g of the seasons.

Meals went forward with clock-like regularity, whether the sahibs were
inclined for sustenance or not. The camp table in the dining-tent was
laid with silver and crockery; a tight bunch of green leaves adorned a
centre vase, and a gong rang at the appointed hour, while the dishes
remained warm in the portable "hot case" where an open charcoal fire
burned redly.

"Isn't the fever rather persistent?" Meredith asked at dinner while
toying with his food.

"It's early to judge," said the doctor.

"What do you think of it?"

"Unquestionably a touch of the 'flu.'"

"It isn't enteric?" the anxious husband asked fearfully. "I have a holy
horror of enteric."

"You make your mind easy, it is not going to be anything of the sort. I
am afraid, however, you will have to give up all idea of Mrs. Meredith's
camping for the present," he added definitely. "She and the child don't
take kindly to canvas, and at this time of year we must avoid exposure
to malarial conditions."

"The District is particularly free from malaria," said Meredith.

"Bengal is full of it; the many bogs and pools of stagnant water around
are responsible for the anopheles mosquito."

"It's dashed inconvenient when I must put in a deuced lot of camping in
the cold weather."

"Do most of it after Christmas," Dalton suggested.

"It will be just the same--they won't be able to stand it."

"Frankly, I don't think they will. Perhaps, both might be more
acclimatised later on," was the diplomatic reply.

Meredith passed another night on the cane chair which he placed
alongside of his wife's bed, and was conscious during periods of rest
that the doctor never slept at all. He was in and out of the tent at all
hours of the night looking after his patient with untiring zeal. An easy
chair in the dining-tent had served as his couch, and the English
newspapers entertained him during the long hours of the night.

Yet at the end of the vigil, Meredith knew Captain Dalton no better than
before. He was still the silent, repellent being, with eyes of a
thought-reader and a baffling smile which might have meant contempt or
tolerance; he was altogether incomprehensible.

By morning, Joyce was free of fever with a temporarily lowered vitality,
and showing no ill effects. All day she convalesced happily, enjoying
the petting she received from the men; Captain Dalton's methods being
unobtrusive, but effective; Meredith's, on the other hand, being
tac