To ask him not to make a noise was to demand the impossible. With one hand he pushed his henchman vigorously to one side. The latter dropped his cymbals, which rattled off the platform with an ear-splitting crash.
All the while Abra in stentorian tones, and holding back the folds of the tent, was shouting at the top of his voice—
"This way, ladies! for the great soothsayer Mirrab, the sale of love-philters and charms, and of the true elixir of life."
"The die is cast, Margaret mine," said Ursula, trying vainly to steady her voice, which was trembling, and her knees which were shaking beneath her. "Art coming?—Oh! I—I—feel a little nervous," she admitted in spite of herself, "and you—oh! how your hand trembles. . . ."
She was frankly terrified now. The noise was so awful, and though she did not dare look to the right or left of her she was conscious that she and her friend were no longer alone on the open place. She could hear the murmur of voices, the sound of idle folk gathering in every direction.
Her instinct suggested immediate flight, and the abandonment of this mad adventure while there was yet time, but her pride urged her to proceed. She gripped Margaret's wrist with a resolute hand and made a quick rush for the steps.
Alas! she was just two seconds too late. The next instant she felt her waist seized firmly from behind, whilst a merry voice shouted—
"Cornered at last!"
Wrenching herself free with a sudden twist of her firm young shoulders, Ursula contrived to liberate herself momentarily. She was dimly conscious of having caught sight of Margaret in the like plight as herself.
"Not so fast, fair one," whispered an insinuating voice close to her, "a word in thy pretty ear."