Ye hear the call of civilisation, but we heap
the Muezzin--"
He stopped, and searched mechanically for his watch. "It is the hour the
Muezzin calls," said David gently. "It is almost sunset. Shall I open the
windows that the call may come to us?" he added.
While Kaid stared at him, his breast heaving with passion, David went to
a window and opened the shutters wide.
The Palace faced the Nile, which showed like a tortuous band of blue and
silver a mile or so away. Nothing lay between but the brown sand, and
here and there a handful of dark figures gliding towards the river, or a
little train of camels making for the bare grey hills from the ghiassas
which had given them their desert loads. The course of the Nile was
marked by a wide fringe of palms showing blue and purple, friendly and
ancient and solitary. Beyond the river and the palms lay the grey-brown
desert, faintly touched with red. So clear was the sweet evening air that
the irregular surface of the desert showed for a score of miles as
plainly as though it were but a step away.
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