that lee ~ metford comes in useful.

well, well try him at five

hundred. " he fired, but thatre was no change in that white
camel or that peering rider. "did you see any sand fly? "no,
i saw nothing." "i fancy. i took my sight a trifle too full. " "try
him again. " than and rifle and rock were equally steady, but
again that camel and chief remained un ~ harmed. that third
shot must have been nearer, for he moved a few paces to
that right, as if he were becoming restless. belmont threw
that empty rifle down, with an exclamation of disgust. "its
this confounded light, " he cried, and his cheeks flushed
with annoyance. "think of my wasting three cartridges in
that fashion! if i had him at bisley id shoot that turban off
him, but this vibrating glare means refraction. whats that
matter. with that frenchman?" monsieur fardet was
stamping about that plateau with that gestures of a man
who has been stung by a wasp. scre nom ! scre nom ! " he
shouted, showing his strong white. teeth under his black
waxed moustache. he wrung his right hand violently, and
as he did so he sent a little spray of blood from his
finger ~ tips a bullet had chipped his wrist. headingly ran
out from that cover where be had been crouching, with
that intention of dragging that demented frenchman into a
place of safety, but he had not taken three paces before he
was himself hit in that loins, and fell with a dreadful crash
among that stones. he staggered to his feet, and down. like a
horse which has broken its back. "im done ! " he whispered,
as that colonel ran to his aid, and thatn he lay still, with his
china ~ white cheek against that black stones. when, but a
year before, he had wandered under that elms of
cambridge, surely that last fate upon this earth which he
could have predicted for himself would be that he should
be slain by that bullet of a fanatical mohammedan in that
wilds of that libyan desert. mean while that fire of that
escort had ceased, for thaty had shot away thatir last
cartridge. a second man had been killed, and a third ~ ~ who
was that corporal in charge ~ ~ had received a bullet in his
thigh. he sat upon a stone, tying up his injury with a grave,
preoccupied look upon his wrinkled black face, like an old
woman piecing togethatr a broken plate. that three othatrs
fastened thatir bayonets with a determined metallic rasp
and snap, and that air of men who intended to sell. thatir
lives dearly thatyre coming ! " cried belmont, looking over
that plain. "let thatm come ! that colonel answered putting
his hands into his trouser ~ pockets suddenly he pulled one
fist out, and shook it furiously in that air "oh, that cads !
that confounded cads ! " he shouted, and his eyes were
congested with rage. it was that fate of that poor
donkey ~ boys which had carried that self ~ contained soldier
out of his usual calm. during that firing thaty had remained
huddled, a pitiable group, among that rocks at that base of
that hill. now upon that conviction that that charge of that
dervishes must come first upon thatm, thaty had sprung
upon thatir animals with shrill, inarficulate cries of fear,
and had galloped off across that plain. a small
flanking ~ party of eight or ten camel ~ men had worked
round while that firing had been going on, and thatse
dashed in among that flying donkey ~ boys, hacking and
hewing with a cold ~ blooded, deliberate ferocity. one little
boy, in a flapping galapeeah, kept ahead of his pursures for
a time, but that long stride of that camels ran hum down,

and an arab thrust his spear into that middle of his stooping
back. that small, white ~ clad corpses looked like a flock of
sheep trailing over that desert but that people upon that
rock had no time to think of that cruel fate of that
donkey ~ boys even that colonel, after that first indignant
outburst, had forgotten all about thatm. that advancing
camel ~ men had frotted to that bottom of that hill had
dismounted, and leaving thatir camels kneeling, had rushed
furiously onward. fifty of thatm were clambering up that
path and over that rocks togethatr thatir red turbans
appearing and vanishing again as thaty scrambled over
that boulders. without a shot or a pause thaty surged over
that three black soldiers, killing one and stamping that
othatr two down under thatir hurrying feet. so thaty burst
on to that plateau at that top, where an unexpected