during the day the dahabiyeh was towed a few yards to the south of the great bluff of rock in which the temple is cut, and was moored in a small, secluded bay, where it would be sheltered from the prying eyes of tourists who would be coming ashore from the weekly steamer. here, on the one side, there were slopes of sand topped by palms and acacias, behind which were precipitous cliffs; and, on the other, the wide river stretched out to the opposite bank, where, amongst the trees at the foot of the rocky hills, stood the brown huts of the village of farêk.
it was a hot little cove, and by day the sun beat down from cloudless blue skies upon the white dahabiyeh; but the richly-coloured awnings protected the deck, and a constant breeze brought a delectable coolness through the open windows of the cabins below, fluttering the little green silk curtains and gently swinging the hanging lamps. by night the moon and the stars shone down from the amazing vault of the heavens, and were reflected with such clarity in the still water of the bay that the vessel seemed to be floating in mid-air with planets above and below.
a scramble over the sand and the boulders around the foot of the headland brought one to the terraced forecourt of the temple where sat the four colossal statues; and at the side of this there was a mighty[265] slope of golden sand, sweeping down from the summit of the cliffs, as though in an attempt to engulf the whole temple. a laborious climb up this drift led to the flat, open desert, which extended away into the distance, until, sharply defined against the intense blue of the sky, the far hills of the horizon shut off the boundless and vacant spaces of the sahara beyond.
it was a place which, save at the coming of the tourist steamers, was isolated from the modern world: a place of ancient memories, where hathor, goddess of love and local patroness of these hills, might be supposed still to gaze out from the shadows of the rocks with languorous, cow-like eyes, and to cast the spell of her influence upon all who chanced to tread this holy ground.
of all the celestial beings worshipped by mankind this goddess must surely make the fullest appeal to a man in love, for she is the deification of the eternal feminine; and jim, having lately studied something of the old egyptian religion, deemed it almost a predestined fate that had brought him to this territory dedicated to a goddess who personified those very qualities that he loved in monimé.
hathor, the ashtaroth and the istar of asia, was the patroness of all women. identified with isis, her worship extended in time to rome, where she was at last absorbed into the christian lore and became one with the madonna, so that even to this day, in another guise, she accepts the adoration of countless millions.
here at abu simbel, in her aspect as lady of the western hills, she received into her divine arms[266] each evening the descending sun, and tended him, as a woman tends a man, at the end of his day’s journey. as goddess of those who, like the sun, passed down in death to the nether regions, she appeared as a mysterious saviour amidst the foliage of her sacred sycamore, and gave water to their thirsty souls; while to the living she was the mistress of love and laughter, she was the presiding spirit at every marriage, she was the succouring midwife and the tender nurse at the birth of every child, and upon her broad bosom every dying creature laid its weary head.
in this charmed region, where yellow rocks and golden sand, green trees and blue waters, were met together under the azure sky, which again was one of the aspects of hathor, jim passed his days in supreme happiness, now working with tremendous mental energy at some poem which he was composing, now tramping for miles over the high plateau of the desert, whistling and singing as he went, and now basking in the sun upon the terrace of the temple where monimé was painting. the benign influence of the great goddess seemed to act upon them, for daily their love grew stronger, working at them, as it were, with pliant hands, until it smoothed out their every thought and rounded their every action.
each week the post-boat on its way to wady halfa delivered to them a letter from england in which ian’s nurse gave them news of her charge; but this was almost their only connection with the outside world, for they usually avoided the temple when the weekly party of tourists were ashore. eagerly they read these letters, which told of the[267] boy’s boisterous health in the vigorous air of an english watering-place; and afterwards they would sit hand-in-hand talking of him and of his future. jim was immensely proud of his son, and many were the plans that developed in his head for the child’s happiness and good standing. it would not be long now before he would be able to confess to monimé his true name and position, and to tell her that a home and an income were assured to the boy.
love is a kind of interpreter of the beauties of nature; and in these sun-bathed days jim’s heart seemed to be opened to a greater appreciation of the wonders of creation than he had ever known before. in the winter season there is an amazing brilliancy of colour in a nubian landscape, and the air is so clear that to him it seemed as though he were ever looking at some vast kaleidoscopic pattern of glittering jewels set in green and blue and gold, to which his brain responded with radiant scintillations of feeling.
in whatever direction his eyes chanced to turn he found some sight to charm him. now it was a kingfisher hovering in mid-air beside the dahabiyeh, or falling like a stone into the water; now it was a bronzed goatherd, flute in hand, wandering with his flock under the acacias beside the water; and now it was a desert hare, with its little white tail, bounding away over the plateau at the summit of the cliffs. sometimes a great flight of red flamingos would pass slowly across the blue sky; or in the darkness of the night the whirr of unseen wings would tell of the migration of a flock of wild duck. sometimes in his rambles he would disturb the slumbers[268] of a little jackal, which would go scuttling off into the desert, while he waved his hand to it. or again, a lizard basking on a rock, or a pair of white butterflies dancing in the sunlit air, would hold him for a moment enthralled.
