in the red
marble hall, 1, 2, and 3.'

"'And Cegheir-ben-Cheikh has always fulfilled his duties
successfully?'

"'Cegheir-ben-Cheikh is well trained, and he knows the vast Sahara as
I know my little room at the top of the mountain. At first, he made
mistakes. That is how, on his first trips, he brought back old Le
Mesge and marabout Spardek.'

"'What did Antinea say when she saw them?'

"'Antinea? She laughed so hard that she spared them.
Cegheir-ben-Cheikh was vexed to see her laugh so. Since then, he has
never made a mistake.'

"'He has never made a mistake?'

"'No. I have cared for the hands and feet of all that he has brought
here. All were young and handsome. But I think that your comrade, whom
they brought to me the other day, after you were here, is the
handsomest of all.'

"'Why,' I asked, turning the conversation, 'why, since she spared them
their lives, did she not free the pastor and M. Le Mesge?'

"'She has found them useful, it seems,' said the old woman. 'And then,
whoever once enters here, can never leave. Otherwise, the French would
soon be here and, when they saw the hall of red marble, they would
massacre everybody. Besides, of all those whom Cegheir-ben-Cheikh has
brought here, no one, save one, has wished to escape after seeing
Antinea.'

"'She keeps them a long time?'

"'That depends upon them and the pleasure that she takes in them. Two
months, three months, on the average. It depends. A big Belgian
officer, formed like a colossus, didn't last a week. On the other
hand, everyone here remembers little Douglas Kaine, an English
officer: she kept him almost a year.'

"'And then?'

"'And then, he died,' said the old woman as if astonished at my
question.

"'Of what did he die?'

"She used the same phrase as M. Le Mesge:

"'Like all the others: of love.

"'Of love,' she continued. "They all die of love when they see that
their time is ended, and that Cegheir-ben-Cheikh has gone to find
others. Several have died quietly with tears in their great eyes. They
neither ate nor slept any more. A French naval officer went mad. All
night, he sang a sad song of his native country, a song which echoed
through the whole mountain. Another, a Spaniard, was as if maddened:
he tried to bite. It was necessary to kill him. Many have died of
_kif_, a _kif_ that is more violent than opium. When they no longer
have Antinea, they smoke, smoke. Most have died that way ... the
happiest. Little Kaine di