in safety for another couple or so of
hours? This she kept to herself; it was her wise policy to remain
_douce comme un lapin blanc_, which she did. The night might still see
her an accepted part of Michael's cavalcade. The adventure thrilled
her with excitement.

They had finished their evening meal, which Millicent had supplied--a
very satisfying and delicate dinner. They had eaten it in the open
desert during the cool hours which precede sundown. Michael had
thoroughly enjoyed it. The evening light transformed the desert; a
heavenly Jerusalem seemed very near. Even Millicent was obedient to
the unseen.

As the sun sank lower and lower in the heavens, their conversation
drifted towards the subject of Akhnaton's Aton worship. The kneeling
figures of the Arabs, praying in the desert before sundown, had
introduced the topic.

They sat on until the globe of gold dropped behind the horizon--a
wonderful sight in the desert. For a minute or two its sudden and
complete disappearance leaves the world chill and desolate; a cold hand
clutches at the human heart; a loneliness enters the soul. God has
abandoned the world; the warmth of His love becomes a memory.

* * * * * *

The afterglow was at its most flamboyant; its orange and yellow,
streaked with black, suddenly became vermilion. Lights from the
underworld struck across the desert like swords of fire; arms of flame
broke the vermilion, soaring to heaven like the fires from hell's
furnace let loose. The anger and beauty and recklessness was
appalling. Then with magic swiftness, during the flickering of an eye,
the horizon became one vast lake of sacrificial blood.

The transition was so unexpected, so devastating to the human mind,
that fear filled Millicent's heart. Instinctively she had drawn a
little closer to Michael. She craved for arms to guard her, to protect
her from the terror of the heavens.

* * * * * *

Like a black silhouette against the lake of blood, a human figure rose
up out of the desert, a John the Baptist, "a burning and shining
light," a voice calling in the wilderness.

As the sonorous words of the Koran were borne to them, Millicent said,
"Oh, Mike, it's my holy man! How mysterious he looks against that
wonderful sky!"

Subconsciously Michael had been so grateful to Millicent for her
silence during the stupendous glory of the sunset that his heart was
full of ge