“Stasch!”
“What is it, my dear?”
“Why,” she asked in a trembling, uncertain voice, “why do Gebhr and Chamis walk around the tree and look in at me?”
Stasch suddenly felt as if thousands of ants had taken possession of him.
“What are you talking about?” he said. “There’s no one here. Kali is the only one walking around the tree.”
But she stared through the dark opening and cried with chattering teeth:
“And the Bedouins! Why did you kill them?”
Stasch put his arm around her and pressed her to him.
“You know why! Don’t look over there! Don’t think of it! That happened long ago.”
“To-day! To-day!——”