ied Mrs. Belmont, whose
eyes were very much better than the Colonel's.

Cochrane muttered an oath into his moustache.

"Look at the tracks there," said he; "of course, it's our own vanguard
who left the palm grove before us. The chief keeps us at this infernal
pace in order to close up with them."

As they drew closer they could see plainly that it was indeed the other
body of Arabs, and presently the Emir Wad Ibrahim came trotting back to
take counsel with the Emir Abderrahman. They pointed in the direction in
which the vedettes had appeared, and shook their heads like men who
have many and grave misgivings. Then the raiders joined into one long,
straggling line, and the whole body moved steadily on towards the
Southern Cross, which was twinkling just over the skyline in front of
them. Hour after hour the dreadful trot continued, while the fainting
ladies clung on convulsively, and Cochrane, worn out but indomitable,
encouraged them to hold out, and peered backwards over the desert
for the first glad signs of their pursuers. The blood throbbed in his
temples, and he cried that he heard the roll of drums coming out of the
darkness. In his feverish delirium he saw clouds of pursuers at their
very heels, and during the long night he was for ever crying glad
tidings which ended in disappointment and heartache. The rise of the sun
showed the desert stretching away around them, with nothing moving upon
its monstrous face except themselves. With dull eyes and heavy hearts
they stared round at that huge and empty expanse. Their hopes thinned
away like the light morning mist upon the horizon.

It was shocking to the ladies to look at their companion and to think
of the spruce, hale old soldier who had been their fellow-passenger from
Cairo. As in the case of Miss Adams, old age seemed to have pounced upon
him in one spring. His hair, which had grizzled hour by hour during his
privations, was now of a silvery white. White stubble, too, had obscured
the firm, clean line of his chin and throat. The veins of his fare were
injected and his features were shot with heavy wrinkles. He rode
with his back arched and his chin sunk upon his breast, for the old,
time-rotted body was worn out, but in his bright, alert eyes there was
always a trace of the gallant tenant who lived in the shattered house.
Delirious, spent, and dying, he preserved his chivalrous, protecting
air as he turned to the ladies, shot little scraps of advice and
enc