beyond all doubt, trained to his whistle. Even her revolver had been
tampered with. She had not missed, as she had thought. She remembered
the noise, the fleeting vision she had had in the hotel at Biskra. It
had been some one in her room, Mustafa Ali himself, or one of his men,
who had stolen in and substituted the blank cartridges. The possibility
of Aubrey changing his mind and accompanying her must also have been
thought of, for the Sheik had provided against the resistance that
would certainly have then been made by the number of followers he had
brought with him--a large enough force to frustrate easily any
attempted opposition to the attack.

The net that she had felt closing round her earlier in the afternoon
seemed wrapped round her now inextricably, drawing tighter and tighter,
smothering her. She gasped for breath. The sinking sun seemed suddenly
to leap up wildly into the heavens; then she pulled herself together
with a tremendous effort. "Why have you done this?" she murmured
faintly.

Then for a moment her heart stood still, her eyes dilating. He had come
close behind her, and she waited in an agony, until he caught her to
him, crushing her against him, forcing her head back on his arm.

"Because I wanted you. Because one day in Biskra, four weeks ago, I saw
you for a few moments, long enough to know that I wanted you. And what
I want I take. You played into my hands. You arranged a tour in the
desert. The rest was easy."

Her eyes were shut, the long dark lashes quivering on her pale cheeks
so that she could not see his face, but she felt him draw her closer to
him and then his fierce kisses on her mouth. She struggled frantically,