"Will not the Sahib honour his servant by partaking also?" he asked,
proffering his treasure. "The cold increaseth every hour, and the
Heaven-born hath had too little food to-day."

It was a moment before Lenox could find his voice; not because
temptation mastered him, but because he could scarcely believe the
evidence of his brain. The sight of the forbidden thing within easy
reach no longer tormented him as it would have done two months ago.
The habit of resistance was beginning to take effect at last; and,
almost before Zyarulla had time to wonder at his silence, Lenox had
waved aside his open palm.

"No, no," he said quietly. "I have eaten enough, and thou wilt need
all and more before we set foot in a bazaar again. Opium is not for
Sahibs. For the Pathan people, who are made of wood and iron, it may
be very well; but for the white man it is poison."

The Asiatic shook his head, and a light gleamed under his grizzled
brows.

"Great is the wisdom of the Sahib; yet in this matter have I also some
knowledge. The Dream Compeller is no poison, Hazur, but Allah's
bountiful gift to man, bringing strength out of weakness, peace out of
turmoil, even as the rain draweth grass from parched earth.
Nevertheless, it is as your Honour wills."

And Lenox, still watching the man's movements with a strange mingling
of indifference and triumph, saw the miracle-worker--of whose powers he
knew far more than the Pathan--disappear unhindered into the folds of
the man's kummerbund; saw himself once more a free man,--captain of the
soul and body given into his charge.

"Now it is time to sleep," he said, pushing back his chair, and rising
so abruptly that Brutus stumbled on to his feet, and emerged from the
folds of the rug with an injured air. "All things are in readiness for
setting out?"

"Hazur, all things are in readiness."

"It is well. Scatter ashes on the fire, and call me at dawn."

And as he slipped into the sheep-skin bag, his whole heart echoed the
words, "It is well." Let him only win his way back to the wife whose
spirit called to him across the silence and the miles, and all would be
well indeed!

Ten minutes later, the candles were put out; the glow of the fire
quenched; while outside the temperature fell steadily, and a sky heavy
with threatening cloud brooded over the sleeping camp.

Lenox woke before dawn to find a creditable snow-peak piled above his
dead fire, while flakes as large as plucked fe