Jakoub stopped.
“Down here, effendi,” he called through the wind, pointing to a hole that the moving sand had silted up but could not fill.
I hesitated. It was like being invited to go down a rabbit-burrow. Jakoub disappeared down the hole, and his lean, brown, beautiful hand alone was left inviting me to follow.
I took his hand and went down after him. It was impossible to hesitate, alone there in that blinding hurricane. I slid down through sand, and sand followed my clumsy descent like an avalanche. Then I found my feet on rock. I felt my way down a rough descent, with Jakoub’s loathed assistance, and I found myself on level solid ground in total darkness.
Jakoub had brought his lantern and lit it at once.
At first I could see nothing but his hated face, smiling into mine.
“All raight here, effendi,” he said, and behind him I saw all the packing-cases the camels had carried.
Although I had seen the camels were relieved of their loads, I had never thought of how the things might be bestowed. I had thought of nothing but my own discomfort, and had accepted all Jakoub’s efforts to lessen it. He and his Arabs must have worked hard to get all this merchandise down here, while I slept. I recognised that he did not despise me without some reason.
Of course Edmund or Welfare would have seen the stuff bestowed before anything else. I had shown myself a mere passenger.
Jakoub saw me looking at the packing-cases.