Part 11 (2/2)
”A prisoner!” ejaculated Tarzan incredulously
”A slave would be the better word,” she answered ”I was stolen in the night froht me here and sold me to the Arab who keeps this cafe It has been nearly two years now since I saw the last of mine own people They are very far to the south They never come to Sidi Aissa”
”You would like to return to your people?” asked Tarzan ”Then I shall promise to see you safely so far as Bou Saada at least There we can doubtless arrange with the commandant to send you the rest of the way”
”Oh, m'sieur,” she cried, ”how can I ever repay you! You cannot really mean that you will do so much for a poor Ouled-Nail But reat sheik? He is Kadour ben Saden”
”Kadour ben Saden!” ejaculated Tarzan ”Why, Kadour ben Saden is in Sidi Aissa this very night He dined with me but a few hours since”
”My father in Sidi Aissa?” cried the airl ”Allah be praised then, for I am indeed saved”
”Hssh!+” cautioned Abdul ”Listen”
Frouishable upon the still night air Tarzan could not understand the words, but Abdul and the girl translated
”They have gone now,” said the latter ”It is you they want, er who had offeredlay in the house of Akmed din Soulef with a broken wrist, but that he had offered a still greater reward if some would lay in wait for you upon the road to Bou Saada and kill you”
”It is he who followed m'sieur about the ain within the cafe--him and another; and the tent out into the inner court after talking with this girl here It was they who attacked and fired upon us, as we came out of the cafe
Why do they wish to kill you, m'sieur?”
”I do not know,” replied Tarzan, and then, after a pause: ”Unless--”
But he did not finish, for the thought that had come to his mind, while it seemed the only reasonable solution of the mystery, appeared at the same time quite improbable Presently the men in the street went away
The courtyard and the cafe were deserted Cautiously Tarzan lowered hiirl'sThe room was empty He returned to the roof and let Abdul down, then he lowered the girl to the ar Arab
From theAbdul dropped the short distance to the street belohile Tarzan took the girl in his arms and leaped down as he had done on so many other occasions in his own forest with a burden in his arirl's lips, but Tarzan landed in the street with but an imperceptible jar, and lowered her in safety to her feet
She clung to hi m'sieur is, and how active,” she cried ”EL ADREA, the black lion, himself is not more so”
”I should like to meet this EL ADREA of yours,” he said ”I have heard much about him”
”And you coirl ”He lives in a spur of the ht to rob hty paw he crushes the skull of a bull, and woe betide the belated wayfarer who ht”
Without further mishap they reached the hotel The sleepy landlord objected strenuously to instituting a search for Kadour ben Saden until the following old put a different aspect on the matter, so that a few moments later a servant had started to ht be expected that a desert sheik would find congenial associations Tarzan had felt it necessary to find the girl's father that night, for fear heto be intercepted
They had waited perhaps half an hour when the er returned with Kadour ben Saden The old sheik entered the roo expression upon his proud face
”Monsieur has done me the honor to--” he coirl With outstretched arhter!” he cried ”Allah is merciful!” and tears dimmed the martial eyes of the old warrior
When the story of her abduction and her final rescue had been told to Kadour ben Saden he extended his hand to Tarzan