Book Description

Excerpt: ...frenzy of the storm-managed a salute. "Here, Master, I have saved him from the jinnee of the desert," Rrisa pantingly announced. His voice trembled with a passionate hate; his eyes gleamed with excitement; his nails dug into the palms of his hands. "Now Master, gladden my eyes and expand my breast by letting me see this old jackal's blood!" "No, Rrisa," the Master denied him. "I have other use for the old jackal. Other punishments await him than death at my hands." "What punishments, Master?" the Arab cried with terrible eagerness. "Wait, and thou shalt see. And remember always, I am thy sheik, thy preserver, with whom thou hast shared the salt. 'He who violates the salt shall surely taste Jahannum!'" "Death shall have me, first!" cried Rrisa, and fell silent. And for a while the three men crouched in the wady with the two unconscious ones, torturer and victim. At length the Master spoke: "This won't do, Lieutenant. We must be getting back." Leclair peered at him in the screaming dark. "Why, my Captain?" asked he. "The Legionaries can care for themselves. If Nissr is breaking up, in the gale, we can do nothing. And on the way we may be lost. To retrace our journey over the desert would surely be to invite death." "We must return, nevertheless. This storm may last all night, and it may blow itself out in half an hour. That cannot be told. The Legion may think us lost, and try to search for us. Lives may be sacrificed. Morale demands that we go back. Moreover, we certainly need not traverse the desert." "How, then?" "We can descend the wady to the beach, and make southward along it, under the shelter of the dunes." "In the noise and confusion of the storm they may take us for Arabs and shoot us down." "I will see to that. Come, we must go! Carry Lebon, if you like. Rrisa and I will take Abd el Rahman." "M'alme, not Abd el Rahman, now," ejaculated Rrisa, "but Abd el Hareth!1 Let that be his title!" Footnote 1: The former name signifies "Slave of...