"You see what comes of all your foolish talking! You have ruined our chances as well as your own!" Half-a-dozen mounted camel-men had appeared suddenly over the lip of the bowl-shaped hollow, standing out hard and clear against the evening sky where the copper basin met its great blue lid.

They were travelling fast, and waved their rifles as they came.

An instant later the bugle sounded an alarm, and the camp was up with a buzz like an overturned bee-hive.

The Colonel ran back to his companions, and the black soldier to his camel.

Stephens looked relieved, and Belmont sulky, while Monsieur Fardet raved, with his one uninjured hand in the air.
"Sacred name of a dog!" he cried.