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Page 84
And now they came to a city upon the right bank and the domes and
minarets, the crowded building and high flat roofs pierced Arlee
with a terrible sense of loneliness. And when her eyes caught the
gleam of flags over a building and she saw her own stars and stripes
blowing against this Egyptian sky, the tears could not be fought
back. With wet eyes and working mouth she stood there and looked and
looked. She thought she could endure no more and that her heart was
breaking.
Leaden discouragement was upon her as the boat made in toward the
shore. It did not approach the city landings; it came in south near
a shallow bank, and one of the brown boys jumped overboard and
splashed to the shore while the boat went on. But by and by it
turned in its course and came beating back against the wind till
opposite it was the city; then it tacked in to that same place near
the bank, and there the boy was waving at them. Skillfully the
_dahabiyeh_ was brought about close to the high bank; and ropes
thrown from bow and stern were quickly staked and made fast.
A plank was put over the side and with the eunuch ahead and the old
woman behind Arlee was taken ashore and mounted on one of the camels
the boys had brought, with the old woman behind, gripping her about
the waist. The eunuch, on another camel, held the bridle rope, and
led them at a terrific pace along the river road and then across the
fields, thudding down the narrow, beaten paths, till the lush green
was past and the dry desert lands began.
Ahead of them a low, tawny mass of mountain seemed to shimmer and
waver in the hot sun, and as they drew nearer and nearer the mass
was resolved into many masses broken into small foothills at the
base, through which the Nubian threaded a rapid, circuitous way that
led out on a rolling ground. A wide detour, still at the same urgent
speed which jolted the breath from the girl and made her cling to
the carpeted pummel of the saddle with both hands, led them at last
within sight of palm trees and mud walls.
Arlee had no means of guessing whether these houses were the
outskirts of that city she had glimpsed or whether they were a
separate village. She only saw that they were being taken to the
largest house of the place, which stood a little apart from the
others and was half-surrounded by mud walls. Into this walled-in
court her camel was led and halted and jerkingly it accomplished
its collapsing descent, and Arlee found herself on her feet again,
quite breathless, but very alert.
Her fleet glance saw a number of black-robed figures about a stair;
the next instant a mantle was flung over her head and that
compelling hand upon her wrist urged her swiftly forward, and up a
flight of steps. Within were more steps and then a door. Thrusting
back the mantle she found herself in the sudden twilight of a small,
low-ceiled chamber. There was no other door to it but the one she
heard bolted behind her; there was one window completely covered
with brown _mashrubiyeh_. She flew to it; it looked out over wide
sands, with a glimpse, toward the right, of a mud wall and pigeon
houses. The room was musty and dusty and dirty; but the rugs in it
were beautiful, and a divan was filled with pillows and hung with
embroidered cotton hangings. Other pillows were on the floor about
the walls. A green silk banner embroidered in gold hung upon one of
those walls and a laquered table stood by the divan.
And as Arlee Beecher stood there in that strange, stifling room, the
mutterings of foreign voices, the squeals of the camels, the bray of
a donkey coming through that screened window, a sudden rage came
over her which was too hot to bear. Her heart burned; her hands
clenched; she could have beaten upon those walls with her helpless
fists and screamed at the top of her unavailing lungs. It was a fury
of despair that seized her, a fury that she fought back with every
breath of sanity within her. Then suddenly the air was black. The
room seemed to swim before her eyes and the ground came swaying
dizzily up to meet her, and receive her spent unconsciousness.
* * * * *
Water had been brought; she woke to find herself upon the couch, the
old woman woodenly sopping her head and hands. She smiled weakly
into that strange dark face; it was as unchanged as if it had been
carved from bronze. The business of reviving finished, the old woman
left her a handkerchief damp with a keen scent and went about the
work of unpacking a hamper that she brought in.
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