"Oh, lord, I"m too hot to worry!" laughed Nevill. "Let"s bid the boy G.o.dspeed, or the Mussulman equivalent, which is a lot more elaborate, and then turn our thoughts to a bath of sorts and a dinner of sorts. I think Providence has been good to us so far, and we can afford to trust It. I"m sure Miss Ray would agree with me there." And Nevill glanced with kind blue eyes toward the shut door behind which Victoria had disappeared with her sister.
When at last the little Mohammed had been despatched with great ceremony of politeness, as well as a present of Stephen"s gold watch, the two Englishmen watched him fade out of sight with his cavalcade of men from the Zaoua, and saw that nothing moved in the southern distance.
"All"s right with the world, and now for a wash and food!" cried Nevill, turning in with a sigh of relief at the gate of the bordj. "But oh, by the way--Hamish has got a letter for you--or is it Angus? Anyhow, it"s from my fairy aunt, which I would envy you, if she hadn"t sent me on something better--a post-card from Tlemcen. My tyrant G.o.ddess thinks letters likely to give undue encouragement, but once in a while she sheds the light of a post-card on me. Small favours thankfully received--from that source!"
Inside the courtyard, the Highlanders were watching the three Arabs who had travelled with them and their master, attending to the horses and camels. These newcomers were being shown the ropes by the one servant of the bordj, Stephen"s men helping with grave good-nature. They all seemed very friendly together, as is the way of Arabs, unless they inhabit rival districts.
Hamish had the letter, and gave it to Stephen, who retired a few steps to read it, and Nevill, seeing that the twins left all work to the Arabs, ordered them to put his luggage into the musty-smelling room which he was to share with Stephen, and to get him some kind of bath, if it were only a tin pan.
Stephen did not listen to these directions, nor did he hear or see anything that went on in the courtyard, for the next ten minutes. There was, indeed, a short and characteristic letter from Lady MacGregor, but it was only to say that she had finished and named the new game of Patience for Victoria Ray, and that, after all, she enclosed him a telegram, forwarded from Algiers to Touggourt. "I know Nevill told me that everything could wait till you got back," she explained, "but as I am sending the twins, they might as well take this. It may be of importance; and I"m afraid by the time you get it, the news will be several days old already."
He guessed, before he looked, whence the telegram came; and he dreaded to make sure. For an instant, he was tempted to put the folded bit of paper in his pocket, unread until Touggourt, or even Biskra. "Why shouldn"t I keep these few days unspoiled by thoughts of what"s to come, since they"re the only happy days I shall ever have?" he asked himself.
But it would be weak to put off the evil moment, and he would not yield.
He opened the telegram.
"Sailing on Virginian. Hope you can meet me Liverpool May 22nd.
Love and longing. Margot."
To-day was the 25th.
When he looked up, the courtyard was empty, and quiet, save for the quacking of two or three forlorn ducks. Nevill had gone inside, and the Highlanders were waiting upon him, no doubt--for Nevill liked a good deal of waiting upon. The Arabs had left the animals peacefully feeding, and had disappeared into the kitchen, or perhaps to have a last look at the vanishing escort of the marabout"s sacred son.
Stephen was suddenly conscious of fatigue, and a depression as of great weariness. He envied Nevill, whose boyish laugh he heard. The girl Nevill loved had refused to marry him, but she smiled when she saw him, and sent him post-cards when he was absent. There was hope for Nevill.
For him there was none; although--and it was as if a fierce hand seized and wrenched his heart--sometimes it had seemed, in the last few hours, that in Victoria Ray"s smile for him there was the same lovely, mysterious light which made the eyes of Josette Soubise wonderful when she looked at Nevill. If it were not for Margot--but there was no use thinking of that. He could not ask Margot to set him free, after all that had pa.s.sed, and even if he should ask, she would refuse. Shuddering disgustfully, the thought of a new family scandal shot through his mind: a breach-of-promise case begun by Margot against him, if he tried to escape. It was the sort of thing she would do, he could not help recognizing. Another _cause celebre_, more vulgar than the fight for his brother"s t.i.tle! How Victoria would turn in shocked revulsion from the hero of such a coa.r.s.e tragi-comedy. But he would never be that hero. He would keep his word and stick to Margot. When he should come to the desert telegraph station between Toudja and Touggourt, he would wire to the Carlton, where she thought of returning, and explain as well as he could that, not expecting her quite yet, he had stayed on in Africa, but would see her as soon as possible.
"Better hurry up and get ready for dinner!" shouted Nevill, through a crack of their bedroom door. "I warn you, I"m starving!"
By this time the Highlanders were out in the courtyard again--two gigantic figures, grotesque and even fearful in the eyes of Arabs; but there were no Arabs to stare at them now. All had gone about their business in one direction or other.
Stephen said nothing to his friend about the enclosure in Lady MacGregor"s letter, mentioning merely the new game of cards named in honour of Miss Ray, at which they both laughed. And it seemed rather odd to Stephen just then, to hear himself laugh.
The quick-falling twilight had now given sudden coolness and peace to the desert. The flies had ceased their persecutions. The whole air was blue as the light seen through a pale star-sapphire, for the western sky was veiled with a film of cloud floating up out of the sunset like the smoke of its fire, and there was no glow of red.
As the two friends made themselves ready for dinner, and talked of such adventures as each had just pa.s.sed through, they heard the voice of the landlord, impatiently calling, "Abdallah! Abdallah!"
