together, learning to know and
love each other, had been delicious, but the future might have been
difficult if she had stayed.

Surely her father would be glad to have her married to his friend, and,
even if there were dangers to be feared in the unknown desert, why,
Colonel DeLisle was a soldier, and she was a soldier's daughter.

She wrote a letter to her father and gave it to the priest who had
married her. Some day it must reach its destination, and there were
things in it which would make Colonel DeLisle happy. Sanda believed
there would be tender romance for him, as for her, in the thought of the
marriage near Touggourt, where his love had come to him from half across
the world.

Not a rap did the girl care for the hardships in front of her. She
laughed and thought it a great adventure that she had no "trousseau,"
but only the few clothes which were wearable after her long visit to
Djazerta. And if they were never to find the Lost Oasis, or if they
themselves were to be lost, she would go forth with the same untroubled
heart.

The crescent moon had dropped behind the horizon, like a bracelet in the
sea, before they came in sight of the oasis where they were to spend the
wedding night; but the sky glittered with encrusting stars that spread a
silver background for the tall, dark palms. As the caravan descended
into a wide valley between dunes, Max heard Stanton's voice shouting to
him. He rode forward to the side of the "Chief," as the explorer was
called by his men.

"Like a good chap, gallop ahead with my fellows and see that our tent is
set up in the best place," said Stanton in his deep, pleasant voice. "I
should like Sanda to find it all ready when she gets there. Have it put
where my wife would think it prettiest; you'll know the right place;
place you'd choose yourself if it was _your_ honeymoon!"

There was no conscious malice in the words, but they cut like a lash in
a raw wound. Max had the impulse to strike his horse with the whip, but
he was ashamed of it and stroked the animal's neck instead, as with a
word he urged it on.

"I must watch myself if this isn't to turn me into a beast," he thought.
"It shan't, or I'll be worse than useless to her. She shan't fall
between two brutes."

Stanton had already selected the men who were to pitch his bridal tent,
and Max rode ahead with them and their loaded camels. He chose a spot
between a miniature palm grove separated from the main oasis and the
a