Part 23 (1/2)

Abdul Ka it, feature by feature with the girl sitting on the ground looking up into his face Slowly he nodded his head

”Yes,” he said, ”it is you, but where was it taken? How does it happen that The Sheik's daughter is clothed in the garments of the unbeliever?”

”I do not know,” replied Merieo, when I found it in the tent of the Swede, Malbihn”

Abdul Kamak raised his eyebrows He turned the picture over and as his eyes fell upon the old newspaper cutting they ide He could read French, with difficulty, it is true; but he could read it He had been to Paris He had spent six months there with a troupe of his desert fellows, upon exhibition, and he had i e, andto use Slowly, laboriously he read the yellowed cutting His eyes were no longer wide Instead they narrowed to two slits of cunning When he had done he looked at the girl

”You have read this?” he asked

”It is French,” she replied, ”and I do not read French”

Abdul Kairl She was very beautiful He desired her, as had many other men who had seen her At last he dropped to one knee beside her

A wonderful idea had sprung to Abdul Kairl were kept in ignorance of the contents of that newspaper cutting It would certainly be doomed should she learn its contents

”Meriem,” he whispered, ”never until today have my eyes beheld you, yet at once they told my heart that it must ever be your servant You do not know me, but I ask that you trust me I can help you You hate The Sheik-so do I Let o back to the great desert where htier than is yours Will you come?”

Meriem sat in silence She hated to wound the only one who had offered her protection and friendshi+p; but she did not want Abdul Kamak's love Deceived by her silence the led to free herself

”I do not love you,” she cried ”Oh, please do not make me hate you You are the only one who has shown kindness toward me, and I want to like you, but I cannot love you”

Abdul Kaht

”You will learn to love me,” he said, ”for I shall take you whether you will or no You hate The Sheik and so you will not tell him, for if you do I will tell him of the picture I hate The Sheik, and-”

”You hate The Sheik?” carim voice fro a few paces from them Abdul still held the picture in his hand Now he thrust it within his burnous

”Yes,” he said, ”I hate the Sheik,” and as he spoke he sprang toward the older e to the line where his horse was picketed, saddled and ready, for Abdul Kamak had been about to ride forth to hunt when he had seen the stranger girl alone by the bushes

Leaping into the saddle Abdul Kaates The Sheik, ered to his feet, shouting lustily to his followers to stop the escaped Arab A dozen blacks leaped forward to intercept the horseman, only to be ridden down or brushed aside by themusket, which he lashed froate But here he must surely be intercepted Already the two blacks stationed there were pushi+ng the unwieldy portals to Up flew the barrel of the fugitive's weapon With reins flying loose and his horse at a allop the son of the desert fired once-twice; and both the keepers of the gate dropped in their tracks With a hoop of exultation, twirling his h back into the faces of his pursuers Abdul Kae of The Sheik and ed up by the jungle

Foae The Sheik ordered immediate pursuit, and then strode rapidly back to where Meriem sat huddled by the bushes where he had left her

”The picture!” he cried ”What picture did the dog speak of? Where is it? Give it to me at once!”

”He took it,” replied Merieain dehly by the hair and dragging her to her feet, where he shook her venomously ”What was it a picture of?”