The daily Alaskan., 1912-12-03
BETWEEN FRIENDS
By Clarissa Mackie

The sand of the desert shimmered In the intense heat. The sun shone bra Eenly down from merclless blue sky. Shifting winds had rified the sands Into wavelets, with here and there a mountainous pillow.
 Winding in and out among the bil, lows were shallow indentations-camei tracks in the sand.
 Ford Cameron turned to his compan- ion.
 How long, AbdlT"
 The Arab leaned from his horse un- tIl his face almost touched the sand. With a single movement of hls 1.-the body he sat upright again. Ten mln- utes. saire," he said, with a shrug of the shoulder
 Cameron frowned.
 "The last caravan we ran Into tried to rob us of what the others hadn't stolen" he muttered.
 'Thls Is the same one, effendi,' re- marked AbdL
 "How do you know thatT Cam eron's tone was sharp,
 Again the Arab shrugged "l know!'
 Let us go another way, then sug- gested the American impatlenty My Journey to the ancient ruins of Gib, where am to join the archaeological expedition, has already been inter rupted five times by encounters with bandits and holdups by both Italian and Turkish scouting parties Is there no other route we may take-One that Is less freQuented"
 Abdrs fierce glance seemed to over leap the followed desert and became concentrated on the far horizon, where something gllttered for an Instant and then vanished.
 There Is a different route that may prove to be safer" he said at last.
 Lead the way, then" ordered Cam eron lmpatiently.
 Obedlently the Arab wheeled his horse t0 the left, away from the route which they had chosen and which was the same taken by the thieving cara van whose camel tracks had momen- tarily halted their journey.
 As Cameron followed his guide he occasionally threw a glance over to the right, where one might reasonably expect to glimpse some trace of the caravan which had passed only ten minutes before, He was hoping that they would elude the thieving Arabs who had plundered their provisions and tried to steal their horses. A quick battle with automatic revolvers and a repeating rife had put the Arabs to flight. But they lowered near One days uninterrupted journey would bring him to the expedition camp on the site of ancient Glb. Urgent bust ness had prevented his joining the par. ty at the appointed place; consequent. ly he had to make this lonely trip across northern TripOli with tho un. certain loyalty of an Arab dragoman as his sole dependence.
 Cameron decided to be on the look out for treachery from his drngoman.
 "What Is thatT he asked suddenly.
 Ahdi inclined his ear respectfully. A faint yappIng sound broke the stiffness
 "Jackals." declared Abdl shruCginC his shoulders.
 Cameron knew that the Arab lied and felt that his suspicious were con frmed Therefore he said nothing
 He drank some strong cotfee of his own preparation and ate a few timed biscuits from his own saddlebags He decided not to sleep that night In an unguarded moment Abdi might mur- der him with a shot from the silver mounted rife he carried sluug over his burnoose.
 Cameron propped bis saddle against a sand hlHock and, sitting down, lean. ed his head against the leather bags. His cartridge belt was huckled outside his coat and in either hand he held an automatic revolver.
 The three horses. AbdIs, his own and the pack horse, which carried his luggage, were grouped near at hand.
 Once again there came the distant cry-of the jackals? Cameron believed otherwise. Abdl turned his head away and listened
 "B Is a signal cry" thought Cam eron, who knew something of the wire, less telegraphy of the desert tribes, "I wonder if 1t relates to my affairs or are they on the trail of Italian scoutsl Very likely they are on the scent of other game-something big. ger than I can offer with my meager equipment and silver watch"
 After awhile he arose and stretched himself, offering a splendid target for Abdrs rife but the tall Arab did not even turn his head. Be was staring out Into the fathomless gloom of the desert as if his falcon eyes would pierce it's mysteries.
 Cameron remained standing. He felt a vague uneasiness creeping over him. He thought he heard footsteps padding to and fro in the soft sand among the hillocks. There seemed to be a burden of whispering in the still