Chapter 16

He raised his head with an indefinable expression of joy. His hand trembled with happiness when he shook mine.

"You will see," he repeated excitedly, "you will see."

Ecstatically, he took me in his arms and held me there a long moment.

An extraordinary happiness swept over both of us, while, alternately laughing and crying like children, we kept repeating:

"We must hurry. We must hurry."

Suddenly there sprang up a slight breeze that made the tufts of thatch in the roof rustle. The sky, pale lilac, grew paler still, and, suddenly, a great yellow rent tore it in the east. Dawn broke over the empty desert. From within the stockade came dull noises, a bugle call, the rattle of chains. The post was waking up.

For several seconds we stood there silent, our eyes fixed on the southern route by which one reaches Temassinin, Eguéré and Ahaggar.

A rap on the dining-room door behind us made us start.

"Come in," said André de Saint-Avit in a voice which had become suddenly hard.

The Quartermaster, Chatelain, stood before us.

"What do you want of me at this hour?" Saint-Avit asked brusquely.

The non-com stood at attention.

"Excuse me, Captain. But a native was discovered near the post, last night, by the patrol. He was not trying to hide. As soon as he had been brought here, he asked to be led before the commanding officer. It was midnight and I didn't want to disturb you."

"Who is this native?"

"A Targa, Captain."

"A Targa? Go get him."

Chatelain stepped aside. Escorted by one of our native soldiers, the man stood behind him.

They came out on the terrace.

The new arrival, six feet tall, was indeed a Targa. The light of dawn fell upon his blue-black cotton robes. One could see his great dark eyes flashing.

When he was opposite my companion, I saw a tremor, immediately suppressed, run through both men.

They looked at each other for an instant in silence.

Then, bowing, and in a very calm voice, the Targa spoke:

"Peace be with you, Lieutenant de Saint-Avit."

In the same calm voice, André answered him:

"Peace be with you, Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh."

[Transcriber's Notes: 1.In the original books, there were handwritten characters for the Greek words used in the discussion of the Tifinar engravings; the approximate Greek transliterations have been substituted. 2. Another inscription was hand-drawn in the book, and the center symbol looks like a capital W, rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. I placed notes to that effect where the symbol appears.]