They were at a considerable distance from the lake, looking down on it from the slight elevation of a gigantic slope of sand, which rose gradually behind them till in the distance it seemed to touch the stooping grey of the low horizon. Everywhere white and yellowish white melted into grey and greenish grey. The only vegetation was a great maze of tamarisk bushes, which stretched from the flat sand-plain on their left to the verge of the lake, and far out into the water, making a refuge and a shelter for the thousands upon thousands of wild duck that peopled the watery waste. Now, unafraid, they were floating in the open, casting great clouds of velvety black upon the still surface of the lake, which, owing to some atmospheric effect, looked as if it sloped upward like the sands till it met the stooping sky. Very far off, almost visionary, like blacknesses held partly by the water, and partly by the vapours that muffled the sky, were two or three of the clumsy boats of the wild, almost savage natives who live on the fish of the lake. Almost imperceptibly they moved about their eerie business.
"Just look at the duck, Ruby!" said Nigel, as she came out. "What a place for sport!"
For once their usual rôles were reversed; he was practical, while she was imaginative, or at least strongly affected by her imagination. He had been looking to his guns, making arrangements with a huge and nearly black dweller of the tents to show him the best sport possible for a fixed sum of money.
"But it's the devil to get within range of them," he added. "I shall have to do as the natives do, I expect."
"What's that?" she asked, with an effort.
"Strip, and wade in up to my neck, carrying my gun over my head, and then keep perfectly still till some of them come within range."
He laughed with joyous anticipation.
"I've told Ibrahim he must have a roaring big fire for me when I get back."
"Are you going to-day?"
"Yes, I think I'll have just an hour. D'you feel up to riding the donkey to the water's edge, and coming out on the lake with me?"
She hesitated. In this waste and in this silence she felt almost incapable of a decision. Then she said: "No, I think I've had enough for to-day. You must bring me back a duck for dinner."
"I swear I will."
He gripped her hands when he went. He was full of the irrepressible joy of the sportsman starting out for his pleasure.