e to speak. One hand went
weakly to his face, to grasp her fingers. And into her anxious ear he
managed to whisper:

"Evil luck fought with me, Dolores. Yet I die content if you care."

"Care!" she echoed, shaking his fingers loose impatiently. "Care? Yes,
this I care, bungler: I care because of all three of thee, thou alone
wert covetous enough to obey my conditions. With thee alive, there was
hope of thy friends' speedy death. With thee dead, which of the others
will wipe his fellow from his path for me? Why, think ye, did I fawn on
John Pearse? But to arouse in thee the demon of jealousy; why did I
smile on Venner, and call him my Rupert? To steel thy arm against him.
And for what?"

She suddenly laid his head down on the floor, leaned over him with her
lips almost brushing his cheek, and whispered fiercely: "Speak! Canst
live?"

Tomlin's face lost some of its pain. The thin lips straightened into the
semblance of a faint smile. His glazing eyes opened slightly.

"I am done for," he whispered. "Dolores, kiss me again. I die for you."

The beautiful fury sprang to her feet, spurning him. She glared down at
his chalky face in utter scorn.

"Kiss thee? Thou die for me? Pah! I kiss no carrion. A half-hundred men
have died for me this day, I hope. I kiss him who lives for me and
conquers, not the weakling who dies!"

Without deigning another glance at her victim, she turned away and went
to meet Milo. He now entered with his slaves.

"Where are the two strangers?" she demanded harshly.

Milo returned her stare with a look of simple surprise. He had seen
nothing of them, and had thought of them being yet with his mistress.

"I saw them not, Sultana," he replied.

"Saw them not, great clod!" she blazed at him, clenching her hands in
rage. "Are they here, then?"

Milo looked around in bewilderment. In all her life Dolores had been his
especial care; in her many moments of temper she had perhaps pained his
devoted heart, but never had she used to him the tone she now used. It
seemed to his simple soul that the foundations of his faith were being
wrenched loose.

"I will find them, Sultana," he said quietly, and turned to leave by the
tunnel.

"Stay here, thou blind fool!" she commanded him. "I will find them
myself. Here is work more fitting for a slave. How many chests are going
to the ship?"

"Three."

"And how many have ye yet empty here?"

"Three, lady."

"Then get them quickly. Until I return, b