Nobody seemed able to answer the question propounded so simply. The captains of the guard, all old soldiers and comrades of the missing warrior, said that they knew not how to explain his absence.
“He may have gone reconnoitring,” said one.
“Some mischance hath surely befallen him in the night,” said another.
“An evil genie may have spirited away him and his companions,” said a third, who was brave, but imaginative, and suspected of composing poetry in his hours off duty.
“Most likely he hath proven traitor, and deserted,” said the voice of another, who was not of the old guard.
“Ha! what sayest thou?” cried Kayenna. “Come hither. Thy words are ominous. Come to my tent at noonday, and we will inquire further. This disappearance must be explained.”
Nothing more was heard of the missing soldier and his fellows; and the caravan, much disturbed in mind, halted at noon by the oasis of Rhi, near to the wells of Bûrbon, famed for the exhilarating quality of their waters.
“And so thou hast reason to apprehend that Ben Zoin and his men have deserted the caravan of the Pasha’s wife, being traitors or cowards?” queried Kayenna of the man who had suggested that explanation at the morning muster.
“No,” stammered the man: “I have no reason, only that it stands to reason that they could not have gone away save of their free will; and what else could they be but traitors if they”—
“Strange,” mused Kayenna, “that an honest man never suspects his neighbor of being a knave, while a rascal is ever distrustful. But suspicion is like a plague. Once started, it attacks all. I even have caught the infection, and cannot withhold my suspicions of this worthy fellow. Let him be searched forthwith, so that my unjust thoughts of him may be forever dispelled.”