Si Maeddine got down from the carriage, and shouted, with a peculiar call. There was no answering sound, but after a wait of two or three minutes the double gates of thick, greyish palm-wood were pulled open from inside, with a loud creak. For a moment the brown face of an old man, wrinkled as a monkey"s, looked out between the gates, which he held ajar; then, with a guttural cry, he threw both as far back as he could, and rushing out, bent his white turban over Maeddine"s hand. He kissed the Sidi"s shoulder, and a fold of his burnous, half kneeling, and chattering Arabic, only a word of which Victoria could catch here and there. As he chattered, other men came running out, some of them Negroes, all very dark, and they vied with one another in humble kissing of the master"s person, at any spot convenient to their lips.
Politely, though not too eagerly, he made the gracious return of seeming to kiss the back of his own hand, or his fingers, where they had been touched by the welcoming mouths, but in reality he kissed air. With a gesture, he stopped the salutations at last, and asked for the Cad, to whom, he said, he had written, sending his letter by the diligence.
Then there were pa.s.sionate jabberings of regret. The Cad, was away, had been away for days, fighting the locusts on his other farm, west of Aumale, where there was grain to save. But the letter had arrived, and had been sent after him, immediately, by a man on horseback. This evening he would certainly return to welcome his honoured guest. The word was "guest," not "guests," and Victoria understood that she and Lella M"Barka would not see the master of the house. So it had been at the other two houses: so in all probability it would be at every house along their way unless, as she still hoped, they had already come to the end of the journey.
The wide open gates showed a large, bare courtyard, the farmhouse, which was built round it, being itself the wall. On the outside, no windows were visible except those in the towers, and a few tiny square apertures for ventilation, but the yard was overlooked by a number of small gla.s.s eyes, all curtained.
As the carriage was driven in, large yellow dogs gathered round it, barking; but the men kicked them away, and busied themselves in chasing the animals off to a shed, their white-clad backs all religiously turned as Si Maeddine helped the ladies to descend. Behind a closed window a curtain was shaking; and M"Barka had not yet touched her feet to the ground when a negress ran out of a door that opened in the same distant corner of the house. She was unveiled, like Lella M"Barka"s servants in Algiers, and, with Fafann, she almost carried the tired invalid towards the open door. Victoria followed, quivering with suspense. What waited for her behind that door? Would she see Saidee, after all these years of separation?
"I think I"m dying," moaned Lella M"Barka. "They will never take me away from this house alive. White Rose, where art thou? I need thy hand under my arm."
Victoria tried to think only of M"Barka, and to wait with patience for the supreme moment--if it were to come. Even if she had wished it, she could not have asked questions now.
XXIV
It was midnight when Nevill"s car ran into the beautiful oasis town, guarded by the most curious mountains of the Algerian desert, and they were at their strangest, cut out clear as the painted mountains of stage scenery, in the light of the great acetylene lamps. Stephen thought them like a vast, half-burned Moorish city of mosques and palaces, over which sand-storms had raged for centuries, leaving only traces here and there of a ruined tower, a domed roof, or an ornamental frieze.
Of the palms he could see nothing, except the long, dark shape of the oasis among the pale sand-billows; but early next morning he and Nevill were up and out on the roof of the little French hotel, while sunrise banners marched across the sky. Stephen had not known that desert dunes could be bright peach-pink, or that a river flowing over white stones could look like melted rubies, or that a few laughing Arab girls, ankle-deep in limpid water, could glitter in morning light like jewelled houris in celestial gardens. But now that he knew, he would never forget his first desert picture.
The two men stood on the roof among the bubbly domes for a long time, looking over the umber-coloured town and the flowing oasis which swept to Bou-Saada"s brown feet like a tidal wave. It was not yet time to go and ask questions of the Cad, whom Nevill knew.
Stephen was advised not to drink coffee in the hotel before starting on their quest. "We shall have to swallow at least three cups each of _cafe maure_ at the Cad"s house, and perhaps a dash of tea flavoured with mint, on top of all, if we don"t want to begin by hurting our host"s feelings," Nevill said. So they fasted, and fed their minds by walking through Bou-Saada in its first morning glory. Already the old part of the town was alive, for Arabs love the day when it is young, even as they love a young girl for a bride.
The Englishmen strolled into the cool, dark mosque, where heavy Eastern scents of musk and benzoin had lain all night like fugitives in sanctuary, and where the roof was held up by cypress poles instead of marble pillars, as in the grand mosques of big cities. By the time they were ready to leave, dawn had become daylight, and coming out of the brown dusk, the town seemed flooded with golden wine, wonderful, bubbling, unbelievable gold, with scarlet and purple and green figures floating in it, brilliant as rainbow fish.
