Yussuf had planned everything, but had forgotten to take into consideration the extraordinary trait in the character of the white races which urges them to give their life for their brother at the slightest provocation. He raised his hand to flash the signal, then dropped it to listen to Ralph Trenchard speaking.
“There is a proverb in England,” he was saying slowly, so that everyone should understand, “which says, ‘One man can take a horse to the water, but ten cannot make him drink.’ You will never make the girl, who will one day be my wife, wait upon you as a servant, neither will you make me work under your half-caste lover.”
Which words were also lacking in diplomacy, taking everything into consideration.
A great silence fell. The men thought that Zarah had been rather badly cornered; she waited out of sheer dramatic instinct. Then she laughed, laughed until the hall was full of the sweet sound, as she turned and sank into her chair.
She had the prisoners in the hollow of her hand, and not one whit of their punishment would she spare them.
She put her exquisite, golden-sandalled foot upon the ivory footstool, and looked at Helen.
“Loosen the white woman!”
She spoke curtly, and the men holding Helen sprang back.
“I would remove my sandals, Helen R-r-aynor-r! Come and loosen them!”
Helen smiled and shook her head. Torture would not force her to save her life by humiliating the white races.