The Diva's Ruby

the place, and has been carefully guarded for many generations, handed down through the men from father to son; and often the children of these two families have married, yet none of the women ever l

the cream that rises on sheep's milk at evening, and her eyes were like the Pools of Peace in the Valley of Dark Moons; her waist also was a slender pillar of ivor

s like spun gold, and he feared neither man nor evil spirit, going about alone by day and night. Furthermore, he was a great physician, and possessed a small book, about the size of a man's hand, in which was contained all the knowledge of the world. By means of this book, and three small buttons that tasted of mingled salt and

he went out, and when he returned she was sitting at the door watching, and she took care to show her cream-white arm, and her slender ankle, and even her beaut

s dry, her heart fluttered in her maiden breast like a frightened bird, and sometimes, when she would have tried to speak, she felt as if her tongue were broken and useless; the fire ran lightly along her delicate body, her eyes saw nothing clearly, and a strange rushing sound fill

y and spread between leaves of grey paper in a large book; and he wrote spells beside them in an unknown tongue, so that no one dared to touch the book when

his side while he slept in the starlight, and she laid her head beside his, on the sack that was his pillow, and for a little while she was happy, being near him, though he did not know she

e secret place. Rubies! Rubies! Rubies! You shall ha

ht they were bright and cold. She stroked h

e palace and have many slaves, and be always together. For you will always remember that it was Baraka who showed you where the rubies were, and even when you are tired of her you will treat

while she whispered he smiled in his great golden beard

re they are, why should you show them to me? You are betrothed. If you had knowledge of

he answered; and as she knelt beside him, the two little hands held his face towards

ated, 'and I am your father'

nor betrothed,' Baraka answered. 'I will give you the riches

d the stranger. 'Show them

laughed

een me span them with my fingers as I sat at the door, yet you believed not. I have unveiled my face, which it is a shame to do, but you could not believe. I have come to you in the starlight when you were asleep, and still you ha

no larger than her closed hand, and gave it t

them you will love me enough to take me away. It is not far to the place. In two hours we can go and come. To-morrow night, about this tim

the weight told him something, and he guessed that the girl had not tried to deceive him childishly with bits of glass. Though the bag had been in her bosom, and the weather was hot

as alone in the foot-hills and out of sight of the town, searching as usual for new plants and herbs, he crept into a low cave at noon, and sat down just inside the entrance, so that he could see any one coming while still a long way off, and there he emptied the contents of the little leathern wallet into his hand,

and he studied the map thoughtfully in the cave while the great heat of the day lasted; but the lines that his eye followed did not

he rope should not hurt her when her weight came upon it, and so he let her down over the edge of the roof to the ground, and threw the rope after her; and he let himself over, holding by his ha

the stranger followed her closely. He had his sack on his shoulder, his book of plants and herbs was slung behind him by a strap, and in his pockets he had all the money he carried for his travels and his letters to the chiefs,

r some time Baraka led him through little valleys he had often traversed, and along hillsides familiar to him, and at last she entered a narrow ravine which he had once followed to its head, where he had found that it ended

before the pool; the stil

,' Baraka said. 'D

I have been here alone by day. I know this place. The

laughed

or fourteen generations if it were so easy to find o

the traveller.

ll go a little way down the go

where he was to be murdered for the sake of his money and his good weapon? The rubies

ool there is a place where the water from this spr

d the traveller. 'It is so small th

ike fire; and being alone I bathed in the clear pool to cool myself, and I found the way and brought back the stones, which I have hidden ever since. For if my father and brothers know that I have seen the treasure they will surely kill m

the pool before me and I will believe and follow yo

are so handsome! If they come and fi

lip into it and be drowned, for no man could swim in such a place. I have but one life, and I do not

tated and l

this before yo

an answered, for he suspecte

o the ground round her feet and stepped out of it, and folded it also, and laid it beside her veil, and she stood up tall and straight as a young Egyptian goddess in the starlight, clothed only i

and she stepped into the pool an

ed herbs and flowers would dry again, his cartridges were quite waterproof, his letters were in an impervious case, and his money was in coin. When he entered the pool he took his revolver from its place a

ld strike against any jutting projection of the stone and hurt himself. He counted the steps he took, and made them as nearly as possible of equal length. He felt that he was walking on perfectly smooth sand, into which his heavily shod feet sank a very little. There was plenty of air, for the gentle draught followed him from the entrance and chilled

quietly. 'I begin to see t

at each end, wide at the bottom and narrowing to a sharp angle above. But the pool was fed by a spring that never fai

ted and concentrated the dim light. On two sides there were little crescent beaches of snow-white sand, that gleamed like silver. The traveller looked about him and upward to see if there were any

waist, and then she stood still and pointed to a dark hollow just above the little beach. Her wet ga

ousands of them. Fill the sack quickly, but do not t

ound holes in the white sand. He put down his revolver in a dry place, and both his hands felt for the precious sto

but I have been here by daylight and have seen. The lar

ght them out, for the white rocks collected the light; he could see

,' she repeated, 'for you must not t

me of them,' answ

the riches of empires in his grasp, and the time was short; and although he knew that he might some day come back with armed men to protect him, and workmen to help him, he knew also that to do this he must share

ether,' said Baraka, though she judged more by

ght that she was right. Under the water it would be easy enoug

said, 'I will

her hands she went in once more under the rock. The traveller followed her cautiously, carrying t

he water,' Baraka said, just as be

d ran past her in short waves, three of which covered her mouth in quick succession and reached to her eyes, and almo

