"Speak on, O woman of many sorrows," said Dicky. She partly uncovered
her face, and spoke again: "In the long night, when he came not and I was
lonely and I cried aloud, and only the jackals beyond my window answered,
I thought and thought. My brain was wild, and at last I said: 'Behold, I
will go to Mecca as the men go, and when the fire rises from the
Prophet's tomb, bringing blessing and life to all, it may be that I shall
have peace, and win heaven as men win it. For behold! what is my body
but a man's body, for it beareth no child. And what is my soul but a
man's soul, that dares to do this thing!' . . ."

"Thou art a blasphemer," broke in the chief of the Ulema.

She gave no heed, but with her eyes on Dicky continued:

"So I stole forth in the night with an old slave, who was my father's
slave, and together we went to Cairo. . . . Behold, I have done all
that Dervishes do: I have cut myself with knives, I have walked the
desert alone, I have lain beneath the feet of the Sheikh's horse when he
makes his ride over the bodies of the faithful, I have done all that a
woman may do and all that a man may do, for the love I bore my lord. Now
judge me as ye will, for I may do no more."

When she had finished, Dicky turned to the Sheikhel-beled and said: "She
is mad. Behold, Allah hath taken her wits! She is no more than a wild
bird in the wilderness."

It was his one way to save her; for among her people the mad, the blind,
and the idiot are reputed highly favoured of God.