His slaves
brought me hither while the _effendi_ was lying insensible. He cut my
bonds that I might bandage the _effendi's_ shoulder."
Again Herne sought to raise himself, and with difficulty succeeded. He
could make out but little of his surroundings in the gloom, but it
seemed to him that he was close to the spot where he had received his
wound, for the murmur of the spring was still in his ears, and in the
distance the yelling of the savages continued. But he was faint and
dizzy from pain and loss of blood, and his investigations did not carry
him very far. For a while he retained his consciousness, but presently
slipped into a stupor of exhaustion, through which all outside
influences soon failed to penetrate.
He dreamed after a time that Betty Derwent and he were sailing alone
together on a stormy sea, striving eternally to reach an island where
the sun shone and the birds sang, and being for ever flung back again
into the howling waste of waters till, in agony of soul, they ceased to
strive.
Then came the morning, all orange and gold, shining pitilessly down upon
him, and he awoke to the knowledge that Betty was far away, and he was
tossing alone on a sea that yet was no sea, but an endless desert of
sand.
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