Ask
them for anything you want. Good-bye, Rachel," and he went, bolting the
wall door behind him.
CHAPTER XVI
THE THREE DAYS
He was gone, his presence had ceased to poison the air, and, the long
strain over, Rachel gave a gasp of relief. Then she sat down upon the
bench and began to think. Her position, and that of Richard, was
desperate; it seemed scarcely possible that they could escape with their
lives, for if he died, she would die also--as to that she was quite
determined. But at least they had three days, and who could say what would
happen in three days? For instance, they might escape somehow, the
Providence in which she believed might intervene, or the Zulus might come
to seek her, if they only knew where she was gone. Oh! why had she not
brought a guard of them with her to Ramah? At least they would never have
insulted her, and Ishmael's shrift would have been short.
She wondered why he had given her three days. A reason suggested itself to
her mind. Perhaps he believed what she had told him--that she was as safe
from him as the eagle in the air--and was sure that the only way to snare
her was by using Richard as a lure, in other words, by threatening to
murder him. It is true that he could have brought the matter to a head at
once, but then, if she remained obdurate, he must carry out his threat,
and this, she believed, he was afraid to do unless it was absolutely
forced upon him.
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