The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1918-02-01

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Wait. / will have her brought out in
the sunlight" And he commanded the
two warriors who watched the girl to
cut the bonds from her ankles and
lead her forth, for inspection.
Malbihn and Jensen evinced mo
eagerness, though both were fairly
bursting with it, not to see the girl,
but to obtain possession Of her. They
cared not If she had the face of mar
| moset or the figure Of pot bellied Ko-
| vudoo himself. All that they wished
| to know was that she was the girl
who had been stolen from the sheik
several years before. They; thought
that they would recognize her for such
/ If she were indeed the saiae. But even
so, the testimony of the runner KQvu-
doc had sent to the sheik was such as
to assure them that the girl was the
one they had once before attempted
to abduct.
AS Meriem was brought forth from
the darkness of the hut's interior the
two men turned, with every appear
ance Of disinterestedness, to glance at
her. 1t was with difficulty that Mall
bihn suppressed an ejaculation of as
tonishment. The girls beauty fairly
took his breath from him. But in;
stantly he recovered his poise and
turned to Kovudoo.
''Well?" he said to the old chief. u.
"Is she not both young and good
looking?" asked Kovudoo.
"She Is not DID," replied Malbihn..
"But, even SO, she will be burden,
We did not come from. the. north after
{ wives: There are More than enough
there for u.s." j,, -
Meriem stood looking straight at the
white men. She expected nothing from
them-they were to her as much enc
mics as the black men. She hated and
feared them all. Malbihn spoke to her
in Arabic.
1--WE are friends" he said. "Would
you like TO have US take you away
from herew
Slowly and dlmly, as though from
great distance, recollection of the once
familiar tongue returned to her.
II should like to go Free" she said,
"and go back. to Korak.""' 4.
j, ''You.. would like to. go with .usT'
persisted Malbihn. -,
mo" said Meriem.
Malbihn turned to Koyudoo. "She
does not wish to go with us, y he said.
,"You are men," returned the black.
Scan you.nOt take her by force?
"It would only add to our troubles"
replied the Swede. mo, Kovudoo, we
do not wish her, though, If you wish
to be rid of her, we will take her away
because of our friendship for you. ~
Now, Kovudoo knew that he had
made a sale. They wanted her. So he
commenced to bargain, and in the end
the person of Meriem passed from the
possession of the black chieftain into
that Of the two Swedes in considers
ton of six yards of American, three
empty brass cartridge shells and a
shiny new jackknife from New Jersey.
And all but Meriem were more than
pleased with the bargain.
Kovudoo stipulated but a single con-.
dition,.. and that, was that the Euro
peans were to leave his village and
take the girl with them as earlyiJthe.
next morning as they could get start.
ed. After the sale he did not hesitate
to explain, his reasons,9or this demand:
He told them of strenuous attempts
Of the girls savagemate to rescue her,
and suggested that the sooner they got
her aut,nfithe country the more likely
they were to retain possession of her;
Merfehi was again bound and placed
under guard, but this time in the tent
Of the Sysdes: MaIbihn talked to her,
trying to persuade her to accompany
them willingly. He told her that they
would return her to her own village,
hut when he discovered that she would
rather die than go back to the old
sbeik he assured her that they would
not take her there-nnr, as a matter
of fact, had they any intention OF 20
doing.