beauty who had strolled to 
 the spot from the other side of the pyramid, and quite 
 undisturbed was watching her sister's hurried departure 
 into the unknown.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 ALL our lives we all chase wraiths in the moonshine! 
 Be the wraiths the outcome of proximity in the garden 
 under the silvery moon rays, which so often snap the 
 trap about our unwary feet by rounding off the phys- 
 ical angles of our momentary heart's desires, or lend- 
 ing point to the stub ends of their undeveloped mental- 
 ity; or the wraiths of the midnight soul, otherwise dig- 
 arranged nervous or digested system, which float, in- 
 vitingly, distractingly, tantalisingly in front of our 
 clogged-by-sleep vision at night ; turning out, however, 
 in the early light heralding the early cup of tea, to be 
 nothing more soul distracting than the good old brass 
 knob adorning the end of the bedstead. 
 
 But Jack Wetherbourne's wraiths, which he was chas- 
 ing in the moonlight, were good honest humans with the 
 requisite number of legs and arms wrapped in good 
 white raiment ; one of which humans with the other in 
 his arms sat astride a camel, who made up by her 
 muscular development whatever she might lack in good- 
 ness of heart and honesty of purpose; she too being 
 wrapped in the silvery drapery which the moon throws 
 pell-mell around pyramid and mud hut, humble fellah, 
 descendant maybe of some long dead Pharaoh, and the 
 jocular, jubilant millionaire, who with luck can trace a 
 grandfather. 
 
 But chase he ever so eagerly, Jack Wetherbourne 
 
 237
 
 238 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 could barely keep his quarry in sight as on and on sped 
 the racing camel with that curious slithering gait which 
 denotes great speed, whilst the wind caught at Jill's 
 veil, blowing it this way and that until she impatiently 
 tore it from before her face, and struggling against the 
 arm which held her like a vice, managed to screw her 
 self round to look behind, whereupon the Arab jerked 
 her suddenly back, looking down into her white face 
 with eyes ablaze with jealousy. 
 
 " Hast thou no circumspection, O ! wife of mine ? " 
 he cried, the wind carrying the words from his lips 
 almost before they were uttered. " Mine, all mine 
 thou art, and yet thou strivest to look upon the coun- 
 tenance of that madman who would have outraged my 
 honour by looking upon thy face ! " 
 
 " Oh, but Hahmed ! you don't understand that was 
 Jack Wetherbourne, my neighbour and brother and 
 friend, and do for pity's sake make the camel go slower, 
 I am being bumped to bits ! " 
 
 Which of all foolish utterances was the most foolish 
 she could have uttered, fanning the man's jealousy to 
 a pitch where it burned right through the barrier of 
 self-restraint, making him desire to stop her foolish 
 words with kisses, and long to strangle her as she lay 
 in his arms, and cast her on to the sands for the vul- 
 tures to pick at. 
 
 " Thy friend and brother ! How could any man un- 
 born of thy parents be anything but the would-be lover 
 and husband of thy beautiful self! Verily, woman, 
 could I beat thee for such words until thy shoulders 
 ran blood. I know of him and his foolish futile search- 
 ings for thee, yet it is / who hold thee, and in very
 
 DESERT LOVE 23S 
 
 truth can call thee wife ; nor will I stay this my camel 
 so that thou mayest have speech with him; this pale 
 faced yearling, who dared to look upon thy shadow; 
 but by the grace of Allah, I will so bewilder him who 
 blundereth after thee astride the product of the bazaar, 
 that his sightless skull shall stare blindly at the moon 
 to-morrow night, whilst I shall feast my eyes upon the 
 whiteness of thy satin skin." 
 
 And Jill lay still, knowing that she was up against 
 something with which she could not cope, noticing not 
 at all that the camel began a wide circle to the left, 
 therefore being excessively surprised when an hour be- 
 fore the dawn, upon the very outskirts of Cairo itself, 
 the man caused his camel to kneel, and placing the 
 girl like a bundle of hay upon the ground, turned to- 
 wards Mecca; and the time of prayer being passed, 
 came to her suddenly and held her to him, raining 
 kisses upon the fairness of her face, shining pale and 
 shadowed in the light of the coming day.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 You have only to stare long enough at it to get the 
 image of some distinct object imprinted upon your 
 retina, then you need but stare again at some space of 
 indistinct colouring and you will see the impression of 
 your distinct object reprinted a hundred times upside 
 down. 
 
 Who has not tried the experiment in their youth 
 with the aid of the ceiling and red-lettered advertise- 
 ment of chocolate or soap, and later in years up- 
 braided the reflected blobs of sun which usually choose 
 a critical moment in which to obscure your vision when 
 you have turned your back upon the sunset. 
 
 Jack Wetherbourne distinctly saw the fleeing camel 
 in front of him, when he at last got his own to its 
 feet, and being eager to keep his quarry well within 
 his vision, continued to stare and strain his eyes, whilst 
 he raced for hour after hour over mile after mile of 
 sand, until in the end he saw the fleeing camel ahead 
 of him when in reality it was well on its way back to 
 Cairo ; and continued, with eyes staring out of a white, 
 dust-covered face, to pursue the phantom until the first 
 ray of the sun hitting him fiercely, caused him to cover 
 his eyes a while, and after, to look about him with re- 
 freshed sight, which showed him in the midst of the 
 desert, alone, with a cloud of sand rising before the 
 wind some miles behind him an infant sandstorm, 
 but strong enough to hide the distant peaks of the pyra- 
 
 240
 
 DESERT LOVE 241 
 
 mids from him, and to send his terrified, idiotic camel 
 fleeing straight ahead through hours of increasing heat, 
 without a drop of water upon its foolish back or in its 
 master's pocket flask, until with a sudden silly chuckle 
 the man jerked the reins and tumbled headlong from 
 the saddle, laughing stupidly with sudden sunstroke.
 
 CHAPTEE XLI 
 
 THE midday sun of the same day blazed down upon 
 a picture which for ghastliness surpassed even the 
 horrors painted by the madman Werth, which, if your 
 mind is steeped in morbidness, you can see for a franc, 
 or for nothing, I really forget which, when next you 
 visit Brussels. 
 
 Upon a hillock of sand, the summit of which con- 
 tinually trickled to the base in fine golden streams, a 
 little mound built with the aid of a pair of pumps, sat 
 Jack Wetherbourne, laughing sickeningly, just as he 
 had sat since the moment he had waved a delirious 
 adieu to the quickly disappearing camel. His dress 
 coat, trousers, white waistcoat, shirt, undergarments, 
 socks and shoes, lay upon the sand arranged by the 
 disordered mind in the fantastic design of a scare- 
 crow. 
 
 As I have said, the man himself, naked save for a 
 vest twisted round his waist, sat upon the mound ges- 
 ticulating violently, whilst keeping up a one-sided, un- 
 answered conversation with the figure on the sand. 
 His bronzed face, burnt almost black even in the few 
 hours of sun beating down upon his unshaded head, 
 turned restlessly to the right and left ; his long fingers 
 plucked without ceasing at the great blisters which the 
 heat drew up upon his body, bursting them, so that 
 the fluid mingled with the sand blown upon him b ( t the 
 
 242
 
 DESERT LOVE 240 
 
 light wind, and upon which flies, thousands of them, 
 settled, to buzz away when he rose to run this way and 
 that in an effort to stay the awful irritation. 
 
 Two o'clock by the clocks in Cairo, the hour when 
 workers and idlers, rich and poor, seek the coolest 
 spot in their vicinity in which to lay them down and 
 sleep a while the hour when Mary Bingham drove 
 up to Shepherds, having raced here, there, and every- 
 where during the morning in a vain endeavour to 
 awaken a little interest in the minds of those who 
 listened, arid shrugged, and looked at each other sig- 
 nificantly, at the tale of a man who had got lost in 
 Cairo for a night and a morning a tale told agitat- 
 edly by a charming woman who could give no reason 
 for her agitation. 
 
 Also she had tried desperately hard, with the aid of 
 the hotel porter, to make head or tail out of the narra- 
 tive as recounted by the hirer of camels a woebegone 
 tale in which the undercurrent was a dismal foreboding 
 as to the fate of the priceless quadruped; the fate of 
 an Englishman seemingly being of small account when 
 compared to that of the snarling, unpleasant brute who 
 represented the native's entire fortune at least so he 
 said. " Yes, the nobleman had hired the camel as he 
 so often did, and being acquainted with the ways of the 
 animal had gone alone as he always did. No ! upon 
 the beard of his grandfather he had no idea in which 
 direction he had gone, though verily upon the out- 
 skirts of Cairo there had been a festival in which La 
 Belle, the well-known dancer, was to dance who 
 
 knows ' And the Hon. Mary had flung out of the 
 
 place in disgust, knowing with a woman's intuition.
 
 244 DESERT LOVE 
 
 sharpened love, in comparison with which a Tcukri 
 is blunt, that no such place hid the man she had been 
 searching for so desperately ever since she had sud- 
 denly wakened and sprung out of her bed the night 
 before, for no reason whatever, and, having rung up 
 Shepherds and ascertained the fact that Sir John 
 Wetherbourne was not in the hotel, had paced her 
 room until she could with reason arouse her maid, 
 and, having bathed and breakfasted, had started out 
 on the seemingly mad pursuit of someone who had 
 failed to return to his habitat during the night and 
 in Cairo too! 
 
 Is it surprising that men winked secretly at one an- 
 other, and that their wives, sharers of their joys and 
 sorrows, scandal and gossip inclusive, jingled their 
 bracelets and pursed their lips, and did all those things 
 which jealous women not necessarily love jealous 
 are feign to do when the object responsible for the con- 
 ception of the green-eyed monster within their being 
 is bent on making a fool of herself ? 
 
 " Come now, dearie," mumbled Lady Sarah Grunt- 
 ham, who insisted on keeping Lancashire meal hours 
 to the consternation of the hotel staff, native and other- 
 wise, as she mopped her heated brow with her hand- 
 kerchief and with the other hand patted the dark head 
 leaning wearily upon the row of scarab buttons adorn- 
 ing her tussore front, from which she had forgotten 
 to remove her finger napkin when the girl had entered. 
 " Come now come now. Don't 'ee take on an' fret 
 so. The lad'll coom back to ye, never ye fear now. 
 Well I remember when yon Tim of mine was down 
 t' mine in t' big explosion I took on just as ye are
 
 DESERT LOVE 245 
 
 takin' on, love, but down in me heart, lass, I never 
 really feared me, because I knew that me love for me 
 lad was that great, lass, that I'd pull him out of 
 danger .and sure and I did, lass, black as a sweep 
 and with a broken arm, but alive, and a champion tea 
 of shrimps and cress we had, jest as ye'll have with 
 yer lad when he comes back, lass ! " 
 
 Which motherly comfort served to lighten the heavy 
 heart, but brought not the faintest shadow of a smile to 
 the steadfast eyes. For even the vision of watercress, 
 shrimps and tea on the verandah at Shepherds will not 
 force a light to the windows of the soul when they 
 are blinded with anxiety. 
 
