The Figure In The Mirage | Page 4

haze she saw again the phantom Arab galloping upon his horse. But now he was clear in the moon. Furiously he rode, like a thing demented in a dream, and as he rode he looked back over his shoulder, as if he feared pursuit. Mademoiselle could see his fierce eyes, like the eyes of a desert eagle that stares unwinking at the glaring African sun. He urged on his fleet horse. She could hear now the ceaseless thud of its hoofs upon the hard sand as it drew nearer and nearer. She could see the white foam upon its steaming flanks, and now at last she knew that the burden which the Arab bore across his saddle and supported with his arms was a woman. Her robe flew out upon the wind; her dark, loose hair streamed over the breast of the horseman; her face was hidden against his heart; but mademoiselle saw his face, uttered a cry, and shrank back against the canvas of the tent.
"For it was the face of the Spahi who had ridden in the procession of the Governor--of the Spahi to whom she had thrown the roses from the balcony of Algiers.
"As she cried out the mirage faded, the Arab vanished, the thud of the horse's hoofs died in her ears, and Tahar, the dragoman, glided round the tent, and stood before her. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight like ebon jewels.
"'Hush!' he whispered, 'mademoiselle sees the mirage?'
"Mademoiselle could not speak. She stared into the eyes of Tahar, and hers were dilated with wonder.
"He drew nearer to her.
"'Mademoiselle has seen again the horseman and his burden.'
"She bowed her head. All things seemed dream-like to her. Tahar's voice was low and monotonous, and sounded far away.
"'It is fate,' he said. He paused, gazing upon her.
"'In the tents they all sleep,' he murmured. 'Even the watchman sleeps, for I have given him a powder of hashish, and hashish gives long dreams--long dreams.'
"From beneath his robe he drew a small box, opened it, and showed to mademoiselle a dark brown powder, which he shook into a tiny cup of water.
"'Mademoiselle shall drink, as the watchman has drunk,' he said--'shall drink and dream.'
"He held the cup to her lips, and she, fascinated by his eyes, as by the eyes of a mesmerist, could not disobey him. She swallowed the hashish, swayed, and fell forward into his arms.
"A moment later, across the spaces of the desert, whitened by the moon, rode the figure mademoiselle had seen in the mirage. Upon his saddle he bore a dreaming woman. And in the ears of the woman through all the night beat the thunderous music of a horse's hoofs spurning the desert sand. Mademoiselle had taken her place in the vision which she no longer saw."
My companion paused. His pipe had gone out. He did not relight it, but sat looking at me in silence.
"The Spahi?" I asked.
"Had claimed the giver of the roses."
"And Tahar?"
"The shots he fired after the Spahi missed fire. Yet Tahar was a notable shot."
"A strange tale," I said. "How did you come to hear it?"
"A year ago I penetrated very far into the Sahara on a sporting expedition. One day I came upon an encampment of nomads. The story was told me by one of them as we sat in the low doorway of an earth-coloured tent and watched the sun go down."
"Told you by an Arab?"
He shook his head.
"By whom, then?"
"By a woman with a clear little bird's voice, with an angel and a devil in her dark beauty, a woman with the gesture of Paris--the grace, the diablerie of Paris."
Light broke on me.
"By mademoiselle!" I exclaimed.
"Pardon," he answered; "by madame."
"She was married?"
"To the figure in the mirage; and she was content."
"Content!" I cried.
"Content with her two little dark children dancing before her in the twilight, content when the figure of the mirage galloped at evening across the plain, shouting an Eastern love song, with a gazelle--instead of a woman--slung across his saddle-bow. Did I not say that, as the desert is the strangest thing in nature, so a woman is the strangest thing in human nature? Which heart is most mysterious?"
"Its heart?" I said.
"Or the heart of mademoiselle?"
"I give the palm to the latter."
"And I," he answered, taking off his wide-brimmed hat--"I gave it when I saluted her as madame before the tent door, out there in the great desert."

End of Project Gutenberg's The Figure In The Mirage, by Robert Hichens
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