As they rode to the Amenhotep Dicky did not speak, but once he turned round to look after the outcast, who was shambling along the bank of the canal. When Fielding and Dicky reached the deck of the Amenhotep, and Mahommed Seti had brought refreshment, Dicky said: "What did he do?" Fielding's voice was constrained and hard: "Cheated at cards." Dicky's lips tightened. "Where?" "At Hong Kong." "Officer?" "In the Buffs." Dicky drew a long breath. "He's paid the piper." "Naturally. He cheated twice." "Cheated twice--at cards!" Dicky's voice was hard now. "Who was he?" "Heatherby--Bob Heatherby!" "Bob Heatherby--gad! Fielding, I'm sorry--I couldn't have guessed, old man. Mrs. Henshaw's brother!" Fielding nodded. Dicky turned his head away; for Fielding was in love with Mrs. Henshaw, the widow of Henshaw of the Buffs. He realised now why Fielding loathed Hasha so. "Forgive me for asking him to mess, guv'nor." Fielding laughed a little uneasily. "Never mind. You see, it isn't the old scores only that bar him. He's been a sweep out here. Nothing he hasn't done. Gone lower and lower and lower. Tax-gatherer with a kourbash for old Selamlik the beast. Panderer for the same. Sweep of the lowest sort!" Dicky's eyes flashed. "I say, Fielding, it would be rather strange if he hadn't gone down, down, down. A man that's cheated at cards never finds anybody to help him up, up, up. The chances are dead against him. But he stood up well to-day, eh?" "I suppose blood will tell at last in the very worst." "'And while the lamp holds out to burn The vilest sinner may return--'" hummed Dicky musingly. Then he added slowly: "Fielding, fellows of that kind always flare up a bit according to Cavendish, just before the end. I've seen it once or twice before. It's the last clutch at the grass as they go slip--slip--slipping down. Take my word for it, Heatherby's near the finish." "I shouldn't wonder. Selamlik, the old leper, 'll lay in wait for him. He'll get lost in the sugar-cane one of these evenings soon." "Couldn't we . . ." Dicky paused. Fielding started, looked at Dicky intently, and then shook his head sadly. "It's no good, Dicky. It never is." "'While the lamp holds out to burn . . .'" said Dicky, and lighted another cigarette. Precisely at seven o'clock Heatherby appeared. He had on a dress-suit, brown and rusty, a white tie made of a handkerchief torn in two, and a pair of patent leather shoes, scraggy and cracked.