"See," said she to Lord Tawdry who had surprised her by getting up, "the darling camels how they chew and chew and chew and are never satisfied!" At dawn also on many of the private balconies of the Biscuit Hotel were seen veiled faces. They were veiled by lattices and lace curtains--each with one eye out. It was the espionage of the Knitting Needle Hussars. "There she goes, the bold minx," murmured Mrs. the Honorable General the Earl Dumpydale. "She means to do it--to cross the desert alone! O, shameless!" openly cried the Duchess Pyllboxe-Beauchamp. "She'd better keep her fingers crossed at the same time!" This from that old Lady Speedway, of course. "Ah," murmured in the next balcony the Hon. Maude Tetherington, a cute spinster of sixty who would remember you in her will if you told her she didn't look it, "Ah!" and it was as if she were murmuring to herself. "Once I dreamed of riding in the desert and of a great, handsome Arab pursuing me and----" it was, as stated, as if she were speaking to herself but you bet Lady Speedway got it. "And what?" Lady Speedway demanded with a cold look in her eye. "There was no offense to the proprieties," said the Hon. Maude with trembling accents. "I assure you I woke up in time." The Hon. Maude drew her head within and snapped the lattices of her window shut. But a little later as she stood at her mirror tacking on her front curls she paused, hammer in hand, to stare back in the direction she had last seen Lady Speedway. "But there have been times when I have greatly wished I hadn't--so there!" And she stuck out her tongue, nor', nor'west due east toward Speedway. * * * * * Thus amid a magnificent display of good-wishes, Verbeena Mayonnaise set out to satisfy her soul longings upon the somewhat dusty Sahara, under the capable guidance of Musty Ale and his equally musty camels and his mustard colored men. Lord Tawdry had stood in his balcony shaking his finger at Verbeena and declaring if she dared set out he would be down directly and cane her severely, but she answered pertly: "Rot, old chap!" As Verbeena rode ahead with Musty Ale, Lord Tawdry started in pursuit on a camel which, however, refused to hump itself worthily, and although Lord Tawdry kept crying out to Verbeena: "O, I say now--it won't do! Do you hear me? Really this sort of thing simply isn't done!" it was not until Musty Ale's caravan arrived at Oasis No. 1 that Lord Tawdry was able to catch up. But as soon as he had fallen off his camel and readjusted his monocle, he picked up a riding whip and chased Verbeena up a palm tree. "You sickening ass!" our laddiebuck--I mean heroine called to him, "you just drop that whip and I'll come down and show you who's who in Sahara!" Action wasn't Lord Tawdry's strong point anyway except with a good deck of cards. "Verbeena," he said, "come down peacefully and we'll have it out in talk."