"Would you like to see a bit of the Arabian Nights?" he asked her.
Tamara rose. This really ought not to go on, this conversation--and
yet-"Yes, I would," she said.
"Well, the spell is broken of the Sphinx," he continued. "She can't
talk to me with you there, and she can't talk to you with me near, so
let us go and see something else that is interesting together."
"What?" asked Tamara.
"The Sheikh's village down below. Half the people who come don't
realize it is there, and the other half would be afraid to ride through
it at night--but they know me and I will take care of you."
Without the least further hesitation he called Hafis and the camel,
spoke to them in Arabic, and then stood ready to help Tamara up. She
seemed hypnotized, when she was settled in the high saddle. She began
to realize that she was going into the unknown with a perfect stranger,
but she did not think of turning back.
"What do you ride?" she asked.
"See," he said, and he made a strange low whistle, which was instantly
answered by an equally strange low whinny of a horse, and a beautiful
Arab appeared from the foot of the rocks--where all things were in
shadow--led by a little brown boy.
"I am taking him back with me," he said, "Isn't he a beauty. I only
bought him a week ago, and he already knows me."
Then he was in the saddle with the lightest bound, and Tamara, who had
always admired Tom on a horse, knew that she had never seen anyone who
seemed so much a part of his mount as this quaint foreigner. "I suppose
he is an Austrian," she said to herself, and then added with English
insular arrogance, "Only Austrians are like us."
The young man appeared quite indifferent to anything she thought. He
prepared to lead the way down beyond the Sphinx, apparently into the
desert.
Now that he was in front of her, Tamara could not help admiring the
lines of his figure. He was certainly a very decent shape, and
certainly knew how to ride.
Then it came to her that this was a most singular adventure, and the
faint pink mounted to her clear cheeks when she remembered how
dreadfully shocked Millicent would be--or any of the family! But it was
her night of rebellion, so things must take their course.
The young man rode in front until they were on the flat desert, then he
drew rein and waited for her.