The champion. (Arcadia, Fla.) 1895-1911, 1906-08-23

him wrapped In a dark camel hair
cloak, Hidden among some plcketed
dromedaries, he saw Abdullah enter
the tent Of the brethren, then, waiting
! till cloud crossed the moon, Mesrour
ran to Il unseen and throwing him
self down on It's Swallowed side. lay
there like a drunken man and listened
with all his ears. But those within
spoke low, and he could only hear single
words such as garden" "the star"
princess"
SO important did these seem to him,
however, that at length Mesrour crept
forward and with the sharp point Of
\ his knife cut little slit In the taut
canvas To this he set his eye, only to
find that It served him nothing, for
there was no light In the tent Still
men were there who talked In the dark
ness
Good" said a volce-lt was that OF
one of the brethren, but which he could
not tell, for even to those who knew
them best they seemed to be the same.
Good. Then It Is settled. Tomorrow
at the hour arranged you bring the
princess to the place agreed upon. dis
gulsed as you have said. In payment
for this service hand you the luck Of
Hassan, which you covet. Take 1t,
here II is, and swear to do your part,
since otherwise It will bring no luck
20 you, for / will kill you the first time
we meet--yes, and the other also"
II swear It by Allah and his prophet"
at Is enough See that you keep the
oath. And now away, II is not safe
that you should tarFy here"
Then came the sound of man leay-
Ing the tent. Passing round It eau
tlously, he halted and, opening his
hand, looked at It's contents to make
sure that no trick had been played
upon him In the darkness. Mesrour
screwed his head round to look also.
In 30 doing his foot struck stone and
instantly Abdullah glanced down to see
a dead or drunken man lying almost
at his feet. With swift movement,
he hid the jewel and started to walk
away. Then, bethlnking that 1t would
be we'll to make sure that this fellow
was dead or sleeping, he turned and
thrice kicked the PROSTATE Mesrour
upon the back, and with all his
strength
81 thought | saw him move" Abdul
lab muttered after the third kick. ut
is best to make sure" and he drew his
knife
Now, had not terror paralyzed him
Mesrour would have cried out but for
tunately for himself before he found
his voice Abdullah had burled-th knife
three inches deep In his fat thigh.
with an effort. Mesrour bore this also,
knowing that II he showed signs Of
life the next stroke would be In his
heart. Then, satisfied that this fellow,
/ whoever he might be, was either a
corpse or lnsenslble, Abdullah drew out
the knife, wiped 1t on his victims robe
and departed,
Not long afterward Mesrour depart
ed also toward the sultan's house, bel
lowing with rage and pain and vowlng
vengeance.
That very night Abdullah was SELF
ed ana put to the question. In his suf-
ferlng he confessed that he had been
to the tent of the brethren and received
from one of them the Jewel which was
found upon him as bride to bring
the princess to certain garden out
side the camp. But he named the
wrong garden. Further, when they
asked which Of the brethren It was
who bribed him he said he did not
know. as their voices we're alike and
their tent was In darkness. Moreover
that he believed there was only one
man IN it--at least he heard or saw no
other He added that be was sum
moned to the tent by an Arab man
whom he had never seen before, but
who told him that II he wished for
what he most desired and good fortune
he was to be there at certain hour
after sunset. Then he tainted and was
put back In prison till the morning by
the command of Saladin.
When the morning came Abdullah
was dead, who desired no more tor
ments with doom at the end OF them,
having made shift to strangle himself
with his robe. Thus died Abdullah, as
faithful as he could be In such sore
straits, since he had betrayed neither
MasOrda nor his BON. both Of whom
were In the plot, and said that only
one of the brethren was present In the
tent, whereas he knew well that the
Two of them were there and which OF
these spoke and gave him the jewel
Very early that morning the breth-
rem. who were lying wakeful' heard
sounds without their tent and, looking
out saw that it was surrounded by
mamelukes.