 So Mary Bingham, in her cool white dress, lay back 
 in the long chair, with a glass of iced lemonade on a 
 table by her side in a room darkened so as tc induce 
 slumber, whilst out in the desert with choked f^ies of 
 " Good dog ! At it ! Good dog ! " a man began 
 scratching the sand as a ratting terrier does the <?arth, 
 until he had excavated a hole big enough in whi^h to 
 curl himself, where he lay until desert things that 
 creep and crawl drove him out again, shrieking * v 
 water.
 
 Aim the full force of the storm crashed about Jill's 
 defenceless head at the midday hour also of the same 
 day, when she ought to have been searching the cool- 
 ness of her midday sleeping chamber, and forgetfulness 
 of the last few hours in sleep. 
 
 Not quite defenceless was she, however, as she sat 
 back in the chair, her eyes ablaze and her veil torn to 
 shreds at her feet, ripping the moral atmosphere with 
 words which seemed to have been dipped in some cor- 
 rosive verbal fluid. She was angry, hurt, and deathly 
 tired, and was doing her best to pass some of her men- 
 tal suffering anyway on to the man who leant with 
 folded arms against the cedar wall. 
 
 The inevitable crisis had come! 
 
 The independence of Western womanhood had 
 clashed with the Eastern ideas on the privacy and se- 
 clusion of the gentler sex. Jill simply could not un- 
 derstand that there was any cause for the terrible 
 jealousy which had suddenly blazed up in the Arab 
 when she had innocently repeated her request to be 
 allowed to see her old friend; Hahmed was as in- 
 capable of understanding the request, having failed in 
 his sojourn in the West to fully realise the everyday 
 kind of jolly, good, frank camaraderie which can exist 
 between certain types of English man and woman. 
 
 Half a word of tenderness, half a gesture of love, 
 
 246
 
 DESERT LOVE 247 
 
 and she would have been sobbing or laughing happily 
 in his arms, but like a prairie fire before the wind, the 
 terrible Eastern rage was blazing through the man, too 
 fierce, too terrific to allow him to analyse the situation, 
 or remember that the upbringing of his girl-wife had 
 been totally different to that of the women of his coun- 
 try. 
 
 Jill suddenly sat forward, clasping one slim ankle 
 across her knee in a slim hand, a position she knew 
 perfectly well would rouse Hahmed to a frenzy, and 
 spoke slowly and mockingly in English instead of the 
 pretty lisping Arabic which always entranced him. 
 
 " You may lecture, and remonstrate, and admonish, 
 which all comes to the same thing, until night falls, 
 but you will never make me see eye to eye with you in 
 this. It is simply absurd to threaten that you will 
 shut me in my apartments until I learn reason. If 
 you lock me in, or place guards about me, I will jump 
 from the roof and gain my freedom by breaking my 
 neck. Why Jack Wetherbourne oh ' 
 
 Hahmed had leant forward, and gripping her by the 
 shoulders had very suddenly, and not over gently, 
 jerked her to her feet, holding her by the strength of 
 his hands alone, as she desperately tried to liberate her- 
 self. 
 
 "Let me go, Hahmed! let me go! You are hurt- 
 ing me dreadfully. You must not hurt me you must 
 not bruise me. Oh ! you don't understand ! " 
 
 She struggled furiously and unavailingly, resorting 
 at last to cruelty to gain her end. 
 
 " Let me go, Hahmed ! Take your hands away I 
 I hate to feel them upon me ! "
 
 248 DESERT LOVE 
 
 He let her go, pushing her away from him ever so 
 slightly, so that she stumbled against the chair, crack- 
 ing her ankle-bone, that tenderest bit of anatomical 
 scaffolding, against a projecting piece of ornamental 
 wood. 
 
 It was a case of injury added to insult, and she 
 crouched back furious in her physical hurt as she tore 
 the silken covering from her arms, where already 
 showed faint bruises above the little tat f oo mark show- 
 ing itself so black against the white skin, and upon 
 which she put her finger. 
 
 " Oh ! who would have thought when you tattooed 
 that, Jack 1 " 
 
 But she stood her ground and shrugged her naked 
 shoulders irritatingly when Hahmed crossed the di- 
 viding space in a bound with his hand upon the hilt of 
 his dagger. 
 
 " Bi smi llah ! what sayest thou ? This mark 
 upon the fairness of thy arm which I have thought a 
 blemish, and therefore have not questioned thee there- 
 on sayest thou it is a ddklch, what thou callest a 
 tattoo mark? And if so what has it to do with the 
 man whose name is unceasingly upon thy lips ? " 
 
 Jill stood like a statue of disdain. 
 
 " What is the matter now, Hahmed ? Please under- 
 stand that I will not tolerate such continual fault-find- 
 ing any longer! That is a tattoo mark of a pail of 
 water you may not know that we have a rhyme in 
 England which begins like this : 
 
 " Jack and Jill went up a hill 
 To fetch a pail of water! " 
 
 Oh! shades of ancient Egypt, did you ever hear or
 
 DESERT LOVE 249 
 
 see anything so pathetically absurd as Jill as she sol- 
 emnly repeated the old doggerel. 
 
 " That makes no difference a pail of water or the 
 outline of a flower did this man this this Jack 
 make the mark upon thee ? " 
 
 Jill hesitated for a second and then answered with 
 a glint in her eye. 
 
 " Yes ! he did and he did Mary too put the 
 dinkiest little heart on her arm we were under the 
 cherry tree in the vegetable ! " 
 
 " Go ! " suddenly thundered the Arab. 
 
 And Jill, gathering her raiment about her for de- 
 parture, turned to look straight into the man's eyes, 
 whilst her heart, in spite of the little scornful smile 
 which twisted the corner of her mouth, leapt with the 
 love which had blossomed a hundredfold under the tor- 
 rent of jealousy, wrath, and mastery which he had 
 poured forth upon her during the last hour. 
 
 " Behold ! art thou weak," she said sweetly in his 
 own tongue, " having not the strength to kill that which 
 offends thee. ' Thou shalt not know this man, or any 
 other man,' " she mocked, quoting his words, " and yet 
 canst thou not break me to thy will! Of a truth, I 
 have no further use for thee in thy weakness ! " 
 
 But Hahmed's control had only been slightly cracked, 
 so that he merely pointed to the curtain which divided 
 Jill's quarters from the rest of the house. 
 
 " Go ! " he said simply, " go to thy apartment, 
 wherein thou shalt stay until thou seest good to come 
 to me in obedience and love. Thou shalt not go forth 
 except to the gardens; neither shall thy friends visit 
 thee, neither shalt thou climb to the roof; and thou
 
 250 DESERT LOVE 
 
 shalt obey me many, aye, many a woman were dead 
 for far less than this thy disobedience but thou 
 thou art too beautiful to kill, except with love go ! " 
 
 And Jill went, with beautiful head held high, heart 
 throbbing from love, and blood pounding in her ears 
 from downright rage. 
 
 " I will not obey you ! I shall do exactly as I 
 wish ! " she proclaimed, with the curtain in her hand. 
 In which she was mistaken, for the simple fact that 
 love held her fast. 
 
 And the curtain swinging to hide her from the Arab, 
 as she stood for one moment holding out her arms to- 
 ward him ; and for the same reason she did not see 
 him pick up her torn, scented veil, to thrust it between 
 hA? inner silken vest and his sorely perturbed heart.
 
 CHAPTEK XLIII 
 
 NIGHT with her blessed wind had come at last, which 
 means coolness for a space beneath the stars, and 
 oblivion for a while in sleep for those who have un- 
 troubled heart and good digestion. There was just 
 one black patch in all that silvery stretch of sand, upon 
 which the moon shone, a patch that came neither from, 
 rock or tree or cloud, and which moved occasionally 
 in fitful jerks, until it raised itself and collapsed again, 
 and spread itself in a still stranger shape as from under- 
 neath garments which had the form of arms and legs 
 and disjointed feet which fell apart, there crawled a 
 man. 
 
 A man, though the face was cracked in great seams 
 from brow to chin, whilst the black tongue protruded 
 from the split mouth drawn back from the even teeth 
 until the great bloated face seemed to laugh in derision 
 at the moon's softness. 
 
 The body, covered in a mass of sores coated with 
 gand, raised itself to the knees, whilst the hands tried 
 painfully to scoop up the silver moonbeams and raise 
 them to the mouth. There was no sound in all that 
 deathly plain, which Allah knows is accustomed to such 
 scenes, and when the body had fallen forward once 
 more upon the sand, so that the open mouth was filled 
 with grit, neither was there movement, until upon the 
 pale light of dawn a silent shape, and yet another, and 
 
 251
 
 252 DESERT LOVE 
 
 still another one, sailed serenely across the sky, and 
 with a faint rustle of folding wings settled down around 
 the heap ; to soar noiselessly skyward when it suddenly 
 twitched convulsively ; to settle again with faint rustling 
 when all once more was still. 
 
 " Verily, O ! brother, I am led towards that spot 
 upon which the birds of death have come together." 
 
 So said the Egyptian who was partner in the small 
 caravan proceeding leisurely towards Cairo, as he 
 shaded his eyes and pointed first up to the ever lighten- 
 ing sky, across which from all parts floated small black 
 dots, and then to a distant place upon the sand, where 
 the black spots seemed to mingle until they formed a 
 blot of shade. 
 
 " Nay ! Raise not thy voice in dissent, O ! my 
 brother, for behold we have made good time, and water 
 faileth us not." 
 
 And well was it that they turned aside, and shouted 
 as they approached so that only one beak had time to 
 tear a strip of flesh from beneath the naked shoulder, 
 ere the flock of vultures rose, hovered a second, and 
 were gone. The two men drew near, and having dis- 
 mounted, turned the poor thing over, and feeling the 
 faint beating of the heart, with no more ado than if 
 they were setting down to food, undid one of the 
 goatskins from the nearest camel, and soaking the 
 flowing bernous until it dripped with the precious 
 water, wrapped the body in its folds; and collecting 
 he gold watch, money and card-case strewn upon the 
 aands, slipped everything back into a waistcoat pocket 
 with the exception of a three day old programme an- 
 nouncing a cotillion at Shepherd's Hotel, a sketch of
 
 DESERT LOVE 253 
 
 which hideous building was elaborately and menda- 
 ciously reproduced on the cover, so that to the mind 
 of uneducated Yussuf, unversed in the English tongue, 
 there was but one thing to do, and that to go straight 
 to the well-known caravanserai with his burden, and 
 deliver it safely into the proprietor's hands. 
 
 So Yussuf, euphoniously termed a benighted heathen 
 by some enlightened Christians, seated himself upon 
 the fastest camel in the caravan, receiving into his arms 
 the thing that was still a man by their good efforts, 
 from the hands of the other heathen, who, with hands 
 raised to heaven, called down the blessing of Allah upon 
 men and beast as the latter departed at her swiftest 
 for the great city, leaving him to follow in more lei- 
 surely manner. 
 
