The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1913-01-25
seemed to strike at the very source
| OF his life.
Fortune Chedsoye!
CHAPTER Xiii.
Not q Cheerful Outlook.

'iseflsn courage giving fictitiou
strength to his body, staggered towar
her. 1t was mad dream, a mirag
OF his own disordered thoughts. Fol-
tune there? 1t was not belieyab1e
What place had she in this tangled
web? He ran his fingers into his hair
gripped, and pulled. If it was a dream
the pain did not Waken him; Fortune
sat there STILL Through what ter
rors might she not have passed tht
preceding night? Alone in the desert
without any Of those convenience
which are to women as necessary as
the air they breathe! He tried to run
put MS feet SANK too deeply ii 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.
rled knight loved his lady; loved her
without thought of reward, unselfsh-
ly, with great and tender pity, for I'M
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 We're two Of them, so it seemed
Quietly he slipped In between George
and the girl, and his movement freed
Georges mind of its bewflderment.
unhes1tatingly, he flung himself upon
the Arab, striving to reach the lean.
Brown throat. Mahomed, strong and
unWearled, having no hand III the ac-
tual warfare, thrust George back SO
vigorously that the, young man lost
MS balance and fall prone upon the.
sand. He was SO weak that the fall
stunned him. Mahoned stepped for
ward, doubtless with the generous i'm
pulse to prove that in the matter of
kicks he desired to show no partial
1ty, when a hand caught at his bur-
mouse. He paused. and looked down.
It was the girl.
3 Don't! A brave man would not do
ehat,"
Mahomed, moved by some feeling
that eluded immediate ANALYSIS.
turned about. It was time to be off.
II he wished to reach Serapeum the
following night. Pursuit he knew to
be out of the question, since who
was there to know that there was any
hing to pursue? But many miles in
.erVened between here and his desti-
nation. He dared not enter Serapeum
II the daytime. Lying upon tie canal
'ank as 1t did, the possibility of en-
sountering a stray white man con-
ronted him. Every came1-Way fire.
luented by Europeans must Of ne
'essity be avoided, every town of any
ize skirted, and all the while he must
leep parallel with known paths or he
'ome lost himself. Not to become
est himself, that was his real con
ern. The caravan was provisioned
Or months, and he knew Minor
s well as the lines upon his palms.
here We're sand-storms, toe; but
gainst these blighting visitations he
5ould match his vigilant eye and the
lstInct OF the cameIs. The one way
/ which these peculiar storms might
lstress him lay in the total oblitera-
on Of the Way-sisns, certain rocks,
'h1ch, like a good ship bereft of its
he might fall away from his
curse, notwithstanding that he would
ways travel toward the sun.
And there was also the vital cues
On Of water, he must measure the
NE between each well, each oasis.
Q, then, aside from these dangers
It'll which he felt able to cope, there
as one unforeseen: the chance meet
g with a wandering caravan headed
white men in search of rugs and .
.rpets. These fools were eternally :
1ntlng about the wastes of the
GRID; they Were never satisfied nm ,
SIS they were. proving into countries | !
here they had no business to be. were | =
ways breaking. the laws of the ca !.
ohs and the Koran
The girl was beautiful in her pale, If
reign way; beautiful as the star Of '
e morning, as the first rose of the '
arsian spring; and he sighed for q
e old days that were no more. She !,
ould have brought a sultan's ransom \
the markets. But the accursed +
ringhi were everywhere, and these y
ky if handsome white women were Q
ore to them than their hearts blood:
~, ne had never ceased to wonder. .
1t upon this knowledge he had =
lpped out his plan of torture in re- !;
rd to Ryanne. The idea OF selling r
Ttune had dim1y formed in his =
No, while his blood had burned in >
ger; but today's soberness showed . .