Georgia’s preparations were now almost complete. Rahah had added several native loaves and a quantity of flour to her stock of provisions, together with a saucepan and a new water-jar, and Fitz brought Georgia the paper on which he had written out the Morse code, and reminded her that it was possible, by means of two mirrors placed at right angles to each other, to obtain a flash when the sun might seem to be too low in the heavens for signalling to be attempted with success. The only thing now left to be done, although it was a very important one, was to obtain Abd-ur-Rahim’s consent to the expedition. It occurred to Georgia that in this she might find a powerful ally in Khadija, and before sending Rahah to ask the old commandant to come and speak to her, she returned to the room in which she had left the sorceress. When Abd-ur-Rahim appeared, Rahah was walking meekly behind him, and passing into the inner room, took her place behind her mistress without a word; but it struck Georgia presently that she must have made a suggestion to him on the way.
“What does the doctor lady require?” asked Abd-ur-Rahim.
“I wish to go to Bir-ul-Malikat with Khadija, who has one sick in the house that she desires me to see,” said Georgia.
“But the doctor lady must remember that it was not even permitted to her yesterday to visit the sick in the town, outside the citadel. How, then, could her servant suffer her to cross the desert to Bir-ul-Malikat?”
“But surely you will make an exception in favour of Khadija, who is the servant of your lord Fath-ud-Din?” urged Georgia, aghast at this new possibility of failure just as success seemed to be in her grasp.
“I know not,” replied Abd-ur-Rahim, cautiously. “Who is it that is sick?”
“Make no inquiry into matters that concern thee not, O Abd-ur-Rahim,” put in Khadija, with more than the usual touch of sharpness in her tone. “It is enough for thee that one of thy lord’s household is sick, and that I desire the doctor lady to come and see her. It will not be for thy health, nor for that of thine house, for thee to put difficulties in the way of her coming.”
Abd-ur-Rahim grew visibly paler under the implied threat. “But what shall I say to my lord and to the English if any evil befalls the doctor lady?” he asked, helplessly.
“What evil should befall her?” snapped Khadija. “Am I a dog, to ill-treat the one who comes to help me?”
“Nay,” stammered Abd-ur-Rahim. “Far be it from me to hint evil concerning thee. But there are dangers in the desert, and perhaps among the servants at Bir-ul-Malikat there might be—— Nay, I cannot let the doctor lady go unless I have a surety in her place.”