Notwithstanding the certainty of this assurance, the memory of that giddy path, probably made in the rainy season by the wild goats, haunted Georgia, and when bedtime came she stole out again to make sure that there was no one climbing up it. In the great bare room behind her, Rahah, sitting cross-legged on the floor, was contemplating with much satisfaction the arrangements she had devised for the night. It so happened that among the luggage that had gone astray was Georgia’s mattress and pillow. This loss Rahah had repaired by lying in wait for Dick and informing him of it, receiving, as she had anticipated, an order to carry off his bedding for Miss Keeling’s benefit. She obeyed promptly, regardless of the wrath of his bearer, who cursed her audibly whenever he saw her, for the duty of spoiling the Egyptians was one very congenial to Rahah’s mind. In her view, it was part of a lady’s-maid’s business to exploit every other human being with an eye to her mistress’s pleasure or welfare, and if the Major Sahib was willing to sleep on the floor in order that the doctor lady should be in comfort, it was not for her to baulk him. Georgia, of course, knew nothing, and was to know nothing of this little arrangement; and Rahah sat and yawned, and blinked sleepily at the lamp, and wished that her mistress would come to bed quickly and not stay looking down that horrible cliff.
But Georgia, leaning over the parapet and staring down into the darkness, saw more than the indeterminate outlines of rocks and sun-dried bushes. Her heart was in her mouth as she peered down the cliff, for she felt certain that she had seen something moving below, and that it, whatever it might be, was climbing the hazardous path she had noticed by daylight. Too much fascinated and horror-stricken to move, she remained leaning over the edge until Lady Haigh stepped out of the carved doorway behind her and startled her by speaking suddenly.
“Oughtn’t you to be coming to bed, Georgie? It is very late, and you have had an anxious day. What are you looking at down there?”
“Oh, Lady Haigh, there is some one—a man or several men—climbing up the cliff!” was the gasping answer, as Georgia turned round with a blanched face.
Lady Haigh pushed her gently aside and looked over as she had done.
“There is something there, certainly,” she whispered; “but it is almost sure to be only a goat.”
Somewhat reassured, Georgia returned to her post of vantage, and side by side they watched together the upward progress of the dark body, until the sound of labouring breath reached them, showing that the climb must be a severe one.
“It is a man,” said Lady Haigh. “Can they get quite to the top?”
“No, about twenty feet down the cliff begins to slope outwards.”
“Then we won’t alarm the gentlemen just yet. It may be only one of our own servants trying to discover us, and we don’t want him to fall into Abd-ur-Rahim’s hands. We shall soon see whether this man’s intentions are hostile.”