Desperation had swept her completely off her course towards the whirlpool of impulsiveness, into which the hot-headed flounder, to struggle, sink and drown.
A moment’s thought, a whole-hearted surrender to her subjects’ wishes, a joke at her own expense, a laugh, and she might even then have won back her hold upon the men who, as all Arabs, were swayed by the emotions of the moment and as easily placated as they were easily roused.
Her love had passed; the mockery in her men’s eyes, the insolence in the black slave’s words, signalled her defeat; the future, bereft of power, loomed cold and barren, yet, in the smart of the wound dealt her colossal vanity, she gave no thought to aught but swift, sure revenge upon those who had been the chief cause of her downfall.
The grooms of the stables standing half-way down the slight incline, devoured by curiosity, fled at sight of her, and rushed to their quarters at the back of the buildings.
She paid no attention.
Time pressed, and she required but a halter-rope with which to guide Lulah, the fastest mare in all Arabia, across the desert. There was no necessity for questioning; the fresh tracks of the camels or horses ridden by the fugitives would show plainly on the sand in the light of the coming day. In the agony of her humiliation she gave no thought to weapons; all she wanted was to find the white man with his woman, to get within spear range, and then to leave the rest to Allah the Merciful and Compassionate.
Terrified at the gleam of the white cloak, Lulah backed across the loose box, then lashed out until it seemed she must break the partition with her dainty, unshod hoofs. Her beautiful, soft eyes rolled as she backed into the corner, and she jerked her head, lifting Zarah from the ground, when the Arabian caught her by the halter-rope; she stood quite still for a moment, snuffing at the cloak, then suddenly rushed for the open door and bolted, slipping, sliding, with the girl running at her side, down the passage between the stalls, through the outer door, and out on to the broad ledge upon which the stables had been built.
She reared when Zarah vaulted to her back, then, exhilarated by the dawn and under the pressure of the girl’s knees, danced sideways towards the edge, whilst the men, who watched the splendid picture, held Al-Asad forcibly, and Yussuf’s Eyes peeping from behind the rock which hid them, tapped an answer to the blind man’s question.
The black mare reared until struck between the ears, when she crashed to her feet, slipped them over the edge, tried to regain her foothold, then, under her own impetus and the pressure of the girl’s knees, who was too savagely impatient to pull the beautiful beast back to the made track, slithered like a goat down the path from the stables to where it joined the upward track which led to the cleft.
Zarah took her up the steep incline at a terrific rush, and pulled her at the top until she reared again. For one instant they stood sharply outlined against the night sky in which the morning breeze blew out the stars one by one, then vanished, as the battle-cry, mocking, challenging, rang through the air down to the men standing close together upon the plateau.