Then she tackled the untoward situation in the only possible way.
"Will you, as you promised, if the hour is come, tell me the tale of the Hawk of Egypt?"
She spoke sweetly, softly, switching out the light.
And Hugh Carden Ali crossed the intervening square of sand, which, however, being one-half his heritage, stretched an impregnable barrier between them, and sank to the ground beside her.
The perfume of her raiment was about him, the sound of her breathing in his ears; all the love and worship of his heart was hers. Yet he merely lifted the hem of her cloak to his lips.
The shadows pressed down upon them as he spoke, quietly, his voice echoing strangely in the Temple of the Gods.
"Behold, the Hawk of Egypt looked forth from the shadows of the mountain fastness, and nothing stirred in the earth or upon the face of the waters.
"Wrong had been wrought and the anger of the gods was as clouds loosened from their hands.
"And behold, as the first sun-ray pierced the fury of the storm, the mighty bird spread wide its wings, which were as of ruby and of emerald and of onyx and of gold as they glistened in the sun, and sailed upon the wind of the morning down towards the plains.
"And as he passed, glittering like a jewel in the crown of Osiris, those of his kind, screaming defiance, spread their wings and hastened west and east.