ce."

"In our star," Victoria half whispered, looking at Stephen. They both
remembered, and their eyes spoke, in a language they had never used
before.

In England, Margot Lorenzi was wondering why Stephen Knight had not come
to meet her, and angrily making up her mind that she would find out the
reason.

L

Somehow, they all contrived to take a little food, three watching from
the wall-towers while the others ate; and Saidee prepared strong,
delicious coffee, such as had never been tasted in the bordj of Toudja.

When they had dined after a fashion, each making a five-minute meal,
there was still time to arrange the defence, for the attacking party--if
such it were--could not reach the bordj in less than an hour, marching
as fast as horses and camels could travel among the dunes.

The landlord was drunk. There was no disguising that, but though he was
past planning, he was not past fighting. He had a French army rifle and
bayonet. Each of the five men had a revolver, and there was another in
the bordj, belonging to the absent brother. This Saidee asked for, and
it was given her. There were plenty of cartridges for each weapon,
enough at all events to last out a hot fight of several hours. After
that--but it was best not to send thoughts too far ahead.

The Frenchman had served long ago in the Chasseurs d'Afrique, and had
risen, he said, to the rank of sergeant; but the fumes of absinthe
clouded his brain, and he could only swagger and boast of old exploits
as a soldier, crying from time to time "Vive l'entente cordiale," and
assuring the Englishmen that they could trust him to the death. It was
Stephen who, by virtue of his amateur soldiering experience, had to take
the lead. He posted the Highlanders in opposite watch-towers, placing
Nevill in one which commanded the two rear walls of the bordj. The next
step was the building of bonfires, one at each corner of the roof, so
that when the time for fighting came, the defenders might confound the
enemy by lighting the surrounding desert, making a surprise impossible.
Old barrels were broken up, therefore, and saturated with oil. The
spiked double gates of iron, though apparently strong, Stephen judged
incapable of holding out long against battering rams, but he knew heavy
baulks of wood to be rare in the desert, far from the palms of the
oases. What he feared most was gunpowder; and though he was ignorant of
the marabout's secret ambitions and warlike prep