The Way of the Spirit

THE WAY OF THE SPIRIT

direct family of the Pharaohs, or tied to him as lawful wife, would have dared to wear – told their own tale. Moreover, in one hand she held a bowl of glass, and in the other a jar of alabaster, and from the jar she poured a libation into the bowl and offered it to Harmachis, saying, in a sweet voice, and in Arabic, Bakhita prompting her to the words:

“Grant, I pray thee, O thou clothed with the sun, which is the symbol of the spirit, a safe journey to me, by blood the last of thy priestesses, and to this woman, thy worshipper, who is of my kin!”

As she spoke she turned her head, and the light of the lamp fell full upon her face, and it was lovely as a flower, clothed with a kind of beauty that was new to Rupert, for never had he seen its like. The large eyes – dark, liquid, and lustrous – the broad and noble brow, the lips somewhat full and red, in type purely Eastern, the fine-cut nose spreading a little at the nostrils, the rounded, childish cheeks, the firm yet dimpled chin, were all set like a framed picture in the straight-trimmed, formal masses of that curling hair. Taken separately, there was nothing wonderful about these features, but together, animated and illumined by that sweet, slow smile and the tremulous mystery of the proud yet pleading eyes, ah! who had ever seen their fellow!

In his anxiety to witness more of this most fascinating spectacle, Rupert thrust himself further forward. In so doing the hand that supported the weight of his body slipped on the rock, against which his signet-ring grated, making a loud noise in the utter silence of that dead place.

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Bakhita, whose ears were quick as those of any fox, heard it, and wheeling round, sprang to the lamp, snatched it from the altar, and rushed to the doorway. Rupert attempted to retreat across the corridor, purposing to take refuge in one of the side-chambers which open out of the inner hall. It was too late. She was on him, so realising the danger of leaving his back exposed, he turned, and they came face to face.

“Bakhita,” he said, “it is I,” for already a knife flashed in her hand.

She let her arm fall and scanned him.

“Rupert Bey!” she exclaimed. “So you are back again. Well, I have heard, also I always knew that you would come. But what do you here disguised as an Arab sheik? And why do you spy upon us at our rites? Oh! I tell you that had you not been Rupert Bey, by now you were a dead man.”

Meanwhile, the younger woman, who had followed Bakhita, not knowing the cause of the disturbance, actually stumbled against him, then recoiling, stood still, and in her amazement slowly let her hand sink, thereby emptying upon his feet the contents of the bowl she held.

It was a very curious sight – this big Englishman in his Arab robe, standing quite still and upright, lest any show of fear should bring about a knife-thrust, and the beautiful Eastern woman in her sacred but diaphanous garb, wearing the disc and the imposing emblem of Egyptian royalty, and slowly pouring her involuntary libation upon his feet. Its setting also was strange. All around were the great columns and carven walls, and staring down at them from beyond the altar those mutilated but still awful gods.

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“Put up that knife,” he said, “and come into this side-cham- ber and I will tell you.”

Bakhita stooped, and lifting a dark, camel-hair cloak from where it lay on the floor near to the altar, threw it about the shoulders of her companion, drawing its hood over her head. Then taking her by the hand, she said to Rupert:

“We follow!” and led the way between the columns to the first chamber that opened on their right. It was a rough place, which probably in past ages had served as a storeroom of the temple, peopled with many bats that flittered to and fro unceasingly, uttering thin cries. Setting down the lamp upon one of the stone benches or tables with which it was furnished on either side, she said: “We are your servants, Rupert Bey,” adding, with her grim smile: “Have we not poured a libation to you?” and she looked at his feet wet with the contents of the glass bowl.

“It was not to me that you came here to pour libations,” he answered, laughing. “Now tell me, friend. What was this lady doing?” and he bowed towards the younger woman, “for never have I been more curious to learn anything upon earth.”

“Tell us first what you were doing, Rupert Bey? Nay, not about your business – I know all that – but why you followed us into the sanctuary?”

