“Look,” she said, pointing to an eagle
that circled so high in the blue heavens above them
that it seemed no larger than a hawk, “that bird
is more in your power, and nearer to you than I am.
Before you laid a finger on me I would find a dozen
means of death, but that, I tell you again, you will
never live to do.”
For a while Ishmael was silent, weighing her words
in his mind. Apparently he could find no answer
to them, for when he spoke again it was of another
matter.
“You say that you hate me, Rachel. If so,
it is because of that accursed fellow, Darrien—whom
you don’t hate. Well, he, at any rate, is
in my power. Now look here. You’ve
got to make your choice. Either you stop all
this nonsense and become my wife, or—your
friend Darrien dies. Do you hear me?”
Rachel made no answer. Now for the first time
she was really frightened, and feared lest her speech
should show it.
“You have been through a lot,” he went
on, slowly; “you are tired out, and don’t
know what you say, and you believe that I killed the
old people, which I didn’t, and, of course,
that has set you against me. Now, I don’t
want to be rough, or to hurry you, especially as I
have plenty of things to see about before we are married.
So I give you three days. If you don’t
change your mind at the end of them, the young man
dies, that’s all, and afterwards we will see
whether or no you are in my power. Oh! you needn’t
stare. I’ve gone too far to turn back, and
I don’t mind a few extra risks. Meanwhile
make yourself easy, dear Richard shall be well looked
after, and I won’t bother you with any more
love-making. That can wait.”
Rachel rose from her seat and pointed with the spear
to the door in the wall.
“Go,” she said.
“All right, I am going, Rachel. Good-bye
till this time three days. I hope my women will
make you as comfortable as possible in this rough place.
Ask them for anything you want. Good-bye, Rachel,”
and he went, bolting the wall door behind him.
THE THREE DAYS
He was gone, his presence had ceased to poison the
air, and, the long strain over, Rachel gave a gasp
of relief. Then she sat down upon the bench and
began to think. Her position, and that of Richard,
was desperate; it seemed scarcely possible that they
could escape with their lives, for if he died, she
would die also—as to that she was quite
determined. But at least they had three days,
and who could say what would happen in three days?
For instance, they might escape somehow, the Providence
in which she believed might intervene, or the Zulus
might come to seek her, if they only knew where she
was gone. Oh! why had she not brought a guard
of them with her to Ramah? At least they would
never have insulted her, and Ishmael’s shrift
would have been short.
