ourselves, which made it better. I'm always afraid of the Maharajah's
followers, for in a run they ride so recklessly and carry their spears
so carelessly that it's a wonder they don't kill someone every time.
Will you help me down, please? I must give Martian a rest after that
gallop."

With Wargrave's aid she dropped lightly to the ground; and he remarked
again with admiration the graceful lines and rounded curves of her
figure as she walked to the dead boar and touched the tusks.

"What a splendid pair! You are lucky," she exclaimed. "The biggest
anyone has got yet this season."

"I hope you'll allow me to offer them to you," said Wargrave generously,
although it cost him a pang to surrender the precious trophy. "You
deserve them, for you rode so well after the boar and I believe you'd
have got him if you'd carried a spear."

"No, indeed, Mr. Wargrave; I wouldn't dream of taking them," she
replied, laughing; "but I appreciate the nobility of your self-denial.
This is your first pig; and I know what that means to a man. Now we must
find a _sowar_ to get the coolies to bring the boar in. But I wonder
where we are. Where is everyone?"

Wargrave looked about him and for the first time realised that they were
far out in the desert without a landmark to guide them. On every side
the sand stretched away to the horizon, its flat expanse broken only by
clumps of bristling cactus or very rarely the tall stem of a palm tree.
Of the others of the party there was no sign. His companion and he
seemed to be alone in the world; and he began to wonder apprehensively