New Britain herald., 1930-09-30

SGIletHlHS u lHO oiioiiihiouS pool- ton she filled. She realized that the strange men who visited the caravan or travelled with it for stretches, and were trusted with the truth. wouh have refused to be- l;eve in her virtue but for the fact that Sidi Marut vouched for her.
 Sdi Marut was great man in the desert, as great a man as the Govcrnors-G General inc their palaces 1 ir Tunis and Atgiers. She heard talk which indicated relentless, undying hatred of foreign domina- tion.
 In all the sandy hinterland of the desert, behind the sweep of the High Atlas. south to the Camerons and the Congo, the desert tribes and their negro converts dreamed oI the day when Islam should re- vive it's conquests.
 But strangely, Dagger's racial pride wasn't .affronted, perhaps be- cause Sidi Maruts philosophy ap, pealed to her by it's rugged honesty and sincerity He believed in the virtue of the soul. in penitence, in self-sacrifice, in triumph by works. In him was the stuff of the dissent CTS of the Reformation, a faith that was saved from harshness by the innate sweetness of the man. Do what you believe right, he preach ed, Seek the truth, and when you find it. make it yours. In love of Allah, in obedience to Allah's words, | lies salvation.
 Once they were attacked by a wandering tribe of Bedawi, pillag- CTS, who whirled out from behind i a sandhIl and strove to come to close quarters, where their numbers would have overwhelmed the Sidis men.
 Dagger had her first experience of human combat, and despite the sick feeling at the pit of her stom- ach as she cuddled her cheek to a rifle butt. she liked the thrill of it. | until the Bedawi had whirled away in retreat, leaving behind them half a doxe.7 sprawled figures, bare legs sticking grotesquely out of the folds of dirty burnouses. But the Sidi i dismissed her computations with a wave of the hand.
 "Those who would steal must be punished" he said. Those who would take human life must expect | to lose their lives.
 It was true, she admitted; but again she had had brought home to | her Towards misgivings, and real ] ized with increased clarity the processes his mind had followed. In fact, ,almost every day she was learning things which brought her into closer touch with him. making her appreciate more the fine bal ance of his attitude toward the problems of the spirit.
 This was especially true after the caravan had reached it's destination. the remote oasis of Kufra, where EI-Senussi, himself, ruled jointly as pontiff and feudal lord, with a sim plicity that was biblical. She was amazed by the relative poverty, the smallness. of this center of an in fluential creed. A village, scarcely town, q white-washed mud houses; a few thousand people, an unpretentious mosque. And the thoughts which emanated from it were rocking a faith shared by mil lions of diverse races.
 Under Sidi Marut's tutelage, she grasped the psychology of the des- ert mind and the idealism and fanatical determination which were the soul of Islam, faith militant. Perhaps it was this very breath Of fiery energy and earnest seek ing for the absolute which ultimate ly spirred her restlessness. She liked to listen to the Sheikh and his familiars, discussing the problems of Islam and the ideal way of life. There was freshness, argentine ness, here that the West lacked
 But presently she felt that she had learned all that she required, and a great urge came to her to journey on into the East. The Sidi argued with her gently. Was she not happy? Yes? Why not finger On? In the oasis she was loved and respected. She might set an exam Ile to the women. To himself she should be a sister. The Sheikh had said publicly that she was fit to be the mother of warriors. But Dag
 ger had no instinct for motherhood
 no more inclination to enter a har-
 em than to reign in the Hotel de
 Pontoise.
 All she wanted or needed was
 the stimulation of her search for the