ling the curtains straight, having
promised faithfully to carry out his wishes--ah! how she had smiled
when she had given that promise; love of his wife and his children, she
had thought, would soon oust the idea of death from his mind--and
looked up at the lamp, to see if it was well filled with oil, and
gently took down the spear from the wall, whilst the great dogs sat
immovable as images of grief carved out of stone.

And she laid her hand upon their heads and, taking the corner of her
veil, wiped the sand from their jaws; but they growled softly--not
angrily--just to let her know that no hand but that of their master
must touch them.

She went to the entrance and called them, but they growled, just to let
her know that they would answer no voice but that of their master, and
that for the sound of that beloved voice they would wait for eternity.

Of course she did not quite understand them--how could she--not knowing
that the love of a dog surpasses that of a friend, and equals that of a
mother?--so she lifted the chequered curtains at the back just to let
them know that there was a way out, and looked down at the footprints
of small feet and of heavy feet, and across to the lifted flap through
which she could see the day dawning.

And if her whole being shook with anguish as part of her question was
answered; and if her heart was stabbed with sudden pain at the thought
that strangers had plucked her crown of glory from her and trampled
upon it; and if she suddenly threw out her arms and questioned the
Almighty upon the wisdom of His ways, can we blame her?

She passed through the lifted flap of the Room of Prayer, and mounted
her camel, and rode out to the west; and at the sight of the woman with
the light throwing-spear in her hand the servants, who had been
watching the tents, rushed out to meet her and, at the sign she made,
bowed their heads to the sands.

And their dirge swept across the desert as they answered as she called:

"Thy Master, O my people, has started upon a long journey. Allah
receive him at his journey's end into His safe keeping!"

"Our Master," they answered, "is absent upon a long journey. Allah
guide his feet into eternal joy."

They brought her two camels and watched her depart, then turned to make
all things ready to lead their Master's horses, and dogs, and birds
down to the river.

She rode her camel some distance from the Tents of Purple and of Gold
and of Death, and hobbl