"And now onward, onward, my Alpha!"
The Nubian mounts his horse, and the swift dromedary speeds his way
through the desert.
The night is clear, and the moon is shedding a golden lustre over
the sand, through which the ship of the desert is flying with its
rich prize, and behind it the Nubian, his hand on his pistol, ready
to shoot down any one who may dare to attack his master.
Now the rider draws rein and stops the dromedary; the sublime image
of the desert-queen, silvered over with the moonlight, towers before
them in majestic proportions.
"This is the desert-queen, the goddess of all the Bedouins!" cries
Mohammed. "Do you wish to see her, Butheita? I am sorry for you, and
would gladly remove the cloth from your head and eyes in order that
you may see. But if you are cruel, you might tear my arms with your
teeth. Will you do that, Butheita?"
She starts and shakes her head, inwardly rejoicing, for she
recognizes these words, and remembers that she spoke them when he
lay a prisoner on the cushion before her. And he now continues to
speak just as she spoke then
"You shake your head, and I will trust you and loosen your bonds."
He quickly unties the cuffei and removes it from her head. She looks
up at him who is bowed down over her, and the kind moon sheds her
soft light upon them, and enables them to see each other.
Oh, happy moment! Forgotten is all, forgotten the long separation--
forgotten, also, that her father will be angry and will grieve for
her! She looks only at him, sees only him, and yet, as he now bends
down closer, she turns her face aside.
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