Then he let her hands go and touched the silver tray of sand upon the
table beside him.

"Behold! Love shall be offered thee within the passing of a few hours,
the love of thy right hand, and thou shalt reject it. Searching for
that which thou desirest thou shalt, surrounded by thy women who love
thee, pass down the river even unto Thebes of the Hundred Gates. Yet
shalt thou not find it in the river, nor in the temples upon the east
bank of the waters, nor upon the west bank."

Drawing a square in the sand, the fortune-teller made a cross at the
south-east, upon which, to see it better, the girl drew close--so close
that the sweet perfume of her veils filled his nostrils.

"Then shalt thou, in thy search, go, even under the stars, to the Gate
of Tomorrow, and there shall thou find a mare descended from the mares
of Mohammed, the Prophet of Allah the one and only God. White is the
mare, and beautiful, yea, even is she like unto thee, thou woman of
ivory; her bit is of silver, her bridle of plaited gold, her
saddle-cloth encrusted with jewels. Thou wilt spring upon her, and
she, knowing her way, will bring thee to the Tents of Purple and Gold."

"Ah!" whispered the girl. "The Tents of the long-dead Queen! They are
the talk of Cairo, but nobody--at least, no foreigner--has seen them."

"No man but the servants, no woman but the mother of him who is the
master, has even set foot within the Tents of Purple and of Gold; no
one but the master has set foot in the tent which stands between them,
the Tent of Death."