Afterwards

"But was this beggar prowling round by the well?"

"We couldn't see much, but this morning Hassan investigated and found footmarks on the sand leading directly to and from the well; and he is convinced that is what the brute was doing."

"How much water have we left?"

"Well, that's the very devil of it," said Garnett ruefully "It seems we had a fair quantity--you know it all has to be brought from that same old well--but that silly little Rosa thought this morning that she'd like a bath, so without asking permission she tipped it all into a kind of tin tub there was on the premises and performed her ablutions therein."

"Well, I confess I don't blame her," said Anstice rather dryly. "I feel as if I'd give a fiver for a bath myself--this damned sand makes one so infernally gritty."

"Just so--and the tin basin we wash in--in turns--isn't exactly luxurious!" Garnett's eyes twinkled. "All the same, things look pretty serious on the water question. We must have water--unfortunately the desert thirst is no fancy picture--I'm like a lime-kiln myself at this moment--but if the well is poisoned, and Hassan seems convinced it is, we can't drink the water, can we?"

"Certainly not." Anstice hoped his voice did not betray his dismay at this disclosure. "Where's the nearest well--outside of here?"

"Over in the village--or rather, there's one outside the village which would be less public." Garnett laughed a little. "But I don't quite see how we're going to fetch water from it. You know the beggars are keeping a pretty smart lookout--and if they caught sight of one of us sallying forth we'd be potted as sure as a gun. And every available man is wanted here."

"I suppose"--Anstice had been thinking--"I suppose it would be quite impossible to get out by the rocky side? I mean could one possibly climb down? The Bedouins don't seem to guard that side, and one would be in the desert, well away from their band."

"Yes--but I doubt if it would be feasible. Unless--what about a rope? I saw a great coil of rope in one of the dungeons downstairs this morning." A new alertness leaped into his bright eyes. "I say, let's go and reconnoitre, shall we? It would be great to outwit the beasts after all!"

"Right! Where shall we go and scout?"

"Place opposite--the only one with a decent-sized hole in the wall--have to find a place one could squeeze through, I suppose--and I'm such an infernally broad chap, too!"