“For the same reason that you followed me into the temple – by pure accident. I was seated at the feet of one of the columns when you passed me, though who you were I did not guess. Afterwards, seeing the light, I came to look. That is my story; now for yours.”

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“Mea,” she said, “tell him what you will. He has seen; but he is a true man, and I think will keep our secrets if he promises, especially as he knows that if he does not, then I will do my best to kill him.”

Rupert laughed, for he was not frightened at Bakhita’s threats. Meanwhile the lady called Mea was searching his face with those wondrous eyes of hers. Then she spoke in a low, rich voice and in English, not Arabic.

“Will you promise to be true to me, Gentleman?” she asked, in a curious idiom and speaking with a strong accent.

“If you mean not to tell your secrets, certainly!” he answered, smiling.

“My secrets, they are very little ones, only babies so high,” and she held her hand near to the floor. “You see, Bey, I live far out in the desert, and my people and I, we still old Egyptians though we cannot read their writings, and only remember a little – a very little, about the gods and what they mean. Now, dressed like my mothers when they pray, I come here to-night with Bakhita, my aunt, your friend, to make offering to that god with the sun upon his head, because I in much danger and wish to ask him to bring me safe back to my own place.”

“Where, then, do you come from, lady?”

“I? I come from school – Mission School at Luxor. I tired of living in the stupid dark, so I go there two year ago to learn all about the white people, and the English talk, and – “ she added with triumph, “you hear, I learned him.”

“Yes,” he said; “you learned him very well. And what else did you learn?”

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“Much. Reading, writing, ‘rithmetic, gography, history of U. S.A., British Empire, and old Egypt, especially old Egypt, because I one of him, though they no know that who think me common girl, no one know that but you, Bey, who catch me in act of worship. I learn religion too, and think it very good, much the same as mine, only different.”

“Are you a Christian, then, lady?” asked Rupert again.

She shook her head, causing the disc and little golden snake she wore to glisten in the lamp-light.

“No, not quite Christian, only half, not baptized. I afraid if baptized, make old fellows – “ and she pointed towards the gods in the sanctuary, “angry and bring bad luck.”

“I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious,” said Rupert, quoting aloud to himself.

She looked puzzled, then her face brightened as the meaning of the last word came home to her.

“No,” she said, “not superstitious like beastly Mahommedan, only afraid. That why I come here in not decent nightdress,” and she held out her little foot naked except for the sandal, and again shook her head as though in regret for a state of affairs over which she had no control.

Rupert laughed loudly, causing the bats which had settled to flitter from the roof again, and Mea, who seemed to be a merry little soul, joined in his laughter. This made old Bakhita angry, and she reproved them both in a stern voice.

“Do not cackle here,” she said, in Arabic, “in the very house of the gods, though it is true that to one of you they are no gods, and already the other has a foot set in that same path,” and she glanced wrathfully at Mea. “Listen, Bey! I make a re-

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quest of you. I do not for myself, who am old and ugly, but for this lady. I have heard that you ride to-morrow at night-fall. Now our road is yours, for I know the sheiks to whom you go. Give us and our two servants leave to ride with you. We have good camels of our own,” and she looked at him with anxious eyes.

“Why do you want my escort, and whither?” he asked doubtfully.

“Why? For this reason. Do you remember the Sheik Ibrahim, he of the Sweet Wells? Yes, I see you do. Well, he is an old enemy of our house. He asked for the lady here in marriage, and was refused. Yes, the dog, he dared to ask that after once, by ill chance, he had seen her beauty. Now he has found out that we are going to make this journey, and his plan is to take her as already he has tried to take her at Luxor. But if we were with you, that he would not dare to do, for he has prostrated himself to the Government since you were away, and will not touch one whom he knows to be their envoy, although you may call yourself Mahommed, and be dressed like an Arab.”

“I am not sure of that,” answered Rupert. “Friend Ibrahim does not love me.”

“No; but he fears you, which is better. With you we should be safe.”

