Book 3 Chapter 3

"That's rather unkind," he said, with a smile. "Here have I been flattering myself that you would welcome me--well, warmly--and you as good as tell me I am not wanted!"

"Indeed I did not mean that." She too smiled, but quickly grew grave again. "If you only knew how glad I am to see you. We--we are in rather a bad way here, you know, Dr. Anstice, and--and your help will be valuable in more ways than one."

"I hope it may prove so," he said. Anstice and Hassan had made a perilous, but successful, entry into the little Fort, pursued, it is true, by a shower of bullets, for the Bedouins were armed with a strange collection of weapons, ranging from antique long-barrelled guns to modern rifles. "May I see him at once? The sooner the better, as I am here at last."

"Yes. I want you to see him as soon as possible." Iris hesitated, and in her eyes was the shadow of a haunting dread. "You will find him very ill, I am afraid. We have done what we could--Mrs. Wood has been splendid--but he doesn't seem to get any better. Of course in ordinary circumstances we should not have dared to move him, but we had to do it, and I am sure it has been very bad for him."