He got up.
"P'r'aps I'll be out till morning. I wonder if Hamdi's got a goat."
He went away for his gun. In a very few minutes he left the camp, gaily calling to her, "Sleep well, Ruby! You look like a sorceress standing there all lit up by the fire. The flames are flickering over you. Good night—good night!"
His steps died away in the sands, his voice died away in the darkness.
She waited, standing perfectly still by the fire, for a long time. Her soul seemed running, rushing over the sands towards the ridge that met the sky, but her will kept her body standing beside the flames, until at last the sportsmen were surely far enough away.
"Ibrahim!"
"My lady?"
"How are we going?"
She was whispering to him beside the fire.
"Does it matter the camel-men knowing? Are they to know? Am I to ride or walk?"