will conquer the land of the infidel. I am as eager for
the day of battle as you are, but it seems to me that it is best to
wait here, until the infidels come; and I feel that it is wise of the
Khalifa thus to order. Now I will to my tent."

As soon as Ibrahim Khalim had entered his tent, Gregory crawled away,
well satisfied that he had gained exactly the information he had come
to gather. He had gone but a few paces when he saw a white figure
striding along, in front of the tents. He stopped, and threw himself
down.

Unfortunately, the path taken by the sheik was directly towards him. He
heard the footsteps advancing, in hopes that the man would pass either
in front or behind him. Then he felt a sudden kick, an exclamation, and
a heavy fall. He leapt to his feet, but the Arab sheik was as quick
and, springing up, also seized him, at the same time drawing his knife
and uttering a loud shout.

Gregory grasped the Arab's wrist, and without hesitation snatched his
own knife from the sash, and drove it deep into his assailant's body.
The latter uttered another loud cry for help, and a score of men rushed
from behind the tents.

Gregory set off at the top of his speed, dashed over the brow of the
bridge, and then, without entering the camp there, he kept along close
to the crest, running at the top of his speed and wrapping his blanket
as much as possible round him. He heard an outburst of yells behind,
and felt sure that the sheik he had wounded had told those who had
rushed up which way he had fled. With loud shouts they poured over the
crest, and there were joined by others running up from the camp.

When Gregory paused for a moment, after running for three or four
hundred yards, he could hear no sound of footsteps behind him. Glancing
round, he could not see white dresses in the darkness. Turning sharply
off, he recrossed the crest of the hill and, keeping close to it,
continued his flight until well past the end of the camp.

The alarm had by this time spread everywhere, and a wild medley of
shouts rose throughout the whole area of the encampment. He turned now,
and made for the spot where he had left Zaki and the horses. In five
minutes he reached it.

"Is that you, my lord?" Zaki asked, as he came up.

"Yes, we must fly at once! I was discovered, and had to kill--or at
least badly wound--a sheik, and they are searching for me everywhere."

"I have saddled the horses, and put the water skins on them."

"Th