"Because, if you promise me that,—provided, of course, that my company is not unwelcome to you—I will go with you. Either way, I shall have two hundred kilometers to go. I shall strike for Shikh-Salah from the south, instead of from the west—that is the only difference."
Morhange looked at me with emotion.
"Why do you do this?" he murmured.
"
My dear fellow," I said (it was the first time that I had addressed Morhange in this familiar way), "my dear fellow, I have a sense which becomes marvellously acute in the desert, the sense of danger. I gave you a slight proof of it yesterday morning, at the coming of the storm. With all your knowledge of rock inscriptions, you seem to me to have no very exact idea of what kind of place Ahaggar is, nor what may be in store for you there. On that account, I should be just as well pleased not to let you run sure risks alone."
"I have a guide," he said with his adorable naiveté.
Eg-Anteouen, in the same squatting position, kept on patching his old slipper.
I took a step toward him.
"You heard what I said to the Captain?"
"Yes," the Targa answered calmly.