"He has only gone after gazelle."
As she said the last word she saw one of the soldiers, a mere boy, lick his lips and give a sort of tragic wink at his companions. A sudden thought struck her.
"Don"t think me impertinent, Monsieur, but--what about provisions in your tower?"
"Oh, as to that, Madame, we shall do well enough. Here, open the door, Marelle!"
And he gave the key to a soldier, who wearily dismounted and thrust it into the door of the tower.
"But after three days in the dunes! Your provisions must be exhausted unless you"ve been able to replenish them."
"You are too good, Madame. We shall manage a cous-cous."
"And wine? Have you any wine?"
She glanced again at the exhausted soldiers covered with sand and saw that their eyes were fixed upon her and were shining eagerly. All the "good fellow" in her nature rose up.
"You must let me send you some," she said. "We have plenty."
She thought of some bottles of champagne they had brought with them and never opened.
"In the desert we are all comrades," she added, as if speaking to the soldiers.
They looked at her with an open adoration which lit up their tired faces.
"Madame," said the officer, "you are much too good; but I accept your offer as frankly as you have made it. A little wine will be a G.o.dsend to us to-night. Thank you, Madame."
The soldiers looked as if they were going to cheer.
"I"ll go to the camp--"
"Cannot one of the men go for you, Madame? You were sitting here. Pray, do not let us disturb you."
"But night is falling and I shall have to go back in a moment."
While they had been speaking the darkness had rapidly increased. She looked towards the distant dunes and no longer saw them. At once her mind went to Androvsky. Why had he not returned? She thought of the signal. From the camp, behind their sleeping-tent, rose the flames of a newly-made fire.
"If one of your men can go and tell Batouch--Batouch--to come to me here I shall be grateful," she answered. "And I want him to bring me a big brand from the fire over there."
She saw wonder dawning in the eyes fixed upon her, and smiled.
"I want to signal to my husband," she said, "and this is the highest point. He will see it best if I stand here."
"Go, Marelle, ask for Batouch, and be sure you bring the brand from the fire."
The man saluted and rode off with alacrity. The thought of wine had infused a gaiety into him and his companions.
"Now, Monsieur, don"t stand on ceremony," Domini said to the officer.
"Go in and make your toilet. You are longing to, I know."
"I am longing to look a little more decent--now, Madame," he said gallantly, and gazing at her with a sparkle of admiration in his inflamed eyes. "You will let me return in a moment to escort you to the camp."
"Thank you."
"Will you permit me--my name is De Trevignac."
"And mine is Madame Androvsky."
"Russian!" the officer said. "The alliance in the desert! Vive la Russie!"
She laughed.
"That is for my husband, for I am English."
"Vive l"Angleterre!" he said.
The two soldier echoed his words impulsively, lifting up in the gathering darkness hoa.r.s.e voices.
"Vive l"Angleterre!"
"Thank you, thank you," she said. "Now, Monsieur, please don"t let me keep you."
"I shall be back directly," the officer replied.
And he turned and went into the tower, while the soldiers rode round to the court, tugging at the cords of the led mules.
Domini waited for the return of Marelle. Her mood had changed. A glow of cordial humanity chased away her melancholy. The hostess that lurks in every woman--that housewife-hostess sense which goes hand-in-hand with the mother sense--was alive in her. She was keenly anxious to play the good fairy simply, unostentatiously, to these exhausted men who had come to Mogar out of the jaws of Death, to see their weary faces shine under the influence of repose and good cheer. But the tower looked desolate.
The camp was gayer, cosier. Suddenly she resolved to invite them all to dine in the camp that night.
Marelle returned with Batouch. She saw them from a distance coming through the darkness with blazing torches in their hands. When they came to her she said:
"Batouch, I want you to order dinner in camp for the soldiers."
A broad and radiant smile irradiated the blunt Breton features of Marelle.
"And Monsieur the officer will dine with me and Monsieur. Give us all you can. Perhaps there will be some gazelle."
She saw him opening his lips to say that the dinner would be poor and stopped him.
"You are to open some of the champagne--the Pommery. We will drink to all safe returns. Now, give me the brand and go and tell the cook."
As he took his torch and disappeared into the darkness De Trevignac came out from the tower. He still looked exhausted and walked with some difficulty, but he had washed the sand from his face with water from the artesian well behind the tower, changed his uniform, brushed the sand from his yellow hair, and put on a smart gold-laced cap instead of his sun-helmet. The spectacles were gone from his eyes, and between his lips was a large Havana--his last, kept by him among the dunes as a possible solace in the dreadful hour of death.
"Monsieur de Trevignac, I want you to dine with us in camp to-night--only to dine. We won"t keep you from your bed one moment after the coffee and the cognac. You must seal the triple alliance--France, Russia, England--in some champagne."
She had spoken gaily, cordially. She added more gravely:
"One doesn"t escape from death among the dunes every day. Will you come?"