Evening star., 1923-01-13

!
pitched. In the largest of them the
miser feather merchant was sitting
cross-legged, on a pile of dirty cush-
ions. AS chance would have IL, his
caravan had gone to the southwest.
and that night he had halted within
three hundred miles Of st. Louis.
| With him was an Arab friend, a
J nomad like himself, who CHANGED also
TO be encamped outside the little set
| tlement. A year had passed since
their last meeting. After the first ex-
change of compliments, as the two sat
smoking together, the newcomer re-
marked to the miser:
! "In your hunger for gold you grow
ever thinner and more haggard."
y wild look came into the feather
! merchants eyes.
! at is not hunger for gold that has
robbed my bones OF their flesh, he re-
raging"
| Ills friend puffed away in silence.
and as he puffed. he. had in mind an
Arab proverb wherein it is said that
a man can fall madly in love with the
shadow of woman's heel. -
! Then it's the shadow of some
woman's heel" he remarked.
4
replied in parched voice. II saw
/ her before me. as plainly as see you.
A houri from Paradise"
His friend made no reply. Consider
| ing a woman was under discussion II
was bad manners to ask questions. He
! waited. knowing that silence on his
! part would be the most likely way of
hearing the story.
| The miser's bony hands clenched,
and his tongue went round his
! beardad lins
There was a girl I desired" he be-
gan presently. "a milk-white maid.
more beautiful than the morning, with
hair golden as the sun, and eyes deep
blue as desert night. She was a slave.
/ and with my wealth L would have
bought her. She was more to me
! than my gold. But there was another
more rich and powerful: And he took
iher-may his soul perish in hell"
| AS the miser talked. an amazed look
crossed his friends face.
! And where did you see her. this
\ milk k-white maid. with the hair of
| gold. and deep blue eyes?" he asked
I'm a desert city. a months journey
or more from here"
And how did she como 10 be
| there"
"she was captured by the sultan
who rules there. Allah curse him"
"So." his friend calculated.
| Then he stayed for some moments
Illuminating on the matter.
| such maid was stolen three
months or more ago, from a mighty
white nation whose territory lies far
beyond the Senegal" he began pres
emily. "And that white nation has
made great stir and commotion with
our rulers, the French. For the maid
is one of great wealth and impor-
| tance in her own country, possessed of
undreamt-of riches, fortune in gold
pieces more numerous than the grains
I CnA A Wn
| I was in the town of st. Louis. and the
! people there talked of nothing else.
The white officers here search for her
in all directions. And great will be
the reward of the man who can lead
| them to her abductor. And great also
i, will be the punishment of that desert
iruler-even death.
listened. Then he started up with a
wild cry.
Allah be praised" he shouted. For
my prayer has been granted. I have
! found those who are the enemies OF
the Sultan Casim Ammeh. The ma
ton most mighty of all on the earth.
! And they will break him, as he has
broken me"
Then he darted from the tent. run
ming like a madman in the direction
! of the French military quarters.
CHAPTER XVIII.
one day when Pansy was in the
large hall of the harem. Rayma came
TO her, a look of feverish excitement
| in her eyes.
| DO you still wish to escapes" she
asked, watching her supplanter as If
she could not believe such desire
could lie in the heart of any woman
the sultan pleased to favor.
J For Pansy her struggle became
daily more difficult 1t was an OBJ
| session now, her wish TO escape from
| her captor.
some one is there TO stop me-"
'''There is one who will not stop you.
mot if he Is paid we'll enough" Rayma
said. her voice dropping to a whisper.
! who is that?" Pansy asked quick
zone of the eunuchs who guards
your room at night. He loves jewels
| beyond all things on earth. And
surely the Sultan has given you
plenty, although you never wear them. F"
The sultan had given Pansy none,
because he knew she would not ac-
cept them. But she had jewels of her
! own; one that would be bribe enough
| for anybody-the great diamond that
| had aroused her lovers comments one
night in the moonlit garden of Grand
Pansy cIutched at the mere idea of
escape Where she would escape TO
she did not pause to consider. To
| escape she forgot his color. his relig-
| ion, his wild life, his treatment OF her
| father, everything, except her own
| love for him.
"How do you know he'll let himself
| be bribed?" she asked.
"One of the women told me. He is
| her brother. I've spent days in trying
to help you get away.
"Oh. Rayma, ] can ever thank you
enough" Pansy said' Historically
The Arab girl cast a spiteful glance
ar her. wondering why the other
could not guess that it was her, Ray
mas, one desire to get rid OF her
zach night after dark you must
open your door," the Arab girl went
on. "There will come a night when
only one of the guards VIII be here
Then. If you bribe him enough he Will
let you pass.
| would escape. She expected and
hoped that she would be caught In
the attempt. Judging by her desert
standards. death would be the por-
ton of any slave-giFl who dared at
tempt to fly from her owner.
After that, every night when she
was alone. Pansy opened the sandal
! wood door leading into the long. dark
passage by which she had nrst en-
tered the palace.
Then, one evening. she found only
! one of the jeweled guards there.
on seeing this, she closed the door
again, and going to her jewel case
got out the one big diamond.
From the gallery of her sumptHous
prison she had gathered that beyond
| the rose garden lay the grounds of
| the suItan's own quarters, where she
| had spent those three days prior to
| his unveiling. During that brief time
she had noticed that, at night and
during the heat Of the day. the horses
that Drowned in the sun -scorched
paddock were stabbed In a long. low
| k,x;iJi1~ oE }ha 20 suA nF TAS ~