d you--and Mea and Kali? I am so sorry that I alone shall sleep
while you will be tiring yourselves--"

"On the contrary, we shall have time to nap. Don't worry about me. In
Port Said during examination time I often did not sleep whole nights;
of which my father knew nothing. My classmates also did not sleep. But
a man is not a little fly like you. You have no idea how you look
to-day--just like glass. There remain only eyes and tufts of hair;
there is no face at all."

He said this jestingly, but in his soul he feared, as by the strong
daylight Nell plainly had a sickly countenance and for the first time
he clearly understood that if it continued thus the poor child not only
might, but must, die. At this thought his legs trembled for he suddenly
felt that in case of her death he would not have anything to live for,
or a reason for returning to Port Said.

"For what would I then have to do?" he thought.

For a while he turned away in order that Nell might not observe the
grief and fear in his eyes, and afterwards went to the things deposited
under the tree. He threw aside the saddle-cloth with which the
cartridge box was covered, opened it, and began to search for something.

He had hidden there in a small glass bottle the last of the quinine
powders and had guarded it like an "eye in the head" for "the black
hour," that is, for the emergency when Nell should be fever-stricken.
But now he was almost certain that after such a night the first attack
would come, so he determined to prevent it. He did this with a heavy
heart, thinking of what would happen later, and were it not that it did
not become a man and the leader of a caravan to weep, he would have
burst into tears over this last powder.

So, desiring to conceal his emotion, he assumed a very stern mien and,
addressing the little girl, said:

"Nell, before you eat, take the rest of the quinine."

She, on the other hand, asked:

"But if you catch the fever?"

"Then I will shiver. Take it, I tell you."

She took it without further resistance, for from the time he killed the
Sudanese she feared him a little, notwithstanding all his efforts for
her comfort and the kindness he evinced towards her. Afterwards they
sat down to breakfast, and after the fatigue of the night, the hot
broth of guinea-fowl tasted delicious. Nell fell asleep immediately
after the refreshment and slept for several hours. Stas, Kali, and Mea
during that time put the caravan in order.