 So that consternation and excitement were great 
 among those who sat upon the verandah after dinner, 
 partaking of coffee and cigarettes before undertaking 
 the more strenuous task of entertaining themselves, 
 when in the glare of the electric light a great camel 
 suddenly appeared out of the night, and totally dis- 
 regarding the upraised voice of the enormous hotel 
 porter, subsided in the gutter, thereby causing a block 
 in the street; whilst a man clumsily dismounted and 
 staggered up the shallow steps, tenderly holding some 
 covered burden the while in his arms that were break- 
 ing with fatigue, and who, speaking with authority, 
 demanded speech of the proprietor, who, furious at 
 being disturbed, came forth as furiously to annihilate 
 the disturber, but instead, at the first word from the 
 Arab, who clutched a dirty piece of paper in a hand 
 almost paralysed with cramp, lifted a corner of the
 
 254 DESERT LOVE 
 
 cloth from about that which lay so inertly under the 
 all-hiding cloak, and choked, and stuttered, and then 
 recovering himself, blandly led the Arab to the lift 
 which whirled them to the first floor, leaving the occu- 
 pants on the verandah all a-twitter, whilst the coffee 
 grew cold and the cigarettes went out,
 
 CHAPTER XLIV 
 
 DAYS and nights passed, and still more days and 
 nights, in which the man, bound from head to foot in 
 soft wrappings soaked in unguents, tossed and raved, 
 screaming for water, tearing at the bed-linen which to 
 his distorted mind was alive with every conceivable 
 insect, beating blindly at the faces of the two women 
 who, refusing any help, watched over and tended Jack 
 Wetherbourne through his days of distress. 
 
 " Aye, lass ! Now don't 'ee lose 'eart," whispered 
 Sarah Ann Gruntham to the girl who, having held 
 consultation with the doctor, was sobbing her heart 
 out on the elder woman's motherly bosom which cov- 
 ered a heart of purest gold. " Don't 'ee listen to such 
 fash, lass, for what's he likely to know outside of Lady 
 Jones's wimble-wambles and me Lor' Fitznoodles' rheu- 
 matism. Why 'e couldn't even tell that I 'ad 'ad a 
 touch of my old complaint, and me with an 'andle to 
 me name. Come, lass, oop with ye bonnie head, for 
 I'll tell 'ee the great news I sees a bead o' perspira- 
 tion on Sir John's brow an' so I'm off to take me 'air 
 out of crackers. Though Tim does find it more home- 
 like, 'e says, when I 'ave 'em h'in oh, dearie ! dearie ! 
 I often wish I was plain Mrs. Gruntham again with no 
 aitehes to mind. I'll be with you in ten minutes, and 
 then, lass, ye'll just run away and have a bath I 
 managed the aitch that time and come back as fresh 
 
 255
 
 256 DESEKT LOVE 
 
 as a daisy, if there were such a innocent thing in this 
 land of sphinxes and minxes and ye'll see ten beads 
 then, which sounds as tho' I be a Roman instead of a 
 strict Baptist. I'll run along, love, and don't let 'im 
 see tears in them bonny eyes of yours when he comes 
 to know ye, lass." 
 
 And the dearest old soul in the world waddled away 
 to take her hair out of the crackers which had made a 
 steel halo round her silvery hair for many a night, and 
 waddled back again to see Mary with a great glow in 
 her eyes, and her hand clasping the skeleton fingers of 
 Jack Wetherbourne, who had known her at last, and 
 was gazing blissfully at his beloved. 
 
 His lips moved, though so weak was he that no 
 sound came from them, so that Mary had to bend to 
 catch the whisper until her ear just touched the lips 
 still distorted from the effects of the desert sun. 
 
 She sat up, blushing from chin to brow, and smil- 
 ingly shook her head. 
 
 " I will marry you, Jack dear, as soon as we find 
 Jill!" 
 
 Wetherbourne made a feeble and unsuccessful at- 
 tempt to frown, and then turned his eyes as Mary 
 turned her head on the opening of the door between 
 the bedroom and the sitting-room. 
 
 In the doorway stood the bewildering picture of an 
 Eastern woman. 
 
 Wrapped round in the voluminous cloak of the East, 
 with the face and head veils hiding all but her eyes, 
 she stood quite still as Lady Sarah bustled across the 
 room towards her, and Mary held up a warning hand.
 
 DESERT LOVE 257 
 
 A twitching of the man's fingers drew Mary's atten- 
 tion, and once more she leant down to him. 
 
 " We're engaged," came the faint whisper, " it's 
 Jill!"
 
 CHAPTER XLV 
 
 DECKED out in Mary's trappings Jill lay on the 
 couch, her pale face shining like an evening flower, 
 whilst she passed the brush over and over again through 
 the burnished strands of her wonderful hair. 
 
 Mary had sat spellbound, almost open-mouthed, at 
 the Arabian Nights tale Jill had poured into her 
 astounded ears. 
 
 " Hahmed ! " she had exclaimed when Jill had told 
 her of her marriage ; and be it confessed that Jill had 
 tautened to meet the coming attack, and relaxed when 
 Mary, clasping her capable hands, had suddenly and 
 whole-heartedly beamed upon her. " Why, I've heard 
 the most wonderful things about him since I have been 
 out here, in fact I've been almost wearied to death 
 listening to the accounts of his Haroun al Raschid 
 methods and qualities. His wedding put Cairo in an 
 
 uproar I saw the pro But Jill, darling, is it 
 
 possible it was you inside the palanquin on the wonder- 
 ful camel ? " 
 
 Jill nodded as she busied herself in plaiting her hair 
 into great ropes. 
 
 " And you've run away escaped, you say ? " 
 
 Jill nodded again. 
 
 " Yes ! " she said, with three big tortoiseshell combs 
 between her teeth. " We had a frightful flare-up all 
 tihe fault of my tearing temper. You see I've been 
 absolutely spoilt these last months, and I simply be- 
 
 258
 
 DESERT LOVE 259 
 
 haved anyhow the first time I got scolded. But I 
 didn't deserve it all the same ! " she added as an after- 
 thought, as she wound the plaits round her head. 
 " And," she went on, " I should never have got away 
 if Mustapha had been with us." 
 
 " Who's Mustapha ? " 
 
 " My own special bodyguard ! But as he wasn't 
 there I managed to thoroughly examine the high wall 
 round the grounds, and found just one spot to give 
 me a foothold. I scrambled up in the heat of the day 
 when everyone was asleep, and had a terrible time with 
 my garments." 
 
 She pointed as she spoke to a scented heap of silk 
 and satin thrown on a chair. 
 
 " I had to partly disrobe whilst sitting on the top 
 of the wall, and was terrified in case some pedlar might 
 chance along. I tied my face and head veil round my 
 waist, but the hdbarah, that big black cloak by the 
 way it belongs to one of my women, and I borrowed 
 it with the excuse that I wanted it copied, mine you 
 see are rather ornamental, as, of course, I never walk 
 in the streets well, I threw that on to the ground, 
 tucked up my sebleh, that dressing-gown sort of thing, 
 and scrambled down the other side, as I did not want to 
 jump, ripping the knees of my sMntiyan the wide 
 trouser kind of things we wear " 
 
 Mary's face was a study. 
 
 " Thanks to my borrowed cloak I was able to walk 
 through the streets in comfort drawing my burko, 
 face veil, dear, across my face so that only one eye 
 should be seen, 1 and a blue one at that. When I got 
 
 i A custom.
 
 260 DESERT LOVE 
 
 to Cairo I hired a car speaking in Arabic to the 
 astounded and fluttering Englishman drove to the 
 Savoy, where I guessed you'd be found you'd moved 
 here came here and being mistaken for what I 
 am by marriage, namely, a high-born lady of the land, 
 was conducted straightway to you in spite of the in- 
 valid et voila ! " 
 
 Mary got up, and crossing to Jill sat down beside 
 her on the couch. 
 
 "And what now, Jill ? Hahmed will come and fetch 
 you." 
 
 " Not Hahmed," said Jill, with a shadow in her eyes 
 as she remembered his parting words after what she 
 had tersely called the flare-up. " Besides, he trusts me 
 really!" she added as an afterthought, and continued 
 with a note of feverish excitement in her voice: " No! 
 I'm going to stay with you, Mary, if you'll let me, un- 
 til something or another happens to help me make up 
 my mind. I want to do a lot of sight-seeing, and 
 wear white skirts and a silk jersey and blouse. I'll 
 find a maid somewhere, I expect." 
 
 " Oh ! " broke in practical Mary, " don't worry about 
 that servants are such a nuisance. Do you remem- 
 ber Higgins? Well! she came out with me, and gave 
 me notice the second week ' couldn't abide the 'eathen 
 ways ' and wanted to get back to her home in Vaux- 
 hall. But the proprietor found me a native woman, 
 a perfect treasure, whose one complaint is that she 
 hasn't enough work to do ! " 
 
 Silence fell for a time whilst Mary studied the face 
 of her friend, suddenly leaning forward to stroke the 
 pale cheek and pat the little hand.
 
 DESEKT LOVE 261 
 
 " You don't look well, Jillikins ! Are you sure you 
 are happy ? " 
 
 " Perfectly," said Jill, turning her face to the cush- 
 ions and bursting into uncontrollable weeping.
 
 CHAPTER XLVI 
 
 WITH short steps the native woman shuffled quickly 
 along the outside of the wall surrounding the house of 
 Hahmed the Arab, stopping in front of the great gates, 
 which were closed at sunset, to peer between the wrought 
 bronze work, standing her ground unconcernedly when 
 a Nubian of gigantic proportions suddenly appeared on 
 the other side. 
 
 Terrifying he looked as he towered in the dusk, his 
 huge eyes rolling, and his hand on the hilt of a scimitar, 
 which looked as though it had been tempered more for 
 use than for ornament. 
 
 " What wouldst thou ? " he demanded in dog Arabic 
 of the woman whose eyes flashed disdainfully over the 
 veil which hid her pock-marked face. 
 
 " Speech with they master, who has bidden me to his 
 presence, and move quickly, thou black dog of ill re- 
 pute; tarry not in saying that his servant from the 
 big house in the city has news for his most august 
 ears." 
 
 The son of ill repute stared inquisitively for a mo- 
 ment, and then moved off slowly with the inimitable 
 gait of these ebon specimens of mankind, increasing 
 his pace almost to a run once out of the female's range 
 of vision. 
 
 Like a shadow she followed the different people, who, 
 passing her from one to another, led her through 
 rooms and halls into an open court, at the far end of 
 
 22
 
 DESERT LOVE 263 
 
 which sat the man she sought, watching two jaguars 
 being led up and down before him. 
 
