k so bad. Renshaw was a man of infinite resource. He might
eventually succeed in finding a way out--probably would. Thus was
conscience seared.

Sellon climbed up to where the horses were grazing, closely
knee-haltered. He untied the _reims_, and led them back to the place
where they had camped. It was a short distance, but it gave him time to
think.

He saddled up his own horse. Then he took out the great diamond. How
it flashed in the sinking sunlight. It must be worth a fabulous sum.
All his own--all, not half.

His foot was in the stirrup. He took one more look around. There was
their resting-place, just as it had been left in the small hours of the
morning. His friend's blanket still lay there, as it had been thrown
aside. His friend's saddle and bridle--a few _reims_ and other gear.
The sight of these objects set him thinking.

The sweet golden sunshine slanted down into the hollow, its course
nearly run. Opposite, the great cliffs flushed redly at its touch;
below, the crater was already in shade. And upon that lonely ledge
stood the man who was thus treacherously left to die a lingering death--
never again to look upon a human face, never again to hear the sound of
a human voice.

Why had he been so blindly, so besottedly confiding? Had he not by the
very fact placed temptation in the other's way? Marian was right. "He
does not seem to ring true," had been her words. Her quick woman's
instinct had gauged the risk, while he, in his superior knowledge, had
suffered himself to be led blindfold into the trap. Ah, well, these
considerations came just a trifle too late. He must make up his mind to
meet his end, and that soon, for even to his resourceful brain no
glimmer of a way out of the difficulty presented itself.

"Hallo! Fanning!"

The blood tingled in his veins at the call. He paused a moment before
replying to the treacherous scoundrel--and then it was in one single
stern monosyllable.

"Well?"

"Look here, old chap. I want to talk to you."

"Why don't you show yourself?"

For although the voice came from the cliff's brow above, not even the
speaker's head was visible.

"Look here, old boss," went on the latter, ignoring the question. "I'm
a pretty desperate sort of a chap just now--because I'm desperately in
want of the needful--all of it that I can lay hands on, in fact. Now,
with you it's different; for you went out of your way to tell me as
much. Remember?"

"Go