reconnoitre, shall we? It would be great to outwit the beasts after
all!"

"Right! Where shall we go and scout?"

"Place opposite--the only one with a decent-sized hole in the wall--have
to find a place one could squeeze through, I suppose--and I'm such an
infernally broad chap, too!"

Anstice laughed.

"Well, I'm pretty long," he said, still smiling. "Lead on, will you--oh,
this is the place, is it?"

They had entered a small circular chamber which had evidently been used
for the purpose of scanning the desert far below in search of possible
foes; for the aperture in the wall which corresponded to a modern window
was much larger than any of the other slits in the building; and Anstice
and the Australian were able, by a little man[oe]uvring, to lean out
side by side and view the prospect beneath.

"Pretty fair drop, eh?" From his tone Garnett was in no wise daunted by
the sight.

"Yes--want a steady head. But it could be done," said Anstice
judicially. "A long rope--a precious long one, too--fastened to
something up here, and one could clamber down all right. And once down
it should be easy to skirt round to the well you mentioned. That's
settled, then, and since you're disabled"--he glanced at the other's
bandaged arm--"this is going to be my job."

"Oh, I say, that's not fair!" The other's tone of indignation amused
Anstice even at that critical moment. "It was my suggestion, wasn't it?
Oh, I believe you did say something about it too ... but I think I ought
to be the one to go."

"But your arm----"

"Oh, damn my arm!" Garnett spoke vehemently. "It won't hurt it a
scrap--and honestly, I'd simply _love_ the job!"

"I know you would--but really you'll have to let me do it." Anstice
spoke firmly, though he was sorry for the other man's disappointment.
"You see that arm of yours is badly hurt, though you won't own up to it;
and it might easily go back on you when you started using it. And if you
got stuck down there, we'd have no water, and be a man short here as
well."

For another minute the Australian held out, arguing the point with a
kind of fiery eloquence which showed how keenly he desired to undertake
the adventure; but in the end he gave way, though he was too
unsophisticated entirely to hide his chagrin.

"Then that's settled." Anstice dared not betray his sympathy any
further. "Now it remains to settle the details; and by the way, wouldn't
it be wise to keep it as quiet as possible? We don't