Burning Sands Part 43

"Don't dare to come any nearer," she gasped, "or I'll shoot you, you brute!"

He stretched out his arms. "Very well, shoot!" he said. "Good G.o.d! D'you think I value my life now?"

He saw her fingers press the trigger. There was a flash, a sharp report, and the bullet went singing past his ear, not close enough, perhaps, to suggest that she had taken aim at him, but not so distant that he could ignore it. He ran at her, therefore, and grasped her wrist, so that the revolver fell to the ground. Instantly she flung herself upon her knees and grabbed at it with her left hand, but he dragged her back by her arm, pulling her to her feet.

"You beast!" she exclaimed. "Leave me alone!" and she struck at him with her free hand. Her eyes were flas.h.i.+ng, and her hair was tossed about her shoulders.

He put his arm about her, holding her as in a vice, and, stooping, he picked up and pocketed her revolver.

"Now sit down there," he said, lowering her on to the sand, "and get your breath."

She saw that there was no use in resisting, and she sat, therefore, glaring up at him as he stood before her.

He turned his head and glanced at the camels, and as he did so she stretched out her foot and kicked his s.h.i.+ns.

"Ough!" he exclaimed. "Don't do that-it hurts!"

"Oh, I wish we were near Cairo," she cried. "I'd turn the servants on to you and have you whipped. Go and fetch my camel!"

"Yes," he answered, "I'm just going to. And don't you start running away again, or I'll not be so gentle with you when I catch you."

He hastened across the desert, and, without any difficulty, caught Muriel's wandering and tired animal, and readjusted the saddle. Soon he had tethered it beside his own; and coming back to her, he sat himself down a yard or two away from her, and lit his pipe.

"Say when you're ready to start back," he said, stretching himself out and resting his head upon his elbow.

"I'm not coming back with you," she replied. "I'm going back to El Homra."

"No, you're not," he told her. "You're going to stay with me for this fortnight you've so carefully planned."

She scrambled to her feet, her fists clenched. "If you try to force me to come with you," she burst out, "I shall ... I shall _bite_ you."

He also stood up. "Now look here," he said. "Understand me: you're going back with me, whether you like it or not. And if you struggle I shall tie you up. Now, come along quietly."

He caught hold of her wrist, and led her towards the camels.

"Take your hand off my arm!" she gasped. "You've got me in your power now, but you just wait till my father hears of this. He'll have you hounded out of Egypt."

He did not reply, but releasing her, left her to climb into the saddle.

"Go and get my crop," she said. "I dropped it somewhere here."

"Very well," he replied, "but, remember, if you ride off while my back is turned, I'll come after you and tie your hands behind your back."

Muriel wriggled furiously in her seat, but she knew that it was useless to attempt to escape. Presently Daniel found her crop and brought it back to her. Then he mounted his camel, and the two of them rode off southwards side by side.

"We shall come across your hat soon," he said. "Be on the lookout for it. You'll get sunstroke without it, in spite of all that ma.s.s of hair."

She uttered something like a growl as she jogged along beside him over the blazing sand.

CHAPTER XXVIII-THE SURPRISING FORTNIGHT

It was mid-morning when they reached the house, and Daniel advised Muriel to go at once to her room, whither Hussein presently brought refreshments and cans of water for the bath.

"Send Mustafa to me," she said to him, but, understanding no English, and grasping only the name of the dragoman, he pointed towards the Oasis, indicating by signs that the man had not yet returned.

At this she went to the door of her room and called out sharply "Mr.

Lane!"

Daniel, who at the moment had just ducked his head in a pail of water, came into the refectory drying his hair with a towel.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Anything I can do for you?"

"Where's my dragoman?" she asked, suspiciously.

"_I_ don't know," he replied. "I haven't touched him."

Hussein volunteered the information that Mustafa had not yet returned, and Daniel translated the statement into English.

"Well, when he comes," she said, "please send him to me at once."

"No," he replied, very decisively, "I'm going to send him straight off to El Homra before he hears of our little trouble this morning. I can trust Hussein to say nothing in the village, but Mustafa I don't know very well."

She turned angrily to him. "You do like bullying women, don't you!" she sneered.

He looked at her with steady, serene eyes, "You won't need a dragoman for a fortnight," he remarked. "He may as well make himself useful to the Bindanes."

With that he went back to his ablutions, and when, half an hour later, Mustafa made his appearance, Daniel immediately sent him off on his long journey, telling him to convey his compliments to Mr. and Mrs. Bindane and to say that her Ladys.h.i.+p was in the best of health, and would come back to them on the thirteenth day from now.

This done, he called Hussein to him and spoke to him somewhat after this manner: "Her Excellency," he said, "desires to go back to her friends, but I believe I shall be carrying out the wishes of her father by obliging her to remain here. You will therefore take her camel and mine into the village, so that she cannot get at them; and you will notify me at once if she leaves the house. Otherwise you are to treat her with the deference due to her high rank; and I think it will be best to make no mention of what I have told you to your friends."

Hussein bowed, and at once went off to find a suitable stable for the camels.

When luncheon was announced a couple of hours later Muriel came into the living-room, carrying herself with dignity.

"Am I obliged to eat my meals with you?" she asked.

"It will be more convenient," he replied.

"I shall probably be sick," she muttered.

"You'll get used to it," he answered; and therewith they sat down at the table.

The meal was eaten in a distressing silence, broken only by Daniel's polite profferring of salt, pepper, and the like, and by his pressing but vain invitations to her to eat a little more of this or that dish.

When at length they rose from the table, he advised her to go to her room to rest. "You must be very tired," he said, "after getting up so early, and all that excitement."