el, wistfully.

[Illustration: You haven't got such a thing as a cigar p253]

Archer drew a thick satisfying partaga from his case and handed it down,
with half-a-dozen wax vestas. Then he cantered after his men, and the
old soldier leaned back against the rock and drew in the fragrant smoke.
It was then that his jangled nerves knew the full virtue of tobacco, the
gentle anodyne which stays the failing strength and soothes the worrying
brain. He watched the dim, blue reek swirling up from him, and he felt
the pleasant, aromatic bite upon his palate, while a restful languor
crept over his weary and harassed body. The three ladies sat together
upon a flat rock.

"Good land, what a sight you are, Sadie!" cried Miss Adams, suddenly,
and it was the first reappearance of her old self. "What _would_ your
mother say if she saw you? Why, sakes alive, your hair is full of straw
and your frock clean crazy!"

"I guess we all want some setting to right," said Sadie, in a voice
which was much more subdued than that of the Sadie of old. "Mrs.
Belmont, you look just too perfectly sweet anyhow, but if you'll allow
me, I'll fix your dress for you."

But Mrs. Belmont's eyes were far away, and she shook her head sadly as
she gently put the girl's hands aside.

"I do not care how I look. I cannot think of it," said she; "could
_you_, if you had left the man you love behind you, as I have mine?"

"I'm begin--beginning to think I have," sobbed poor Sadie, and buried
her hot face in Mrs. Belmont's motherly bosom.

CHAPTER X

The Camel Corps had all passed onwards down the khor in pursuit of the
retreating Dervishes, and for a few minutes the escaped prisoners had
been left alone. But now there came a cheery voice calling upon them,
and a red turban bobbed about among the rocks, with the large white face
of the Nonconformist minister smiling from beneath it. He had a thick
lance with which to support his injured leg, and this murderous crutch
combined with his peaceful appearance to give him a most incongruous
aspect,--as of a sheep which has suddenly developed claws. Behind him
were two negroes with a basket and a water-skin.

[Illustration: Not a word! Not a word! p255]

"Not a word! Not a word!" he cried, as he stumped up to them. "I know
exactly how you feel. I've been there myself. Bring the water, Ali! Only
half a cup, Miss Adams; you shall have some more presently. Now your
turn, Mrs. Belmont! Dear me, dear me, you poo