been for it was marked with many folds and he had a green upon his head which marked him as a pilgrim in one hand he carried a small brown carpet and in the other a copy of the laying his carpet upon the ground he to his side and then gave a circular sweep of his arm to signify that the prisoners should gather round him and a downward wave which meant that they should be seated so they themselves round him sitting on the short green under the palm tree these seven forlorn representatives of an alien creed and in the midst of them sat the fat little preacher his one eye dancing from face to face as he the principles of his and more earnest faith they listened attentively and nodded their heads as translated the and with each sign of their acquiescence the became more amiable in a desert drama his manner and more affectionate in his speech for why should you die my sweet when all that is asked of you is that you should set aside that which will carry you to everlasting and accept the law of as written by his prophet which will assuredly bring you joys as is promised in the book of the for what says the chosen one � and he broke away into one of those which pass in every creed as an argument besides is it not clear that god is with us since from the beginning when we had but sticks against the of the victory has always been with us have we not taken el and taken and destroyed and slain and prevailed against every one who has come against us how then can it be said that the blessing of does not rest upon us the colonel had been looking about him during the long of the and he had observed that the were a desert drama cleaning their guns counting their and making all the preparations of men who expected that they might soon be called upon to fight the two were together with grave faces and the leader of the pointed as he spoke to them in the direction of egypt it was evident that there was at least a chance of a rescue if they could only keep things going for a few more hours the were not recovered yet from their long march and the if they were indeed close behind were almost certain to overtake them for god s sake try and keep him in play said he i believe we have a chance if we can only keep the ball rolling for another hour or so but a frenchman s wounded dignity is not so easily appeased sat with his back against the and his black brows drawn down he said nothing but he still pulled at his thick strong moustache come on we depend upon you said a desert drama let colonel do it the frenchman answered he takes too much upon himself this colonel there there said soothingly as if he were speaking to a child i am quite sure that the colonel will express his regret at what has happened and will acknowledge that he was in the wrong do nothing of the sort snapped the colonel besides that is merely a personal quarrel continued hastily it is for the good of the whole party that we wish you to speak with the because we all feel that you are the best man for the job but the frenchman only shrugged his shoulders and into a deeper gloom the looked from one to the other and the kindly expression began to fade away from his large face his mouth drew down at the corners and became hard and severe have these been playing with a desert drama us then said he to the why is it that they talk among themselves and have nothing to say to me � he is getting impatient about it said perhaps i had better do what i can since this damned fellow has left us in the but the ready wit of a woman saved the situation i am sure said mrs that you who are a frenchman and therefore a man of gallantry and honour would not permit your own wounded feelings to interfere with the fulfilment of your promise and your duty towards three helpless ladies was on his feet in an instant with his hand over his heart you understand my nature madame he cried i am incapable of a lady i will do all that i can in this matter now you may tell the holy man that i am ready to discuss through you the high matters of his faith with him and he did it with an ingenuity which a desert drama amazed his companions he took the tone of a man who is strongly attracted and yet has one single remaining of doubt to hold him back yet as that one was torn away by the there was always some other stubborn little point which prevented his absolute acceptance of the faith of and his questions were all so mixed up with personal compliments to the priest and self congratulations that they should have come under the of so wise a man and so profound a that the hanging under the s eyes quivered with his satisfaction and he was led happily and from explanation to explanation while the blue overhead turned into violet and the green leaves into black until the great serene stars shone out once more between the crowns of the palm trees as to the learning of which you speak my lamb said the in answer to some argument of s i have myself studied at the university of el at and i know that to which you allude a desert drama but the learning of the faithful is not as the learning of the and it is 