, when she could speak

e heavy sack and could not move as fast as she. He felt his damp hair rising with fear, for he believed t

ce with great stones, and they will go up the mountain and let themselves down from above with rop

ill her, holding her by her slender throat with his other hand; for

not struggl

d than be alive in another man'

if they could get out alive with the rubies she was sure that he would love her for the sake of the great wealth she had brought him. If they were to starve to death

He understood also that if the men were going to shoot at him from the height they would wait till it was daylight. Baraka stood still in the water, which was up to her waist, and he paid no attention to her, but sat down to think what he should do. The night was warm, and his clothes would dry on him by degrees. He

stly loosened her wet garment from her, so that it hung straight when she stood at the end of the beach, as f

with his hands wherever there was the least shadow, as high as he could reach, t

ka said at last. 'I have be

ove with ropes, till they are near eno

ves. They will leave us here to starve. That is what they will do. It is our portion, and we

l at the girl's quiet tone; but it chilled his blood, for he understood that she

said presently, 'but I did not know it, therefore I mu

d water a man may live for two or three weeks without food. He looked at the black pool in which he could not even see the reflections of the stars as he sat, beca

reamily. 'You are not as we are, yo

ed if she were right

greatest man in the world through me. But now, because we must die, you hate me. I understand. If you do not kill me you w

s. He could see it distinctly. Again there was silence for a long time. Now and then Baraka loosened her only garment about her as she sat, so that it might dry

ng moisture from his revolver. Some men would have been thinking, in such a plight, that if starving were too hard to bear, a bullet

the starlight his sight had probably grown tired, so that he no longer saw it distinctly. He raised himself a little on his hands and pushed himself down till it

descended, warm from the rocks that had been heated all day in

eep if she could. He knew those people and understood; and he did not care, or perhaps he also was glad. He was a man who could only have one thought at a time. When he had left the house of Baraka's father he had been thinking only of the rubies, but now that he was in danger of his life he could think only of saving it, if there were any way. A woman could never be any

is enemies had intentionally stopped up the narrow entrance through which he had to come, both to make his escape impossible, and to hasten his end by depriving him of water. The fallen boulder alone could not have kept out the overflow of the spring effectually. They must have shovelled down masses of earth, with the plants that grew in it abundantly and filled it with twining threadlike roots, and they must have skilfully forced quantities of the stuff into the openings all round the big stone, making a regular dam against

ular breathing. There was no death in her dream, as she slept away the last hours of the night, though there might not be many more nights for her. He he

draining itself through the sand to some subterranean channel, he was lost, but if it was flowing away through any passage like the one by which he h

t Baraka slept on peacefully, curled up on her side like a little wild animal. When the pool was almost dry the traveller crept down to the edge and drank his

he could swallow, for she had understood why he was drinking as soon as she saw that the pool was nearly dry. When she could drink no more she looked up at the rocks hig

into it himself, and understood that it was a sort of quicksand that would suck him down. He therefore threw himself flat on his back, stretching out his arms and legs, and, making movements as if he were swimming, he worked his way from the dangerous place till he was safe on the firm white beach again. He sat up then, and bent his head till his forehead pressed on his hands, and he shut

rne that another woman should have him since he despised her, and if it had come to pass she would have tried to kill that other. But there

bottom of a great natural well that was quite dry. Baraka looked up, and she saw a vulture sitting in the sun on a pinnacle, three hundred feet above her head. He would sit there till she was dead, for he knew wha

ed. There, beside him, lay his camel bag, and in it there were rubies worth a kingdom; and Baraka was very young and was considered beautiful too, among the wild people to whom she belonged. But her father had chosen her name in an evil hour, for she was i

jacket, and opened his flannel shirt at the neck, and turned up his sleeves for coolness, and he crept backwards into the hollow where the ruby mine was, to shelter himself from the sun. But Baraka edged away to the very foot of the cliff, where there remained a belt of shade, even at noon; and as she sat there

till it felt like a dried fig in his mouth. He did not feel hunger, and indeed he had a little food in a wallet he carried; but he could not have eaten without water, and it did not occur to him that Baraka might be hungry. Perhaps, even if he had known that she w

the touch, and the taste of water; to see it alone would be a relief, even if he were not allowed to drink, and to dip his hands into a stream would be heaven though he were not permitted to taste a drop. He understood, in a strangely clear way, that what suffered now was not, in the ordinary sense, his own self, that is, his nerves, but the physical composition of his body, which was being by degrees deprived of the one prime ingredient more necessary than all others. He knew that his body was eight-tenths water, or thereabouts, but that this proportion was fast decreasing by the process of thirst, and that what tormented him was the unsettling of the hydrostatic balance which nature requires and maintains where there is any sort of life in animals, plants,

