n in this God-forsaken place--worse luck!--for nine years, we
have never yet had to put up ladies. Unfortunately, too, my brother is
away, gone to Touggourt to buy stores, and I have only one Arab to help
me. Still, though I have forgotten many useful things in this
banishment, I have not forgotten how to cook, as more than one French
officer could tell you."

"One has told me," said Stephen. "Captain Sabine, of the Chasseurs
d'Afrique."

"Ah, ce beau sabreur! He stopped with me on his way to Oued Tolga, for
the well-making. If he has recommended me, I shall be on my mettle,
Monsieur."

The heavy face brightened; but there were bags under the bloodshot eyes,
and the man's breath reeked of alcohol. Stephen was sorry the brother
was away. He had been the more alert and prepossessing of the two.

As they talked, the quadrangle of the bordj--which was but an inferior
caravanserai--had waked to animation. The landlord's one Arab servant
had appeared, like a rat out of a hole, to help the new arrivals with
their horses and camels. The caravans had filed in, and the marabout's
men and Stephen's guides had dismounted.

None of these had seen the place since the visitation of the storm, and
one or two from the Zaouia had perhaps never been so far north before,
yet they looked at the broken tower with grave interest rather than
curiosity. Stephen wondered whether they had been primed with knowledge
before starting, or if their lack of emotion were but Arab stoicism.

As usual in a caravanserai or large bordj, all round the square
courtyard were series of rooms: a few along one wall for the
accommodation of French officers and rich Arabs, furnished with
elementary European comforts; opposite, a dining-room and kitchen; to
the left, the quarters of the two landlords and their servants; along
the fourth wall, on either side of the great iron gate, sheds for
animals, untidily littered with straw and refuse, infested with flies.
Further disorder was added by the debris from the broken
heliograph-tower which had been only partially cleared away since the
storm. Other towers there were, also; three of them, all very low and
squat, jutting out from each corner of the high, flat-topped wall, and
loopholed as usual, so that men stationed inside could defend against an
escalade. These small towers were intact, though the roof of one was
covered with rubbish from the ruined shell rising above; and looking up
at this, Stephen saw that