We did see. And we couldn't help rejoicing in their pluck, as well as in the sight of them, though it was all against our common sense.
"We've ordered our own camels, and a tent, and things to eat and drink, so we shan't be any bother to you," Monny went on, as Anthony rather gravely shook hands, his eager brows lifted, his eyes smiling in spite of himself. "We couldn't have done it, if it hadn't been for Slatin Pasha. We first went and confided everything to him, because we knew he loved adventures and would be sure to sympathize. These gentlemen from the camp are his friends, and they've organized our little expedition at his request. More than one person can use the telegraph, you know! And oh, won't it be lovely going with you out into the desert!"
It was not yet evening when we set forth; but it was the birth of
another day when we arrived within sight of Corkran's camp. The tents
glimmered pale in the light which comes up out of the desert before
dawn, as light rises from the sea; and so deep was the stillness that
it might have been a ghost camp. There was not even the howling of a
dog; and this silence was more eerie than the silence of sleep in a
lonely place; because of the tale a grandson of Asmack's had brought to
the village. He was one of the Nubian men Corkran had engaged to help
his Arab workmen from the north; and when the whole gang had been
discharged he, suspecting that some secret thing was on foot, hid in
the desert-scrub that he might return by night to spy. He had wished
his brothers to stay with him, but they, fearing the djinns who haunt
the mountain and have power at night, refused, and begged him to come
away lest he be struck by a terrible death. The legend was that Queen
Candace, the queen who ordered the making of the tomb—had been a
witch. When she died, by her magic arts learned from the lost Book of
Thoth, she had turned all those aware of the tomb's existence, into
djinns, to guard the secret dwelling of her soul. Even the great men of
the court who by her wish hid in the mountain her body and jewels and
treasure, became djinns the moment they had closed and concealed the
entrance to the tomb. They could never impart the secret to mortals;
and because of the knowledge which burned within their hearts, and the
anguish of being parted forever from those they loved, the tortured
spirits in prison grew malevolent. While the sun (still worshipped by
them as Rã) was above the horizon they had no power over men, but the
moment that Rã? "died his red death" the djinns could destroy those who
ventured within such distance of the mountain as its shadow might
reach: and if any man ventured nearer in the darkness of night, he
heard the wailing of the spirits. Camp had been pitched beyond the
shadow's furthest reach; but the night after the workmen were
discharged, Asmack's one brave grandson had been led by curiosity to
approach the haunted mountain. When he had crept within the trench most
lately dug, he had heard the wicked voice of the djinns raging and
quarrelling together. There had been a threatening cry when they knew
how a man had defied their power, and the Nubian had escaped a fate too
horrible to put in words, only by running, running, until his breath
gave out, and the sun rose.
This story gave the silent desert power even over European minds, as we came where the small camp glimmered, just outside the Shadow's wicked circle.
Not one of Asmack's men would go with us to the tent, which was evidently that of the leader. He might be lying there dead, struck by the djinns, they said, and all those who looked upon the body would be accursed. The three women would not have gone to Corkran's tent, even had we allowed them to do so; and Sir Marcus, already a slave, though a willing one, stayed with his adored lady and her friends, inside the ring which the Nubians proceeded to make with the camels. Carrying a lighted lantern Anthony and I walked alone to the tent.
The flap was down, but not fastened, and the canvas moved slightly as if trembling fingers tried to hold it taut.
"Colonel Corkran!" I called out, sharply. But there was no answer.