The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-01-02

| IuoA "aLIdIS, InTuSC TSOrB9 DaCK 81
vigorously that the young man los
his balance and fell prone upon tn,
sand. He was so weak that the fal
stunned him. Mahomed stepped for
ward, doubtless with the generous i'm
pulse to prove that in the matter O
kicks he desired to show no partial
ity, when a hand caught at his bur
mouse. He paused and looked down
It was the girl.
Don't! A brave man would not dC
that"
Mahomed, moved by some feeling
that eluded immediate analysis
turned about. 1t was time to be off
If he wished to reach Serapeum the
following night. Pursuit he knew tc
be out of the question, since who
was there to know that there was any
thing to pursue? But many miles in
tervened between here and his desti
nation. He dared not enter Serapeum
i'll the daytime. Lying upon the canal
bank as it did, the possibility of en-
countering stray white man con,
fronted him. Every camel-way fre
quented by Europeans must Of ne
cessity be avoided, every town Of any
size skirted, and all the while he must
keep parallel with known paths or be.
come lost himself. Not to become
lost himself, that was his real con-
cern. The caravan was provisioned
for months, and he knew Asia Minor
as we'll as the lines upon his palms.
There were sand-storms, too; but
against these blighting visitations he
would match his vigilant eye and the
instinct of the camels. The one way
In which these peculiar storms might
distress him lay In the total oblitera-
tton Of the way-signs, certain rocks,
certain hills, without the guidance of
which, like good ship bereft Of its
compass, he might fall away from his
course, notwithstanding that he would
always travel toward the sun.
And there was also the vital oues-
tion Of water; he must measure the
time between each well, each oasis.
So, then, aside from these dangers
with which he felt able to cope, there
was one unforeseen: the chance meet
ing with a wandering caravan headed
by white men IN search Of rugs and
carpets. These fools were eternally
hunting about the wastes of the
world; they were never satisfied IN
less they were prowling into countries
where they had no business to be, were
always breaking the laws Of the ca
liphs and the Koran.
The girl was beautiful in her pale,
foreign way; beautiful as the star of
the morning, as the first rose Of the
Persian spring; and he sighed for
the old days that were no more. She
would have brought q sultan's ransom
in the markets. But the accursed
Feringhi were everywhere, and these
s1ckly II handsome white women were
more to them than their hearts blood:
why, he had never ceased to wonder.
But upon this knowledge he had
out his plan of torture in re-
gard to Ryanne. The idea of selling
Fortune had dimly formed in his
mind, while his blood had burned in
anger; but today's soberness showed
him the futility of such a procedure.
He would have to make the best Of a
foolish move; for the girl would
eventually prove an encumbrance. At
any rate, he would wiring one white
mans heart till it beat dry in his
breast That her health might be ru-
ined, that she might sicken and die,
in no manner aroused his pity. This
attribute was destined never to be
awakened in Mahomed's heart.
The kisweh, the kisweh, always the
Holy Yhiordes; that he must have,
even if he had to forego the pleasure
Of breaking Rya.,fe. He was too old
to start life anew; at least, too old
to stir ambition. He had welded au-
thority too many years to surrender it
lightly; he had known too long his
golden-f1aked tobacco, his sherbet,
his syrupy coffee, the pleasant loaf
ing in the bazaars with his merchant
friends. To return to the palace, to
confess to the Pasha that his careless
ness had lost him the rug, would re-
suit either in death or Punishment;
and so far as he was concerned he
had no choice, the one was as bad as
the other. So, IL the young fool who
had bought the rug Of Ryanne told
the truth when he declared that 1t
had been stolen again, then Ryanne
knew where 1t was; and he could be
made to tell; he, Mahomed, would at