hunger and appetite produced by such a
long fast; and then Lawrence took his place, while Yussuf seated himself
upon a stone by the spring, and began eating his simple meal of hard
bread and a few dates.

The night was coming on fast; and, enticed by the beauty of the shadows
that were deepening in the gorge through which they had gone in pursuit
of the robbers the day before, the professor walked on and on till he
was nearly abreast of the rock-dwellings.

They were just visible, but where he stood the gorge was in profound
darkness, and he remained watching the ruins fade away as it were in the
evening gloom, till, feeling that it was time to return, he was in the
act of going back, when a peculiar click struck his ear, and he knew as
well as if he had seen the act that a horse had struck its armed hoof
against a stone.

Had he felt any doubt it was set aside by a low snort, and, feeling that
one of their steeds had strayed after him, and then gone on toward the
end of the gorge, he was about to hurry forward and seize it, when a
second click startled him, and in an instant he realised that the enemy
had evidently been duped by the sham sentry, and given up the attempt to
attack them. What was more, he grasped that the enemy had started a
ruse of their own, and were coming along the larger gorge, to turn back
during the night by the spring, so as to take them in the rear, while
they were expecting an attack in front.

The professor realised all this as he stood there in the darkness
leaning upon his gun, and afraid to stir, for he knew that to do so was
to betray his whereabouts to a set of men who would perhaps take his
life, and even if they spared this, carry him off to hold him to ransom.

Worse still; they would then go on and surprise the party by the spring,
his presence betraying their whereabouts, for there was only one spot
likely in that stony wilderness for people to halt, and that was of
course by the water side.

What was he to do?

It was a hard question, and the professor felt himself at his wits' end.
He had stepped a dozen yards out of the track, and was standing amongst
some rough stones which helped the darkness to conceal his presence,
though the valley was in such a deep shadow that, as he strained eyes
and ears to make out and count the enemy, he could do neither, though he
knew now that they had halted just opposite to him, and he could hear
them whispering evidently in consultation be