the grasses and creepers which grew amidst the tumbled boulders at the edge of the nile would now attract his attention; and again a great palm, spreading its rustling branches to the sunlight and casting a liquid blue shadow upon the ground, would hold his gaze. here there was the ribbed back of a sand-drift to delight him with its symmetry; there a distant headland jutting out into the mirror of the water. sometimes he would lie face downwards upon the sand to admire the vari-coloured pebbles and fragments of stone—gypsum, quartz, flint, cornelian, diorite, syenite, h?matite, serpentine, granite, and so forth; and sometimes he would go racing over the desert, bewitched by the riotous north wind itself and the sparkle of the air.
but ever he came back at length to the woman who, like the presiding hathor, was the fount of this overflowing happiness of his heart. in the glory of the day he watched her as she walked in the sunlight, the breeze fluttering her pretty dress, or as she slid with him, laughing, down the slope of the great sand-drift beside the temple; or again as she ran hand-in-hand with him along the edge of the river after a morning swim, her black hair let down and tossing about her shoulders.
by night he watched her as she stood in the star-light, like a mysterious spirit of this ancient land; or as she came out from the dark halls of the temple,[269] like the goddess herself, gliding towards him in a moonbeam with divine white arms extended, and the smile of everlasting love upon her shadowed lips. in the dim light of their cabin he saw her as she lay by his side, her eyes reflecting the gleam of the stars, the perfect curve of her breast scarcely apparent save to his touch, and her whispered words coming to him out of the veil of the midnight.
it is not easy to select from the nebulous narrative of these secluded days any particular occurrence which may here be recorded; yet there was no lack of incident, no dulness, no stagnation, such as he had experienced in the seclusion of eversfield. towards sunset one afternoon he and she were walking together upon the high desert at the summit of the cliffs, and were traversing an area which in pharaonic days was used as a cemetery. here there are a number of small square tomb-shafts cut perpendicularly into the flat surface of the rock, at the bottom of which the mummies of the nubian princes of this district were interred. these burials have all been ransacked in past ages by thieves in search of the golden ornaments which were placed upon the bodies; and now the shafts lie open, partially filled with blown sand.
presently jim paused to throw a stone at a mark which chanced to present itself; but, missing his aim, he picked up a handful of pebbles and threw them one by one at his target until his idle purpose was accomplished. meanwhile monimé had strolled ahead, and jim now ran forward to overtake her. the setting sun, however, dazzled his eyes, and suddenly he stumbled at the brink of one of these open tombs. there was a confused moment in[270] which he clutched desperately at the edge of the rock, and then, falling backwards, his head struck the side of the shaft, and he went crashing to the bottom, twenty feet below, landing upon the soft sand with a thud which seemed to shake the very teeth in his jaws.
for some moments he sat dazed, while little points of light danced before his eyes, and the blood slowly ran down his cheek from a wound amidst his hair. then he looked around him at the four solid walls which imprisoned him, and up at the square of the blue sky above him, and swore aloud at himself for a fool.
a few seconds later the horrified face of monimé came into view at the top of the shaft, and, to reassure her, he broke into laughter, telling her he was unhurt and describing how the accident had happened.
“but your head’s bleeding,” she cried in anguish. “where’s your handkerchief?”
“haven’t got one,” he laughed. “lend me yours.”
she threw down to him an absurd little wisp of cambric, with which he endeavoured vainly to staunch the red flow.
“it’s nothing,” he said. “it’s only a little cut. how the devil am i to get out of this?”
she plied him with anxious questions; and presently, recklessly ripping off the flounce of her muslin dress, she tossed it to him, telling him to bandage the wound with it.
“i’m afraid you’ll have to go back to the boat,” he said, “and get a rope and a sailor to hold it. i’m most awfully sorry.”
she would not go for help until she had satisfied[271] herself that he was in no danger; and when at last she left him it was with the assurance that she would be back with all possible speed.
“try rolling down the big sand-drift,” he said, anxious to be jocular. “it’s the quickest way. i did it yesterday, and was down in no time. it’s a pity you haven’t a tea-tray about you: it makes a fine toboggan.”
but when he was alone he leant heavily against the wall, feeling dizzy from the loss of blood and suffering considerable pain. presently his attention was attracted by one of those hard, black desert beetles which are to be seen so frequently in egypt parading busily over the sand with creaking armour: it was hurrying to and fro at the foot of the wall, vainly seeking for a way of escape from the prison into which it had evidently tumbled but a short time before. upon the sand around him there were the dried remains of others of its tribe which had fallen down the shaft and had perished of starvation; and in one corner there was the skeleton of a jerboa which had died in like manner.
for a considerable time he sat staring stupidly at this beetle and mopping his head with the muslin flounce; but at last monimé returned with two native sailors, who speedily lowered a rope to him. to climb the twenty feet to the surface, however, was no easy matter in his stiff and exhausted condition; and very laboriously he pulled himself up, barking his shins and his knuckles painfully against the rock.
