Desert Barbarian

Sarwana made a faint grimace. 'Teacher Christian woman, sing hymns.'

Her tone was disgusted, and Marie was forced to smile. 'You did not like hymns?'

Sarwana hesitated politely then said, 'No good. Bad noise.'

Then the young man with the gun came into the room with a small notepad and a pen. He laid them on the table. 'Please write a message to Mr Grey as I dictate,' he ordered Marie.

Marie sat down and picked up the pen, staring at the paper with eyes that saw little. She was wondering what Stonor was doing now, what he was thinking, how her disappearance was affecting him.

'Write that you are a prisoner,' the young man said. 'That we will release you unharmed only when the King has released the political prisoners from jail and when he has promised to stop the negotiations with Mr Grey and end the National Park scheme for ever.'

Marie looked at him incredulously. 'You are against the National Park?'

'Write what I tell you. Do not ask me foolish ques­tions,' he snapped, waving his gun at her.

'But the scheme will bring thousand of tourists to Jedhpur and bring employment to many of your people. Think how much money will flow into the country, money you badly need.'

'The King is turning our country into a Disneyland for rich foreigners,' he said bitterly. 'We are a land of peasants. If all these foreigners come here, the peasants will leave the land to earn big money working as servants for them, and we will lose our dignity and freedom.'

'You want Jedhpur to remain backward for ever?' she asked him quietly.

His eyes flashed. 'Write! You know nothing.'

Marie looked down at the paper and obediently wrote the message he wished to send. He snatched the paper from her and read what she had written, then he looked at her. 'It is not signed. Sign it with your name.'

The young woman spoke softly, quickly. He turned and looked at her and nodded, then he said to Marie, 'She is right. You must put some words of your own, words of love which will make this man want badly to get you back.'

Marie flushed. 'I've written what you asked me to. I will not write anything else.'

The young woman spoke again, smiling, and the man laughed. He looked at Marie rather more kindly.

'Do not be embarrassed. This must be done. Sarwana says you do not wish to have strange eyes looking at your words. See, I shall not read. You may seal envelope yourself.'

Marie looked down at the paper. Words seemed to burn on it, words she knew she would never write. If she never saw Stonor again these would be the last things she said to him. There was so much to say, so little that could be said.

She wrote slowly. 'Stonor, do what you have to do. Don't worry about me. They've been kind.' Then she quickly sealed the envelope and handed it to the young man. He looked at her searchingly, seeing the flush on her cheeks, the wildness in her eyes.

Gently, he said, 'Soon you will be free… When your man reads this he will move heaven and earth.'

When he had gone Sarwana made tea and they sat and drank it quietly. It was served, of course, in Indian fashion, without milk or sugar, but the liquid was re­freshing, and it helped to pass the time.

Marie was allowed now to leave the little room and walk outside. It was dark, as it had been last night when she was given the same opportunity; so dark that she could see nothing but the sky and the branches of the trees which surrounded the house. The air was cool and fragrant. It was hard to go back into the stuffiness of the little room.

She lay down and slept later, while Sarwana departed again, presumably to feed her baby or see to her own house.

At dawn next morning the young man with the gun came back. He burst into Marie's room, awaking her from a deep and troubled sleep, and she sat up in alarm, staring at him.

He laughed aloud, waving his arms. Sarwana stood behind him, wreathed in smiles.

'All is agreed,' he cried delightedly. 'The prisoners are already released. The King has announced that for the present he will proceed no further with the National Park, and Mr Grey will leave Jedhpur without the agree­ment he had been negotiating.'

'You… knew about that?' she asked, wondering how soon they would release her.

'Why else did we do all this? Oh, the King and Mr Grey tried to keep it secret, but there are patriots in the palace who objected to the plans. Now things will return to normal. The land will belong to the peasants as it has always done.'

'Or to the landlords who live in the palace?' she sug­gested.

He looked at her sharply and his brows jerked to­gether. 'You do not understand how things work here.'