Atlantida

"That way!" I exclaimed, shuddering. "Why, it is two hundred feet from

here to the ground."

"The rope is two hundred and fifty," she replied. "It is a good strong

rope which I stole in the oasis; they used it in felling trees. It is

quite new."

"Climb down that way, Tanit-Zerga! With my shoulder!"

"I will let you down," she said firmly. "Feel how strong my arms are.

Not that I shall rest your weight on them. But see, on each side of

the window is a marble column. By twisting the rope around one of

them, I can let you slip down and scarcely feel your weight.

"And look," she continued, "I have made a big knot every ten feet. I

can stop the rope with them, every now and then, if I want to rest."

"And you?" I asked.

"When you are down, I shall tie the rope to one of the columns and

follow. There are the knots on which to rest if the rope cuts my hands

too much. But don't be afraid: I am very agile. At Gâo, when I was

just a child, I used to climb almost as high as this in the gum trees

to take the little toucans out of their nests. It is even easier to

climb down."

"And when we are down, how will we get out? Do you know the way

through the barriers?"

"No one knows the way through the barriers," she said, "except

Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh, and perhaps Antinea."

"Then?"

"There are the camels of Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh, those which he uses on

his forays. I untethered the strongest one and led him out, just below

us, and gave him lots of hay so that he will not make a sound and will

be well fed when we start."

"But...." I still protested.

She stamped her foot.

"But what? Stay if you wish, if you are afraid. I am going. I want to

see Gâo once again, Gâo with its blue gum-trees and its green water."

I felt myself blushing.

"I will go, Tanit-Zerga. I would rather die of thirst in the midst of

the desert than stay here. Let us start."

"Tut!" she said. "Not yet."

She showed me that the dizzy descent was in brilliant moonlight.

"Not yet. We must wait. They would see us. In an hour, the moon will

have circled behind the mountain. That will be the time."

She sat silent, her haik wrapped completely about her dark little

figure. Was she praying? Perhaps.

Suddenly I no longer saw her. Darkness had crept in the window. The

moon had turned.