see that it only bothers you.
But I wanted you to know, and now you do know, so it is all right. Thank
you for listening so patiently and gently. Good-bye, little Sadie! I
can't put my hand up. Will you put yours down?"

[Illustration: Good-bye, little Sadie p229]

She did so and Stephens kissed it. Then he turned and took his place
once more between Belmont and Fardet. In his whole life of struggle and
success he had never felt such a glow of quiet contentment as suffused
him at that instant when the grip of death was closing upon him. There
is no arguing about love. It is the innermost fact of life, the one
which obscures and changes all the others, the only one which is
absolutely satisfying and complete. Pain is pleasure, and want is
comfort, and death is sweetness when once that golden mist is round
it. So it was that Stephens could have sung with joy as he faced his
murderers. He really had not time to think about them. The important,
all-engrossing, delightful thing was that she could not look upon him as
a casual acquaintance any more. Through all her life she would think of
him--she would know.

Colonel Cochrane's camel was at one side, and the old soldier, whose
wrists had been freed, had been looking down upon the scene, and
wondering in his tenacious way whether all hope must really be
abandoned. It was evident that the Arabs who were grouped round the
victims were to remain behind with them, while the others who were
mounted would guard the three women and himself. He could not understand
why the throats of his companions had not been already cut, unless it
were that with an Eastern refinement of cruelty this rearguard would
wait until the Egyptians were close to them, so that the warm bodies of
their victims might be an insult to the pursuers. No doubt that was the
right explanation. The Colonel had heard of such a trick before.

But in that case there would not be more than twelve Arabs with the
prisoners. Were there any of the friendly ones among them? If Tippy
Tilly and six of his men were there, and if Belmont could get his arms
free and his hand upon his revolver, they might come through yet. The
Colonel craned his neck and groaned in his disappointment. He could see
the faces of the guards in the firelight. They were all Baggara Arabs,
men who were beyond either pity or bribery. Tippy Tilly and the others
must have gone on with the advance. For the first time the stiff old
soldier abandoned hope.