 " Peace unto thee, O ! my daughter, and fear not to 
 approach," Hahmed said gently as the woman made 
 deep obeisance, and shrank from the animals who 
 snarled at her viciously. " And thou, my son, take 
 these products of the bazaar hence, for surely hast thou 
 been fooled by him who brought them from distant 
 olimes. Verily, the sire may have been a jaguar, but 
 his mate, judging from the shape of the offspring, must 
 most surely have been a jackal. Bring not such trash 
 to me, if thou wouldst not incur my wrath ! " 
 
 The snarling products of the bazaar were hurriedly 
 jerked out of the court as Hahmed turned to the 
 woman. 
 
 " Is all well, O ! faithful one ? " 
 
 " All is well, O ! Most High," answered the Honour- 
 able Mary's perfect treasure of a maid. " Behold the 
 gracious flower, upon whom it is my joy and honour 
 to wait, changeth her mood one hundred times in the 
 passing hour. She laughs at noon, and her pillow is 
 wet with salt tears at night; her feet, like lotus-buds, 
 carry her hither and thither in the day, the dimness of 
 her room sees her face downwards upon her couch. 
 
 " As unto a sweet rose she clings to her friend, the 
 great lady, who forsooth is as pleasing as a well-cooked 
 dish of the flesh of kid mingled with tamarind and rice ; 
 but the rose mixeth not with other flowers, and about 
 her heart rests thy most honourable picture." 
 
 For some long time Hahmed stared unseeingly in 
 front and then he spoke. 
 
 " Thou hast worked well, my daughter, even from the
 
 264 DESERT LOVE 
 
 moment when thou didst take the place of the great 
 lady's white servant, to report to me upon the doings 
 of the white man who strove to find my wife. 
 
 "Ask what reward thou will'st, it shall be granted 
 unto thee ! " 
 
 And the man, knowing the cupidity of his race, was 
 gpmewhat astounded when, casting herself at his feet, 
 "Hae woman craved to be taken into his household so 
 that, as she put it, " I may dwell in content in thy 
 shadow, and the shadow of the snow-white dove when 
 she wings her way back to happiness." Just for a mo- 
 ment the Arab looked into the eyes of the woman, as, 
 greatly daring, she lifted her right hand. 
 
 " For so it is written, O ! my lord ! the blessing of 
 Allah is upon thee, and thy heart shall be at rest."
 
 CHAPTER XLVII 
 
 THE day following the native woman's surreptitious 
 visit to the great Arab saw Jill and Mary and Jack, 
 followed discreetly by the same native woman, set sail 
 at an early, gay and blithesome hour for Denderah, 
 where are to be seen the ruins of the Temple of Hathor, 
 the Venus of Ancient Egypt. 
 
 Upon arriving, after much dallying on the way, Jill 
 insisted upon walking along the narrow tracks through 
 the stretches of corn and sweet-smelling flowering bean, 
 among which, to the general horror, cattle ranging from 
 cows to goats were allowed to roam at will. 
 
 A temple of love calls up visions of marble halls, 
 marble fretwork, basins with splashing waters and mar- 
 ble doves, pillars crowned with intertwined marble 
 hearts and lovers' knots tied with marble ribbons; there- 
 fore Jill stood transfixed as she entered the great hall 
 of columns, with the goddess's somewhat forbidding 
 head carved on each side of each pillar. 
 
 She walked across slowly to peer into the inner court, 
 shrouded in deep shadows, shuddered and moved back 
 towards the other two, whose mentality, psychology or 
 temperament responded not in the least to light and 
 shade. 
 
 Together they traversed the place, Jill running her 
 hand over the hieroglyphics which cover the pillars to 
 their beautiful capitals, until she stopped before a rep- 
 
 265
 
 266 DESERT LOVE 
 
 resentation of Hathor the wanton, standing naked and 
 verily unashamed before the image of a man whose 
 name I know not, but whose beauty and nudity are aa 
 great as hers. 
 
 Turning sharply she glanced hurriedly at Jack and 
 Mary, and slipping a hand through the arm of each, 
 almost pulled them across the floor to a stairway made 
 in the wall and leading to the roof. 
 
 For, taken up in their own love story, those two 
 had noticed nothing, not even the uncountable figures 
 of stone in the bas-reliefs which, appearing to turn and 
 whisper to each other, seem in the shadows to take 
 a delight in portraying by pantomimic gestures a love 
 wholly allied to voluptuousness and license. 
 
 But Jill had seen, and her ultra fastidiousness had 
 dyed face and neck crimson, and caused her to try and 
 spare her companions similar uncomfortable moments. 
 
 For a moment she stood on the roof watching the 
 clouds of twittering birds as they flew in the direction 
 of the Libyan Hills, and then she slipped quietly down 
 the stairway, leaving her friends, supremely oblivious 
 of her presence or absence, weaving their love-tale on 
 the roof of the ruined temple of love. 
 
 With nerves a-j angle and heart disturbed Jill longed 
 for shadows and solitude, so that she shrank back, hesi- 
 tated, and then advanced slowly towards the veiled fig- 
 ure of a woman standing watching her from the shad- 
 ows of the very heart of the ruins, the holy of holies, 
 the hall of past mysteries and solemn rites. 
 
 " What wouldst thou ? " Jill asked her in Arabic, 
 which was as wellnigh perfect as any European can 
 make it, and although she could hardly make out one
 
 DESERT LOVE 267 
 
 whole sentence of what she took for a dialect spoken 
 by the woman, she grasped enough to understand that 
 the Egyptian, draped in the peasant's cloak, was anx- 
 ious to read her fortune in the sand she carried in the 
 black handkerchief, and which sand she said she had 
 gathered on the steps of the temple's high altar at the 
 full moon. 
 
 Jill sat down on a fallen block of masonry, looking 
 very fragile, very sweet, very fair, with her white 
 throat gleaming above the white silk blouse and jersey, 
 soft blue hat pulled over her sunny head to shade her 
 face, death-white save for the shadows which seemed 
 to make a mask about her eyes, as she drew hiero- 
 glyphics on her own account in the sand with the tip 
 of her small white shoe. 
 
 She had heard of the extraordinary powers possessed 
 by some of the Egyptian people ; Hahmed had told her 
 of their gift of reading the future in the sand ; among 
 her own household she had come across authentic cases 
 where the most unlikely things predicted had come to 
 pass. 
 
 And the cloud about her was so thick, and weighed 
 so heavily upon her! Of her own free-will she had 
 flung her happiness away, and with her happiness had 
 gone her content and light-heartedness. She laughed 
 with others, and cried softly by herself at night; she 
 shared the amusements with others, and sat up at 
 night, bewildered and afraid, to steal to the mirror and 
 look upon a pinched face with tightened nostrils, and 
 to wipe away the dampness gathered under the golden 
 curls. 
 
 Had her marriage been a mistake or not? If not,
 
 268 DESERT LOVE 
 
 why had she fled before the first little sign of storm? 
 If it had been, why was she utterly miserable now that 
 liberty was hers ? 
 
 Her friends would surely be taking their departure 
 soon. Should she go too, or should she go back in all 
 humbleness to the man she loved \ Did he want her, 
 having shown no sign or desire for her return \ Did 
 he did he not ? A decision must be made, and soon, 
 but what was it to be? Round and round, like a 
 flock of startled pigeons, went her thoughts, one break- 
 ing away to whirr into the back of her mind, another 
 to drift into the shadows, and another, and yet an- 
 other, whilst the rest flew on, round and round! 
 
 And then she shrank back, gripping the stone with 
 two cold little hands as great drops gathered and trio- 
 kled down her face, her breath coming in silent gasps. 
 
 Stricken with terror she threw out her arms passion- 
 ately. 
 
 " Speak, woman, speak ! Spread the sand, and read 
 to me what thou seest therein. Thy finger shall point 
 the way, and that way will I follow wherever it may 
 lead."
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII 
 
 WHEREUPON the woman of the shadows, turning to- 
 wards that which had once been an altar, and raising 
 her arms straight above her head with hands out-turned 
 at an acute angle, thrice repeated words that were ab- 
 solutely unintelligible to Jill. 
 
 And then kneeling, she spread the sand upon the 
 ground, dividing it into circles and squares, drawing 
 curious signs with the tip of her hand, which as Jill 
 noticed was passing white and slender for that of a 
 peasant woman, and spoke in modern tongue. 
 
 " Behold, O ! woman, who emerged from a grey cloud 
 to enter into the radiance of the sun, thou art beloved 
 by the gods who rule the earth through the countless 
 and eternal ages. Thou dost pause upon the threshold 
 of the temple of love, fearing these shadows which will 
 pass away when thou shalt stand within the great ra- 
 diance of the goddess. Yea ! and fearful art thou of 
 the sand out of which shall spring a tree of many 
 branches, and in the shade of which thou shalt encom- 
 pass thy life's span. Behold," and the finger drew a 
 line upon the sand, " the grey cloud encloses thee yet 
 once again, and the goddess weeps without! Yet will 
 she rejoice! Before many moons have come and gone, 
 the great god Amen shall tear aside that which blindeth 
 thee, and placing a man son upon thy breast shall lead 
 
 thee into the innermost temple. 
 
 269
 
 270 DESERT LOVE 
 
 " Six times shall Amen strike thee in love, so that 
 thou bearest sons, and once shall he strike thee upon 
 both breasts so that a woman child shall spring from 
 thy loins. 
 
 " Love is thy portion, thy meat, and thy drink, bring- 
 ing unto thee those who travailing in love shall come 
 for thy wisdom, and those labouring in grief for thy 
 succour. 
 
 " And thou shalt not die before thy time, and thou 
 shalt pass to the gods with thy hand in thy master's, 
 for he shall not leave thee through all thy life, nay not 
 even at the last. And thy name shall ring throughout 
 the land of Egypt, and be engraven upon the walls of 
 time. 
 
 " Behold Hathor, behold I say ! " and three times the 
 unintelligible words rang through the place as Jill sank 
 back staring open-eyed. 
 
 The small white hand had pulled the veil aside from 
 about the face, and head, and body of the fortune-teller, 
 so that for a moment she seemed to stand outlined 
 against the pillar, with flashing eyes, scarlet mouth, 
 and brow encircled with a golden band, from which 
 sprang something round with wings set in precious 
 stones ; the glory of her gleaming body shone white 
 as ivory in the gloom, her perfect arms stretched 
 straight downwards with hands turned sharply in so 
 that the finger-tips rested on the rounded thighs. 
 
 And then Jill rubbed her eyes and stared, and stared 
 again; for the spot was empty, save for a square of 
 sand with strange signs drawn upon it; neither was 
 there sound of retreating footsteps or swish of drapery. 
 
 Jill stumbled to her feet, swaying as she caught at a
 
 DESEKT LOVE 271 
 
 pillar for supj, ->rt, and then with a violent effort of 
 will walked to i great shaft of sunlight which struck 
 the ground in front of the ruins of the high altar from 
 an opening in the roof. 
 
