All, men as well as camels, are extremely weak. God help us.’”

“But it wasn’t my last entry, you know,” Beetham reminded her. “The next night, in a dying condition, I crept along on my hands and knees until I reached a forest, the bed of a dry river - a pool. Water. I came out much better than I deserved.”

“Pardon me if I make slight inquiry,” said Charlie Chan. “What of old superstition, Colonel? Mention was made of it by Marco Polo six hundred fifty years ago. When a traveler is moving across desert by night, he hears strange voices calling his name. In bewitched state, he follows ghostly voices to his early doom.”

“It is quite obvious,” returned Beetham, “that I followed no voices. In fact, I heard none.”

Eileen Enderby shuddered. “Well, I never could do it,” she said. “I’m frightfully afraid of the dark. It drives me almost insane with fear.”

Sir Frederic Bruce looked at her keenly. For the first time in some moments he spoke. “I fancy many women are like that,” he said. He turned suddenly to Mrs. Kirk’s companion. “What has been your experience, Mrs. Tupper-Brock?”

“I do not mind the dark,” said that lady, in a cool, even tone.

“Miss Garland?” His piercing eyes turned on the actress.

She seemed a little embarrassed. “Why - I - really, I much prefer the spotlight. No, I can’t say I fancy darkness.”

“Nonsense,” said Mrs. Dawson Kirk. “Things are the same in the dark as in the light. I never minded it.”

Beetham spoke slowly. “Why not ask the gentlemen, Sir Frederic? Fear of the dark is not alone a woman’s weakness. Were you to ask me, I should have to make a confession.”

Sir Frederic turned on him in amazement. “You, Colonel?”

Beetham nodded. “When I was a little shaver, my life was made miserable by my horror of the dark. Every evening when I was left alone in my room, I died a thousand deaths.”

“By jove,” cried Enderby. “And yet you grew up to spend your life in the dark places of the world.”

“You conquered that early fear, no doubt?” Sir Frederic suggested.

Beetham shrugged. “Does one ever quite conquer a thing like that? But really - there is too much about me.