human
The invincible Orient! she said, all at once.
gpt
It absorbs everything and gives back nothing. And we thought, we hoped, we might conquer part of it! Well--no--that's not done.
human
Not at the first attempt, anyhow, said he, after a little thought.
gpt
I think, though, another time--but there's no use dreaming. Of course, it's not the treasure I'm thinking about. That was just a detail. It's the men. Good men!
human
They're not dead, not all of them!
gpt
I wish I could believe you!
human
But you _must_ believe me! Something tells me some of our good chaps are still alive. All of them perhaps.
gpt
Impossible! He shook his head.
human
Even if they escaped the explosion, the Jannati Shahr devils must have massacred them. He shuddered slightly.
gpt
That's the worst of it. Death is all right. But the crucifixion, and all--
human
Cold reason paints a cruel picture, I admit, the woman answered, laying a hand on the man's.
gpt
But you know--a woman's intuition. I don't believe as you do. And the major--and that rumor we got from old Nasr ed Din, the Hejaz rug-merchant down on Hester Street, how about that?
human
Yes, I know. But--
gpt
How could a rumor like that come through, about a big, white-skinned, red-haired _Ajam_ slave held by that tribe near Jeddah? How could it, unless there were some truth back of it?
human
He wandered away into the desert, quite insane. It's not impossible he might have been captured. By Allah! And the man struck the table hard.
gpt
If I really believed Nasr ed Din--
human
Well?
gpt
I'd go again, if I died for it!
human
The pronoun's wrong. _We'd_ go!
gpt
Yes, _we_! He took her hand.
human
We'd trail that rumor down and have Bohannan out of there, and the others too, if--but no, no, the thing's impossible!
gpt
Nothing is impossible, I tell you, in the East. And haven't we had miracles enough? After we were judged pirates and condemned to die, by the International Aero Tribunal, wasn't it a miracle about that pardon? That immunity, for your vibratory secrets that have revolutionized the defensive tactics of the League's air-forces?
human
It's the impossible that happens, these days! The soul within me tells me some of our chaps are still alive, out there!
gpt
But Rrisa, said he.
human
About the others, there's no sense of guilt. I feel, though, like a murderer about Rrisa.
gpt
Rrisa still lives!
human
The incense tells me. She insisted.
gpt
My heart tells me!
human
Allah make it so! But even if he is dead, he died like the others--a man!
gpt
In pursuit of an ideal. We all had that, a dream and an ideal.
human
Yes. It wasn't the treasure, of course, he mused.
gpt
It wasn't material things. It was adventure. Well--you and I have had that, at all events. And they had it too. They and we--all of us--we changed the course of history for more than two hundred million human beings. And as for you and me--
human
Ruba el Khali