 " Am I mad ? " she whispered. " Did I dream that 
 woman and yet the sand is there ! " 
 
 A pitiful little smile flickered across the ashen face 
 as she stood motionless and alone in the ruins. 
 
 " The temple of love," she cried softly, flinging out 
 her arms, " the temple of love and I am alone. Hahmed 
 beloved, where are you ? I feel so I I wish you 
 were here to take me in your arms. Hahmed I want 
 comforting I do I'm lonely I I'm oh, oh ! 
 God God have mercy on me I we " 
 
 For a moment the transfigured girl stood upright, 
 her face one blaze of wonder in the light of the sun, 
 her eyes wide open and filled with a great surprise and 
 a greater awe. 
 
 And then she slowly sank to her knees and bowed 
 her beautiful head to the sand, whilst the echoes took 
 up her words and carried them to the far corners of the 
 vast ruins. 
 
 " I am not worthy, my beloved, for this great honour 
 I am not worthy in that I am not with thee at this 
 moment when thy child stirs within me. I am covered 
 in shame in that I doubted. I am bowed down with 
 shame and yet lifted up to the heavens with joy." 
 
 For long minutes thus knelt she alone with her 
 happiness, and then she raised herself whilst a great 
 sob shook her from head to foot. 
 
 " Hahmed," she cried as she flung her arms out wide, 
 " Hahmed, wherever thou art I am calling thee.
 
 272 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Hahmed, Hahmed ! " and fell face d onward uncon- 
 scious upon the sand covered floor. 
 
 Noiselessly an Arab stepped from behind a pillar, 
 crossing to the still figure on the ground, and gently 
 he picked her up in his arms, covering her in the folds 
 of his great white cloak. 
 
 " Little bird ! little bird ! " he whispered in the beau- 
 tiful Arabian tongue, " why willst thou beat thy tender 
 wings against the bars of happiness around thy dwell- 
 ing ? And thou wert frightened frightened by yon 
 peasant woman. What said she, my dove, to strike 
 thee senseless to the ground ? 
 
 " Thou art pale, O ! my heart's delight, and weigh 
 but as a handful of down upon my arm, and yet must 
 thou learn thy lesson to the end; and even will I for- 
 sake thee, leaving thee guided by the star of happiness 
 to find thy way alone to thy dwelling in the desert. 
 Yea ! there will I await thee, O ! my beloved be- 
 loved!" 
 
 And Hahmed passed swiftly through the hall of 
 shadows, and down the fields of waving corn and sweet 
 scented bean to the banks of the Nile, and there he 
 placed his sweet burden in the arms of the faithful 
 native woman, who tenderly wiped the sand from the 
 golden curls and raised her right hand in fealty to her 
 master as he turned away, neither did she falter in her 
 tale to Mary and Jack when, goaded by anxiety and in 
 spite of the heat, they ran down towards the boat. 
 
 "Sunstroke!" said Mary, who had a certificate for 
 first-aid, and speaking with the certain flat determina- 
 tion which even her best friends found most trying at 
 times. " You simply cannot go about in Egypt with-
 
 DESERT LOVE 273 
 
 out a green-lined umbrella. Yes! it's a slight, quite 
 slight attack of sunstroke," she continued, without no- 
 ticing the radiance of Jill's eyes, " and I will apply 
 this damp handkerchief to your medulla oblongata."
 
 CHAPTER XLIX 
 
 JILL sat on the edge of her bed in an hotel at Suez. 
 
 That she was absolutely alone in Egypt, and ought 
 not to have been alone, never entered her head once, 
 as she gazed through the open window towards the sea. 
 
 Her eyes shone like stars, her mouth was a beautiful 
 sign of content, her hands were clasped peacefully on 
 her knee, and she simply radiated happiness. 
 
 Mary and Jack, Lady Bingham, Diana Lytham and 
 Sir Timothy and Lady Sarah, had started that morning 
 for England in the great liner which Jill had watched 
 unconcernedly until it disappeared up the canal. 
 
 And so for the first time for many weary weeks she 
 was alone, though it must be confessed that the liberty 
 had only been gained by a deliberate perversion of the 
 truth. 
 
 Fussed by kind-hearted, though somewhat scanda- 
 lised Lady Gruntham, driven to the point of madness 
 by the never-ending stream of wisdom, advice, and plans 
 which from morning till night flowed unceasingly from 
 the store of Mary's book-gleaned knowledge, Jill had 
 cleared up the situation all round by suddenly announc- 
 ing the imaginative fact that Hahmed was coming to 
 Cairo to fetch her home. Whereupon Mary Bingham 
 had arranged everything to her own entire satisfaction 
 in the twinkling of an eye, told Jack Wetherbourne that 
 she and her mother were leaving for England if he'd 
 
 like to come too, had worked her maid to death with 
 
 274
 
 DESEET LOVE 275 
 
 packing, distributing quite a fair supply of backsheesh, 
 and had bundled her bewildered mother and contented 
 fiance down to Suez, where Jill had seen them off to the 
 accompaniment of a last final flood of advice which was 
 mercifully lost in the scream of the siren, the rasp of 
 machinery, and the manifold sounds which add hi- 
 lariously, especially in foreign climes, to the pandemo- 
 nium that reigns to within a second of the cry which 
 invites some of us to descend to terra firma on the 
 occasion of the sailing of a passenger boat. 
 
 Jill suddenly came out of a reverie which had painted 
 her cheeks a most exquisite pink, and caused her teeth 
 to show in the faintest smile. 
 
 Then she frowned and shook back her mane of hair, 
 as was her habit when perplexed, and spoke softly to 
 the night wind which was blowing straight in at the 
 window from the other side of the canal. 
 
 " The oasis is calling me, night wind, calling, calling, 
 and yet I do not know. You who come from the oasis, 
 tell me, is my beloved there, or shall I find my dwelling 
 empty, and my happiness but as a turned-down cup ? " 
 
 Who can explain what it is that leads the spirit 
 astraying from its material covering? 
 
 Are love and longing its sole companions upon the 
 road of shadows? Surely no! for is not revenge, or 
 jealousy, or the near approach of that which is called 
 death as potent to span the stretches of the world ; and 
 will not a vision of stark terror blot out the sun at the 
 commonplace hour of noon, and may not the body, 
 squatting on the market pavement, find it a place of 
 rest, even as unto a seat in paradise through the spirit'g 
 communion ?
 
 276 DESERT LOVE 
 
 The soul's wireless, mental telepathy, the sympa- 
 thetic chord, and so on, and so on, good honest words to 
 describe that which no one understands, and which 
 caused the girl sitting on a prosaic bed in a prosaic 
 hotel to smile suddenly as she sat so very still. 
 
 For her soul had wandered until she stood with her 
 feet in the sand, looking in at a wide-open door through 
 which a beam of violet-orange light struck across the 
 night. 
 
 Two men sat motionless within, until one slowly 
 turned his head and looked through the door straight 
 into her eyes. 
 
 For one long moment, with unutterable longing he 
 gazed, and then the vision faded just as Jill, saying 
 softly, " Beloved ! I come," stretched out her arms, and 
 with a sudden shiver awoke to her surroundings.
 
 PART III 
 
 THE FRUXX
 
 CHAPTEK L 
 
 " DOUBTLESS my beloved sleeps ! " thought Hahmed 
 the Arab, as he looked at the watch on his wrist to find 
 it pointing to midnight, and clapped his hands for fresh 
 coffee, then lit another cigarette whilst his guest who, 
 like himself, sat cross-legged on cushions on the floor, 
 inhaled contentedly from a shibulc J in a house of rest 
 on the outer edge of a distant oasis. 
 
 Weary to death was he of the uninterrupted flow of 
 words which unceasingly streamed from the mouth of 
 the cross-bred man, who was gleefully rubbing the hands 
 of his soul over what he imagined to be the clinching 
 of a remarkable bargain with the Camel King, whereas 
 if he had but known it, his host had merely put a little 
 difficulty in the way so as to lengthen the deal, and 
 thereby kill a few moments of the dreary hours of the 
 dreary time he had passed since had left the woman he 
 loved alone to learn the last words of her lesson. 
 
 Turning he called sharply to the servile proprietor 
 of the house, which for the first time was honoured by 
 the presence of its redoubtable landlord. 
 
 Salaaming until his tarboosh reached the level of his 
 knees, the inwardly shaking Achmed stood before his 
 two guests. 
 
 " Hast thou naught wherewith to entertain thy guests, 
 ! Achmed, or must they perchance pass the hours in 
 counting the flies which flit about the none too clean 
 
 i Long native pipe. 
 
 279
 
 280 DESERT LOVE 
 
 lamps? Thinkest thou that this house is solely a roof 
 to shade thy head from the sun, or perchance is it a 
 dwelling of comfort for those who pass East and West ? " 
 
 By this time the oriental's head was bobbing like a 
 mandarin's, whilst in a spasm of terror his mouth 
 opened and shut unceasingly. 
 
 " Find thy tongue, O ! fool, before I turn thee from 
 the door. Hast thou aught of entertainment, and hast 
 thou other than this mud thou callest coffee? Speak 
 I say!" 
 
 With a gulp which served to clench Hahmed's fingers, 
 the wretched Achmed vowed he had music of a kind 
 and dancers of sorts, and that at that moment his first 
 wife was preparing a brew surpassed only by that drunk 
 in the Gardens of Delight by the chosen of Allah, who 
 had passed to their well-earned rest. 
 
 " Choose, O ! my guest ! doubtless they will both be 
 as forlorn as this coffee, for which I crave thy forgive- 
 ness our business is at an end, and some hours 
 stretch unendingly before us." 
 
 Ali 'Assan, dying to satisfy his cross-bred inquisitive- 
 ness which, with the curiosity of Egypt entire, had 
 been aroused by the strange rumours of some catas- 
 trophe happened in his host's household, had not the 
 slightest desire for bed, rather would he have sat up 
 for an entire week of nights, if only he could have got 
 an inkling of the truth; so he plumped for music and 
 dancing whilst his host sat motionless, the light of the 
 hanging lamps throwing strange shadows on the stern, 
 relentless face. 
 
 Hahmed the Arab, it is true, sat upon the cushions 
 in the dingy room; you would have certainly touched
 
 DESERT LOVE 281 
 
 a human body if you had laid a hand upon his arm, 
 but by an effort of will which left him sitting absolutely 
 motionless with half-closed eyes, he, in spite of the 
 heat, the irritation of his guest's presence, and all that 
 went to make the evening intolerable, had sent his 
 spirit, or soul, or what you will, adrift, searching for 
 his beloved ; so unutterable was his longing, so wracked 
 was his heart with love, so utter was his detachment, 
 that neither piping of reed, twanging of stringed in- 
 strument or patter of feet could bring him back to his 
 surroundings. 
 
