No one talked, and presently Fafann began to snore. The girl's eyes met
Si Maieddine's, and they smiled at each other. This made him seem to her
more like an ordinary human being than he had seemed before.
After a while, she dropped into a doze, and was surprised when she waked
up, to find that it was nearly nine o'clock. Fafann had roused her by
moving about, collecting bundles. Soon they would be "there." And as the
train slowed down, Victoria saw that "there" was Bouira.
This place was the destination of a number of Arab travellers, but the
instant they were out of the train, these passengers appeared to melt
away unobtrusively. Only one carriage was waiting, and that was for Si
Maieddine and his party.
It was a very different carriage from Lella M'Barka's, in Algiers; a
vehicle for the country, Victoria thought it not unlike old-fashioned
chaises in which farmers' families sometimes drove to Potterston, to
church. It had side and back curtains of canvas, which were fastened
down, and an Arab driver stood by the heads of two strong black mules.
"This carriage belongs to a friend of mine, a Caid," Maieddine explained
to Victoria. "He has lent it to me, with his driver and mules, to use as
long as I wish. But we shall have to change the mules often, before we
begin at last to travel in a different way."
"How quickly thou hast arranged everything," exclaimed the girl.
This was a welcome sign of appreciation, and Maieddine was pleased.
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