f petrified, heard a familiar voice
shout:

"Lawrence! Lawrence, boy, are you there?"

"Yes, yes, Mr Preston; here."

A low murmur came out of the darkness as if the professor had spoken
some words, Lawrence never knew what, and the next minute they were
together standing listening to the sound of footsteps, and their guide
came panting up.

"What is it?" he cried.

Mr Preston explained, and Yussuf stood thinking for a few moments, and
hit upon the solution of the mystery at once.

"I am not worthy of my name," he cried. "I see it all now; they must
have come round this way to surprise us."

"And we have surprised them--so it seems," said the professor coolly.
"Our firing scared them. Will they come back?"

"Here! anyone killed? anyone killed?" cried Mr Burne excitedly, as he
came panting up to his friends.

"I sincerely hope not," said the professor; and he explained anew what
had occurred. "But what is to be done now, Yussuf?"

"Excellency, I hardly know what to say. If we retreat at once it is a
terrible march in the dark, and we should be much at our enemies' mercy.
If we stay here we are greatly exposed, but it is better to be on guard
than retreating. I learned that when fighting with my people up
northward against the Russ."

"You think, then, that they will come back?"

"It is impossible to say, effendi. Perhaps not to-night, but we dare
not trust them. We must be prepared."

"Let us see to the horses," cried Mr Preston. "Hamed!"

There was no reply, but, upon Yussuf shouting the name, a response came
from far up the ravine, and they found that the horses were missing.

"Oh, yes; I forgot to tell you," said Mr Burne; "they scampered up past
me, when there was all that noise down below here. One of them nearly
knocked me over."

They soon found that Hamed had limped off in search of the horses which
had taken fright, and but for the fact that Yussuf had hobbled their
forelegs, they would have galloped away.

As it was they were soon secured, and, the party being divided into two
watches, a careful guard was kept by one, while the other lay down to
sleep with weapons ready to hand in case of an alarm.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

YUSSUF PREACHES STICK.

There was no further alarm that night, for the marauders had dashed off
in the full belief that they were attacked in front and rear, the four
shots, multiplied by the tremendous echoes from the rocks, combining
with the darkness t