l emotion as
she peered at the Master. With some smattering of Arabic, she may have
caught something of the sense of this offer. But the Master, unmoved
by this second offer of Olema's, merely shook his head again, saying:

"No, Bara Miyan. Though thy women be fair as the dawn over the Sea of
Oman, and soft-eyed as the gazelles in the oasis of the _Wady el
Ward_ (Vale of Flowers), not for us are they. We seek other rewards.
Therefore will I ask thee still another question."

"Thy question shall be answered, O Frank!"

"Is it true that the Caliph el Walid, in Hegira 88, sent forty
camel-loads of cut jewels to Mecca?"

"That is true."

"And that, later, all those jewels were brought hither?"

"Even so! It is also true that two Franks in Hegira 550, digged a
tunnel into the Meccan treasury from a house they had hired in the
guise of Egyptian _Hujjaj_. They were both beheaded, White Sheik, and
their bodies were burned to ashes."

"No doubt," the Master answered, nonchalantly. "But they had brought
no rich gifts to the Meccans. Therefore, now speaking of these forty
camel-loads of cut jewels, O Bara Miyan--"

"It is in thy mind to ask for those, White Sheik?"

"Allah giveth thee two hearts, Bara Miyan, as well as the riches of
Karun. Surely, 'the generous man is Allah's friend,' and thy hand is
not tied up."[1]

[Footnote 1: "To have two hearts" (_dhu'kulbein_) signifies to be
prudent, wise. Karun is the Arabic Croesus. "Thy hand is tied up" is
equivalent to calling a man niggardly.]

The Olema, a quick decision gleaming in his eyes--though what that
decision might be, who could tell?--put down the amber mouthpiece and
with an eloquent, lean hand gestured toward a silk-curtained doorway
at the right of the vast hall.

"Come with me, then, White Sheik!" said he, arising and beckoning his
white-robed sub-chiefs. He raised a finger in signal to the Maghrabis,
though what the signal might mean, the Legionaries could not know.
"Come, with all thy men. And, by Allah! I will show thee the things
whereof thou dost speak to me. I will show thee all these things--and
others!

"_Come_!"

In silence the Legionaries followed old Bara Miyan through the
curtained doorway; and after them came the sub-chiefs. The Maghrabi
stranglers, noiseless and bare-footed, fell in behind; a long ominous
line of black human brutes, seeming hardly above the intellectual
level of so many gorillas.

Stout-hearted as the Legionaries were,