ada--I
mean Lady Ragnall woke.

"I wonder," she said without lifting her head from my shoulder, "what
happened to the holy Tanofir. I think that I heard him outside the shine
giving directions for the digging of Pharaoh's grave at that spot, and
saying that he must do so at once as his time was very short. Yes, and
I wished that he would go away. Oh! my goodness!" she exclaimed, and
suddenly sprang up.

I too rose and we stood facing each other.

Between us, in front of the fire stood the tripod and the bowl of black
stone at the bottom of which lay a pinch of white ashes, the remains of
the _Taduki_. We stared at it and at each other.

"Oh! where have we been, Shaba--I mean, Mr. Quatermain?" she gasped,
looking at me round-eyed.

"I don't know," I answered confusedly. "To the East I suppose. That
is--it was all a dream."

"A dream!" she said. "What nonsense! Tell me, were you or were you not
in a sanctuary just now with me before the statue of Isis, the same that
fell on George two years ago and killed him, and did you or did you not
give me a necklace of wonderful rosy pearls which we put upon the neck
of the statue as a peace-offering because I had broken my vows to the
goddess--those that you won from the Great King?"

"No," I answered triumphantly, "I did nothing of the sort. Is it likely
that I should have taken those priceless pearls into battle? I gave them
to Karema to keep after my mother returned them to me on her death-bed;
I remember it distinctly."

"Yes, and Karema handed them to me again as your love-token when she
appeared in the city with the holy Tanofir, and what was more welcome at
the moment--something to eat. For we were near starving, you know. Well,
I threw them over your neck and my own in the shrine to be the symbol
of our eternal union. But afterwards we thought that it might be wise
to offer them to the goddess--to appease her, you know. Oh! how dared we
plight our mortal troth there in her very shrine and presence, and I her
twice-sworn servant? It was insult heaped on sacrilege."

"At a guess, because love is stronger than fear," I replied. "But it
seems that you dreamed a little longer than I did. So perhaps you can
tell me what happened afterwards. I only got as far as--well, I forget
how far I got," I added, for at that moment full memory returned and I
could not go on.

She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed.

"It is all mixed up in my mind too," she exclaimed. "I can