t it be as he says? why shouldn't these
fellows be friendlies?"

"There are no friendlies upon this side of the river," said the Colonel
abruptly; "I am perfectly certain about that. There is no use in
mincing matters. We must prepare for the worst."

But in spite of his words, they stood stock-still, in a huddled group,
staring out over the plain. Their nerves were numbed by the sudden
shock, and to all of them it was like a scene in a dream, vague,
impersonal, and un-real. The men upon the camels had streamed out from
a gorge which lay a mile or so distant on the side of the path along
which they had travelled. Their retreat, therefore, was entirely cut
off. It appeared, from the dust and the length of the line, to be quite
an army which was emerging from the hills, for seventy men upon camels
cover a considerable stretch of ground. Having reached the sandy plain,
they very deliberately formed to the front, and then at the harsh call
of a bugle they trotted forward in line, the parti-coloured figures all
swaying and the sand smoking in a rolling yellow cloud at the heels of
their camels. At the same moment the six black soldiers doubled in from
the front with their Martinis at the trail, and snuggled down like
well-trained skirmishers behind the rocks upon the haunch of the hill.
Their breech blocks all snapped together as their corporal gave them the
order to load.

And now suddenly the first stupor of the excursionists passed away, and
was succeeded by a frantic and impotent energy. They all ran about upon
the plateau of rock in an aimless, foolish flurry, like frightened fowls
in a yard. They could not bring themselves to acknowledge that there
was no possible escape for them. Again and again they rushed to the
edge of the great cliff which rose from the river, but the youngest and
most daring of them could never have descended it. The two women clung
one on each side of the trembling Mansoor, with a feeling that he was
officially responsible for their safety. When he ran up and down in his
desperation, his skirts and theirs all fluttered together. Stephens,
the lawyer, kept close to Sadie Adams, muttering mechanically, "Don't be
alarmed, Miss Sadie; don't be at all alarmed!" though his own limbs were
twitching with agitation. Monsieur Fardet stamped about with a guttural
rolling of r's, glancing angrily at his companions as if they had in
some way betrayed him; while the fat clergyman stood with h