he had nearly reached the top when suddenly he remembered the imprisoned beetle; and his fertile imagination pictured, as in a flash, its lingering death. “wait a minute,” he said, “i’ve forgotten something.”[272] and down the rope he slid to the bottom, while monimé wrung her hands above.
he picked up the beetle. “come along, old sport,” he whispered. “blessed if i hadn’t forgotten all about you.” he placed the little creature in the pocket of his coat, and once more began the painful ascent. the exertion, however, had opened the wound again, and now the blood ran down his face as he strained and swung on the rope. his strength seemed to have deserted him, and had it not been for the two sailors who drew him up bodily as he clung, and at last caught hold of him under the arms, he would have fallen back into the shaft.
no sooner had he reached the surface than he carefully took the beetle from his pocket, and sent it on its way. then turning to monimé, who had knelt on the ground, he obeyed her order to lie down and place his head upon her knee, whereupon she began to bathe the wound with water from a bottle she had brought with her. she had also remembered, even in her haste, to bring scissors and bandages; and now with deft fingers she cut away the hair from around the wound, and bound up his head with almost professional skill.
the two sailors were presently sent back to the dahabiyeh, and, as soon as they were out of sight, she bent over his upturned face and kissed him again and again. to his great surprise he felt her tears upon his cheek.
“why, what’s the matter?” he asked, tenderly passing the back of his hand across her eyes. “did i give you an awful fright?”
“no, it isn’t that,” she answered, trying to smile. “i’m only being sentimental. i was thinking about[273] your beetle, and about the text in the bible that says, ‘inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these....’”
it was not many days before jim had fully recovered from his hurts. the bracing air of lower nubia at this season of the year is not conducive to sickness. the vigorous north-west wind seems to sweep the mind clear of all suggestion of ailment, and the sun to purge it of even the thought of infirmity. monimé, indeed, had difficulty in persuading him to submit at all to her ministrations, dear though they were to him; for the heart is here set upon the idea of physical well-being, and nature thus heals herself.
sometimes, as jim walked upon the cliffs in the splendour of the day, his nerves tingling with the joy of life, his thoughts went back to those long years at eversfield, and he compared his present attitude of mind with that he had known at the manor. there the grey steeples and towers of oxford, seen beyond the haze of the trees, were sedative and subduing. there the passionate heart was tempered, the violent thought was sobered, the emotions were quieted.
but here the brilliant sunlight, the sparkling air, and the great open spaces, induced a grand heedlessness, a fine improvidence, a riotous prodigality of the forces of life. here a man lived, and knew no more than that he lived; nor did he care what things the future held in store for him. during these weeks jim gave no thought to his coming movements, save in a very general way. his mind leapt across the abyss of difficulties which lay in his[274] path, and arrived at the fair places beyond, where monimé and ian were to travel hand-in-hand with him.
his attitude towards his little son was shaping itself in his mind at this time into some sort of clear recognition of his parental responsibilities, vague perhaps, but none the less sincere. as an instance of this development in his character mention may be made of a certain sunset hour in which he and monimé were seated together upon the high ground overlooking the vast expanse of the desert to westward of the nile.
in this direction, behind the far horizon, lay the unexplored sahara, extending in awful solitude across the whole african continent to its western shores, three thousand miles away. for a thousand miles and more this vast and almost uninhabited land of silence is known as the libyan desert. behind this is the great tuareg country, extending for another fifteen hundred miles; and beyond this lies the ancient land of mauretania, where at last, in the region of rio de oro, there is again a populated country.
in no other part of the world can a man stand facing so huge a tract of uncharted country, and nowhere does the call of the unknown come with such insistence to the ears of the imagination. in this untenanted area there is room for many an undiscovered kingdom, and hidden somewhere amidst its barren hills and plains there may be cities and peoples cut off from the outer world these many thousands of years.
it is the largest of the world’s remaining areas[275] of mystery; it is the greatest of all the regions still to be explored; for the sterile and waterless desert holds its secrets secure by the fear of hunger and the terror of thirst. the inhabitants of the nile valley declare to a man that somewhere in this wilderness there stands a city of gold, whose shining cupolas and domes are as dazzling as the sun itself, and whose streets are paved with precious stones.
jim had often talked to the natives in regard to this lost city, and all had assured him that it truly existed, though no living eyes had seen it.
on this particular occasion, as he watched the sun go down amidst the distant hills which were the first outworks in the defences of these impregnable secrets, he was overwhelmed with the desire to penetrate, if only for a few hundred miles, into this mysterious territory, and eagerly he spoke to monimé in regard to the possibilities of such an expedition.
she sighed. “i shouldn’t be able to come with you, jim,” she said, “however much i should long to do so. i have to consider ian first.”
“yes,” he answered at once. “i was not really speaking seriously. the thought of what may lie hidden over there sets one dreaming; but actually i wouldn’t feel it right now to go hunting for fabulous cities.”
he spoke with sincerity, and it was only after the words were uttered that he realized the change which had taken place in his outlook. no longer was he free to act as he chose: he had to consider the interests of another, and, strange to relate, he was quite willing to do so.
