"It is all very well for you, Jean—you ought to be happy because you have escaped death—but what are Mac and I to do if we ever escape from the desert?"
I did not say anything in reply, but Mac spoke.
"I am satisfied if I can get home to Ireland once more; once there I will think twice before again becoming an exile."
"Very good," answered the corporal; "but I have no home to go to."
"Can you not go to the United States," I asked, "and make a new home there?"
"Yes, yes, I have thought of that; but——"
He said no more, and we all rode silently on for a time.
That night, when Mac called me for my turn of guard, he said:
"Did you notice how queer the corporal was to-day?"
"Oh yes; and so did Giulia. She asked me if there was anything wrong, and I knew not what to tell her."