Part 4 (1/2)

”Is that a sandstorm?” he asked.

Raal studied the horizon carefully with narrowed eyes. ”No, Master.

When the sandstorm comes from the desert, it is not like that.

Overhead the color changes and threatens danger. It may be a herd of wild horses that raises the dust.”

”Do wild horses run about on the desert?” asked Dan.

”Never before have I seen them, but of late I have seen many strange things. I have seen birds that carry men and I have seen the sun darkened.”

d.i.c.k took his binoculars and studied the morning cloud, but it was too far for him to make out what was kicking up the dust. Dan looked without success, and d.i.c.k turned to the natives.

”You try what you can see,” he said to Raal, handing over the binoculars.

The Taharan took the ”magic gla.s.ses” with awe. Never could he outgrow the superst.i.tious terror that they aroused.

”They won't hurt you,” laughed Dan. ”Take a chance! You saw me use them.”

”Yet they are strong magic. I fear them because I do not understand.”

”It's all right. They are harmless to you. Look!” And as d.i.c.k helped him to focus the binoculars, Raal cried out in amazement.

”Ah-woe, ah-woe! I see warriors!--Or demons, mounted on horses! The magic brings them close! Ah-woe!”

d.i.c.k took the gla.s.ses and thought he could make out what the sharp-eyed savage had seen.

”Arabs!” he gasped. ”A wild tribe of nomads!”

”Arabs, Master?”

Raal did not know what he was talking about. Never had raiding Arabs found this spot so far from the caravan trails. In the history of the tribe, no strangers had ever visited the land until the airplanes had brought d.i.c.k and those others from the sky. Yet with the instinct of the savage, Raal was quick to grasp the idea of a raid by enemies.

”Arabs! If they be men, we will fight them!”

”Lucky for you we are here to protect you!” said Dan.

”Quick, Raal!” cried d.i.c.k. ”a.s.semble the warriors with all their weapons. Spears, bows and arrows, stone hatchets and knives! Order the war drums to be sounded!”

”I hear, O Master!”

Raal hurried to obey. s.h.a.ggy blond tribesmen sprang to the hollow logs, with tightly stretched hides and soon the roll of the drums brought Taharan warriors hurrying from the fields. The alarm throbbed until the air was vibrating with a feeling of menace. The call to battle carried over the cliffs and beyond to the Gorol tree dwellings, and soon the ape-men were seen, scrambling down the steep rocks, with their war chief, Kulki, among them.

Their thin figures, covered with a fine growth of dark hair, made them resemble something more than beast and less than man. Like goats they found a footing on the steep sides. Their bodies were stringy and tough-muscled; light in weight, they were far stronger than the average civilized man, and more agile even than the Taharans.

As warriors they were formidable, and Kulki, their leader, was fearless and a tricky fighter.

Raal, too, was brave in battle and the Taharans were superb warriors.

With their throwing sticks they could hurl a lance with such force that it would go right through a man's body, and as archers they could bring down a bird in flight with their flint-tipped arrows.

”There's trouble coming, sure!” exclaimed Dan Carter. ”Jiminy, I'd hate to be an Arab and get crowned with Raal's flint hatchet.”