"Oh, no," insisted Smith. "I'm all right."
"When did you eat last?" demanded the girl.
"I had some chocolate with me," replied Smith. "I ate the last of it this afternoon sometime."
"When did you eat a meal, I mean?" persisted Lady Barbara.
"Well," he admitted, "I had a light lunch yesterday noon, or rather day before yesterday. It must be after midnight now."
"And you have been walking all the time since?"
"Oh, I ran part of the time," he replied, with a weak laugh. "That was when the lion chased me. And I slept in the afternoon before I came to the village."
"We are going to stop right here until you are rested," announced the English girl.
"Oh, no," he demurred, "we mustn't do that. I want to get you out of this valley before daylight, as they will probably pursue us as soon as the sun comes up."
"I don't think so," said Jezebel. "They are too much afraid of the North Midians to come this far from the village; and, anyway, we have such a start that we can reach the cliffs, where you say the fissure is, before they could overtake us."