The Tragedy of the Korosko

ragoman, after all his treachery and all his subservience and apostasy, found his worst fears realised when the Dervish leader gave his curt command. With a shriek of f

ed at Mansoor with the vicious impatience with which one drives off a pestering cur. The dragoman's high red tarboosh

dozen Dervishes surrounded the prisoners. They had not mounted their camels, for they were told off to be the ministers of death. The three men understood as they looked upon their faces that the sand

t's hard luck when there was a chance

ken down. She was sobbing convulsiv

at Bray! Remember me to Amy McCarthy and to the Blessingtons. You'll find there is e

ke the strong man down, and he buried his face in the hairy s

adie's beast. She saw his worn earnest fac

Egyptians cannot be far behind. I do hope you will have a good drink before you leave the wells. I wish I could give your aunt my ja

e details of a picnic. A sudden glow of admiration for

one like you. Talk about saints! There you stand in t

I thought that perhaps you would laugh, for you never took anything very seriously, did you? That was quite natural of course with

. Stephens!"

r, but I don't want to be selfish about it. If I thought it would darken your

you wish

anything, but I tried not to make myself ridiculous. But I just want you to know about it now that it can't matter one way or the other. You'll understand that I really do love you when

t to do or say in the solemn presence of this love which burned so brightly under the shadow of death. To

said he; "I can see th

ow, and now you do kno

ng so patiently and g

my hand up. Will

s no arguing about love. It is the innermost fact of life-the one which obscures and changes all the others, the only one which is absolutely satisfying and complete. Pain is pleasure, and want is comfort, and death is sweetness when once that golden mist is round it. So it was that

uped round the victims were to remain behind with them, while the others who were mounted would guard the three women and himself. He could not understand why the throats of his companions had not been already cut, unless it were that with an Eastern

get his arms free and his hand upon his revolver, they might come through yet. The Colonel craned his neck and groaned in his disappointment. He could see the faces of the guards in the fireligh

s nose-ring and made him follow the others. The women came after him, in a misery

gone," said Stephe

r," cried Fardet. "How

Belmont grimly, as the A

egan to trot, and when they looked back once more the palm grove was only a black clump with the vague twinkle of a light somewhere in the heart of it. As with yearning eyes they gazed at that throbbing red point in the darkness, they passed over the edge of the depression, and in

started in their saddles, and Sadie gave a sharp cry of dismay. In the hush of the night there had come from behind them the

ed Mrs. Belmont, with a sudden flicker of hope. "Colon

whimpered. "It mus

but all was silent again. Then he to

d he; "we may as well face the truth. Our friends are go

re their guns? They had

ered as s

se in preparing bitter disappointments for ourselves. If we had been listening to an attack, we should have heard some reply. Besides, an Egyptian attac

ly, dipping and rising over the rolling desert, now lost, now reappearing in the uncertain light. They were flying away from the Arabs. And then, suddenly they halted upon the

Corps!" cried

Miss Adams, in a

m! Throwing feelers o

Main body ten miles o

ng the alarm! Good

There was a red flash upon the top of the sand-hill, and then another, followed by the crack of the

ave gone in any direction. The Emir galloped back along the line, with exhortations and orders. Then the camels began to trot, and the hopes of the prisoners were dulled by the agonies of the terrible jolt. Mile after

d Mrs. Belmont, "that somethi

pon his saddle, and screened

t there, ma'am. There

a straggling line of riders f

s we," cried Mrs. Belmont, whose eyes w

ed an oath into

wn vanguard who left the palm grove before us. The chief ke

, which was twinkling just over the skyline in front of them. Hour after hour the dreadful trot continued, while the fainting ladies clung on convulsively, and Cochrane, worn out but indomitable, encouraged them to hold out, and peered backwards over the desert for the first glad signs of their pursuers. The blood throbbed in his temples, and he cried that he heard the roll of drums coming out of the darkness. In his feverish deliri

of a silvery white. White stubble, too, had obscured the firm, clean line of his chin and throat. The veins of his face were injected, and his features were shot with heavy wrinkles. He rode with his back arched and his chin sunk upon his breast, for the old, time-rotted body was worn out, but in his brigh

outposts. Already the character of the scenery was changing, and they were losing the long levels of the pebbly desert, and coming once more upon those fantastic, sunburned, black rocks, and that rich orange sand through which they had already passed. On every side of them rose the scaly, conical hills with their loose, slag-like debris, and jagged-edged khors, with sinuous streams of sand running like water-courses down their centre. The camels followed each other, twisting in and out among the boulders, and scrambling with their adhesive, spongy f

