"Let him recover himself completely," responded Morhange. "You had better open some preserved food. With fellows of this build you don't have to observe the precautions prescribed for drowned Europeans." It was indeed a species of giant, whose life we had just saved. His face, although very thin, was regular, almost beautiful. He had a clear skin and little beard. His hair, already white, showed him to be a man of sixty years. When I placed a tin of corned-beef before him a light of voracious joy came into his eyes. The tin contained an allowance for four persons. It was empty in a flash. "Behold," said Morhange, "a robust appetite. Now we can put our questions without scruple." Already the Targa had placed over his forehead and face the blue veil prescribed by the ritual. He must have been completely famished not to have performed this indispensable formality sooner. There was nothing visible now but the eyes, watching us with a light that grew steadily more sombre. "French officers," he murmured at last. And he took Morhange's hand, and having placed it against his breast, carried it to his lips. Suddenly an expression of anxiety passed over his face. "And my mehari?" he asked. I explained that our guide was then employed in trying to save his beast. He in turn told us how it had stumbled, and fallen into the current, and he himself, in trying to save it, had been knocked over. His forehead had struck a rock. He had cried out. After that he remembered nothing more. "What is your name?" I asked. "Eg-Anteouen." "What tribe do you belong to?" "The tribe of Kel-Tahat." "The Kel-Tahats are the serfs of the tribe of Kel-Rhelâ, the great nobles of Hoggar?" "Yes," he answered, casting a side glance in my direction. It seemed that such precise questions on the affairs of Ahygar were not to his liking. "The Kel-Tahats, if I am not mistaken, are established on the southwest flank of Atakor.[5] What were you doing, so far from your home territory when we saved your life?" [Footnote 5: Another name, in the Temahaq language, for Ahaggar. (Note by M. Leroux.)] "I was going, by way of Tit, to In-Salah," he said. "What were you going to do at In-Salah?" He was about to reply. But suddenly we saw him tremble. His eyes were fixed on a point of the cavern. We looked to see what it was. He had just seen the rock inscription which had so delighted Morhange an hour before. "Do you know that?" Morhange asked him with keen curiosity. The Targa did not speak a word but his eyes had a strange light. "Do you know that?" insisted Morhange. And he added: "Antinea?" "Antinea," repeated the man. And he was silent. "Why don't you answer the Captain?" I called out, with a strange feeling of rage sweeping over me. The Targui looked at me. I thought that he was going to speak. But his eyes became suddenly hard. Under the lustrous veil I saw his features stiffening. Morhange and I turned around.