case of Damocles de Warrenne than the man
who was a foster-father to him in childhood, and who brought him into
the world in such tragic circumstances. Decies had loved his mother,
Lenore de Warrenne. Would he have married _her_ in such
circumstances? Would he have lived under the same roof with her
permanently--knowing how overpowering would be the temptation to give
way and marry her, knowing how scandal would inevitably arise? A
thousand times No. Was there _no_ gentlemanliness left in Damocles de
Warrenne that he should even contemplate the doing of a deed at which
his old comrades-in-arms, Bear, Burke, Jones, Little, Goate, Nemo and
Peerson would stand aghast, would be ready to kick him out of a decent
barrack-room--and the poor demented creature called for a "boy," and
ordered him to send, at once, for one Abdul Ghani who would, as usual,
be found sleeping beside his camels in the market-place ...

Anon the gentle Abdul came, received certain instructions, and
departed smiling till his great yellow fangs gleamed in the moonlight
beneath the bristling moustache, cut back from the lips as that of a
righteous Mussulman _shikarri_ and _oont-wallah_ should be.

Damocles de Warrenne's brain became active with plots and plans for
escape--escape from himself and the temptation which he must avoid by
flight, since he felt he could not conquer it in fight.

He must disappear. He must die--die in such a way that Lucille would
never suppose he had committed suicide. It was the only way to save
himself from so awful a crime and to save her from himself.

He would start just before dawn on Abdul's shikar camel, be well away
from Kot Ghazi by daylight and reach the old deserted dak-bungalow,
that no one ever used, by evening. There Abdul would come to him with
his _bhoja-oont_[31] bringing the usual supplies, and on receipt of
them he would dismiss Abdul altogether and disappear again into the
desert, this time for good. Criminal lunatics and homicidal maniacs
are better dead, especially when they are tempted beyond their
strength to marry innocent, beautiful girls who do not understand the
position.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SNAKE AND THE SWORD.

The dak-bungalow again at last! But how terribly dreary, depressing,
and horrible it looked _now_--the hut that had once seemed a kind of
heaven on earth to the starving wanderer. Then, Lucille was thousands
of miles away (geographically, and millions of miles away in
imagina