"I am glad you have corrected yourself. A moment ago you charged me with bringing you here."
"Well, then, we came here, if one must be so accurate, to be away from the others. At least, I mean—Well, that is a stupid way of putting it, but it will serve—"
"It has served most admirably," said Royson, glancing back at the long drawn-out caravan crossing the shallow valley they had just quitted.
"There you go again," she cried, with just a touch of petulance in her tone. "You know very well that I did not mean what I said."
"Not even when you promised to tell my fortune."
"I can explain myself that way if you like. Your fortune is singularly like my own at the present moment. You are accompanying a crowd of people who don't know where they are going, or what they mean to do when they get there. I am quite sure the Baron is befogged, or, if that is not a happy expression in this wonderful atmosphere, shall I say lost? I don't speak Arabic, but I can read that man's face, and I watched him this morning when he was consulting our so-called guide. In plain English, Mr. Royson, we are drifting, in the vain hope that somewhere out there we shall find five hills in a clump. I don't object, in a sense. It is a very delightful picnic from one point of view. But I hate uncertainty, and I loathe deceit, and here we are at the mercy of both, while my grandfather is so taken up with the joy of arranging everything, which von Kerber very cleverly leaves to him, that he simply won't listen to me when I suggest the need of more definite information. And just think of it! Five Hills! With a rocky desert in front and five thousand hills to the left. What is to be the end of it all? Are we to go wandering on till we march into Suez, or Cairo?"
"Our sheikh is a marvel at finding oases," said Dick. "I wonder if there is a string of them all the way between here and—"
"Mr. Royson," broke in Irene, "you are the only person' to whom I can confide my doubts and fears. They may be silly, but please don't adopt that tone. It—hurts."
Royson, who had dismounted, slipped his Arab's bridle under an arm and strode a pace nearer.
"Don't you see that we can do nothing at present?" he said earnestly. "I am alive to the difficulties which may beset us in the near future; but what would you have me do, Miss Fenshawe? If your grandfather were not of the party, I know exactly what I would propose—at least, I think I know."