With that Edouard left to fetch his instruments, leaving the Sultan gazing down at the result of his own mad desire for vengeance—a red, oozing wound on a girl's white breast.
When the doctor returned, whilst he probed after the bullet Le Breton held Pansy with firm, careful strength, lest, in pain, she should move and send the instrument into the heart Cameron's shot had just missed. But she was unconscious through it all. Although the probing brought a further gush of blood, Edouard managed to locate the bullet and extract it.
After the wound was dressed, and Pansy bound and bandaged up, the doctor left.
With his departure the Sultan sent for Pansy's belongings, which his soldiers had brought up as plunder from the raid.
There was no woman among his following, so he sent one of the guards to inquire if there was one among the captives.
Presently Pansy's mulatto maid was brought to him.
Alice was a pretty brown girl of about seventeen, clad in a blue cotton slip, and she wore a yellow silk handkerchief tied around her black curls. With awe she gazed about the sumptuous tent; with admiration at her handsome, kingly captor.
He, however, had nothing to say to her, beyond giving her instructions to serve her mistress and warning her to use the utmost care.
When Alice set about her task he went from the tent to interview Edouard.
Pansy's condition had upset his plans. Even if the girl recovered, she could not be moved for a week at least, no matter how carefully her litter was carried. And a force as large as his could not stay a week in the neighbourhood without the fact becoming known.