The Washington times., 1919-02-23
CHAPTER XXI. (Continued).
In the Wadi.

In the Wadl.
THE confusion around the kaoa stone
lasted perhaps less than ten Sec
/ onds, when Ali Agha, his skirts fly
ing. Ieaped toward the sacred emblem, and
the soldiers stood again at guard. The
tall figure, interrupted in his devOtions,
had straightened slowly, his eyes closed,
with every mark of devotion, and with
bent head and hands folded before him
slowly moved away and was lost in the
crowd. which was now surging this way
and that, shouting and praying.
The guards upon the cliffs were leaplng
and firing and a squad of the Nizam under
their leader were pushing toward the spot
from which the sounds had come. But the
most commanding figure in all the throng
was the Sheykh Omar Hilal, the man
of mystery, who had suddenly sprung into
a galvanic activity He stood upon high
rock shouting and directing, and at his
commands men gave one look and obeyed.
Order miracuIously came out of chaos, the
Nizam and Sheykhs, their weapons ready,
ran I'D the rocks and clambered along the
Tod of the defile. The people grew quiet.
The attack of the Harami, if attack there
was, had been driven of.
Alan had noted all these things, and
seeking a place for himself near large
boulder in the sand sank down as though
in one of the attitudes of prayer. He was
praying really, for the safety of Daoud
and Amneh, but while he prayed he was
accomplishing something definite, some
thing extremely practical To be exact,
he was digging in"
Under the folds of his aba his long
fingers, without perceptible motion, were
clawing the soft sand, digging hole at
least a foot Deep into which he slipped
the Black Stone and carefully covered it
over with sand. His head was bowed and
he would have felt like grinning if he had
been sure that Daoud and Amneh had got
ten clean away. But the interment nicely
completed, he raised his head and looked
around. The Nizam by twOs and threes
were coming down the rocks, shaking their
heads and reporting to Won Hengel And
suddenly a dark figure appeared and sank,
palpitant, beside him.
Il have been-so frightened, Mon
sieur Alan"
"Sh! Whisper! What has happened?"
"Since would not go to my camel the
Efendi hid me in a hole in the rocks be-
hind the trees. Then mounted the cliff"
"You should have gOne," he muttered
And then, What has become of him?"
81 don't know. l watched you. And
when the soldiers ran by me ! came"
1t was ridiculously simple. Thank God
you're safe" muttered Alan. do you
think the Effendi got away?"
81 don't know When the shots were
fred I heard him running up the rocks"
Hes of, then. They'll never catch
Daoud."
"But you, Monsieur Alan. You are in
great danger here"
81 have something else to accomplish
Amneh," be whispered. And then, 81 want
TO find out where the sacred parchments
are. Go thou to the fat wife Of the Sheykh
of the leather trade and questiOn-but not
TO arouse suspicion"
"And leave you here alone, Monsieur
Alan?"'
81 will come to you-later You are safe
with her Go, Amneh, for daylight will
be soon and then there will be great dan.
ger"
"Obey, child" he said softly. at is
nv command"
Slowly she rose and joined the stout
wife of the leather sheykh, while Alan re-
mainedsfor a while in an attitude of deep
contemplation. But he missed nothing of
what went on. The line of Muslims kiss
ing the stone, broken for a moment by the
interruption, was resumed and he watched
them with mingled feelings. None of the
Pilgrims could be aware of the substitu-
tion, because none of them knew one black
stone from another. And neither Won
Hengel nor Ali Agha had as yet examined
the object. What if they all went on using
Dawson's substitute until the end of time
without knowing the difference? That was
precisely what had happened at Mecca.
Rather bitterly Alan began to wonder
whether he was to have all his labor for
his pains while he sat like a Cochin hen