 And then under some unexplainable impulse Hahmed 
 turned his head slowly, looking across the shoulder of 
 his guest to the door behind, and his eyes glowed like 
 fires in the darkness of night as in the doorway he 
 saw framed the face of her for whom body and soul 
 craved. The face was pale even unto death, but the 
 red mouth smiled softly, and the golden curls clustered 
 and twisted as they had ever done; the blue eyes were 
 wells of love, in which the Arab's soul sank as he 
 called though his lips moved not, neither was there 
 sound of words in the room. 
 
 " Come to me, beloved, beloved! Come to me! " 
 
 And the vision faded, and Hahmed's spirit returned 
 to its dwelling as a faint sigh from AH 'Assan made 
 him remember his duty towards his guest. 
 
 The Arab does not indulge in nerves, though Allah 
 only knows how long it will be before he resorts to 
 bromide if he continues to fraternise with the Euro- 
 pean, but Hahmed, unknown to himself, was suffering 
 from the almost unendurable strain of the past endless 
 empty days.
 
 282 DESERT LOVE 
 
 He was consumed with thirst for his beloved, agon- 
 ising with hunger for his heart's desire, forcing him- 
 self to do business in out-of-the-way places in his land 
 so as to keep his thoughts from the exquisite face of his 
 own woman. 
 
 True, he could have stayed in Cairo, and waited for 
 further news of her ; true, he could have seized her and 
 carried her forcibly back to his own lands, but the pride 
 of centuries raged within him, and until she came back 
 of her own free will he would neither move hand nor 
 foot to compel her. 
 
 Anyway, let us put the following episode down to 
 the months of strain culminating in an intense irrita- 
 tion wrought by the babble of Ali 'Assan's meaningless 
 chatter, and the vileness perhaps of the coffee. 
 
 He lifted his eyes and looked at the picture before 
 him. 
 
 The rcom was low, and the lighting bad, the air 
 suffocating, whilst a few particles of sand blown in by 
 the hot wind heralded an approaching storm. 
 
 Standing before him with a piece of tawdry gauze 
 about her quite unprepossessing form stood the over 
 aged dancer with a set simper upon her silly vacant 
 face. 
 
 " Allah ! " ejaculated Hahmed, as he lit a cigarette, 
 whilst Achmed, peeping through the door, suddenly 
 smote his forehead. 
 
 Now dancing women were no more to the great man 
 than a troupe of performing collies, but his artistic 
 sense demanded the best, and when it was not forth- 
 coming he felt the same annoyance as you or I would 
 feel if arrayed in purple and fine linen we adorned a
 
 DESEET LOVE 283 
 
 box at the opera with our presence, covered with as 
 many diamonds upon it as possible, to find a street 
 singer deputising for a Melba or Caruso. 
 
 " Thou dog," he said pleasantly to the cringing man, 
 who tremblingly explained that indeed he had one bet- 
 ter yea, even fair to look upon. "Behold, if thou 
 oiferest yet another insult to this mine guest I will 
 have thee and thy woman whipped into the desert and 
 left to die." 
 
 Whereupon Achmed fled precipitately in the wake of 
 her who had annoyed, and snatching a whip beat her 
 smartly on her plump but ill-formed shoulders, the 
 while he urged the prima ballerina of the establishment 
 to anoint herself and depart right quickly to the pacify- 
 ing of the great Hahmed, which order, alas, put a 
 totally wrong idea into her Tunisian-Arabian pate.
 
 CHAPTER LI 
 
 LA BELLE, a rank cross-breed of Tunisian and French 
 with a dash of Arabian, was the one good part of a 
 bad debt which had overwhelmed Achmed when he had 
 inadvertently over-reached himself. 
 
 Her body was passable, lithe, sinewy, with a faint 
 hint of rib and a wonderful bust ; her brain was good, 
 intuitive in its non-educated state, and subtle from in- 
 heritance; her ambition was superb, it knew no limits, 
 it saw no obstacle. 
 
 Born in a kennel in Tunis, she had figuratively and 
 literally fought her way to the upper reaches of the 
 gutter, sleeping in filth, eating it, listening to it, living 
 it; dancing for a meal, selling her strangely seductive 
 body for a piastre or so, settling her quarrels with a 
 knife she carried in her coarse, crisp, henna-dyed hair, 
 with one goal before her slanting orange eyes, that of 
 dancer in chief, prima ballerina, or what you will, in 
 some house of good repute; the explanation of which 
 phrase would overtax my oriental knowldge I fear. 
 
 Dance she could, if dancing is the correct term for 
 the subtle portraying of every conceivable vice by every 
 conceivable gesture and posture; and she had felt her- 
 self content on the day she had for a good round sum 
 sold herself to take up a dancing position of some im- 
 portance in the house of him who, unknown to her, had 
 got himself entangled in more than one human money- 
 spider's web. 
 
 284
 
 DESERT LOVE 285 
 
 If her dancing was correct or not, men had begun to 
 foregather in the house, where if her temper allowed 
 she would dance o' nights fully clothed or fully un- 
 clothed; also her reputation was beginning to be used 
 as a lure to the uninitiated freshly arrived in Cairo, 
 therefore her usually fiendish temper was as hell un- 
 loosed when, as part payment of a debt, she found her- 
 self willy-nilly strapped to a camel and carted by slow 
 stages to the house of rest whose proprietor was Achmed, 
 and landlord Hahmed, the Camel King. 
 
 " Dance I will not, thou descendant of pigs," she 
 stormed at Achmed, who, reducing his fez to a pulp, 
 raved at her as she crouched in a corner with something 
 a-glitter in her hand. " Send in thy wife who ambles 
 like a camel in foal, and whose ankles are thick enough 
 to serve as prop to a falling house." 
 
 " Thou fool," hissed the man with sweat pouring 
 down his face, and who through the working of his 
 oriental mind already felt the swish of the whip about 
 his shoulders, and the agony of the desert fly's bite on 
 his flagellated anatomy. "It is Hahmed the great 
 Hahmed, who orders thee to his presence. It is thy 
 chance, thou fool it is " 
 
 And his dull eyes brightened, and his sensual month 
 widened in a grin as the girl sprang to her feet and 
 sped to a mirror on the opposite side of the room. 
 
 "' Dullard," she cried, as she pulled her clothing 
 furiously from her, and stood with nothing but a plain 
 coloured shawl of gauze covered in tinsel twined about 
 her slim waist, " why hast thou wasted precious mo- 
 ments ? Why has thou imperilled my chance by in- 
 furiating the great man ? Out of my way, thou snail."
 
 286 DESERT LOVE 
 
 And as she fled precipitately from the room she 
 caught the man by the throat and flung him against the 
 wall with the ease of muscle trained to the last point. 
 
 " Ow ! " exclaimed AH 'Assan at the apparition in 
 the doorway with the flaming henna head and taut 
 brown body, with long, thin, brown arms stretched 
 down stiff as ramrods to the sides, and " Ow ! " he 
 said again, as she suddenly moved and again stood still 
 with the gleaming orange eyes fixed on his host, who 
 looked at her for an instant, and looked away again to 
 the far corner, as he indifferently lit a cigarette. 
 
 And then La Belle danced for all she was worth, and 
 for all she knew, whilst the guest watched in sensual 
 enjoyment, and the host took not the slightest notice. 
 
 Nearer she came, and nearer still, until the pungent 
 odour of the insufferable Eastern perfume of which the 
 body is musk, suddenly struck the nostrils of the man 
 for whom she danced, bringing a slight frown to his 
 face, and causing him to thoughtlessly raise his right 
 hand, which, as perhaps the reader may not know, is 
 an oriental sign of appreciation. 
 
 A flash of triumph swept across the face of the 
 woman, who was absolutely on the wrong tack, as she 
 sidled so near that her bare limbs almost touched the 
 flowing cloak which swept round the man. His mind 
 was full of his exquisite, delicate, tantalising, fastidious 
 wife, his body ached for her, his soul fainted for even 
 a touch of her little hand, so that once again he raised 
 his right hand as though to sweep away some pesti- 
 lential insect from his path, just one little careless 
 gesture which proved a woman's undoing. 
 
 Back bent La Belle, and still farther back until her
 
 DESEKT LOVE 287 
 
 evil face was on a level with that of the man she wad 
 trying to subjugate, and when for an instant his eyes 
 rested on hers, which peered at him from the strange 
 angle of her upside down position, she whispered one 
 little word. 
 
 And then a great fury suddenly blazed in Hahmed's 
 eyes, a sudden storm of hate swept across the stern 
 face, as his hand steel strong closed fiercely about the 
 long thin neck. 
 
 " Thou daughter of gutter dogs," he whispered, so 
 low that the words were hardly caught by Ali 'Assan, 
 who with fingers twining uncontrollably in his white 
 garment, sat petrified by the suddenly arisen storm. 
 " Thou essence of evil, go back to the devil who spawned 
 thee." 
 
 There was a choked gurgling cry as the hand closed 
 tighter, a little click like the closing of a safe door, 
 and the body of the dead woman was hurled into the 
 middle of the room, whilst Hahmed lit a cigarette and 
 clapped his hands for the presence of Achmed, who, 
 his legs refusing to support his shaking body, crawled 
 in on his hands and knees. 
 
 " Carry that carrion out, ! thou trafficker in evil, 
 and throw it to the jackals." 
 
 " Master, O ! master ! May the light of Allah shine 
 upon thee in thy wisdom, may the houris of paradise 
 make thy couch one of delight when thou art gathered 
 to thy forefathers ! In all ignorance I sent yon ignoble 
 female to dance before my honoured guest a great 
 price I paid for her in the market." 
 
 " Thou liest," gently replied his master. 
 
 Whereupon Achmed gathered good handfuls of dust
 
 288 DESERT LOVE 
 
 from the floor and massaged it into his oily hair, whilst 
 Hahmed, rising to his great height, prayed forgiveness 
 from his guest, who was even then thinking what a 
 waste of good material the dead woman represented. 
 
 " Let this serve thee as a lesson, thou perverter of 
 Allah's truth," spake Hahmed, in a voice as caressing 
 as that of a woman, " and teach thee to acquire prop- 
 erty which does honour to thy house. Camels, a male 
 and female, shall be sent in payment for that for which 
 thou hast not paid one piastre. 
 
 " Breed with them so that the milk refreshes the 
 traveller, and the hair spins soft covering for their bed, 
 and fail me not again, for behold when I strike it is as 
 the lightning which blasts, the tree." 
 
 And the two men stalked silently from the scene of 
 the tragedy, leaving Achmed rubbing his hands in glee, 
 with intervals of removing particles of dust from his 
 eyes and mouth, whilst his virago of a first wife ambled 
 in to ascertain the proceeds of the evening, an account 
 of which caused her to raise dirty hands to heaven and 
 praise Allah, before she ambled out again, contemp- 
 tuously kicking the dead body en passant, which action 
 nearly upset the equilibrium of her cumbersome body, 
 as she hastened to summon the help necessary to lift 
 and carry to the jackals the body of La Belle who had 
 missed her chance.
 
