hey would lose sight of each other, more and more
surely, the closer he came to the gates.

"If only you had something to throw him!" Saidee sighed. "What a pity
you gave the brooch to Maieddine. He might have recognized that."

"It isn't a pity if he traced me by it," said Victoria. "But wait. I'll
think of something."

"He's riding down the dip. In a minute it will be too late," Saidee
warned her.

The girl lifted over her head the long string of amber beads she had
bought in the curiosity shop of Jeanne Soubise. Wrapping it in her
handkerchief, she began to tie the silken ends together.

Stephen was so close to the Zaouia now that they could no longer see
him.

"Throw--throw! He'll be at the gates."

Victoria threw the small but heavy parcel over the wall which hid the
dwellers on the roof.

Where it fell, they could not see, and no sound came up from the
sand-dune far below. Some beggar or servant of the Zaouia might have
found and snatched the packet, for all that they could tell.

For a time which seemed long, they waited, hoping that something would
happen. They did not speak at all. Each heard her own heart beating, and
imagined that she could hear the heart of the other.

At last there were steps on the stairs which led from Saidee's rooms to
the roof. Noura came up. "O twin stars, forgive me for darkening the
brightness of thy sky," she said, "but I have here a letter, given to me
to put into the hands of Lella Saida."

She held out a folded bit of paper, that had no envelope.

Saidee, pale and large-eyed, took it in silence. She read, and then
handed the paper to Victoria.

A few lines were scrawled on it in English, in a very foreign
handwriting. The language, known to none in this house except the
marabout, Maieddine, Saidee and Victoria, was as safe as a cypher,
therefore no envelope had been needed.

"Descend into thy garden immediately, and bring with thee thy sister,"
the letter said. And it was signed "Thy husband, Mohammed."

"What can it mean?" asked Victoria, giving back the paper to Saidee.

"I don't know. But we shall soon see--for we must obey. If we didn't go
down of our own accord, we'd soon be forced to go."

"Perhaps Cassim will let me talk to Mr. Knight," said the girl.

"He is more likely to throw you to his lion, in the court," Saidee
answered, with a laugh.

They went down into the garden, and remained there alone. Nothing
happened except that, after a while, they