The Cad lived near the old town, in an adobe house, with a garden which was a tangle of roses and pomegranate blossoms, under orange trees and palms. And there were narrow paths of hard sand, the colour of old gold, which rounded up to the centre, and had little runnels of water on either side. The sunshine dripped between the long fingers of the palm leaves, to trail in a lacy pattern along the yellow paths, and the sound of the running water was sweet.
It was in this garden that the Cad gave his guests the three cups of coffee each, followed by the mint-flavoured tea which Nevill had prophesied. And when they had admired a tame gazelle which nibbled cakes of almond and honey from their hands, the Cad insisted on presenting it to his good friend, Monsieur Caird.
Over the cups of _cafe maure_, they talked of Captain Ca.s.sim ben Halim, but their host could or would tell them nothing beyond the fact that Ben Halim had once lived for a little while not far from Bou-Saada. He had inherited from his father a country house, about fifty kilometres distant, but he had never stayed there until after retiring from the army, and selling his place in Algiers. Then he had spent a few months in the country. The Cad had met him long ago in Algiers, but had not seen him since. Ben Halim had been ill, and had led a retired life in the country, receiving no one. Afterward he had gone away, out of Algeria. It was said that he had died abroad a little later. Of that, the Cad was not certain; but in any case the house on the hill was now in the possession of the Cad of Ain Dehdra, Sidi Elad ben Sliman, a distant cousin of Ben Halim, said to be his only living relative.
Then their host went on to describe the house with the white wall, which looked down upon a cemetery and a village. His description was almost precisely what Mouni"s had been, and there was no doubt that the place where she had lived with the beautiful lady was the place of which he spoke. But of the lady herself they could learn nothing. The Cad had no information to give concerning Ben Halim"s family.
He pressed them to stay, and see all the beauties of the oasis. He would introduce them to the marabout at El Hamel, and in the evening they should see a special dance of the Ouled Nals. But they made excuses that they must get on, and bade the Cad good-bye after an hour"s talk.
As for the _gazelle approvoisee_, Nevill named her Josette, and hired an Arab to take her to Algiers by the diligence, with explicit instructions as to food and milk.
Swarms of locusts flew into their faces, and fell into the car, or were burned to death in the radiator, as they sped along the road towards the white house on the golden hill. They started from Bou-Saada at ten o"clock, and though the road was far from good, and they were not always sure of the way, the noon heat was scarcely at its height when Stephen said: "There it is! That must be the hill and the white wall with the towers."
"Yes, there"s the cemetery too," answered Nevill. "We"re seeing it on our left side, as we go, I hope that doesn"t mean we"re in for bad luck."
"Rot!" said Stephen, promptly. Yet for all his scorn of Nevill"s grotesque superst.i.tions, he was not in a confident mood. He did not expect much good from this visit to Ben Halim"s old country house. And the worst was, that here seemed their last chance of finding out what had become of Saidee Ray, if not of her sister.
The sound of the motor made a brown face flash over the top of the tall gate, like a Jack popping out of his box.
"La Sidi, el Cad?" asked Nevill. "Is he at home?"
The face pretended not to understand; and having taken in every detail of the strangers" appearance and belongings, including the motor-car, it disappeared.
"What"s going to happen now?" Stephen wanted to know.
Nevill looked puzzled. "The creature isn"t too polite. Probably it"s afraid of Roumis, and has never been spoken to by one before. But I hope it will promptly scuttle indoors and fetch its master, or some one with brains and manners."
Several minutes pa.s.sed, and the yellow motor-car continued to advertise its presence outside the Cad"s gate by panting strenuously. The face did not show itself again; and there was no evidence of life behind the white wall, except the peculiarly ominous yelping of Kabyle dogs.
"Let"s pound on the gate, and show them we mean to get in," said Stephen, angry-eyed.
But Nevill counselled waiting. "Never be in a hurry when you have to do with Arabs. It"s patience that pays."
"Here come two chaps on horseback," Stephen said, looking down at the desert track that trailed near the distant cl.u.s.ter of mud houses, which were like square blocks of gold in the fierce sunshine. "They seem to be staring up at the car. I wonder if they"re on their way here!"
"It may be the Cad, riding home with a friend, or a servant," Nevill suggested. "If so, I"ll bet my hat there are other eyes than ours watching for him, peering out through some spy-hole in one of the gate-towers."
His guess was right. It was the Cad coming home, and Maeddine was with him; for Lella M"Barka had been obliged to rest for three days at the farmhouse on the hill, and the Cad"s guest had accompanied him before sunrise this morning to see a favourite white mehari, or racing camel, belonging to Sidi Elad ben Sliman, which was very ill, in care of a wise man of the village. Now the mehari was dead, and as Maeddine seemed impatient to get back, they were riding home, in spite of the noon heat.
