le bags before leaving his camp. Then they pushed on
again, nor did they halt a second time until in the heat of the day he
stopped and motioned the girl to dismount.

"We will sleep here for a time and let the ponies graze," he said.

"I had no idea the camp was so far away," said Meriem.

"I left orders that they were to move on at day break," explained the
trader, "so that we could get a good start. I knew that you and I
could easily overtake a laden safari. It may not be until tomorrow
that we'll catch up with them."

But though they traveled part of the night and all the following day no
sign of the safari appeared ahead of them. Meriem, an adept in jungle
craft, knew that none had passed ahead of them for many days.
Occasionally she saw indications of an old spoor, a very old spoor, of
many men. For the most part they followed this well-marked trail along
elephant paths and through park-like groves. It was an ideal trail for
rapid traveling.

Meriem at last became suspicious. Gradually the attitude of the man at
her side had begun to change. Often she surprised him devouring her
with his eyes. Steadily the former sensation of previous
acquaintanceship urged itself upon her. Somewhere, sometime before she
had known this man. It was evident that he had not shaved for several
days. A blonde stubble had commenced to cover his neck and cheeks and
chin, and with it the assurance that he was no stranger continued to
grow upon the girl.

It was not until the second day, however, that Meriem rebelled. She
drew in her pony at last and voiced her doubts. Hanson assured her that
the camp was but a few miles further on.

"We should have overtaken them yesterday," he said. "They must have
marched much faster than I had believed possible."

"They have not marched here at all," said Meriem. "The spoor that we
have been following is weeks old."

Hanson laughed.

"Oh, that's it, is it?" he cried. "Why didn't you say so before? I
could have easily explained. We are not coming by the same route; but
we'll pick up their trail sometime today, even if we don't overtake
them."

Now, at last, Meriem knew the man was lying to her. What a fool he
must be to think that anyone could believe such a ridiculous
explanation? Who was so stupid as to believe that they could have
expected to overtake another party, and he had certainly assured her
that momentarily he expected to do so, when that party's route was no