is not only because of the severe crowding which he had
endured--though that had told him much--but because of the unwonted
silence upon the men. So he had held himself keenly to the stride,
rather liking its vigor after long days of walking, finding himself
especially fit to meet it after his recent change of food. And although
the sun had been swelteringly hot, yet the desert had been swept with
counteracting breezes, and, with night finally descending, he had felt
more than ever his fine mettle, and now, even though his master was
painfully dismounting, he felt fit to run his legs off at the least
suggestion.

This fitness remained with him. When his young master turned him loose
at the end of a generous tether, he stepped eagerly away from the
firelight and out into the light of a rising moon, not to graze, for he
felt no desire to graze, having eaten his fill and more at noon, but to
give vent to his high spirits in unusual rolling in the sands. This he
quickly proceeded to do, kicking and thrashing about, and holding to it
long after the men about the fire had ceased to come and go in preparing
their meal, long after they had seated themselves in the cheerful glow,
smoking and talking as was their habit.

The Professor noticed it. He looked at the man with the beard pointedly.
"That Pat hoss he's workin' up another job o' cleanin' for you," he
observed. "Seemed in an awful hurry, too," he added, then dropped his
eyes innocently.

The other was punching new holes in his belt with an unwieldy
jack-knife. He suddenly gave off twisting the point of the knife against
the leather and lifted it menacingly in the direction of his tormentor.

"Look-a-here, Professor," he retorted, "I ain't feelin' any too pert
right now, and I'll take a hop out o' you if you don't shet up!"

The Professor looked grieved. "What's the matter of you?" he inquired.

"Never you mind!" The knife went back to the leather again. "Let that
horse roll if he wants to! It ain't any skin off your hands!"

Which was the key-note of all assembled save the Professor. All except
him appeared tense and nervous and in no way inclined to joke. For a
time after the lean man's rebuke they engaged in casual talk, then one
after another they drew off their boots and rolled up in their blankets.
All but Stephen. His arm was throbbing with unusual pain. It was still
in splints, and still bandaged in a sling around his neck, and since it
always hurt him to ch