Maeddine had left the house reluctantly this morning. Not that he could often see Victoria, who was nursing M"Barka, and looking so wistful that he guessed she had half hoped to find her sister waiting behind the white wall on the golden hill.
Though he could expect little of the girl"s society, and there was little reason to fear that harm would come to her, or that she would steal away in his absence, still he had hated to ride out of the gate and leave her. If the Cad had not made a point of his coming, he would gladly have stayed behind. Now, when he looked up and saw a yellow motor-car at the gate, he believed that his feeling had been a presentiment, a warning of evil, which he ought so have heeded.
He and the Cad were a long way off when he caught sight of the car, and heard its pantings, carried by the clear desert air. He could not be certain of its ident.i.ty, but he prided himself upon his keen sight and hearing, and where they failed, instinct stepped in. He was sure that it was the car which had waited for Stephen Knight when the _Charles Quex_ came in, the car of Nevill Caird, about whom he had made inquiries before leaving Algiers. Maeddine knew, of course, that Victoria had been to the Djenan el Djouad, and he was intensely suspicious as well as jealous of Knight, because of the letter Victoria had written. He knew also that the two Englishmen had been asking questions at the Hotel de la Kasbah; and he was not surprised to see the yellow car in front of the Cad"s gates. Now that he saw it, he felt dully that he had always known it would follow him.
If only he had been in the house, it would not have mattered. He would have been able to prevent Knight and Caird from seeing Victoria, or even from having the slightest suspicion that she was, or had been, there. It was the worst of luck that he should be outside the gates, for now he could not go back while the Englishmen were there. Knight would certainly recognize him, and guess everything that he did not know.
Maeddine thought very quickly. He dared not ride on, lest the men in the car should have a field-gla.s.s. The only thing was to let Ben Sliman go alone, so that, if eyes up there on the hill were watching, it might seem that the Cad was parting from some friend who lived in the village. He would have to trust Elad"s discretion and tact, as he knew already he might trust his loyalty. Only--the situation was desperate.
Tact, and an instinct for the right word, the frank look, were worth even more than loyalty at this moment. And one never quite knew how far to trust another man"s judgment. Besides, the mischief might have been done before Ben Sliman could arrive on the scene; and at the thought of what might happen, Maeddine"s heart seemed to turn in his breast. He had never known a sensation so painful to body and mind, and it was hideous to feel helpless, to know that he could do only harm, and not good, by riding up the hill. Nevertheless, he said to himself, if he should see Victoria come out to speak with these men, he would go. He would perhaps kill them, and the chauffeur too. Anything rather than give up the girl now; for the sharp stab of the thought that he might lose her, that Stephen Knight might have her, made him ten times more in love than he had been before. He wished that Allah might strike the men in the yellow car dead; although, ardent Mussulman as he was, he had no hope that such a glorious miracle would happen.
"It is those men from Algiers of whom I told thee," he said to the Cad.
"I must stop below. They must not recognize me, or the dark one who was on the ship, will guess. Possibly he suspects already that I stand for something in this affair."
"Who can have sent them to my house?" Ben Sliman wondered. The two drew in their horses and put on the manner of men about to bid each other good-bye.
"I hope, I am almost sure, that they know nothing of _her_, or of me.
Probably, when inquiring about Ben Halim, in order to hear of her sister, and so find out where she has gone, they learned only that Ben Halim once lived here. If thy servants are discreet, it may be that no harm will come from this visit."
"They will be discreet. Have no fear," the Cad a.s.sured him. Yet it was on his tongue to say; "the lady herself, when she hears the sound of the car, may do some unwise thing." But he did not finish the sentence. Even though the young girl--whom he had not seen--was a Roumia, obsessed with horrible, modern ideas, which at present it would be dangerous to try and correct, he could not discuss her with Maeddine. If she showed herself to the men, it could not be helped. What was to be, would be.
Mektub!
"Far be it from me to distrust my friend"s servants," said Maeddine; "but if in their zeal they go too far and give an impression of something to hide, it would be as bad as if they let drop a word too many."
"I will ride on and break any such impression if it has been made," Ben Sliman consoled him. "Trust me. I will be as gracious to these Roumis as if they were true believers."
"I do trust thee completely," answered the younger man. "While they are at thy gates, or within them, I must wait with patience. I cannot remain here in the open--yet I wish to be within sight, that I may see with my own eyes all that happens. What if I ride to one of the black tents, and ask for water to wash the mouth of my horse? If they have it not, it is no matter."
"Thine is a good thought," said Ben Sliman, and rode on, putting his slim white Arab horse to a trot.