ell you more except that
Sanda and I had a few words, after she'd refused to see the situation in
the right light. I was sure she'd appeal to you. I am glad you thought
of offering her your tent. I shall leave her to stew in her own juice
to-night, and come slowly to her senses. She's too fond of me not to do
that before long."

"When you've sent that woman away to-morrow----" Max began. But Stanton
cut him short.

"I shan't send her away to-morrow."

"What? You----"

"Sanda had the childish impudence to tell me to-night that nothing could
ever make any difference between us after what had passed. Perhaps it
was partly my fault, for I lost my head for a minute when she accused me
of tricking her into marrying me, or words to that effect. I'm afraid I
said she had forced _me_ into it--thrown herself at me--taken me
unawares--something of that sort. In a way it's true. Heart caught in
the rebound! But I wouldn't have been cad enough to throw it up to her
if she hadn't said things so silly that a saint would have been wild.
The girl vows she won't live with me as my wife. Well, I shall hold
Ahmara as a threat over her head till she sees the error of her ways.
It's the one thing to do, as I look at it. Besides, if I try to pack
Ahmara back to Touggourt she'll screech like a hen with her head cut
off. I won't be made a laughing stock before my men, at the start,
before I've shown them what sort of a leader they've got. Ahmara comes
from the south. If Sanda decides to behave herself I'll drop the dancer
at her own place, _en route_. Meanwhile, I'll have time for bargaining
over her with my wife, and Ahmara can travel with the other women.
Several men with their wives have agreed to go only part of the way and
get new fellows to join when they leave. That's the only way to shed
Ahmara without trouble, as she's landed herself on me. And that's the
way I'll take--as I said, if Sanda behaves herself."

"And if--not? I suppose you'll send--Mrs. Stanton back?"

"Damnation, I can't do that, St. George, and you know it. It would mean
a duel with her father, and all the world would be down on me just at
the time I'm bidding highest for its applause. If Sanda travels with me,
whether she lives with me or not, she'll keep her mouth shut. She's that
kind of girl. Don't you, as her friend--or anyhow, her father's
friend--know her well enough to understand that?"

"I may think I'd know what _she'd_ do," Max flung back at the other.