The Washington times., 1922-12-03

necessary rub with q silk handker-
chief to the polished, well-oiled
butts.
He had spent nearly the whole
Of an enjoyable morning on the
task, musing delightfully."- over the
knowledge, gossip. advice and
rumor which he and Hoodless had
cleaned concerning the Kordofan
deserts, where the lions went in
troops, the rocky valleys were full
of leopards, and antelope, the
larger varieties, with the lesser,
were always to be met with.
He had looked forward to the
trip for a long time. and because
it would give him an opportunity
of passing through Egypt and
seeing the Nile, the Sudan, many
places, people and things, he had
chosen a big game trip to
Kordofan in preferen. to
Somaliland, Uganda, or any other
of the big game "paradises" of the
dark continent.
And he had thought himself
fortunate to discover, lounging at
the club one day, wholly ut a
loose end, and moderately in
funds, Crichton Hoodlcss, with
whom he had club acquaintance,
who readily agreed to join him.
Hoodlpss knew Lower Egypt. he
said d--had spent a Winter there
and also could get in touch with
men far South--service men
whose service would be valuable.
They had arranged the expedition
then and there. for there was
nothing to prevent II. He had
consulted old Roger, who had
thought a little-asked Hoodless
to dine. discussed the trip and had
approved.
Since that day. his enthusiasm
increasing with every stage Of the
journey, Marchurst had thought of
little but the coming sport.
And his enthusiasm had endured
through Paris, Monte Carlo and
other pleasure haunts.
The European stage Of the trip
had provided it's lighter episodes,
but nothing serious---nO white
hands hal held him back from his
Il stination, no bright eyes had
diverted him from his course for
an instant longer than he had
planned.
He and Hoodless had agreed that
this should be their last day in
Cairo, and he had been glad Of
that.
But this morning his brown,
shapely hands lowered indecisively
over the rifles and his face was
no longer keen.
He stared with absent blue eyes
at the pile of mans things on the
table and about the floor. One
entering suddenly would have be-
lieve,l that the prospect of shoot
ing bored him, even was distaste-
full to him. Certainly il was with
no spark of enthusiasm that he
put down beautifully-built,
he " double-barrelled express
rife for which he had cared a. .
woman cares for . favorite
jewel.
He lit a, cigarette and shrugged
his shoulders.
81 have enthused myself stale"
he said, with curious smile st his
reflection In mirror opposite.
He passed a hand over his hair
and smoothed his closely shsven
cheeks and clean cut chin. He
was looking trimmer, more care
fully groomed, this morning
more like one who has arrived in
Egypt to spend the Winter in idle
ness thar, a sportsman, halting for
n little, en- route to his dangerous
pleasure in the desert.
give lost interest in the trip"
he said. Then he laughed quietly.
"Oh, why lie about tits
Saisr
And that was the truth.
She had haunted his thoughts
from the moment he had left her
house to this moment of self-con-
fession. In that time he had lost
every shred of desire to go on.
He could no longer take any
pleasure in balancing that perfect
rife in his hands, no longer dwell
with a keen delight upon those
desert Joys to which he had so In
tensely looked forward.
The face of sails had drifted be-
tween him and his visions, beau
tifully eclipsing them all.
He wanted to stay In Cairo now
to be with Sais. He knew It,
he said it aloud, his eyes upon his
rifles. The volte-face was so COM
plete, and utterly frank, that it
was boyish, naive.
He had never seen anyone like
her be- ore-he had not imagined
such a woman existed.
Big, eager, youthful, well-man-
nerea as he was, he had had his
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