"You are suffering," she said. "They broke your arm." "Dislocated it anyhow." "Let me see." With infinite gentleness, she passed her smooth little hands over my shoulder. "You tell me that there is a white Targa on guard before my door, Tanit-Zerga," I said. "Then how did you get in?" "That way," she said, pointing to the window. A dark perpendicular line halved its blue opening. Tanit-Zerga went to the window. I saw her standing erect on the sill. A knife shone in her hands. She cut the rope at the top of the opening. It slipped down to the stone with a dry sound. She came back to me. "How can we escape?" I asked. "That way," she repeated, and she pointed again at the window. I leaned out. My feverish gaze fell upon the shadowy depths, searching for those invisible rocks, the rocks upon which little Kaine had dashed himself. "That way!" I exclaimed, shuddering. "Why, it is two hundred feet from here to the ground." "The rope is two hundred and fifty," she replied. "It is a good strong rope which I stole in the oasis; they used it in felling trees. It is quite new." "Climb down that way, Tanit-Zerga! With my shoulder!" "I will let you down," she said firmly. "Feel how strong my arms are. Not that I shall rest your weight on them. But see, on each side of the window is a marble column. By twisting the rope around one of them, I can let you slip down and scarcely feel your weight. "And look," she continued, "I have made a big knot every ten feet. I can stop the rope with them, every now and then, if I want to rest." "And you?" I asked. "When you are down, I shall tie the rope to one of the columns and follow. There are the knots on which to rest if the rope cuts my hands too much. But don't be afraid: I am very agile. At Gâo, when I was just a child, I used to climb almost as high as this in the gum trees to take the little toucans out of their nests. It is even easier to climb down." "And when we are down, how will we get out? Do you know the way through the barriers?" "No one knows the way through the barriers," she said, "except Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh, and perhaps Antinea." "Then?" "There are the camels of Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh, those which he uses on his forays. I untethered the strongest one and led him out, just below us, and gave him lots of hay so that he will not make a sound and will be well fed when we start." "But...." I still protested. She stamped her foot. "But what? Stay if you wish, if you are afraid. I am going. I want to see Gâo once again, Gâo with its blue gum-trees and its green water." I felt myself blushing. "I will go, Tanit-Zerga. I would rather die of thirst in the midst of the desert than stay here. Let us start." "Tut!" she said. "Not yet." She showed me that the dizzy descent was in brilliant moonlight. "Not yet. We must wait. They would see us. In an hour, the moon will have circled behind the mountain. That will be the time."