pen, to close, and to pull the trigger. But now it is
necessary for you to learn to aim. That is the most difficult thing.
Take that empty water gourd and place it at a hundred paces--on those
stones, and afterwards return to me; I will show you how to aim."

Idris took the gourd and without the slightest hesitation walked to the
place by the stones which Stas had indicated. But before he made the
first hundred steps, Stas extracted the empty shells and substituted
loaded cartridges. Not only his heart but the arteries in his temples
began to throb with such a force that he thought that his head would
burst. The decisive moment arrived--the moment of freedom for Nell and
himself--the moment of victory--terrible and at the same time desirable.

Now Idris' life was in his hands. One pull of the trigger and the
traitor who had kidnapped Nell would fall a corpse. But Stas, who had
in his veins both Polish and French blood, suddenly felt that for
nothing in the world could he be capable of shooting a man in the back.
Let him at least turn around and face death in the eye. And after that,
what? After that, Gebhr would come rushing up, and before he ran ten
paces he also would bite the dust. Chamis would remain. But Chamis
would lose his head, and even though he should not lose it, there would
be time to insert new cartridges in the barrels. When the Bedouins
arrived, they would find three corpses, and meet a fate they richly
deserved. After that he would only have to guide the camels to the
river.

All these thoughts and pictures flew like a whirlwind through Stas'
brain. He felt that what was to happen after a few minutes was at the
same time horrible and imperative. The pride of a conqueror surged in
his breast with a feeling of aversion for the dreadful deed. There was
a moment when he hesitated, but he recalled the tortures which the
white prisoners endured; he recalled his father, Mr. Rawlinson, Nell,
also Gebhr, who struck the little girl with a courbash, and hatred
burst out in him with renewed force. "It is necessary!" he said through
his set teeth, and inflexible determination was reflected on his
countenance, which became as if carved out of stone.

In the meantime Idris placed the gourd on a stone about a hundred paces
distant and turned around. Stas saw his smiling face and his whole tall
form upon the plain. For the last time the thought flashed through his
mind that this living man would fall after a moment u