s; and the moonlight shone on the
brass hilts of their cutlasses and pistols. They took no notice of him,
but, stooping, began to pick up the bright diamonds that Carfax now saw
covered the sand before them. Soon the bag they held was full and a
quarrel arose; for he saw two of the men draw their swords and fight
fiercely, whilst the other, a tall hawk-faced man, stood by and
watched, holding the bag. At length one fell, pierced through by the
other's broad blade; and as the victor stood over him the hawk-faced
man cut him down from behind, and stood, laughing horribly and holding
the bag of diamonds before their dying eyes. And as he laughed one of
them, with a last effort, drew a pistol from his belt and shot him
dead.

"At the report the scene vanished, and Carfax awoke with a start. The
dream had been so vivid that the pistol-shot seemed still to be ringing
in his ears, and he sprang to his feet, scarcely knowing what he should
see. The air was clear of dust now, and the moon shone brightly; and by
its light he saw a few paces from him a prostrate form partly covered
in sand. He bent over it: it was the body of a man, a man dressed in a
strange old-world costume a dead man, dead hundreds of years, and
mummified and wonderfully preserved by the sands that had covered him
deep through the centuries, until the big gale of yesterday had lifted
the heavy pall. Huddled near by lay two other indistinct forms; and
Carfax, his dream still vividly before him, knew well what they were.

"Yes! there too lay the leather bag at his feet! And trembling with
excitement he knelt and plunged his hand into it, and drew out a
handful of big, dully gleaming diamonds. And as he gazed at the
treasure his wrist was clutched in an icy grasp, and turning in terror
he found the horrible eyes of the dead man glaring close into his own.

"With a scream of horror he wrenched away his wrist, and, still
clutching the stones, fled madly across the dunes, pursued by the
fearful figure of the long-dead man. Stumbling, falling, on and on he
fled, till the moon paled and the stars faded and the bright sun rose
and gave the hunted man a gleam of courage; but his fearful glance
behind him still showed the grim figure of he who followed.

"He could not tell what instinct had guided him back to camp; but all
through that awful day he had stumbled on through the roasting heat of
the dunes, till late at night when I had seen him and gone to meet him
as I