OCR Text |
Show bare foot, then on the other, cast a shifty, sidelong glance at Benchail.lal, and crept out of the cafe. The Spahi saw him walk straightforward in the sun until he reached the cemetery beyond the high- road. There he began to wander round and round among the stones that marked the graves, circling almost as a hungry pariah dog sometimes does when it seeks by night for carrion. Benchail.lal wondered why he had · come into the cafe. What had drawn him? He had surely shown a sort of sympathy, a sort of desire for companionship. Had his possessing thought of a woman gone out to Benchail.lal's thought of a woman? When he met Lady Wyverne in the gorge that night he had come up to her, he had stopped beside her, he had gazed upon her, almost as if he fancied she was his Ayesha. Pif! The poor wretch was mad \ •• s Useless to think about him! N evertheless, the Spahi's eyes followed his green robe as he circled--circled among the tombs in the glaring afternoon sun. It was nearly sunset when Benchail. lal rose up, paid for his coffee, and went out onto the white road. He did not know yet that the Roumi had gone hunting again in the mountains. Achmed had not told him. But now, on the road, he met the sleepy boy from the inn and he learned the news. "They will be out all night, Benchail. lal Hamdan ben Mohammed," said the boy. "The Roumi has taken a tent to sleep in. They have gone towards the Tell, to the mountain of '; the dwellers in the rocks." /// Benchail.lallistened in silence, look-f: ing very grave. This news surprised~£: him, but he did not show any surprise .. "Is Achmed with the stranger, Englishman?" he said, at length. |