"But God knows what _I'd_ do if you insulted Mademoiselle DeLisle--Mrs.
Stanton, I mean--by keeping that woman in the caravan. I believe I'd
kill you!"

Stanton stared. "Good Lord!" he exclaimed, in a change of mood, looking
suddenly like a great helpless schoolboy arraigned, "I thought I was
talking to a friend. I was asking your advice, and you turn on me like a
tiger. See here, St. George, if you're going to bite the hand I offer,
_you'd_ better be the one to go."

Max was staggered. He had made a false move. He could not go. Now, more
than ever, a thousand times more, Sanda needed a friend, and he was the
only one within reach. Perhaps he could not always help, but he could at
least keep near. Only these unexpected confidences from Stanton could
have made him so lose grip upon himself; and it must not happen again.

"I've just given you my advice," Max reminded the other more quietly.

"I can't take it."

"Then don't. We'll leave it at that."

"I ask no better. Do you want to go or stay?"

"I want to stay."

"Very well, then. I need a man like you, and I want you to stay, if
you'll mind your own business."

"I will," Max promised fervently.

But as to what his business was, there might be different opinions.

* * * * *

As the long days passed and the caravan toiled on through dunes and
alkali deserts and strange, hidden mountainlands, it was hard to keep
before his eyes the best way of "minding his own business"--the best way
for Sanda. That which was highest in him prayed for peace between her
and Stanton. That which was lowest wished for war. And it was war. Not
loud, open warfare, but a silent battle never ceasing; and the one hope
left in Sanda's heart for her own future was death in the desert. She
had determined to go on, and she would go on; but blinding, blessed suns
of noon might strike her dead; she might take some malarial fever in the
swampy, saltpetre deserts through which the caravan must travel. There
were also scorpions and vipers. These things she had heard of as among
the minor perils of Stanton's expedition, and there were many more
formidable, of course, such as Touaregs and Tibbu brigands. She made Max
swear that, if they were attacked, and there were danger for the women,
he would shoot her with his own hand. That would not be a bad solution.
And there were others. Her father had said that nearly all experts
prophesied annihilation for Stanton and