id things seen in England I
visualized _my_ robin in Ireland, juicy, green, luscious Ireland!"

"Tell me about Ireland," Millicent said lightly. As she spoke, she
made a hole in the sand; she pushed her hand and wrist into it--her
gloves were off. She drove it in still further, until her elbow only
was above the sand; her arm was buried in the desert.

"Take care of sand-flies," Michael said. Millicent's sleeve was rolled
up.

"Are there any here? I've not been troubled with them."

"No, probably not--they are the plague of Upper Egypt."

"They were awful at Assuan. It's awfully hot, Michael!" Millicent
referred to the sand. She withdrew her arm. "Give me your hand--just
feel it." She pulled up his sleeve and took his hand. She held it in
her own and thrust it into the hot, soft sand. With her free hand she
pulled up her own sleeve and Michael's so as to allow their arms to
sink still further into the sand; they were bare to the elbow. Her
wrist and the palm of her hand were pressed close to Michael's.
Suddenly her hand ceased boring; she remained still, her soft fingers
embracing Michael's. Her eyes sought his. He read their invitation.

"It's only our hands, Michael--let them rest." Her fingers tightened
round his as she spoke; her eyes challenged him. At the challenge his
pulses leapt, his hand ceased to resist. For two days he had been
playing with fire. In the wilderness that surrounded them what waters
would quench its leaping flames?

Millicent's soft arm lay with his; it was human and caressing. Then a
fear came to him, born of a sudden intense hatred. She was such a
little thing. He could strangle her, crush her to atoms. That was the
way to put an end to it all.

The next moment Millicent was alarmed, terribly frightened. She was in
Michael's arms. He was crushing her, crushing her to atoms. It was
not a lover's embrace; it was the mad fury of a roused mystic. Would
he crush her until he killed her?

"Don't, Mike, you'll choke me! You are choking me now. Do you want to
kill me?"

"I could," he said. "And I'd like to!" He flung her from him on the
soft sand. "Go away," he said. "Leave me and my camp for good and
all!" His words were broken, mere breathless ejaculations. His eyes
made a coward of the reckless woman, but she collected her quick wits.

She lay where he had flung her. She was not hurt or even stunned, but
she knew that if she lay there in the position