it that I'd be a fool if I did! The meeting must be at some
distance from your Zaouia."

The marabout raised his eyebrows superciliously. They said--"So thou art
afraid!" But Stephen was not to be taunted into an imprudence where
Victoria's safety was at stake.

"Those are our terms," he repeated.

"Very well, I accept," said the Arab. "Thou mayest send a message to the
lady, inviting her to leave my house with thee; and I assure thee, that
in any case I would have no wish to keep her, other than the desire of
hospitality. Thou canst take her at once, if she will go; and passing
through the city, with her and my men, thou canst send thy telegram.
Appoint as a meeting place the Bordj of Toudja, one day's march from the
town of Oued Tolga. When my men have the child in their keeping, thou
wilt be free to go in peace with the girl and thy friend."

"I should be glad if thou wouldst send for her, and let me talk with her
here," Stephen suggested.

"No, that cannot be," the marabout answered decidedly. "When she is out
of my house, I wash my hands of her; but while she is under my roof it
would be shameful that she should speak, even in my presence, with a
strange man."

Stephen was ready to concede a point, if he could get his wish in
another way. "Give me paper, then, and I will write to the lady," he
said. "There will be an answer, and it must be brought to me quickly,
for already I have stopped longer than I expected, and Captain Sabine,
who knows I have come to call upon you and fetch a friend, may be
anxious."

He spoke his last words with a certain emphasis, knowing that Ben Halim
would understand the scarcely veiled threat.

The marabout went into the next room, and got some French writing paper.
Stephen wrote a hasty note, begging Victoria to leave the Zaouia under
his care. He would take her, he said, to Lady MacGregor, who had come to
Touggourt on purpose to be at hand if wanted. He wrote in English, but
because he was sure that Ben Halim knew the language, he said nothing to
Victoria about her sister. Only he mentioned, as if carelessly, that he
had brought a good camel with a comfortable bassour large enough for
two.

When the letter was in an envelope, addressed to Miss Ray, the marabout
took it from Stephen and handed it to somebody outside the door, no
doubt one of the three watchers. There were mumbled instructions in
Arabic, and ten minutes later an answer came back. Stephen could have
shouted f