"
"Then do not stir from the hiding-place till I come back. I will take
your camels, and bring you back fresh ones in the evening." And in
company with his fellow-Arab he rode off towards the river.
Trench and Feversham dug out the sand within the stones and lay down,
watching the horizon between the interstices. For both of them this
perhaps was the longest day of their lives. They were so near to safety
and yet not safe. To Trench's thinking it was longer than a night in the
House of Stone, and to Feversham longer than even one of those days six
years back when he had sat in his rooms above St. James's Park and
waited for the night to fall before he dared venture out into the
streets. They were so near to Berber, and the pursuit must needs be
close behind. Feversham lay wondering how he had ever found the courage
to venture himself in Berber. They had no shade to protect them; all day
the sun burnt pitilessly upon their backs, and within the narrow circle
of stones they had no room wherein to move. They spoke hardly at all.
The sunset, however, came at the last, the friendly darkness gathered
about them, and a cool wind rustled through the darkness across the
desert.
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