Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1913-02-20
XIII

Not a Cheerful Outlook.
George, his brain in tumult, a fierce
tigerishf courage giving fictitious
strength to his body, staggered toward
her. It was a mad dream. q mirage
Of his W disordered thoughts. For
tune there? 1t was not ~believable.
What place had she in this tangled
web? He ran his fingers into his hair,
gripped, and pulled. If 1t was q dream
the pain did not waken him; Fortune
sat there still. Through what ter
rors might she not have passed the
preceding night? Alone in the desert,
without any of those conveniences
which are to ONE as necessary as
the air they breathe! He tried to run,
but his feet sank too deeply in the
pale sand; he could only plod. He
must touch her or hear her voice;
otherwise he stood upon the brink OF
madness. There was no doubt in his
mind now; he loved her, loved her as
deeply and ~passionately as any sto-
ried knight loved his lady; loved he
without thought Of reward, unselfish-
ly, with great and tender pity, for un-
consciously he saw that she, like he.
was all alone, not only here In the
desert, but along the highways where
men set up their dwellings.
Mahomed, having an eye upon all
things, though apparently seeing only
that which was under his immediate
concern, saw the young mans inten-
ton, and more, read the secret In his
face. He was infinitely amused.
There were two of them, SO it seemed.
Quietly he slipped in between George
and the girl, and his movement freed
) Georges mind of its ~bewilderment.
t Unhesitatingly, he flung himself upon
> the Arab, striving to reach the lean,
! brown throat. Mahomed, strong and
: unwearied, having no hand in the &C
tual warfare, thrust George back SO
i vigorously that the young man lost
t his balance and fell prone upon the
sand. He was so weak that the fall
stunned him. Mahomed stepped for
!, ward, doubtless with the generous i'm
pulse to prove that in the matter o.
4 kicks he desired to show no partial
ity, when a hand caught at his bur
mouse. He paused and looked down
1t was The girl.
Don't! A brave man would not d.
q that"
g Mahomed, moved by some feeling
that eluded immediate analysis
turned about. 1t was time to be of
s. If he wished to reach Serapeum tn,
a. following night. Pursuit he knew II
be out Of the question, since VIII,
was there to know that there was any
thing to pursue? But many miles In
a tervened between here and his destl
nation. He dared not enter Serapeun
in the daytime. Lying upon the cana,
It bank as 1t did, the possibility Of er
lie co~untering a stray white man cor
Is fronted him. Every camel-way frt
is quented by Europeans must Of M
i'd cessity be avoided, every town of an
~ size skirted, and all the while he mus
keep parallel with known paths or b.
come lost himself. Not to becom
m lost himself, that was his real col
W. Germ. The caravan was provisione
be for months, and he knew Asia-MinC
ed as well as the lines upon his palm
&C. There were sand-storms, too; bl
as against these blighting visitations
re would match his vigilant eye and Il
If instinct OF the camels. The me We
nd In which these peculiar storms mig
ire distress him lay in the total obliter
ad ton Of the way-signs, certain rocB
AS certain hills, without the guidance
ca which, like a good ship bereft Of
10 compass. he might fall away from b
his course, notwithstanding that he won
ZEN always travel toward the sun.
ow And there was also the vital gu,
Inc tion of water; he must measure t
He time between each well, each oas
but So. then, aside from these DANCE
i'm. with which he felt able to cope, the
ish was one unforeseen: the chance me
but ing with a wandering caravan head
ent by white men in search Of rugs o
sgs, carpets. These fools were eterna
Ry- hunting about the wastes of I
I 1t world; they were lever satisfied
nne less they were prowling into countr
ad? where they had no business to be, W.
.ose always breaking the laws OF the
the liphs and the Koran.
ven The girl was beautiful in her pi
far foreign way; beautiful as the star
his the morning, as the first rose of
rely Persian spring; and he sighed
/ to the old days that were no more. {
,ags would have brought a sultan's rams
Ian in the markets, But the accur
tud. Feringhi were everywhere, and tn
ach- sickly II handsome white women W
What more to them than their hearts bio
arts why, he had never ceased to won,
The But upon this knowledge he
her mapped out his plan Of torture in
Lure. gard TO Ryanne. The idea OF sell
the Fortune had dimly formed in
com mind. while his blood had burned
hitch anger: bat sDday's soberness sho'