The Valley of the Kings Part 7

"They hate me very much there," said Iskender miserably. "I fear they tell you things not true about me."

"I know the truth from you, don't I? Let them say what they like!"

Iskender went forth from his presence, pondering this rea.s.surance, which contained no comfort for him, since he had given his lord to understand that he had received his education at the Mission as an independent paying pupil, and had quite concealed the fact that his mother was a washerwoman. The Emir, if he thought at all of the matter, supposed him a youth of substance. How could he think otherwise, when he heard Iskender offer to defray the cost of horses, and saw him daily bring some present in his hand? Now he would learn the truth.

Elias was standing in the doorway talking to Daud son of Musa when his friend came out. He noticed his glum looks, and asked the cause.

"My Emir is going to visit that accursed missionary, who hates me and will work my ruin if he can."

"Why then remain a Brutestant among such enemies? Return to the Orthodox Church, and thou shalt find friends enough."

The mighty Daud deigned for once a glance at Iskender. The house of Musa were fanatics in religion.

Elias took Iskender's hand and went out with him.

"The news is bad for me, too," he said ruefully, "for they hate me also--curse their religion!"

"What matter for thee? He is not thy Emir. For me, it is the risk of life itself."

Iskender broke away from him at the first chance, and walked back to his home upon the sandhills. His mother screamed surprise at sight of him.

"My Emir is busy," he explained, a.s.suming cheerfulness as a good shield from questions, which might easily have probed too far into his cause for grief. For the same reason he forbore all mention of the purposed visit of his Emir to the Mission. "I am free to-day, and so returned to see if I could help thee in the house."

Receiving his offer of help in sober earnest, she sent him presently upon an errand to the house of Costantin; but on the way there, with the Mission full in sight, its red tiles glaring fiercely in the noon-day sun, it occurred to him that his Emir would surely fall in love with the Sitt Hilda. Rent by the twofold anguish of the thought, he wandered aimless for an hour, and then returned, to gape at mention of an errand. His mother hurled a saucepan at his head.

"May thy house be destroyed!" she screamed. "Nay, go not now. It is too late! Within this minute I have seen Costantin take the road to the town. O Lord, what have I done to be thus afflicted?"

Iskender then sat down before the threshold, and fell to drawing pictures in the sand, smoking cigarette after cigarette without contentment, till he knew by the shadow of the p.r.i.c.kly-pears that the afternoon was well advanced; when he changed his position for one commanding the approach to the Mission, lit a fresh cigarette and began his watch.

"Thou dost smoke enough for twenty men!" his mother scolded. "Thou art always asking me for cash to buy the stuff, even now when thou hast thy Emir! Take from him, he will be none the wiser. Thou hast no more intelligence than a sheep."

Iskender heard her not. He had caught sight of the figure of a Frank moving briskly along the ridge of the opposite dune. It seemed but a second ere it pa.s.sed into the Mission, and was lost to sight. Iskender fell face downwards, making some idle play with the sand for his mother's benefit, the while his heart went out in prayer to Allah. It seemed an age ere the Emir came forth. From where he lay Iskender could not distinguish so much as the colour of his clothes, yet he fancied he could see his heart was sad or angry. Having watched him out of sight, he sprang up suddenly and strode off towards the Mission in the hope of news. As luck would have it he met Asad son of Costantin.

"I was on my way to tell thee." That youth of promise grinned from ear to ear at the sudden encounter. He had to apply his mind for a minute to a stick of sugar-cane he was sucking before he could compose a countenance suitable to the bearer of ill tidings. "The Father of Ice--curse his father!--has done what I told thee he would do, has ruined thee with thy Emir. He made thee out the lowest of the low, and told his Honour of thy boast that thou wouldst use his money as thy own, even to the extent of making him pay for thy education as a painter in the English schools. He told him it was wrong for him to ride on horseback beside one like thee--for whom to ride an a.s.s were signal honour. Ah, I a.s.sure thee by Allah he has done it thoroughly.

I have the story from the maid who carried tea to them. She listened by the door at my request, because I knew how nearly it concerned thee."

By way of consolation Asad offered to his friend a length of sugar-cane he had himself sucked three parts dry. It was accepted blindly.

Iskender knew not what he did or said. He wandered by the sea till it was dark, and then went home and pa.s.sed a sleepless night in dreams of wealth, by which alone it seemed his love could be cleansed from all appearance of self-interest. Before his mother awoke in the morning he slipped out, and walked into the town, where he loitered down by the quay, kicking his heels, until it was time to present himself at the hotel and learn his fate.

"The khawajah has announced his will to ride alone to-day, and for an hour only," said Selim the son of Musa, who stood sunning himself in the doorway.

The words struck like bullets on Iskender's heart, they so cruelly confirmed the tale of Asad son of Costantin.

Elias arrived, and asked him how he did. Iskender made known his tidings in a voice half-choked by grief.

"Was any word said against me?" asked the dragoman eagerly.

Iskender shook his head.

"The praise to Allah! Take heart, O my soul! If I am still in favour, I can plead for thee."

"Thou in his favour! Thou art nought to him!" replied Iskender with a sudden burst of spite.

Elias was about to answer angrily when the subject of their speech appeared. Both sprang to their feet expectantly. But the Emir, with a blunt "Good-morning," pa.s.sed them by and mounted the horse which stood in waiting before the door. They watched him ride away, then turned and gazed into each other's eyes. Both agreed that there was nothing for it but to sit down again and await further revelations of the will of Allah.

