t where I point, and presently thou
wilt see."

It was as he prophesied. Out of a blot of shadow among the tawny dunes
crawled some dark specks, which might have been particles of the shadow
itself. They moved, and gradually increased in size. By and by Stephen
could count seven separate specks. It must be Nevill and the boy, and
Stephen wondered if he had added two more Arabs to the pair who had gone
back with him from Oued Tolga, towards Touggourt.

"Hurrah for Lady MacGregor!" the watcher said under his breath. "She
wired on my telegram, and caught him before he'd passed the last
station. I might have known she would, the glorious old darling!" He
hurried inside the bordj to knock at the ladies' door, and tell the
news. "They're in sight!" he cried. "Would you like to come outside the
gate and look?"

Instantly the door opened, and the sisters appeared. Victoria looked
flushed and happy, but Saidee was pale, almost haggard in comparison
with the younger girl. Both were in Arab dress still, having nothing
else, even if they had wished to change; and as she came out, Saidee
mechanically drew the long blue folds of her veil closely over her face.
Custom had made this a habit which it would be hard to break.

All three went out together, and the Arabs, standing in a group, turned
at the sound of their voices. Again they had been looking southward.
Stephen looked also, but the dazzle of the declining sun was in his
eyes.

"Don't seem to notice anything," said Saidee in a low voice.

"What is there to notice?" he asked in the same tone.

"A big caravan coming from the south. Can't you see it?"

"No. I see nothing."

"You haven't stared at the desert for eight years, as I have. There must
be eighteen or twenty men."

"Do you think they're from the Zaouia?" asked Victoria.

"Who can tell? We can't know till they're very close, and then----"

"Nevill Caird will get here first," Stephen said, half to himself. "You
can see five horses and two camels plainly now. They're travelling
fast."

"Those Arabs have seen the others," Saidee murmured. "But they don't
want us to know they're thinking about them."

"Even if men are coming from the Zaouia," said Stephen, "it may easily
be that they've only been sent as an extra escort for the boy, owing to
his father's anxiety."

"Yes, it may be only that," Saidee admitted. "Still, I'm glad----" She
did not finish her sentence. But she was thinking about the carrier
pigeo