the "great master" and the little "bibi" were not inclined to
sleep. Nell, at Stas' urgent request, barely swallowed a few pieces of
guinea-fowl and a few grains of boiled durra. She said that she did not
care to eat or sleep but only to drink. A fear seized Stas that she
might be suffering from fever, but he soon became satisfied that her
hands were cool and even too cold. He persuaded her to enter the tent
where he prepared bedding for her, first searching carefully in the
grass for scorpions. He himself sat upon a stone with short rifle in
hand to defend her from attacks by wild beasts, if the fire did not
afford sufficient protection. He was beset by great fatigue and
exhaustion. In his soul he repeated to himself, "I killed Gebhr and
Chamis; I killed the Bedouins; I killed the lion, and we are free." But
it was as if those words were whispered to him by some one else and as
if he himself did not comprehend their full meaning. He had not a
feeling that they were free, but that something awful at the same time
had happened which filled him with uneasiness and weighed upon his
bosom like a heavy stone. Finally his thoughts began to grow blunt. For
a long time he gazed at the big moths hovering above the flame and in
the end he nodded and dozed. Kali also dozed, but awoke every little
while and threw twigs into the fire.

The night became dark and, what is a rare occurrence under the tropics,
very still. They could hear only the cracking of the burning thorns and
the hissing of flames which illumined the overhanging rocks forming a
semi-circle. The moon did not shine into the depths of the ravine, but
above twinkled a swarm of unknown stars. The air became so cool that
Stas shook off his drowsiness and began to worry whether the chill
would not incommode little Nell.

But he became reassured, when he recollected that he left her under the
tent upon the plaid cloth, which Dinah took with her from Fayum. It
also occurred to him that riding continuously from the Nile upwards,
though imperceptibly, they must have ridden, through so many days,
quite high; therefore to a region which was not threatened with fever
as are the low river banks. The penetrating night chill appeared to
confirm this supposition.

And this thought encouraged him. He went for a moment to Nell's tent to
listen whether she slept peacefully; after which he returned, sat
nearer the fire, and again began to doze and even fell into a sound
slumber.