When the Emir returned, after less than an hour's absence, his temper had improved, for he laughed at a joke of Elias, and suffered them both to accompany him to his room. Elias pushed home his advantage, telling a succession of funny stories in exaggerated broken English. The Emir laughed heartily, and talked with him. Iskender, abashed by the uncertainty of finding favour, dared not risk a word; and his loved one never even looked at him.

"You come with me, sir, this afternoon. I show you sefral things you neffer seen!" said Elias, when the bell had rung for lunch.

The Emir consented.

"You see, he hears me!" cried the dragoman with exultation, when he and Iskender were once more alone together. "Confide in me, and I will lead him back towards thee!"

The touch of patronage entombed Iskender. His Emir, to be led to him by Elias! But "Weep not, O my soul!" the latter begged him. "Come with us this afternoon and I will bring thee forward."

CHAPTER IX

The son of Yacub longed to be alone and weep his fill, but could not leave Elias in possession. It was as a dumb and piteous plea against the usurpation of Elias, and not from any hope of reinstatement, that he attended the Emir that afternoon, when the dragoman led them among the stinking alleys of the town, under archways and through private houses, pointing out sites of interest which Iskender felt sure were of his own invention; and he very soon wished that he had kept away. For Elias, according to his promise, "brought him forward," begging the Emir to have compa.s.sion on him, because he was a good boy and devoted to his Honour's service. Iskender could only mutter, shamefaced, when the Frank addressed him.

"Why did you deceive me? I thought you were well off, or I should never have accepted all those presents. Now you must please accept a trifle from me."

Iskender found in his hand a piece of gold, and saw Elias nodding and grimacing. He murmured words of thanks perfunctorily, the while he gnashed his teeth with secret rage. Such kindness was an outrage to his love, being given at the bidding, in the presence, of the rogue Elias. The cup of his humiliation overflowed.

"Now all is well," Elias told him afterwards. "Be thankful that thou hast a friend like me. He smiled on thee; he gave thee money. Thou art back in favour."

Iskender was obliged to thank him kindly. What his soul needed was to be alone with his Emir, to throw himself at his feet, and win his true forgiveness. The casual kind word with a fee was worse than nothing in the realm of love. But Elias, as if of fixed intent to thwart him, stood always in the way, annihilating the unhappy youth with condescension, bidding him cheer up and amuse his Honour. Iskender heard his rattle with a stupid admiration which the Emir's applauding laughter made quite envious. He himself had fallen to the level of a mere serving-lad, to run his Honour's errands and be tipped occasionally.

His mother judged that things were thriving with him, since he brought home money; and he did not undeceive her, wishing to keep his grievous fall a secret as long as possible; though soon, he feared, it must be evident to all the world. Already Yuhanna and the other dragomans jeered at him in the streets, acclaiming the triumph of Elias, their own comrade. He thought of invoking the aid of his uncle Abdullah, but that respectable man was for the moment absent on Cook's business.

There seemed no hope of success by his own efforts, for in the presence of the Emir he could not now think clearly, nor find a word to please.

Distress of longing set a cloud upon his brow, a weight upon his tongue, which was not lightened when Elias chaffed him for a dull companion.

It was only when alone that he regained his normal wit; and then his soul leapt up in envy of the brilliant dragoman. Elias was clever; he had seen the world; his position as a dragoman would bear inspection.

No wonder that the Frank preferred him to the son of a poor washerwoman, whose lowliness Elias himself was always emphasising.

Thus attacked, and without defence, since there was no denying that his origin was humble, Iskender's pride took refuge in its old imaginings.

Walking to the hotel, he would picture himself a king's son in disguise, or else the owner of enormous treasure; would smile, and clench his hands, and step exultantly; would think:

"If the Emir but knew me as I really am!" But, approaching the Emir, such fancies vanished. They were of no use because no one would believe them. It took Elias to give truth to wondrous stories by judiciously eschewing points that could be verified. Iskender, in great anguish, prayed to Allah to destroy Elias, or at least to teach His servant a true story, that he might outshine the miscreant.

Dazzled by the triumph of that splendid liar, he thought of story-telling as the only way to the Emir's good graces; and lay awake whole nights constructing fables which the first faint light of dawn showed to be worthless.

An appeal to the good nature of his rival failed irrevocably. When Iskender entreated to be left alone with his Emir, were it but for five minutes, Elias stiffened, crying:

"Curse thy father! What means this plaintive whisper in my ear? Thy Emir! He was thine by his own will, and has tired of thee. Now he is my Emir. It is natural he should prefer the society of a grown man who has dwelt in England, and acquired the manner of its n.o.bles, to that of a loutish, sullen boy, untravelled, ignorant! Behold, I have stood thy friend. But for me, he would have cast thee off entirely. . . . Leave thee alone with him? No, by Allah, that I will not--and have thee telling wicked lies against me."

Iskender turned away in great unhappiness, deeming his last hope gone.

That night he lay awake and thought of wealth as the only power that could confound his enemies. At last he fell asleep and dreamt of gold--nothing but gold; small rounded pebbles of it clothed the ground for miles. It was more, ten thousand times, than all the wealth of all the kingdoms put together. The sky above was black as pitch, though something told him that the hour was noon; the gold put out the sun.