grass dry enough to burn to-night?"

The Kid glanced round doubtfully. "Hardly; and the place won't look
well all black."

"That's why I thought we had better begin at once. If they are some
days the ash will have had time to blow away. Arrange for a gang of
boys to be ready at six o'clock, and we will light up and see what we
can do."

In the hut he tossed the letter down on to his table. "Confound
it!..." he said under his breath. "Fancy women down here, staring and
chattering, and prying! I suppose they will expect the entire police
force in the neighbourhood to be at their disposal, and nothing else
will matter at all." His face grew more and more gloomy. "If I had
only started to M'rekwas yesterday, I could have been absent a
fortnight, and by then they would have departed again." He stood a
moment considering if he could start at once, and decided, as the
letter was sent specially to him, he could hardly leave before
carrying out his instructions.

Stanley and the other trooper meanwhile made hurried preparations for
a great fire. They lit up in the evening, having stationed boys at
intervals to keep the flames within bounds, and themselves stood
posted with their guns, hoping for a shot at wild pig or cheetah, or
possibly a lion or leopard. Carew kept guard at the huts, with a few
boys to beat off the flames that encroached to any danger points and
watch for flying sparks that might ignite the thatch. It was a
wonderful sight, and his eyes were full of appreciation as he watched
it. The gathering darkness, the lurid flames lighting up with swift
brightness the ancient ruins; the high Acropolis Hill on one side, the
low granite-strewn kopjes on the other, and running between the Valley
of Ruins, now a vale of fire.

It crossed his mind that it was almost a pity they had not left the
burning of the grass until the travellers arrived, that they might see
the strange, fantastic sight. But he cogitated that the millionaires
he had known hitherto had little appreciation for much beyond
money-making, and no doubt they were merely taking a passing glimpse
at the ruins; the man on some money-making quest, and the girls just
to be able to say they had seen them. His eyes rested on the temple
wall, and he felt suddenly absurdly resentful that these rich
pleasure-seekers should come even there to gape and stare. He had
grown to love the ruins dearly, until that moment he had scarcely
known how dearly, and to him it se