“‘Mine Eyes’ waits without to lead you by the hidden path to where the dromedaries stand,” Yussuf whispered. “Nay, speak not, tarry not, there is little time to spare. The dromedaries must be but specks upon the horizon when the men cease their games to seek their slumber.”
Trenchard wrapped himself in the burnous Yussuf offered him and followed him to the door, where they stood for a moment in the shadows, listening to the shouts of the men, which came startlingly clear on the night air.
“Bowlegs fights with the Lion,” whispered Yussuf. “Now is the moment chosen by Allah for the escape. ‘Mine Eyes’ will lead you to the dromedaries, and I will go to fetch her Excellency, to carry her over the dangerous places and down the steep path to where love and happiness will await her.”
“But if the Arabian does not sleep? How then?”
“Then must you go to her and break her neck to save your own woman. What is she, this daughter of two races? We tire of her. If she dies he who will govern in her stead will be chosen by the casting of lots. Hasten, Excellency, for we know not at what hour the medicine of sleep was administered unto the tiger-cat. Also do the women, who hate the white woman and who are the yeast wherewith this trouble has been fermented, rise early to be about the business of the new day.”
Trenchard, wrapped in the burnous, followed Yussuf as he made his way without hesitation to the spot where “His Eyes” sat in the shadows.
Yussuf whispered the dumb youth’s name and questioned him, and nodded his head in satisfaction when the youth, in the code they had invented, tapped the answers to the questions upon his friend’s arm.
“All is ready, Excellency.” Yussuf spoke as calmly as if he discussed a pleasure trip to the nearest oasis. “Namlah waits at the edge of the sands of death. The camels are well laden with water and bread for many days. They are the swiftest in Arabia, renowned from Hadramut to Oman. Bred in Oman, they will need no drink for ten days if there is none to spare. Namlah accompanies you, and——”
“And you, Yussuf? You’re coming with us; we can’t leave you behind to face the racket. You have got to come. ‘Your Eyes’ can’t let his mother go without him.”