“How long do you wish to travel with me?”

“Two days only, till you come to the pass in the Jebal Marru. There you will follow along the mountains, but we cross them, and go on into the desert that is called Tebu till we come to more mountains and a certain secret oasis among them, which we name Tama, where no white man has ever set his foot. A

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while ago, Bey, you asked me of the lost temple. It stands there in our home, and I promise you this – let us ride in your shadow, and whenever you have leisure I will show you that temple in payment. Yes; and the wonders of the burying-place of the kings of the desert who once ruled there, and whose child, the lady Tama, stands at your side. Refuse, and I swear that you shall never see them.”

“The bribe is great,” said Rupert, “but, mother, I must not take bribes.”

“No,” she answered, “it is your business to offer them, is it not, else why do you carry so much gold in your baggage? Ah! I see I have good spies.”

“So good,” he said, “that evidently on this point they have misinformed you,” for he was sure that she was but guessing. “Well,” he repeated, “I must not be bribed, and pleasant as would be the company of both of you, I have other game to hunt.”

Mea drew herself up, looking wonderfully dignified notwithstanding her lack of height, and said in Arabic:

“My aunt, our request is refused; it is not seemly that we should ask again. We will go down the Nile a little, and hide till our messengers bring us an escort. Let us bid this Bey farewell; we keep him from his sleep.”

“Perhaps the Bey has not done speaking,” said Bakhita, who saw that Rupert had but paused in his words.

“You are right, mother, as usual,” he went on, “and you know so much that I do not mind telling you a little more. It is my object to travel as a merchant; in fact,” he added, “I have taken to that business which is more profitable than fighting.”

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Bakhita waved her hand to indicate that to attempt to throw dust in her eyes was mere waste of time, and he continued, smiling:

“Now merchants often take women with them, calling them their wives or daughters, purposing to sell or to make gifts of them to great emirs or sultans, whereas soldiers never do. Therefore, perhaps if you were in my company I should look more like a merchant, so I think that if you wish it, I will take you. No, no, do not bow to me, for my own sake, not yours, especially as we are not sure of the way to the Jebal Marru, and doubtless you can guide us. Also have no fear; all that I have seen and heard is secret, though one day I hope that you will show me that temple in the oasis. Now I ride to-morrow at moonrise as I wish to pass the Sweet Wells the next night when men are asleep. You and your two servants can meet me where the path joins the road beyond the hill.”

Bakhita seized his hand and kissed it. Evidently her mind was much relieved, and she was very grateful. Fearing lest her companion should follow her example, Rupert, who disliked such displays, said to her:

“Now that this is settled, are you not going to finish pouring your libations on the feet of the god yonder?”

Mea shook her head and answered:

“That I no can do; the libation is all poured on the feet of the man. I hope the god will not be, what you call it, jealous, and make you pay,” and lifting the alabaster vessel she turned it upside down to show that it was empty.

“Then I will say good-night,” said Rupert, “as perhaps it is best that we should not leave this place together. To-morrow,

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CHAPTER XII

THE WANDERING PLAYERS

The moon was up, and Rupert, in his Arab garb and mounted on a dromedary, rode at the head of his caravan towards the district called Sheb, in which the Sweet Wells were situated. A few miles from Abu-Simbel, where the paths crossed, his head-man, a sergeant named Abdullah, drew his attention to four figures on white camels who appeared to be waiting for them, and asked if he should go forward to learn their business. Rupert answered no, as they were only two women and their servants to whom he had promised escort as far as Jebal Marru. The man saluted and said nothing. Presently the four joined the caravan, two veiled bundles, in whom indeed it would have been difficult to recognise Bakhita and Mea, placing themselves beside him and the men falling behind.

“So you have come,” said Rupert, saluting them.

“Bey, we have come,” answered Bakhita. “What else did you expect?” and without more words they rode forward across the desert.

Presently, in the midst of the intense silence, far away as yet, they heard a sound of wild music that grew clearer as they

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