e of the lake, and far out into the water, making a
refuge and a shelter for the thousands upon thousands of wild duck that
peopled the watery waste. Now, unafraid, they were floating in the open,
casting great clouds of velvety black upon the still surface of the
lake, which, owing to some atmospheric effect, looked as if it sloped
upward like the sands till it met the stooping sky. Very far off, almost
visionary, like blacknesses held partly by the water, and partly by the
vapours that muffled the sky, were two or three of the clumsy boats of
the wild, almost savage natives who live on the fish of the lake. Almost
imperceptibly they moved about their eerie business.

"Just look at the duck, Ruby!" said Nigel, as she came out. "What a
place for sport!"

For once their usual roles were reversed; he was practical, while she
was imaginative, or at least strongly affected by her imagination. He
had been looking to his guns, making arrangements with a huge and nearly
black dweller of the tents to show him the best sport possible for a
fixed sum of money.

"But it's the devil to get within range of them," he added. "I shall
have to do as the natives do, I expect."

"What's that?" she asked, with an effort.

"Strip, and wade in up to my neck, carrying my gun over my head, and
then keep perfectly still till some of them come within range."

He laughed with joyous anticipation.

"I've told Ibrahim he must have a roaring big fire for me when I get
back."

"Are you going to-day?"

"Yes, I think I'll have just an hour. D'you feel up to riding the
donkey to the water's edge, and coming out on the lake with me?"

She hesitated. In this waste and in this silence she felt almost
incapable of a decision. Then she said:

"No, I think I've had enough for to-day. You must bring me back a duck
for dinner."

"I swear I will."

He gripped her hands when he went. He was full of the irrepressible joy
of the sportsman starting out for his pleasure.

"What will you do till I come back?"

"Rest. Perhaps I shall read, and I'll talk to Ibrahim. He always amuses
me."

"Good. I'm going to ride the donkey and take Hamza."

Just as he was mounting, he turned round, and said:

"Ruby, I'm having my time now. You shall have yours. You shall have the
best dahabeeyah to be got on the Nile, the _Loulia_, if Baroudi will
hire it out to us."

"Oh, the _Loulia_ would cost us too much," she said, "even if it could
be hired."

"We'll g