I will, if you will permit me, remain with
you in the mean while, and do nothing but look at you. I will be
your slave; drink the sweet dew from your lips, and read your
commands in your eyes. Tell me, pearl of women, will you accept me
as your slave?"
Without answering his question, she knelt down blushingly, and
untied the cords that bound his hands and feet. "Now, stand up, a
free man!"
He arose, and with a feeling of intense relief, stretched out the
hands that ached from their long confinement, and extended his arms.
He would gladly have clasped the girl in their embrace, but, with
the grace and ease of a gazelle, she sprang back out of his reach to
the door of the tent, and looked at him threateningly.
"Mohammed Ali, if you abuse your freedom, you are not the man I took
you to be."
He bowed his head in silence. "You are right, Butheita, forgive me!
I submit to the will of the desert queen; I am your slave, and await
your commands; command me, and I will humbly obey."
He looked at her inquiringly. Butheita's large black eyes gazed at
him with a soft expression, and again a tremor agitated her gentle
being.
"I desire nothing more, sarechsme," said she, timidly, "than that
you remain here in the rear apartment of the tent, and I beg you,
should any one come, to remain here quietly; as it is that place
generally reserved for women, no one will dare to enter it.
Pages:
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487