"Then make the fire immediately, Hassan; the sooner the sheik has a little nourishment, the better. If he seems strong enough to bear it, I want to carry him off to the mountains at once. It is quite possible that the French may be searching the villages round for wounded fugitives, and I would fain get him up among the hills. Sidi, too, has an ugly wound in the head, and needs a few days' rest. I think I have everything that they can want for the next two or three days, and you have a good supply of fruit. We must find some place among the rocks sheltered from the sun. When it is dark you must go down to the fountain and fill up your water-skins there."
An hour later Edgar carried the cup of broth to the sheik.
"Sidi, do you lift your father up a little—a very little. I want him to take some of this broth. It is all a question of keeping up your strength now, sheik, and I hope that you will try and drink a little."
"I, too, want to get strong," the sheik said, "I have something to live for now."
He drank a few mouthfuls, and then motioned to his son to lower his head down again.
"'Tis strange," he said, "that we three should be together again when it seemed that none of us would meet on earth."
"It is very pleasant to be together again," Edgar said heartily, "and it will be more pleasant still when we are able to get about again together."
There had been but few words exchanged between father and son. To be restored to each other was sufficient, and the sheik had not even wondered as to how his son had so unexpectedly arrived. After drinking the broth he closed his eyes, and in a few minutes it was evident, by his quiet breathing, that he was asleep.
Edgar moved quietly away, beckoning to Sidi to follow him, and when he joined him at the edge of the grove, told him of the plan that he proposed.
"Do you think that he is strong enough?" Sidi asked.