]
Calder looked downwards again to the angareb upon the barge's deck and
the figure lying upon it. Whether it was man or woman he could not
tell. The black veil lay close about the face, outlining the nose, the
hollows of the eyes and the mouth; but whether the lips wore a moustache
and the chin a beard, it did not reveal.
The slanting sunlight crept nearer and nearer to the angareb. The
natives seated close to it moved into the shadow of the upper deck, but
no one moved the angareb, and the two men laughing in the stern gave no
thought to their charge. Calder watched the blaze of yellow light creep
over the black recumbent figure from the feet upwards. It burnt at last
bright and pitiless upon the face. Yet the living creature beneath the
veil never stirred. The veil never fluttered above the lips, the legs
remained stretched out straight, the arms lay close against the side.
Calder shouted to the two men in the stern.
"Move the angareb into the shadow," he cried, "and be quick!"
The Arabs rose reluctantly and obeyed him.
"Is it a man or woman?" asked Calder.
"A man. We are taking him to the hospital at Assouan, but we do not
think that he will live.
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