til they were all stretched in one long line.
The riders sprang off, and laid out the chopped tibbin upon cloths in
front of them, for no well-bred camel will eat from the ground.
In their gentle eyes, their quiet, leisurely way of eating, and their
condescending, mincing manner, there was something both feminine and
genteel, as though a party of prim old maids had foregathered in the
heart of the Libyan Desert.

There was no interference with the prisoners, either male or female, for
how could they escape in the centre of that huge plain? The Emir came
towards them once, and stood combing out his blue-black beard with his
fingers, and looking thoughtfully at them out of his dark, sinister
eyes. Miss Adams saw with a shudder that it was always upon Sadie that
his gaze was fixed. Then, seeing their distress, he gave an order, and
a negro brought a water-skin, from which he gave each of them about half
a tumblerful. It was hot and muddy, and tasted of leather, but oh how
delightful it was to their parched palates! The Emir said a few abrupt
words to the dragoman, and left.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mansoor began, with something of his old
consequential manner; but a glare from the Colonel's eyes struck the
words from his lips, and he broke away into a long, whimpering excuse
for his conduct.

"How could I do anything otherwise," he wailed, "with the very knife at
my throat?"

"You will have the very rope round your throat if we all see Egypt
again," growled Cochrane savagely. "In the meantime--"

"That's all right, Colonel," said Belmont. "But for our own sakes we
ought to know what the chief has said."

"For my part I'll have nothing to do with the blackguard."

"I think that that is going too far. We are bound to hear what he has
to say." Cochrane shrugged his shoulders. Privations had made him
irritable, and he had to bite his lip to keep down a bitter answer.
He walked slowly away, with his straight-legged military stride.

"What did he say, then?" asked Belmont, looking at the dragoman with an
eye which was as stern as the Colonel's.

"He seems to be in a somewhat better manner than before. He said that
if he had more water you should have it, but that he is himself short in
supply. He said that to-morrow we shall come to the wells of Selimah,
and everybody shall have plenty--and the camels too."

"Did he say how long we stopped here?"

"Very little rest, he said, and then forward! Oh, Mr. Be