 CHAPTER LII 
 
 THE full moon shone down on the scene, which surely 
 had not changed since the wise men of the East led 
 by a star came to find a Babe. 
 
 The palms swayed slightly in a faint breeze, the sand 
 stretched a restful grey, and there was no sound what- 
 ever save the faint ripple of the life-giving stream sing- 
 ing its way through the oasis. Neither was there sign 
 of human life excepting the figure of an Arab stand- 
 ing as if carved in bronze in the black shadow of the 
 palms. Immobile, with arms folded he stood, eyes in- 
 tent on the road leading to civilisation, watching and 
 waiting, as he had watched and waited through many 
 a night until dawn. 
 
 " Allah ! " and the words were indistinguishable from 
 the brook's murmuring. " God of all, send her back 
 to me. Behold ! with patience I have waited these last 
 long months and yet would I wait even until death 
 for thou, O ! Allah, in Thy greatness hast allowed me 
 dimly to understand this woman's mind my woman, 
 my heritage of all time. 
 
 " The Eastern night will draw her back, as surely as 
 the moon will make a silvery path for her return; for 
 she has but tried her soft white wings, and I have no 
 fear that she will have sullied them in her flight. 
 
 " But this time, this time there shall be no escape." 
 
 The long brown hand stretched out as if to seize and 
 
 289
 
 290 DESEET LOVE 
 
 hold, the slender fingers closed gently, but with a grip 
 of steel, as though upon the whiteness of some woman's 
 throat. 
 
 " When she comes back my wife," continued the 
 voice, as the moon slowly swung up to her throne, 
 blinding in her power the million twinkling eyes that 
 had watched for her coming. " Yet, when she comes 
 it will be for very love of me, her lover, and for love of 
 the night and the scent of the dawn, for the stillness of 
 the dusk, and the longing to lay her pure whiteness at 
 rest within my arms." 
 
 And then he threw his hands heavenwards with a 
 great cry. 
 
 " Allah, be praised ! Oh Allah, unto thee I give 
 thanks." 
 
 And sank upon his knees, touching the sand with 
 his forehead, and rising with hands outstretched strode 
 quickly to the clump of palms near the gate in the wall 
 surrounding Jill's dwelling, to meet three camels stalk- 
 ing upon the road leading from civilisation towards 
 him ; one golden-brown with a closed palanquin swaying 
 upon its back, the others dark brown, one laden with 
 great skins, almost empty of water, and bundles of 
 every size and description, the other mounted by the 
 head keeper of camels, who, having brought the animals 
 to their knees, ran to his master and knelt before him 
 with his mouth open as though to speak, and a look of 
 wracking anxiety and indecision upon his usually im- 
 perturbable countenance. 
 
 But a slight motion of his master's hand sent him 
 hurriedly towards the servants' quarters, where he was 
 received by scores of his own kind simply bursting with
 
 DESERT LOVE 291 
 
 euriosity, whilst Hahmed silently held out his hands 
 to help Jill from the palanquin. 
 
 She stumbled badly as her feet touched the ground, 
 and bit on a cry as the man's strong hand caught and 
 steadied her as she stood swaying slightly. 
 
 " Remove thy veil for I fain would see what winds 
 have blown upon thee ! " 
 
 The little figure, wrapped in countless yards of the 
 IBoft purple satin habarah, recoiled a step as the words 
 fell with the hiss of icy water upon red hot steel; a 
 little nervous laugh rising like thin vapour on the 
 strained atmosphere. 
 
 " And so the great Hahmed would expose the face of 
 his wife to the driver of camels ! Behold, has his pride 
 fallen." 
 
 And she continued with the sharp edge of an ap- 
 proaching nerve storm in her voice. 
 
 " Methinks it would be better for him to send his 
 fleetest camel to the great city, and bid it wait without 
 the house of the Blue Door, wherein are to be found 
 those who, unveiled and unashamed, will come and 
 dance upon the sand before such men as yon camel 
 driver ! " 
 
 A slight sound of tearing silk and the scented veil 
 lay in Hahmed's hands, whilst the great moon threw 
 its rays mercilessly on the little face. 
 
 Deep purple rings made the eyes seem twice their 
 size, the nose looked pinched, the mouth slightly 
 twisted, whilst great drops from the damp brow fell 
 upon the silk covering she held heaped up around her. 
 
 "Allah!" ejaculated Hahmed, as he looked and 
 looked again. " Methinks the winds have been ill which
 
 292 DESERT "LOVE 
 
 have blown upon thee. Thou lookest stricken unto 
 death and I know not how, but thou hast changed 
 inconceivably thou art shorter. No ! I know not 
 what it is, but hearken. 
 
 " Thou hast filled my cup of endurance, O ! woman, 
 to the brim. Yea ! until the drops of bitterness have 
 overflowed and fallen upon the sands, but now thou 
 art come back, rather than let thee go I would drive 
 this dagger through thy heart. 
 
 " Fear not that I will pass uncalled the silken hang- 
 ings of thy chamber, or force upon thee the sweet title 
 of wife which against my wish thou hast so long dis- 
 dained, but thou art my prisoner. If love could not 
 bind thee to me, then shall care be taken that thou 
 strayest not again from thy home. 
 
 " Thy body woman has orders to come to thee only 
 when I command her to do so, though such is her love 
 for thee that she beats her shrivelled body in despair 
 at thy absence, and is like to die for weariness of thy 
 empty chamber. So when thou wilt retire, if perchance 
 the silken ribbon of thy raiment has become knotted, 
 there are no hands but these to the unravelling of the 
 mysteries of thy toilet. 
 
 " If thou hast need of me, thou needest but call me, 
 and I will speed to thy bidding, for behold! I will lay 
 across thy portal, as I have lain these many moons 
 since thy nest has been without the bird for whom it 
 was my pleasure to build." 
 
 For a moment fell a mighty silence between the two, 
 broken only by the stream which hurried past them OB 
 its way to the great green Nile.
 
 DESERT LOVE 
 
 Not a frond stirred., neither did the breeze even move 
 the multitudinous folds of Jill's raiment. 
 
 Frees the West the sand swept up to her feet, and a? 
 for as eye could see to the East it stretched. 
 
 Slowly she turned and looked at the motionless figure 
 under the palms, then silently she held out her hands 
 with a little movement of utter submission, as a sound, 
 twixt a sob and a moan, fell gently on the soft air. 
 
 For one long moment they looked across the sand at 
 each other, these two who had been tried to their ut- 
 most limit, and then the man was at her feet, with 
 flimsy veil held in his hands. Lower he bent and lower, 
 as his white cloak swept out on each side of the girl 
 like great protecting wings, as catching the hem of her 
 dress he raised it to his forehead, and then rising to 
 fasten the veil before her face, led her by the hand to 
 *he door of her dwelling, pulling back the white silk 
 jnrtain for her to pasa.
 
 CHAPTER LIII 
 
 A VERY ecstasy of love radiated upon the Arab's face 
 as he stood behind Jill, who in amazement stopped dead 
 on the threshold. 
 
 Beautiful her many rooms had been, but none to 
 compare with the snow-white beauty of this. Great 
 white Persian rugs with faint tracings worked in gold 
 and silver lay upon the white marble of the floor ; white 
 cushions, with little corner gold and silver tassels, lay 
 piled upon a great divan raised a foot on ivory feet 
 above the floor, and half hidden behind white damask 
 curtains hanging from a finely wrought arch carved out 
 of creamy stretches of ivory held together with gold 
 and silver clasps of rare workmanship. 
 
 Stools of ivory, and one great perfect chair, made of 
 innumerable tusks with each tip blunted by a ball of 
 crystal, shone in the dim light cast by the hanging 
 lamps, which drew countless rays from the four foun- 
 tains playing in the four corners. Bibelots, jewelled 
 boxes, rare books in rare age-dulled covers, things of 
 use and things of luxury lay in every corner, and yet so 
 big was the room that it gave Jill an infinitely refresh- 
 ing feeling of space as she walked slowly through to 
 another one, leading out from the far side, where crys- 
 tal and ivory gleamed from low tables, and full length 
 mirrors reflected the water in the Roman bath over 
 which hung flowering plants scenting the air from the 
 great gold and white cups, whilst two snow-white doves 
 
 294
 
 DESERT LOVE 295 
 
 cooed to each other in a silver cage at the approach of 
 the coming dawn. 
 
 " So would I have it for my ah ! " Hahmed 
 
 topped suddenly, as with a little cry the girl falling 
 forward clutched frantically at his fine white clothing, 
 tearing it in many places under her weight, 
 
 " Woman wife, art thou stricken with fear of him 
 who loves thee Allah ! That I should have lived to 
 see thy face distorted in anguish in my presence. I 
 spoke in anger, O ! my heart, but my wrath waxeth 
 faint within me in thy beloved presence," and speaking 
 soft words of love he raised her in his arms, causing 
 the voluminous mantle which she held so closely about 
 her to slip from her shoulders to the ground. 
 
 Speechless she stood before him with her hands be- 
 fore her face, and speechless stood Hahmed, as, hold- 
 ing her at arm's length, he gazed upon his woman, 
 gazed until a great tremor suddenly shook him. 
 
 For behold he saw that the glory of womanhood had 
 descended upon her, and that her hour was nigh. 
 
 " Allah ! " he whispered, as he gently drew her into 
 his arms. " Thou art with child, O ! my beloved. Why 
 was I not stricken blind for this my senseless folly ? 
 Why was I not stricken dumb for those my words of 
 wrath spoken to iJiee, thou tree bearing the fruit of 
 love ? Oh ! glory be to Allah in this most wonderful 
 thing." 
 
 He picked her up, and carrying her into the first 
 room, laid her upon the divan and knelt beside her with 
 her hand against his mouth whilst she whispered to 
 him the great, the everlastingly wonderful and new 
 tidings of the coming of her babe.
 
 296 DESERT LOVE 
 
 " Oh, dearest of men and most little understanding. 
 Truly it is that within me I hold thy great gift. How 
 was it thou didst not guess when I no longer raced 
 thee across the sands upon my horse, or sprang to the 
 ground to greet thee on my return. 
 
 " And even when my moods changed even as chang- 
 eth the colour of the sands, even then, dear heart, thou 
 didst not guess; and I in my foolish woman's way 
 was contrary, and could not even then be sure that my 
 happiness lay here in the desert. And so I left thee, to 
 try thee and myself, and not until I could no longer 
 
 see thee, and have speech with thee, did I 
 
 Hahmed ! Ah, beloved ! Nay, 'tis nothing it can 
 be nothing because two moons have yet to rise and 
 wane before ah, and yet maybe maybe the 
 journey, although not tedious, has brought about my 
 happiness before its time. Beloved, I " 
 
 With eyes alight, with a great pride and face aglow 
 with tenderness, Hahmed bent and kissed the little 
 agonised face. 
 
 " I go one instant, Queen of Women, to bid thy body 
 woman come, she, praise be to Allah, being well versed 
 in the mighty miracle of birth. 
 
