"Unless I am greatly mistaken," said Dick, looking at his watch, "we shall find the usual oasis hidden in a depression about two miles ahead. Our excellent sheikh, Abdur Kad'r, times the morning march to end precisely at ten o'clock. It is now a quarter to nine. Our camels march two and a half miles per hour, and we are three quarters of a mile ahead. Therein, Miss Fenshawe, yea have a first-rate example of deductive reasoning, so I propose that we advance steadily, and look for a cluster of palms. If, happily, their shade is not taken up by other wanderers, you will be out of the sun long before the caravan arrives. What say you?" "Some day I shall stamp my foot and say 'No'--shriek it at you, in fact. I hate any one who is always right, and you seem to be utterly different since we left the _Aphrodite_. I have never seen such a change in a man. One would think you were born in the desert. And you are learning Arabic ten times more quickly than I." "I do not find favor in your eyes this morning, though it is good to know that I have reformed, since, by your own showing, I must have been always wrong aboard ship," said Dick, remounting. "Oh, it is a perfect luxury to have some one to pitch into," cried the girl, stirring the Somali with her heel. "But won't you tell me what I have done that vexes you, Miss Fenshawe?" "You are absurd. You pretend that you see nothing, whereas I am sure you see more than I, but you refuse to speak." Royson seemed to be singularly unaffected by this outburst. He caught the angry flush on the girl's forehead, and, as was his way when the stubborn fit seized him, threw his head back, with lips set. Irene stole a look at him, and laughed constrainedly. "Very well. If you won't talk I must," she said with a great air of determination. "It is about Mrs. Haxton." "A most interesting topic," said Royson. "That is what my grandfather seems to think." "He told me last night that he considers her a singularly well-informed woman." "For well-informed read artful," exclaimed the girl bitterly. "Have you forgotten what I said to you in the canal? When we began our voyage Mrs. Haxton and the Baron were as good as engaged. Now they have reached some agreement which permits Mrs. Haxton to fly for higher matrimonial game than a penniless adventurer." "Do you really think that?" Royson had grown suddenly serious. He half turned in the saddle so as to seek the added inspiration of Irene's expression, but she kept her eyes studiously averted, and the broad-brimmed pith hat she wore helped to conceal her face. But she answered readily. "I am quite certain of it. How else could I discuss it with you?"