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It was a perfecthimself out over the rocky precipice, which was surely more formidable at close quarters than it had appeared from above, Anstice was conscious of a sudden wild exhilaration which sent the blood coursing like quicksilver through his veins

He knew very well that he was eht easily end in disaster, for he had no delusions on the subject of his probable fate did he fall into the hands of the vengeful Bedouins But so with alers, he felt no fear, only a joyous thrill which strongly reselee hich, in his school-days, he had taken part in ht adventures strictly hidden froyood stead He had never been addicted to nerves, had never knohat it was to experience any vertigo or attacks of giddiness when exploring soe, and he swung down the rope which was his only support as coolly as though he were practising in a gy dashed to death against the unfriendly rocks below

In an incredibly short space of tis upon the rope--the preconceived signal that all ith his before proceeding on his journey

He stood now in a kind of rocky valley, ringed round with caves--whether toe--but beyond the valley lay the desert over which heover the rooks and setting foot on the firm brown sand without

By the aid of his small compass he located the direction in which the well lay, and then, restoring it to his pocket and oat-skin water-bottle was fir over his shoulder, he set off at a brisk pace which should, if possible, shorten the time of his absence from the Fort by a few precious moments at least

He had never before been alone in the desert at night, and the strangeness of it gripped him by the throat as he strode steadily onwards He could not believe, at first, that he was really alone It seee expanse of sand he should be the only h he knew that there were living creatures in the desert--jackals and other prowling things, and a whole host of bats and tiny insects--they gave no sign of their presence, and it see in a dead world