Gray hesitated, half minded to seek out Sir Lionel and ask that the girl be kept in Ansichow. Realizing that this would be useless, he returned to his tent on the further side of the town. Mirai Khan was not there. It was a good three hours before the Kirghiz appeared. Three hours in which Gray smoked moodily. Mirai Khan had news. "Come, Excellency," he observed importantly. "Yonder is a sight you should see. Verily, it is a fine sight." Gray took his hat and followed his companion to a knoll, where the Kirghiz pointed out to the plain. Half a mile away a caravan of a dozen camels in single file was making its way into the sand dunes, leaving a dense haze of dust in its wake. He could see through his glasses Sir Lionel and Ram Singh on the leading beasts. Near the end of the caravan he saw Mary Hastings. He thought that she turned and looked back at him. He could not be sure. He watched the slight figure with its veil about the sun helmet pass from view in the dust. Then he walked back silently to the tent, beckoning Mirai Khan to follow. "Have you the camels?" he asked when they were seated on the tattered rug that formed the tent floor. "No, Excellency. The camels may not be hired." "Then buy them." Mirai Khan yawned and regarded his master with the benevolent scrutiny of the fatalist. "It may not be. There were but eight two-hump camels in Ansichow, and these the Englishman bartered when he first came, in exchange for his tired beasts. He paid well." "Well, buy the camels he left." "That would be folly. A week must pass before these eight can bear burdens. They are nearly dead with hard use. The Englishman did not spare them." Gray frowned meditatively. He must have beasts of burden, to carry at least ten days' stock of water, with necessary food. The Gobi was a barren land. "Do you think a trader's caravan may visit Ansichow, Mirai Khan?" "Perhaps. In another moon, or possibly three or four. Why should they come to this dung-heap in the sand?" "Coolies might carry our supplies--if we paid them enough." Gray knew that this would be risky; but he was not in a position to choose. Time was pressing. Mirai Khan smiled, showing yellow, serried teeth. "No, Excellency. An ounce of gold apiece will not bribe these Chinese to come into the Gobi." "The Kirghiz?" Mirai Khan squinted thoughtfully at the glare of sunlight without the tent. "Is the Excellency determined to go into the Gobi?" "Yes." "What God wills, will come to pass. I, Mirai Khan, have helped you to safety. For the space of ten days I have eaten the food you have killed. Because of this, I shall go a part of the way into the Gobi. Also, a tribe of Kirghiz should be here within four days, from the northern steppe. It may so happen that some of these will come with us. I know not." "Four days!" Gray groaned. "Likewise, the men of this tribe will not be carriers of burdens. It is not their custom."