almost have been taken in by
him, perhaps, he had such an air of noble, impeccable sincerity. But
just as I dipped down into a kind of hollow, on the Zaouia side of the
river, something was thrown from somewhere. Unluckily I couldn't be sure
where. I'd been looking up at the roofs behind the walls, but I must
have had my eyes on the wrong one, if this thing fell from a roof, as I
believe it did. It was a little bundle, done up in a handkerchief, and I
saw it only as it touched the ground, about a dozen yards in front. Then
I hurried on, you may be sure, hoping it was meant for me, to grab the
thing before any one else could appear and lay hands on it."

"Well?"

"Luckily I'd outridden the guide. I made him think afterward that I'd
jumped off my horse to pick up the whip, which I dropped for a blind, in
case of spying eyes. Tied up in the silk handkerchief--an Arab-looking
handkerchief--was a string of amber beads. Do you remember the beads
Miss Ray bought of Miss Soubise, and wore to your house?"

"I remember she had a handsome string of old prayer-beads."

"Is this the one?" Stephen took the handkerchief and its contents from
his pocket, and Nevill examined the large, round lumps of gleaming
amber, which were somewhat irregular in shape. Captain Sabine looked on
with interest.

"I can't be sure," Nevill said reluctantly.

"Well, I can," Stephen answered with confidence. "She showed it to me,
in your garden. I remember a fly in the biggest bead, which was clear,
with a brown spot, and a clouded bead on either side of it. I had the
necklace in my hand. Besides, even if I weren't as certain as I am, who
would throw a string of amber beads at my feet, if it weren't some one
trying to attract my attention, in the only way possible? It was as much
as to say, 'I know you've come looking for me. If you're told I'm not
here, it's false.' I was a good long way from the gates; but much nearer
to a lot of white roofs grouped behind the high wall of the Zaouia, than
I would have been in riding on, closer to the gates. Unfortunately there
are high parapets to screen any one standing on the roofs. And anyhow,
by the time the beads were thrown, I was too low down in the hollow to
see even a waved hand or handkerchief. Still, with that necklace in my
pocket, I knew pretty well what I was about, in talking with the
marabout."

"You thought you did," said Nevill. "But you'd have known a lot more if
only you could have made Capta