went up to
her.

"Give me the helm!" he said, almost sharply--"You have done enough!"

She resigned her place to him, smiling at his irritation.

"You are sure you are quite rested?" she asked.

"Rested!" he echoed the word disdainfully--"I should never have rested
at all had I been half the man I profess to be! Why do you turn back? I
thought you were bent on exploring the Great Desert!--that you meant to
try and find the traditional Brazen City?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I do not like the prospect"--she said--"There is nothing but
sand--interminable billows of sand! I can well believe it was all ocean
once,--when the earth gave a sudden tilt, and all the water was thrown
off from one surface to another. If we could dig deep enough below the
sand I think we should find remains of wrecked ships, with the
skeletons of antediluvian men and animals, remains of one of the many
wasted civilisations--"

"You do not answer me--" interrupted Rivardi with impatience--"What of
your search for the Brazen City?"

She raised her lovely, mysterious eyes and looked full at him.

"Do you believe it exists?" she asked.

He gave a gesture of annoyance.

"Whether I believe or not is of no importance,"--he answered--"YOU have
some idea about it, and you have every means of proving the truth of
your idea--yet, after making the journey from Sicily for the purpose,
you suddenly turn back!"

Still she kept her eyes upon him.

"You must not mind the caprices of a woman!" she said, with a
smile--"And do please remember the 'Brazen City' is not MY idea! The
legend of this undiscovered place in the desert was related by your
friend Don Aloysius--and he was careful to say it was 'only' a legend.
Why should you think I accept it as a truth?"

"Surely it was the motive of your flight here?" he demanded,
imperatively.

Her brows drew together in a slight frown.

"My dear Marchese, I allow no one to question my motives"--she said
with sudden coldness--"That I have decided to go no farther in search
of the Brazen City is my own affair."

"But--not even to wait for the full daylight!" he expostulated--"You
could not see it by night even if it existed!"

"Not unless it was lit like other cities!" she said, smiling--"I
suppose if such a city existed, its inhabitants would need some sort of
illuminant--they would not grope about in the dark. In that case it
would be seen from our ship as well by night as by day."

Gaspard, b