Part 4 (1/2)
”And if he is not innocent?” asked the Arab
”He is charged with uilty, he will have to die”
The Arab's left hand was hidden beneath his burnous Noithdrew it disclosing a large goatskin purse, bulging and heavy with coins He opened the mouth of the purse and let a handful of the contents trickle into the palold Fro proportions Captain Jacot concluded that it must contain a sold pieces one by one back into the purse Jacot was eyeing hi introduced the visitor, had withdrawn to some little distance-his back was toward theold pieces, held the bulging purse outward upon his open palm toward Captain Jacot
”Achht,” he said ”Eh?”
Captain Armand Jacot flushed to the roots of his close-cropped hair Then he went very white and took a half-step toward the Arab His fists were clenched Suddenly he thought better of whatever ieant!” he called The non-co as his heels clicked together before his superior
”Take this black dog back to his people,” he ordered ”See that they leave at once Shoot the first ht”
Sheik Aht His evil eyes narrowed He raised the bag of gold level with the eyes of the French officer
”You will pay more than this for the life of Achain for the name that you have called ain”
”Get out of here!” growled Captain Armand Jacot, ”before I kick you out”
All of this happened so of this tale The trail of Achmet ben Houdin and his accomplices is a matter of record-you may verify it if you care to He met the death he deserved, and he met it with the stoicism of the Arab
A hter of Captain Armand Jacot, mysteriously disappeared Neither the wealth of her father and reat republic were able to wrest the secret of her whereabouts from the inscrutable desert that had sed her and her abductor
A reward of such enormous proportions was offered that many adventurers were attracted to the hunt This was no case for the modern detective of civilization, yet several of these threw themselves into the search-the bones of so beneath the African sun upon the silent sands of the Sahara
Tedes, Carl Jenssen and Sven Malbihn, after three years of following false leads at last gave up the search far to the south of the Sahara to turn their attention to the reat district they were already known for their relentless cruelty and their greed for ivory The natives feared and hated theovernht the their way slowly out of the north they had learned ave theh easy avenues of escape that were unknown to those who pursued them Their raids were sudden and swift They seized ivory and retreated into the trackless wastes of the north before the guardians of the territory they raped could be htered elephants the ivory fro consisted of a hundred or ro slaves-a fierce, relentless band of cut-throats Remember theiants-for you will le, hidden away upon the banks of a se river that empties into the Atlantic not so far froe Twenty palm-thatched, beehive huts sheltered its black population, while a half-dozen goat skin tents in the center of the clearing housed the score of Arabs who found shelter here while, by trading and raiding, they collected the cargoes which their shi+ps of the desert bore northward twice each year to thebefore one of the Arab tents was a little girl of ten-a black-haired, black-eyed little girl ith her nut-brown skin and graceful carriage looked every inch a daughter of the desert Her little fingers were busily engaged in fashi+oning a skirt of grasses for a much-disheveled doll which a kindly disposed slave had made for her a year or two before The head of the doll was rudely chipped frorass The ars were bits of wood, perforated at one end and sewn to the rat skin torso The doll was quite hideous and altogether disreputable and soiled, but Merie in the whole world, which is not so strange in view of the fact that it was the only object within that world upon which she ht bestow her confidence and her love
Everyone else hom Meriem came in contact was, almost without exception, either indifferent to her or cruel There was, for exa who looked after her, Mabunu-toothless, filthy and ill teirl, or even inflict , or, as she had twice done, searing the tender flesh with hot coals And there was The Sheik, her father She feared hi, quite habitually ter her, until her little body was black and blue
But when she was alone she was happy, playing with Geeka, or decking her hair ild flowers, or ing-when they left her alone No amount of cruelty appeared sufficient to crush the innate happiness and sweetness from her full little heart Only when The Sheik was near was she quiet and subdued Him she feared with a fear that was at tile too-the cruel jungle that surrounded the little village with chattering hing and le; but so much more did she fear The Sheik that many times it was in her childish head to run away, out into the terrible jungle forever rather than longer to face the ever present terror of her father
As she sat there this day before The Sheik's goatskin tent, fashi+oning a skirt of grasses for Geeka, The Sheik appeared suddenly approaching Instantly the look of happiness faded from the child's face She shrunk aside in an attempt to scramble from the path of the leathern-faced old Arab; but she was not quick enough With a brutal kick theupon her face, where she lay quite still, tearless but tre Then, with an oath at her, theshook with appreciative laughter, disclosing an occasional and lonesoone, the little girl crawled to the shady side of the tent, where she lay quite still, hugging Geeka close to her breast, her little for sobs She dared not cry aloud, since that would have brought The Sheik upon her again The anguish in her little heart was not alone the anguish of physical pain; but that infinitely uish-of love denied a childish heart that yearns for love
Little Meriem could scarce recall any other existence than that of the stern cruelty of The Sheik and Mabunu Dimly, in the back of her childish entle mother; but Meriem was not sure but that even this was but a dream picture induced by her own desire for the caresses she never received, but which she lavished upon the much loved Geeka Never was such a spoiled child as Geeka Its littleher own conduct after the example set her by her father and nurse, went to the extreence Geeka was kissed a thousand tihty; but the little mother never punished Instead, she caressed and fondled; her attitude influenced solely by her own pathetic desire for love
Now, as she pressed Geeka close to her, her sobs lessened gradually, until she was able to control her voice, and pour out her misery into the ivory ear of her only confidante
”Geeka loves Meriem,” she whispered ”Why does The Sheik, ood; but I never knohy he strikes me, so I cannot tell what I have done which displeases him Just now he kickedbefore the tenta skirt for you That must be wicked, or he would not have kicked me for it But why is it wicked, Geeka? Oh dear! I do not know, I do not knoish, Geeka, that I were dead Yesterday the hunters brought in the body of El Adrea El Adrea was quite dead Noprey No reat head and his rass eaters at the drinking ford by night No round El Adrea is dead They beat his body terribly when it was brought into the village; but El Adrea did not mind He did not feel the blows, for he was dead When I am dead, Geeka, neither shall I feel the blows of Mabunu, or the kicks of The Sheik, my father Then shall I be happy Oh, Geeka, hoish that I were dead!”
If Geeka contemplated a remonstrance it was cut short by sounds of altercation beyond the village gates Meriem listened With the curiosity of childhood she would have liked to have run down there and learn what it was that caused the e were already trooping in the direction of the noise But Meriem did not dare The Sheik would be there, doubtless, and if he saw her it would be but another opportunity to abuse her, so Meriem lay still and listened
Presently she heard the crowdup the street toward The Sheik's tent Cautiously she stuck her little head around the edge of the tent She could not resist the tee life was monotonous, and she craved diversion What she sao strangers-white men They were alone, but as they approached she learned from the talk of the natives that surrounded the that was ca to palaver with The Sheik