The Figure in the Mirage

" ...] "You'll understand at the end of the story. As they journeyed in the sun across the endless flats-for the mountains had vanished now, and nothing broke the level of the sand-mademoiselle's gaiety went from her. Silent was the lively, chattering tongue that knew the jargon of cities, the gossip of the Plage. She was oppressed. Tahar rode close at her side. He seemed to have taken her under his special protection. Far before them rode the attendants, chanting deep love songs in the sun. The sound of those songs seemed like the sound of the great desert singing of its wild and ...]."