AFTER a sleepless night, Carl arose early to take a stroll and enjoy his pipe.
He had tried to woo sleep in every known way, but in vain. In his mind’s eye lurked the face of the girl he knew he loved better than anything on this earth, and through his brain whirled her promise to give anything a woman could offer to the man who could save her home from destruction.
Sana had told him, the night before, that every morning it was her custom to ride on horseback to the not far distant Lake Faguibi. So Carl inquired the way of the hotel keeper.
A few miles of brisk walking and he was at the lake. Looking around, and seeing no one, he sat down in a secluded spot, thinking of Sana and his plan to flood the Sahara.
Time passed and Sana not yet coming into vision, he took his binoculars from their case and adjusting them, swept the surrounding country with his gaze. Looking over the waters of the lake, he noticed, not far from shore, a bather, enjoying a morning plunge. Focusing his glasses, he saw it was Sana, swimming, unhampered by even a bathing suit, in the blue-green water.
Not wishing to spy on her he put down his glasses, to while away the time with his pipe, until she should have finished with her swim and had resumed her attire.
After a time he again swung his glasses in the direction in which he had last seen her. She was no longer in the water. Leveling his binoculars on the shore, he scrutinized the scene closely. Ah! There she was. She was sitting on a stone behind some shrubbery, with only her legs to be seen below the foliage. She had evidently been out of the water for some time for he noticed that she was dressed.
As he watched he saw a large butterfly alight on her left knee, moving undisturbed toward the top of her stocking. Sana was perhaps putting a finishing touch to her hair, for her hands were not to be seen. At any rate the butterfly resumed his progress without fear.
That was all Carl could see and he studied the scene for a while as he would have meditated on a work of art. Surely the gods had given her beauty.
