outskirts of the town where the trampled sand of the streets
became a vast, flowing wave of gold. Four Eyes had been in Touggourt
more than once, having marched all the way from Bel-Abbes, long before
the railway was begun or thought of. He urged Max to come into the low
white building where at dusk the raeita and the tomtom had begun to
scream and throb.

"Prettiest dancing girls of the Sahara," he said, "and a fellow there I
used to know in Bel-Abbes--in the Chasseurs--has just told me there's a
great show for to-night."

There were several cafes in Sidi-bel-Abbes, where the proprietors
engaged Arab girls to dance, but Max, who had paid one visit, in
curiosity, thought the women disgusting and the dancing dull. He said
that he had no faith in the Touggourt attractions, and would rather take
a stroll.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Four Eyes scouted his
objections. "Haven't you heard the scandal about this Stanton, the
exploring man, who's here--our colonel's old pal?"

"No, I've heard that Stanton's at Touggourt. But I've heard no scandal,"
answered Max. "What has he got to do with the dancing girls?"

As he spoke, it was as if he saw Stanton sitting with Sanda DeLisle at
one of the little tea-tables on the terrace of the Hotel St. George at
Algiers; the square, resolute, red-tanned face, and the big, square blue
eyes, burning with aggressive vitality.

"Everything to do with one of them," said Four Eyes. "That's the
scandal. Seems Stanton's been playing the fool. They say he's half mad,
anyhow, about a lot of things--always was, but it is a bit worse since a
touch o' the sun he had a year or two ago. He's off his head about an
Ouled Nail--don't know whether she came here because of him, or whether
he picked her up at Touggourt, but the story is, he could o' got away
before now, with his bloomin' caravan, on that d----d fool expedition of
his you read of in the papers, only he couldn't bring himself to leave
this Ahmara, or whatever her crack-jaw name is. The chap that was
talkin' to me says she's the handsomest creature you'd see in a
lifetime, an' she's going to dance to-night to spite Stanton."

"To spite him?" Max repeated, not understanding.

"Yes, you d----d young greenhorn! Anybody'd know _you_ was new to
Africa! These girls, when they get to be celebrated for their looks or
any other reason, won't dance in public as a general thing. They leave
that to the common ones, who need to do som