"It is this way, is it not?" she said.
"What matters it to you? Turn away! Begone! Rather crush your face
against the earth! It is a holy spot which would be polluted by your
gaze!"
She threw the zaimph about her waist, and quickly picked up her veils,
mantle, and scarf. "I hasten thither!" she cried; and making her escape
Salammbo disappeared.
At first she walked through the darkness without meeting any one, for
all were betaking themselves to the fire; the uproar was increasing and
great flames purpled the sky behind; a long terrace stopped her.
She turned round to right and left at random, seeking for a ladder,
a rope, a stone, something in short to assist her. She was afraid of
Gisco, and it seemed to her that shouts and footsteps were pursuing her.
Day was beginning to break. She perceived a path in the thickness of the
entrenchment. She took the hem of her robe, which impeded her, in her
teeth, and in three bounds she was on the platform.
A sonorous shout burst forth beneath her in the shade, the same which
she had heard at the foot of the galley staircase, and leaning over she
recognised Schahabarim's man with his coupled horses.
He had wandered all night between the two entrenchments; then disquieted
by the fire, he had gone back again trying to see what was passing in
Matho's camp; and, knowing that this spot was nearest to his tent, he
had not stirred from it, in obedience to the priest's command.
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