as as clear and pure as ever,
and with a sigh of relief Anstice set about filling his goat-skin
water-bottle, and then, anxious to lose no time, he retraced his steps
over the moonlit desert without delay.

He marched blithely on and on, ever companioned by that new and thrice
welcome sense of freedom which had come to him, as though at each step
he took the fetters with which a great regret had for so long shackled
his soul grew looser and less binding, until it seemed that they might
presently fall off altogether, and allow him once more to face the world
as a free man, and not the captive of a cruel and unjust fate.

* * * * *

He had reached the outskirts of the village before the necessity for
caution reasserted itself; but just as he was passing, as softly as
possible, the little group of palm trees which he had noted earlier, he
caught a glimpse of a man prowling, as it seemed, round the trunks of
those same trees; and in another second he knew that by an unlucky
chance the man was between him and the only place in which he might have
taken cover.

There was no time to be lost. At any moment the Bedouin might look up
and see him--an unfortunately conspicuous figure in the moonlight; and
although the Fort was not more than a quarter of a mile away, should it
come to a race the odds might well be in favour of the desert-bred man.

True, he was armed--for in spite of his protests Garnett had insisted on
him carrying one of the few revolvers owned by the little defending
force; but he did not wish to fire, save in the last extremity, since a
shot would certainly rouse the village and cut off his one chance of
regaining the shelter of the Fort.

There was just a possibility that the man might not see him, so intent
was he at the moment in his scrutiny of the village; and in a second
Anstice had taken his resolve--a desperate resolve enough, but the only
one he could formulate at the moment.

He began, instantly, to run, and so noiseless was his progress that no
sound reached the ears of the prowling Bedouin; and had the native's
other senses been less keen, it is possible Anstice would have escaped
notice altogether.

Unfortunately the man turned himself about, and saw the flying figure,
which stood out only too plainly in that empty expanse of moonlit sand;
and after a second's hesitation, as though he could barely believe the
evidence of his eyes, the native left his hiding-pl