ntleness towards her.

"Yes," he said. "I see him." Something had told him that the figure
which she had described to him during luncheon would appear again; he
was not surprised when he distinguished the staff, with its tattered
rags waving against the crimson light.

"Isn't it all wonderful, Mike!" Her voice was reverent; the awfulness
of the heavens had humbled her. "I was almost afraid--it seemed like
the end of the world, the sky seemed all on fire. The destruction of
the world had begun."

"'Thy setting is beautiful, O living Aton, who guidest all countries
that they may make laudation at thy dawning and at thy setting.'"

"Are those Akhnaton's words?"

"Yes, and his constant song was, 'O Lord, how manifold are Thy works.'
Most surely he would have said so to-night." Michael's thoughts flew
to the morning at whose dawn he had first recited to Margaret
Akhnaton's hymn to the rising sun.

Millicent did not guess that Margaret was present while they stood
together in silence, watching the blood tones grow fainter and fainter.

As they stood looking towards the horizon until all violence had left
the heavens, the desert figure drew nearer. Millicent knew him by his
long, unkempt hair. Even at a distance his fine white teeth gleamed
against his tanned skin.

"He's a mere skeleton," Millicent said. "Look at him! He's all eyes
and hair and teeth!"

"Poor creature!" Michael said. "_He_ has certainly no flesh left to
subdue."

As they spoke, the fanatic suddenly tottered, strode forward and fell,
face downwards, on the sand of the desert. Instinctively Michael
hurried forward to his assistance. There was little doubt but that he
was famished and exhausted for want of food; the distances between
desert villages are immense.

"Don't go!" Millicent cried. "Don't, Mike! He's probably filthy and
crawling with vermin; he looked awful this morning. I'll send two of
my men to him and I'll tell Hassan to prepare some food for him.
Hassan! Hassan!" Her voice was clear and far-reaching.

Abdul instantly appeared. Hassan was busy giving orders to the men for
pitching the tents. So quickly did Abdul come that he might have
sprung up out of the desert at her very feet. This immediate response
to her call always made Millicent suspicious of eavesdropping.

"Abdul," she said, "the holy man we met this morning is ill. Tell the
bearers to go to him--don't let the Effendi touch him, Hassan."

"_Aiwah,