There was no reply, and again he roared the name of his servant, from the kitchen and from the courtyard, into which he rushed with a huge ladle in his hand; then from farther off, outside the gate, which remained wide open. Still there came no answer; and presently Stephen, looking from his bedroom, saw the Frenchman, hot and red-faced, slowly crossing the courtyard, mumbling to himself.
Nevill had not quite finished his toilet, for he had a kind of boyish vanity, and wished to show how well and smart he could look after the long, tiresome journey. But Stephen was ready, and he stepped out, closing the door behind him.
"Can"t you find your servant?" he asked the keeper of the bordj.
"No," said the man, adding some epithets singularly unflattering to the absent one and his ancestors. "He has vanished as if his father, the devil, had dragged him down to h.e.l.l."
"Where are the others?" inquired Stephen. "My men and my friend"s men?
Are they still standing outside the gates, watching the boy and his caravan?"
"I saw them nowhere," returned the Frenchman. "It is bad enough to keep one Arab in order. I do not run after others. Would that the whole nation might die like flies in a frost! I hate them. What am I to do for my dinner, and ladies in the bordj for the first time? It is just my luck. I cannot leave the kitchen, and that brute Abdallah has not laid the table! When I catch him I will wring his neck as if he were a hen."
He trotted back to the kitchen, swearing, and an instant later he was visible through the open door, drinking something out of a bottle.
Stephen went to the door of the third and last guest-room of the bordj.
It was larger than the others, and had no furniture except a number of thick blue and red rugs spread one on top of the other, on the floor.
This was the place where those who paid least were accommodated, eight or ten at a time if necessary; and it was expected that Hamish and Angus would have to share the room with the Arab guides of both parties.
Stephen looked in at the twins, as they scornfully inspected their quarters.
"Where are the Arabs?" he asked, as he had asked the landlord.
"We dinna ken whaur they"ve ta"en theirsel"s," replied Angus. "All we ken is, we wull not lie in the hoose wi" "em. Her leddyship wadna expect it, whateffer. We prefair t" sleep in th" open."
Stephen retired from the argument, and mounted a steep, rough stairway, close to the gate, which led to the flat top of the wall, and had formerly been connected by a platform with the ruined heliograph tower.
The wall was perhaps two feet thick, and though the top was rough and somewhat broken, it was easy to walk upon it. Once it had been defended by a row of nails and bits of gla.s.s, but most of these were gone. It was an ancient bordj, and many years of peace had pa.s.sed since it was built in the old days of raids and razzias.
Stephen looked out over the desert, through the blue veil of twilight, but could see no sign of life anywhere. Then, coming down, he mounted into each squat tower in turn, and peered out, so that he might spy in all directions, but there was nothing to spy save the shadowy dunes, more than ever like waves of the sea, in this violet light. He was not rea.s.sured, however, by the appearance of a vast peace and emptiness.
Behind those billowing dunes that surged away toward the horizon, north, south, east, and west, there was hiding-place for an army.
As he came down from the last of the four towers, his friend sauntered out from his bedroom. "I hope the missing Abdallah"s turned up, and dinner"s ready," said Nevill gaily.
Then Stephen told him what had happened, and Nevill"s cheerful face settled into gravity.
"Looks as if they"d got a tip from the marabout"s men," he said slowly.
"It can be nothing else," Stephen agreed.
"I blame myself for calling the twins inside to help me," said Nevill.
"If I"d left them to moon about the courtyard, they"d have seen those sneaks creeping away, and reported."
"They wouldn"t have thought it strange that the Arabs stood outside, watching the boy go. You"re not to blame, because you didn"t see the sly look in my fellows" faces. I had the sign, and neglected it, in spite of my resolutions. But after all, if we"re in for trouble, I don"t know that it isn"t as well those cowards have taken French leave. If they"d stayed, we"d only have had an enemy inside the gates, as well as out.
And that reminds me, we must have the gates shut at once. Thank heaven we brought those French army rifles and plenty of cartridges from Algiers, when we didn"t know what we might be in for. Now we _do_ know; and all are likely to come handy. Also our revolvers."
"Thank heaven and my aunt for the twins, too," said Nevill. "They might be better servants, but I"ll bet on them as fighters. And perhaps you noticed the rifles her "leddyship" provided them with at Touggourt?"
"I saw the muzzles glitter as they rode along on camel-back," Stephen answered. "I was glad even then, but now----" He did not need to finish the sentence. "We"d better have a word with our host," he said.
To reach the dining-room, where the landlord was busy, furiously clattering dishes, they had to pa.s.s the door of the room occupied by the sisters. It was half open, and as they went by, Victoria came out.
"Please tell me things," she said. "I"m sure you"re anxious. When we heard the landlord call his servant and n.o.body answered, Saidee was afraid there was something wrong. You know, from the first she thought that her--that Ca.s.sim didn"t mean to keep his word. Have the Arabs all gone?"
Nevill was silent, to let Stephen take the responsibility. He was not sure whether or no his friend meant to try and hide their anxiety from the women. But Stephen answered frankly. "Yes, they"ve gone. It may be that nothing will happen, but we"re going to shut the gates at once, and make every possible preparation."
"In case of an attack?"
"Yes. But we have a good place for defence here. It would be something to worry about if we were out in the open desert."
"There are five men, counting your Highlanders," said Victoria, turning to Nevill. "I think they are brave, and I know well already what you both are." Her eyes flashed to Stephen"s with a beautiful look, all for him. "And Saidee and I aren"t cowards. Our greatest grief is that we"ve brought you into this danger. It"s for our sakes. If it weren"t for us, you"d be safe and happy in Algiers."