 " She will tend thee with the tenderness of a mother, 
 and the skill of the greatest doctor in the land. 
 
 " Fret not, beloved, I am gone but for one moment." 
 
 Jill lay silent, and then smiled sweetly as out of the 
 shadows ran a little hunchback figure who stood with- 
 out word, for a moment gazing with love-laden eyes at 
 the white woman, then kneeling suddenly, kissed the 
 cushion upon which rested the girl's dainty feet. 
 
 For half an hour Jill submitted to the adoring little
 
 DESEKT LOVE 297 
 
 woman's ministrations, who made water to splash, and 
 scented the air with aromatic perfume, and spread 
 white loose gowns and softest linens before her mistress 
 for her choice. 
 
 " Leave me, Ameena, now," whispered Jill, and she 
 was alone with the golden glory of her hair falling 
 about her, as she pressed her hands against her mouth, 
 until uncontrollably and insistently her cry for her 
 master tore the air. 
 
 " Hahmed ! Ah, Hahmed ! Come to me ! " 
 
 And he was beside her. 
 
 The Arab had faced death more than once, had wit- 
 nessed things unmoved which had served to freeze the 
 very blood of others ; but never had he heard such a cry 
 as this which cleft the shadows in the room. 
 
 Great drops of sweat shone upon his forehead as he 
 stooped above the couch, his strong white teeth biting 
 into his under lip. 
 
 Swiftly he crossed the room, pulling back the silken 
 curtain which served as a door, leaving an opening 
 through which the dying moon struck a mighty silver 
 spear. 
 
 And as swiftly he passed out into the gardens scented 
 with sweet flowers, a little gate in the wall swinging 
 back at his touch, through which he sped on and on to 
 the great plains of his beloved desert. 
 
 It was the hour before the dawn, and turning in the 
 direction of Mecca he prayed, and the prayer finished, 
 advanced yet another twenty yards and, divesting him- 
 self of his cloak, laid it upon the ground, and then 
 turning, sped back to his woman who honoured him be- 
 fore all men.
 
 298 DESEET LOVE 
 
 A little breeze heralding the coming dawn blew the 
 silken curtains gently to and fro as the man knelt be- 
 side the low divan. 
 
 " Hahmed ! the hour strikes I am afraid I 
 oh! Hahmed, I cannot see they face, beloved." 
 
 Two little white hands sought and grasped the strong 
 ones held out to help, for through the faint voice had 
 crept a note of fear. 
 
 But even though the little teeth had bit until red 
 drops of blood had spilled from her mouth on to the 
 white cushion, the great eyes smiled up into the man's 
 tortured face as he bent closer to the golden head. 
 
 " Harken ! Woman of women, thou who bringest 
 honour unto me, in this thou shalt please thyself, for 
 art thou not in this moment a very queen, and I but a 
 slave at thy feet. 
 
 " Behold is it the custom of my tribe, dwellers of 
 the desert, children of the sand, that the woman give 
 birth to her first-born upon the very sand of this mighty 
 desert. 
 
 " !N"ot upon couch and silken cloth does the first- 
 born draw its breath, but upon the sand with the desert 
 wind upon his little head. 
 
 " I have no command for thee, beloved, because thou 
 art of the West, where different customs rule, and I 
 I mind not for my love for thee is above all custom, 
 and all manner and fashioning of mankind! Choose 
 then and I am satisfied ! " 
 
 Once again two little hands shone dimly as they 
 were raised, searching blindly. 
 
 " Take me into thy arms, beloved, and carry me to 
 the desert sand, for behold, thy will is my will and my
 
 DESERT LOVE 299 
 
 ways are henceforth thy ways! But hasten! for the 
 moment is at hand. Hold me in thy strength for I 
 faint!" 
 
 Tenderly the great man stooped and gathered the 
 girl to his breast. Swiftly he crossed the threshold, 
 and passing through the gate gently laid her down 
 upon his mantle, stretched upon the ground. 
 
 The wind of dawn blew the stars out one by one, the 
 great plains of sand changed from purple to steel, to 
 grey, to yellow. 
 
 The palms whispered gently together, the water sang 
 on its swift way to the river, a faint movement every- 
 where heralded the coming of the day. 
 
 Motionless, Hahmed knelt beside Jill, whose snow- 
 white face, half-ridden in the folds of cloth, looked 
 like some faint spring flower in a world of shadows. 
 
 And then, as the woman whose unbound hair rippled 
 in golden streams about the Arab's feet, put out her 
 hands to grasp her master's robe, a long-drawn cry 
 which spoke of pain and joy, death and ecstasy and Life, 
 crept over the sands, rising, rising to the very heavens, 
 to sink back in faintest moan to her who in that mo- 
 ment had fulfilled the miracle of Love. 
 
 A hush fell upon the earth, a mighty stillness upon 
 those two. 
 
 And then ! 
 
 A little sound, soft as a bird's call at dawn, broke 
 the silence of the sands ! 
 
 And at the little sound the man sprang upright, with 
 hands and blazing eyes upraised to heaven. 
 
 And as he stood towering over the motionless woman
 
 300 DESERT LOVE 
 
 at his feet, the sound of rejoicing was great in the 
 land; for over the yellow sand, tearing apart the last 
 dim shadows of the night, up struck the sun's first 
 golden shaft, and as it spread, piling gold upon red, and 
 red upon gold, across the great plains and up to the 
 very highest of high heaven thundered the Mohamme- 
 dan's tumultuous, triumphant hymn of praise. 
 
 "La Allah ilia Allah! Muhammed rasul Allah!" 
 
 THE END
 
 Pamela Wynne 
 
 The charm of her books is the charm of 
 unconquerable passion. 
 
 Have you missed any of these? 
 
 THE DREAM MAN. 
 
 The girl who lived her life in dreams met her Dream 
 Mart- handsome, titled, but crippled. In her devotion 
 to him she comes to strange adventures. A Hindu 
 Prince, making love to her insidiously, makes her 
 realize the full measure of her real love. A whirlwind 
 climax. 
 
 ASHES OF DESIRE. 
 
 To escape marrying the elderly nobleman selected by 
 her mother, a girl of courage, aflame with romance, 
 disguises herself as a young man and takes passage on 
 an ocean liner. She finds adventure, peril, and ro- 
 mance in far corners of the earth. 
 
 CONCEALED TURNINGS. 
 
 Disturbed by the awakening of strange passions. 
 Hazel Anson becomes bewildered by the concealed 
 turnings in the path she thought was straight. She 
 tries to free herself from dangerous experiences, but 
 she can be rescued only by a surrender to a great love. 
 
 PENELOPE FINDS OUT. 
 
 Penelope is no stay-at-home, coy maiden. She is eager 
 to find out the ways of the world, and her curiosity 
 leads her to some bitter experience. Yet there is high 
 adventure before she is overtaken by sudden, surprising 
 love at a mysterious turning point of her life. The 
 electrifying truths that she discovers are worth all 
 her thrilling adventures. 
 
 Macaulay Publishers New York
 
 Joan Conquest 
 
 The Story-Teller of the East 
 
 Will Hold You Spell-Bound With 
 These Novels 
 
 CHASTITY. 
 
 A revelation of Oriental ideas of chastity that con- 
 flict with more familiar ones held by the white people 
 living in the East. The theme of a woman's greatest 
 sacrifice is given a new turn what she will sacrifice 
 to save the man she loves from death and disaster. 
 
 FORBIDDEN. 
 
 Rosalie, rich in life and youth, knowing little of the 
 East's cunning in love and lust, is drawn into a snare, 
 where two fine souls struggle against the unwritten 
 law that thunders FORBIDDEN. 
 
 DESERT LOVE. 
 
 A girl alone on the desert with a man whose word 
 was law. And yet he was her slave, for he would ask 
 nothing of her until she loved him and called for him. 
 This was his promise. What became of it? Let Joan 
 Conquest tell you. 
 
 THE HAWK OF EGYPT. 
 
 An exotic story of the love-madness with which Egypt 
 drugs the souls of men and women. The author again 
 brushes aside the curtains of conventionality. Once 
 more her love theme overwhelms with its intensity, its 
 madness, and its pathos. 
 
 CRUMBLING WALLS. 
 
 A Chinese Romeo and Juliet in modern China filled 
 with unrest. An enchanting love story, rich with the 
 incense of the Orient and tense with amorous char- 
 acters in an exotic world awakening to the promise of 
 civilization. 
 
 Macaulay Publishers New York
 
 Unveiling the wayward 
 modern family 
 
 Unchastened 
 Youth 
 
 by Jean Devanny 
 
 In the intimate life of the modern family there is a 
 clash of feelings and ideas between parents and child- 
 ren, a clash between family life and the individual's 
 impulse to live his or her own life. Is it possible to have 
 a good time and still preserve the family .bonds? 
 
 In this thoughtful novel an unconventional, self-sacrificing 
 mother tries to keep a step ahead of her children. But her daughter 
 abandons herself to a wastrel; her son loses himself in foreign art 
 colonies; and finally her husband runs away to a younger woman. After 
 such a family wreck, is there anything left for the mother? This woman 
 steps out to live her own life. 
 
 Other books by Jean Devanny 
 
 BUSHMAN BURKE A fascinating drama of the conflict between 
 the superficial sophistication of a city girl 
 and the clean simplicity of a man from the bush country. 
 
 DAWN BELOVED An untamed girl from the New Zealand hills, 
 follows the blind impulse of love that leads to 
 tremendous experiences in a rough and ready mining town. 
 
 THE BUTCHER SHOP The strange, compellingly real story of 
 
 a girl caught in the tempest of modern 
 unrest. She tries to make a sublimated desire the only test of fidelity. 
 
 Macaulay 381 Fourth Ave. New York
 
 Hollywood Gold 
 
 by Phyllis Gordon Demarest 
 Author of Children of Hollywood 
 
 YOU who know Hollywood will recognize the 
 realness of this story. And you who do not 
 know it must glimpse the glory sometimes 
 stained, sometimes fine that is a very part of the 
 film city. Each character has been drawn with 
 a fine pen, each a representative type true to the 
 Hollywood of today. 
 
 This widely-emhracing novel is, first of all, the 
 story of Eden. Eden who loved Terry O'Day and 
 helped him to stardom, little dreaming that her 
 unselfishness would only bring tragedy in its 
 wake. But Julian Falcon, greatest of all directors, 
 knew and warned her too la,te. It was only after 
 that that he came to play his big part in Eden's 
 life, along with the loveliest star of the screen, 
 Gay Maynard. . . . 
 
 "Hollywood Gold." Gold that is the secret god 
 trailing the destinies of those high and mighty, 
 those insignificant and lowly connected with the 
 film industry. How many lives does the great god 
 ruin? How many does he illumine? 
 
 In this the only honest novel of Hollywood ever 
 published, lies the answer. 
 
 Macauiay Publishers New York
 
 University of California 
 
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