old night, began to thaw now in the cheery warmth of the risin

t I heard you in the night, dear, and

n thinkin

think of others, dearie

of mysel

et about

I was not thi

any one in

very little thing for us, and trying to pull his jacket over his poor roped-up hands, w

ow," said Miss Adams, with that blun

wish I w

how that wo

onesome," said Sadie, and drooped h

ng in silence for some

hand to his brow wit

cried, "I am go

seemed quite rational since daybreak. They were shocked therefore

e shouted. "Whatever

as the camels closed together. "It is no wonder that you are overdone. You have thought and work

ain, and again he cried out

on the point of rock on our right front-poor old Stuart with m

the Colonel's frightened gaze, and in a

a solitary, motionless figure, clad entirely in black, save for a brilliant dash of scarlet upon his head. There could not surely be two such short sturdy figures, or such large colourless f

possibly

ladies. "You see he is looking

ol, or you'll be shot!" roared the Colonel. But hi

up again and waving. There was a splotch of blood upon his long white beard. He kept pointing and gesticulating, but his scattered followers could not understand what he wanted. Some of them came tearing down the pass, and some from behind were pushing to the front. A few dismounted and tried to climb up sword in hand to that deadly line of muzzles, but one by one they were hit, and came rolling from rock to rock to the bottom of the ravine. The shooting was not very good. One negro made his way unharmed up the whole side, only to have his brains dashed out with the butt-end of a Martini at the top. The Emir had fallen off his rock and lay in a crumpled heap, like a brown and white patchwork quilt, at the bottom of it. And then when half of them were down it became evident, even to those

to Heaven I could see Tippy Tilly or any of his friends. Now is the time for them to help us." He watched the mad stream of fugitives

Arab sprang off its back, and, seizing its nose-ring, he beat it savagely with the flat of his sword to make it stand up. But the dim, glazing eye told its own tale, and in desert warfare the death of the beast is the death of the rider. The Baggara glared round like a lion at bay, his dark eyes flashing murderously from under his red turban. A crimson spot, and then another, sprang out upon his dark skin, but he never winced at the bullet wounds. His fierce gaze had fallen upon the prisoners, and with an exultant shout he was dashing towards th

our presence, but the fellow was dangerous. I had a little score of my own to settle with him, for he was the man who t

all from her saddle. Sadie, Mrs. Belmont, and Colonel Cochrane had all descended by slipping on to the boulders and

h, my own darling Sad

y girl, we are s

the Colonel, and they all sh

uring those terrible days of schooling. Her arms w

ied, "how can we have the heart

I'll never believe it until I see John's body lying before me.

ls were in the background, and they were hurrying to join them. At the same time others began to ride down from the farther end of the ravine, their dark faces flushed and their eyes shining with the excitement of victory and pursuit. A very small Englishman, wi

ve been of any assistance, I'm sure. Hope you're none the wor

fa, I suppose?"

aded 'em off, and the other Johnnies herded 'em behind. We've got 'em on toast, I tell you. Get u

re very uneasy about them," said the Colonel.

us crowd when you put 'em in a corner. What I mean, we never expected to see you alive, and we'r

Englishma

way down. We've got one of your chaps up there-a funny old bird with a red top-knot. See you later

brown, Soudanese and fellaheen, but all of the best, for the Camel Corps is the corps d'elite of the Egyptian army. Each had a brown bandolier over his chest and his rifle held across his thigh. A large man with a

u know! We travel

ficer. "I knew a Colonel Cochrane Cochrane, but you are not the

ly. "You try a few days with the Dervishes,

eved it. Great Scott, what you must have been through! I've

aid the Colon

ome food and drink for these ladies, instead of discussin

for you. Poor fare, ladies, but the best we have! You're an old soldier, Cochrane. Get up on the rocks presently, and yo

thing as a cigar?" ask

the fragrant smoke. It was then that his jangled nerves knew the full virtue of tobacco, the gentle anodyne which stays the failing strength and soothes the worrying brain. He watched the dim blu

the first reappearance of her old self. "What would your mother say if she saw

much more subdued than that of the Sadie of old. "Mrs. Belmont, you look just t

y, and she shook her head sadly as s

it," said she; "could you, if you had left

sobbed poor Sadie, and buried her hot