The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1909-11-26

she cautiously sucked the dew from
her garment, drawing it up to her
mouth and squeezing it between her
lips.
1t was little enough refreshment,
but it was something, and she was not
afraid, which made difference. Just
as she had drawn the edge of her shift
down and round her ankles again, the
man turned on his side suddenly, and
then rose to his feet. For an instant
he glared at her, and she saw that
his blue eyes were bloodshot and
burning; then he picked up the heavy
camel bag, and began to make his
way round what had been the beach of
the pool, towards the passage through
which they had entered, and which
was now dry cave, wide below, mar
row at the top, and between six or
seven feet high. He trod carefully
and tried his way, for he feared the
quicksand, but he knew that there
was none in the passage, since he had
walked through the water and had
felt the way hard under his feet. In
few moments he disappeared under
the rock.
Baraka knew what he meant to do;
he was going to try to dig through the
dam at the entrance to let the water
in, even if he could not get out; but
she did not move, for in that narrow
place and in the dark she could not
have helped him. She sat and waited.
By and by he would come out, drenched
with sweat and yet parching with
thirst, and he would glare at her hor-
ribly again; perhaps he would be mad
when he came out and would Kill her
because she had brought him there.
After some time she heard very
faint sound overhead, and when she
looked up the vulture was gone from
his pinnacle. She wondered at this,
and her eyes searched every point
and crevice of the rock as far as she
could see, for she knew that the evil
bird could only have been frightened
away; and though it fears neither
bird nor beast, but only man, she
could not believe that any human be-
ing could find a foothold near to
where it had perched.
For some seconds, perhaps for a
whole minute, she saw nothing, though
she gazed up steadily, then she saw
that a small patch of snowy white was
moving slowly on the face of the cliff.
at some distance above the place
ha1 hn
her brows in the effort to see more
by straining her sight, and meanwhile
the patch descended faster than it
seemed possible that a man could
climb down that perilous steep. Yet
it was a man, she knew from the first,
and soon she saw him plainly, in his
loose shirt and white turban, and with
a long gun slung across his back.
Nearer still, and he was down to the
jutting pinnacle where the vulture had
sat. and she saw his black beard; still
nearer by a few feet and she knew
him, and then her glance darted to
the mouth. of the cave, at the other
end of which the man she loved was
toiling desperately alone in the dark
to pierce the dam of earth and stones.
1t was only a glance, in second Of
time, but when she looked up the
black-beared man had already made
another step downwards. Baraka
measured the distance. If he spoke
loud now she could understand him.
She knew him well, and she knew why
he had come, with his long gun. He
was her fathers brothers son, to
whom she was betrothed; he was
Saad. and he was risking his life to
come down and kill her and the man