stood these things, but the knowledge of them did no

enough without thinking about it. All day long the traveller crouched in the hollow of the ruby cave, and Baraka watched him from her place; when it grew dark the vulture on the pinnacle of

lying prone on the sand, his face buried against his arm, as soldiers sleep in a bivouac. She could not tell whether he was asleep or not, but sh

and she saw that his blue eyes were bloodshot and burning; then he picked up the heavy camel bag, and began to make his way round what had been the beach of the pool, towards the passage through which they had entered, and which was now a dry cave, wide below, narrow at the to

this time her father and brothers had, no doubt, completely filled the spring with earth and stones, and had turned the water in the other direction. The traveller must have been almost sure of th

ted. By and by he would come out, drenched with sweat and yet parching with thirst, and he would glare at her

eyes searched every point and crevice of the rock as far as she could see, for she knew that the evil bird could only have been frightened away; and

er as she leaned back to look up. Something white had flashed in the high sun, far up the precip

e was light of foot and sure of hold herself, and could step securely where few living things could move at all without instant danger, but she held her breath as she watched the climber's descent towards her. She saw him plainly now, a brown-legged, brown-armed man in a white shirt and a fur cap, and he had a long gun slung across his back. Nearer still, and he was down to the jutting pinnacle where the vulture had sat, and she saw his black beard; still nearer by a few feet and she knew him, and then her glance darted to the mouth of the cave, at the other end of which the man she loved was toiling desperately

y, since he seemed able to climb down the face of a flat rock where there was not foothold for a cat. He was still descending, he was getting very near; if the traveller were not warned he might come out of the cave unsuspiciously and Sa?d would shoot him. Sa?d would wish to shoot him first, because o

dash like an antelope along the sand for the mouth of the cave, for she knew that Sa?d would not risk wasti

rock with his gun!' she c

the natural wall, but looked as if even he could get no farther down. He was standing with both his heels on a ledge so narrow that more than half the length of his brown feet stood ove

is th

raka answered wi

? Alr

buried it in the sand. Be not angry, Sa?d, though he was my father's guest. Come down hither and I will

him within range of

r,' he answered, but he rested the stock

an's body, that

illed him the night before l

uth of the cave when you s

d you would shoot me from abo

e out again, if

ould not kill me without hearing the truth. So I came out to

cannot come down.

heard a sharp report, not very loud, and more like the snapping of a strong but very dry stick

n before him, so that his body shot down perpendicularly to the sand, where it struck head first, rolled over and lay motionless in a heap. The t

which it had hung over Sa?d's shoulder, and she felt that it was full. Without a thought for herself she hastened back to the mouth of the cave where the

ka joyfully, and sh

lips, with an expression of beatitude. But he was an old traveller and only drank a little, knowing that his

sty yet?' he asked

aka bravely; 'keep

he looked up towards the rocks above. The vult

working,' said the traveller, turning back

were dates and some half-dry bread, and then dragged and pushed, and rolled the dead man from the place where he had fallen. The vulture sat on the low

e brown foot sticking up. It sank slowly out of sight, and then she went to the hollow where the ruby mine was and took up a piece of the broken crust, full of precious stones,

hat her throat was parched and her lips almost cracking with thirst, and that the traveller had a gourd almost full of water with him. For she loved him, and was willing to die that he might l

s day. She was very thirsty and feverish, and felt tired, and wished she could sleep, but could not. Still the traveller toiled in the darkness, and from

in again, and she watched the sand for hours, but it was drier than ever. The

, but all was quite still. Perhaps the traveller had fallen asleep from exhaustion, too tired even to

nd stood still an instant, and then beat again as if it would burst, and she could hardly breathe. She steadied herself against

ile she was walking, and that she was going back to the entrance, so she turned again. But in a few seconds there was light before her on

e saw the sky through an irregular opening on the level of her face. Scarcely believing her senses she thrust out her hand towards the hole. It was re

as lying on the ground, with her face in the little stream, drinking her fill, and forgetful even of the man she loved. In order to deprive them of water the men had dug a channel by which it ran down directly from the spring to the ravine on that

as satisfied. But when she had eaten and drunk, and had washed herself in the stream and twisted up her hair, she sat down upon a rock; and she felt so tired th

gorge, and there was a golden light on the peaks above. She listened then, holding her breath; but there was no sound except

and earth, reached the secret hollow where the pool had been, and made straight for the little mine of precious stones. The traveller had broken out many more than he had been able to carry, but she did not try to collect them all. She was not altogether ignorant of the trade carried on by the men of her family for generatio

began to climb the rocks as fast as she could, for very soon it would be night and she would have to lie down and wait many ho

ne with empty craw and drooping wings. But it was of no use for him to wait; the living, who might have died of hunge