Is it not a fortunate circumstance, for you ?" "Fortunate, yes," the Frenchman answered, his eyes glowing as they estimated the strength of the war-party, now densely massed along the shining sands, "But, thank God, there are no women in this party! That would mean that one of us would have to kill a woman--for God help a woman of Feringistan caught by these _jinnee_, these devils of the waste!" Silence again.

Both men studied the Beni Harb.

The Frenchman judged, reverting to his native tongue: "Certainly more than three hundred of these 'abusers of the salt,' my Captain.

And we are hardly thirty.
Even if we reach land, we must soon sink to earth.

Without food, water, anything--_ce n'est pas gai, hein ?_" "No, it is not gay," the chief answered.