We must now leave the puzzled company in the guest-tent and see what had become of Lulu. After slipping under the tent-cloth, she commenced to run as fast as her bare feet would permit her. In her excitement and joy at being free she cared little in which direction she fled, and although the night was unusually dark, by reason of heavy storm-clouds, she sped on over hill and valley until thoroughly tired and exhausted. As she rested her weary little frame on the soft herbage of the wilderness the solitude and stillness made her nervous and afraid. Her trepidation was not lessened by a sudden movement near her--made, probably, by a jackal more alarmed than herself. The fright made her rise quickly and again take to flight, but after running a few hundred yards misfortune overtook her, for, without warning, she tripped and fell headlong into an old unused cistern quite twenty-five feet deep. The fall made her unconscious, and as the pit was far from the camp she was safe for that night, while a tangle of creepers and thorns over the mouth of the cavity made her fairly secure by day. Here, bruised and unconscious, the poor little bride-to-be lay until daybreak, when, with the rising sun, her senses returned to her. Having considered her surroundings, she decided to secure herself further by creeping into an old tomb hewn in the side of the cistern, where at least she could die in peace rather than be the slave of one utterly distasteful to her. So, with one last fond thought for her absent lover, she swallowed the gipsy’s potion and crawled into the small aperture. Here she soon fell into a stupor, caused partly by weariness, but mainly by the powder bought from the old drug-vender. But what had become of the boy-lover all these days that he had not returned to the camp and become conversant with all that had happened to his little companion? As already stated, he was delayed by a slack market; but after some days he was free to return, and, in charge of two camels, he set out for his wilderness home. On the day after Lulu’s escape he was crossing the great plain, happy at the prospect of reaching camp before evening. Being somewhat religiously inclined, he halted at noonday to pray, and soon after remounting was warned to seek shelter from a storm that was announced by a sharp crack of thunder. Looking about him he saw a cavity in the ground wide and high enough to allow his camels to enter. By dint of pulling, coaxing, and beating he forced the beasts in, and at last all three found themselves in the same pit into which Lulu had fallen the night before. [Illustration: “HE HALTED AT NOONDAY TO PRAY.” _From a Photograph._] [Illustration: “SUDDENLY HE WAS SEEN TO FALL HEAVILY.”] The heavy rain dripping through the opening above made the youth seek better shelter, so he presently crept into the old tomb, and, to his amazement, found that it was already occupied by someone apparently deep in slumber.