ride north with less rapidity than as though they thought that we
were ahead of them."

"The serpent is less wise than thou, Werper," said Mohammed Beyd
with a smile. "It shall be done as you say. Twenty men shall
accompany us, and we shall ride WEST--when we leave the village."

"Good," cried the Belgian, and so it was arranged.

Early the next morning Jane Clayton, after an almost sleepless
night, was aroused by the sound of voices outside her prison, and
a moment later, M. Frecoult, and two Arabs entered. The latter
unbound her ankles and lifted her to her feet. Then her wrists
were loosed, she was given a handful of dry bread, and led out into
the faint light of dawn.

She looked questioningly at Frecoult, and at a moment that the
Arab's attention was attracted in another direction the man leaned
toward her and whispered that all was working out as he had planned.
Thus assured, the young woman felt a renewal of the hope which the
long and miserable night of bondage had almost expunged.

Shortly after, she was lifted to the back of a horse, and surrounded
by Arabs, was escorted through the gateway of the village and off
into the jungle toward the west. Half an hour later the party
turned north, and northerly was their direction for the balance of
the march.

M. Frecoult spoke with her but seldom, and she understood that in
carrying out his deception he must maintain the semblance of her