ert men, from
Caids to camel-drivers, look forward to its pleasures."

He planned to let the girl see El Aghouat for the first time at sunset.
That was to be one of his surprises. By nature he was dramatic; and the
birth of the sun and the death of the sun are the great dramas of the
desert. He wished to be the hero of such a drama for Victoria, with El
Aghouat for his background; for there, he was leading her in at the gate
of his own country.

When they had passed the strange rock-shape known as the Chapeau de
Gendarme, and the line of mountains which is like the great wall of
China, Maieddine defied the danger he had never quite ceased to fear
during the five long days since the adventure on the other side of
Bou-Saada. He ordered the carriage curtains to be rolled up as tightly
as they would go, and Victoria saw a place so beautiful that it was like
the secret garden of some Eastern king. It was as if they had driven
abruptly over the edge of a vast bowl half filled with gold dust, and
ringed round its rim with quivering rosy flames. Perhaps the king of the
garden had a dragon whose business it was to keep the fire always alight
to prevent robbers from coming to steal the gold dust; and so ardently
had it been blazing there for centuries, that all the sky up to the
zenith had caught fire, burning with so dazzling an intensity of violet
that Victoria thought she could warm her hands in its reflection on the
sand. In the azure crucible diamonds were melting, boiling up in a
radiant spray, but suddenly the violet splendour was cooled, and after a
vague quivering of rainbow tints, the celestial rose tree of the Sahara
sunset climbed blossoming over the whole blue dome, east, west, north
and south.

In the bottom of the golden bowl, there was a river bed to cross, on a
bridge of planks, but among the burning stones trickled a mere runnel of
water, bright as spilt mercury. And Maieddine chose the moment when the
minarets of El Aghouat rose from a sea of palms, to point out the
strange, pale hills crowned by old koubbahs of marabouts and the
military hospital. He told the story of the Arab revolt of fifty odd
years ago; and while he praised the gallantry of the French, Victoria
saw in his eyes, heard in the thrill of his voice, that his admiration
was for his own people. This made her thoughtful, for though it was
natural enough to sympathize with the Arabs who had stood the siege and
been reconquered after desperate fi