han an ostrich, and as poisonous as
a scorpion, yet have I to put up with thy whims and fancies because of
thy specially formed stomach. I, who long to strike thy repellent face
again and again, and dare not, for the fear that thy evil, dwarfed
brain, twisted with jealousy, might make thy beautiful rider the object
of thy revenge, tearing her limb from limb, and rolling upon her;[1]
but behold! in as much as Allah made thee, yet shalt thou, through thy
disobedience and ill-manners of to-day, be put to stud with thy elder
brother, who, for a camel, rejoiceth in seeming good manners. Then
shalt thou be chastened, and thy milk given to the feeding of horses."

This harangue might have been a paean of praise for all the change it
made in the beautiful Eastern voice, and the girl's low laughter rang
out like bells on the night air, as the man explained that the animal
was inordinately jealous of all and sundry who, in her sin-laden brain,
she feared might do her out of a handful of sugar or bucket of water.

* * * * * *

From all time women have revelled in a novel sensation, but never
surely so much, or in such a one, as did Jill in hers, as, with peace
restored, she passed through the gates with her companion, on her way
to a life about which she had not allowed herself the slightest
analysis.

And a great silence fell on the girl as they left the town, padding
noiselessly through the outskirts where no one met them, and no sound
was to be heard save for the barking of dogs, and the occasional wail
of an infant; for the strangeness of everything had suddenly made her
realise that of her own will she was standing on the threshold of a new
life, laden--though this the usual narrow outlook and education of the
West prevented her from understanding--with a love and passion and
womanhood which cannot, and never will be, realised in countries where
the dominant colour is grey.

Gone was her laughter, and vanished the merry exclamations and remarks,
as she began to glean some idea of the width and breadth of the desert
which was slowly engulfing her.

Once or twice she had looked behind at the ever-receding town, with the
sheen of the fresh water canal becoming fainter and fainter at each
step, until it at last vanished into nothingness. And the living
silence of the desert seemed to close in upon her, and the canopy of
heaven, weighty with stars, to press down upon her, and the snapping
and bre