ealth and
strength or the commander could change his mind.

"Come on, Scamp," he whispered. "That was nothing but a temporary
disaccommodation to your tummy, doglums; we'll soon have you to rights
again."

He dived into the fo'castle with the dog behind him, and there were
those who noticed that the terrier's whip-like tail no longer hugged his
stomach, but was waving to the world at large.

And thirty minutes later, as the Puncher's launch put off with Curley
and Joe Byng comfortably seated in the stern, it was obvious to any one
who cared to look that Scamp was the happiest and healthiest terrier in
Asia.

"Now, I wonder what they did to him," mused the Puncher's commander,
watching from beneath his awning. "Those two men live up to the name
they brought aboard! I believe they'd find means and a good excuse for
walking to windward of a First Sea Lord!"

III.

Now an Arab would as soon allow a dog to lick his face as he would think
of eating pork in public with his women folk; so the bearded, hook-nosed
believers in the Prophet who looked down from the rock wall that lines
one side of Adra knew what to think of Curley and his friend Joe Byng
long before either of them realized that they were being watched.

Arrayed from head to ankles in spotless white, their black boots looking
blacker by comparison, they proceeded in the general direction of the
distant village, with the order and decorum of sea lords descending on
a dockyard for inspection purposes. The trackless sand proved hot
and sharp; the dog proved in poor condition from the voyage and the
morning's incidental martyrdom, and Byng was generous-hearted. He
picked up the dog and carried him; and Scamp displayed his gratitude in
customary canine way.

The comments of the watching Arabs would not fit into any story in the
world, and it is quite as well that Crothers and Joe Byng did not hear
them and could not have translated them, for in the other case trouble
would have started even sooner than it did. As it was, they tumbled and
maneuvered over unresisting sand through almost tangible stench to where
a gap in the ragged wall did duty as a gate. As they came nearer, a
banner with the star and crescent was displayed from the wall-top, but
no other sign was given that their coming was observed.

It was not until they had debouched (as Crothers termed it) to their
half-right front and had taken to a narrow one-man track that ran below
the wall that