. She fell asleep with Jim's name on her lips, wafting towards him
mental messages of hope, but when dreams came, she dreamt of grey eyes
in a sunburnt face, and waking before dawn, lay conscious, seeing them
once again.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

The view on reaching the deck the next morning was strangely impressive
to Katrine's unaccustomed eyes. The sun's rays flooded the great waste
of sand, a limitless expanse crossed by ridges of barren hill. Not a
tree or a blade of grass was in sight. All that Katrine had read and
imagined of desert places had not prepared her for such absolute dearth,
and the thought of her own green, sweet-smelling land came back to her
with the traveller's first pang of home-sickness. A clergyman father
was discoursing to a young son and daughter on the probable cause which
had transformed the once fertile Lower Egypt and Palestine into their
present and poverty. Katrine, listening with a wandering attention,
gained an impression of camels _versus_ horses. The Egyptians, declared
the cleric, were a race of horsemen, owning sheep and cattle,
cultivating the soil. Palm trees shaded the surface, and extracted dew
from the air. Later, following the dominion of the Pharaohs, bands of
nomadic Arabs wandered over the land with herds of camels, which
consumed young trees, in preference to grass. The centuries passed, and
as the old trees died, and no new ones survived to take their places,
the exposed grass withered and died. The clergyman proceeded to
illustrate his theories by pointing out the results of cutting down the
forests of Australia, and Katrine went down to breakfast, recalling the
garden at The Glen, with the shining drops of water standing on every
leaf and twig, the sweet, moist smell of the earth. Already with this
first sight of the East, England had become dearer, more beautiful.

Captain Bedford had not appeared. Katrine knew a pang of disappointment
at the sight of his empty place, but each moment which passed seemed to
deepen a nervous shrinking at the thought of meeting. Had she said too
much last night, been too confiding, presumed too much on his help? She
must be careful to show that she exacted nothing. It was pleasant, of
course, to have some one on board to whom one could appeal in an
emergency, but companionship was another matter. She must keep out of
his way. She hurried through her breakfast, reached the deck with a
gasp of relief, and ensconced h