Evening star., 1922-12-17

latter possessed machine guns. the sultan decid
outpost In the south Capt. George Barclay, in
forces and prepares his defense. The raid is I
Barclays ruse succeeded.
Whilst the sultan and his follow
ers were busy trying to scale the forl
and get at the handful or men pep, pep
pering at them from its roof. without
any warning there came an nneXpecl-
ed fusillade from the rear. be turned
and attacked in that direction. only
to find a further fusillade pouring In on
him from another point.
The sultan senSed that he had fa:!en
into q trap; that he was surro'.ndea
on all sides. Sore and furious, ne
turned to go more quickly than he had
come. But before he had reached
the stockade the world slipped from
him suddenly.
CHAPTER V.
When the skirmish was over. Bar
clay and his junior. with half dozen
Hausas and a lantern or two. MADE
| a round of the compound, counting
the dead and attending to the wound
ed.
His own garrison was practically
unscathed. but his guns had prayed
grim havoc with the attacking parry
fully fifty dead and wounded lay withih
the stockade. ,
Barclay went about his task eau
tiously, He knew Arabs and their
little ways. Giving no quarter them
selves, they expected none. ana wouih
sham death and then stab those VINO
came to succor them.
Among the prisoners was lean , n'ne
man of about forty, who appeared more
stunned than hurt from bullet that
had Rrazed his forehead. Barclay came
across the wounded man just when the
latter was coming back TO conscious
ness. Although in dress ne d,nerrd IN
no way from the rest of his following
the knives in his belt were neaVliy
jeweled, and gems flashed on his brown
fingers.
BY the light of a lantern the Eng
lishman scanned him. noting ms array
Of Jewels and his cruel. arrogant. com
! manding face. the face OF a savage
leader.
my SON. he said to the subaltern
IT believe your joke has come to pa ss
MY joke!" the youngster repeated
blankly
Then the light Of understanding came
to his face.
you don't mean to say this cruel
looking cuss is the Sultan Casim AM
meh." -.
..Id be surprised to hear he wasn't.
Suspicious OF his man. and knowing
him to be no more than stunned the
captain had him handcuffed and locked
up in one Of the inner rooms OF 'he
When the wounded had been attended
to they were left in the guardroom. and
the little garrison retired once more
within the fort.
The enemy had had such thorough
heating that Barclay did not expect an
other attack. For ali that. he WIS
taking no risks.
Inst before daybreak. when the
world was a place of curling White
mist and grayness. there came a
stampede of horses. And. above the
thunder of hoofs, the wild Moham-
medan war cry.
"Deen. Deem Muhammed,
That wild swoop and yell was the
sultan's usual way of attacking.
1T seems we didn't get our man
last night" Barclay remark ed as
the guns were trained in the direction
of the sound. ACCORDING TO repor''
this Is his usual method of attack
out of the grayness of approach
inp morning a melee Of wild horse
men appeared. Their leader was
hardly the man Barclay had pictured
to himself as the blood-stained Afap
chief. but smooth-faced Eouth III
white burroose, mounted on Il huge
black stallion.
More than this Barclay did not wait
10 see. He opened fire on the nasSec
horsemen. his guns playing deadiE
havoc. Within a few minutes their
ranks broke. In wild disorder theE
turned and stampeded back. soon TO
be lost in the screening mist.
II don't think they'll face another
dose" the junior remarked
However, he was wrong.
Presently from out of the fog came
the same wild war cry and the
thunder of hoofs There was an
oh
numbers. %.
For reckless courage Barclay had
never seen anything to equal their
Youthful leader Again and again
he rallied his men and brought them
on. until finally. with only about
dozen men, he swept through ar ugh tn, the
In the very teeth of the MaNims
his black horse literally flew over the
high stockade. But the youngster
was the only one who faced the guns.
His following broke up and turned
back under the fierce fusiilade.
Although the leader got over the
stockade alive, his horse did not. 1t
crashed and fell dead beneath him
With a quick side spring-a marvel
lous piece of horsemanship-he avoid
ed injury and, with drawn sword.
rushed on toward the little fort.
The Hausas would have shot down
stopped them. :,
I'VE don't make war on childreh.
he said in their dialect.
closer inspection showed the
, leader of the Arab horde to be hardly
more than a child: a handsome boy
Of about fourteen. who. suddenly
realizing that his followers had de-
serted him, now stood gazing round
in a fierce thwarted fashion
On finding he was alone he did not
retreat, although Barclay gave MN
every opportunity: Instead: aa.,1en ne s.oGn 3n
Arabic at the men clustered on the
top of the fort.
Since there was no reply to that. he
shouted again, this time in French.
"Who and what is the youngster:
| Barclay asked "He doesn't look any
! more Arabian than l DO. ana nc a,;n;s" now !"
he's yelling at us in pure Parislan
However. nobody could find any re-
nly So Barclay descended alone to
! interview the one remaining member
of the Sultan Casim's forces.
He was hardly out in the COM
nound before he wished he had not
He had just time to draw his sword
| when the boy fell upon him:
Barclay was a skilled duellist, but
in this wild youth from the desert
| he met his match.
For all his finesse and superior
, height and weight, the Englishman
had his cheek laid open and his arm
! ripped up in the course of minute.
ThinEs would have gone badly with
him. except that a shot from his
iunior put the boys sword arm out
| Of action.
with a rattle his weapon fell to
the ground, his arm useless at his
side.
But. even then there was no plea