Page:Marion Crawford - Khaled.djvu/74



pondered deeply, being uncertain what to do, and trying to find out some action which could win for him what he wanted. Zehowah received no answer to her question as to the number of enemies he had slain and she did not ask again, for she thought that he was weary and wished to rest in silence.

'What do you like best in the whole world?' he asked after a long time, to see what she would say.

'I like you best,' she answered, smiling, while she still played with his sword.

'That is very strange,' Khaled answered, musing. But the colour rose darkly in his cheeks above his beard, for he was pleased now as he had been displeased before.

'Why is it strange?' asked Zehowah. 'Are you not the palm tree in my plain, and a tower of refuge for my people?'

'And will you dry up the well from which the tree draws life, and take away the corner-stone of the tower's foundation?'