The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hawk of Egypt, by Joan Conquest

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Title: The Hawk of Egypt

Author: Joan Conquest

Release Date: April 27, 2005 [EBook #15721]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAWK OF EGYPT ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: Trembling from head to foot the girl stood before the
tent which no foot but his had trod.]

[Transcriber's note: the frontispiece page was too badly damaged to
produce a usable image.]

THE HAWK OF EGYPT

By

JOAN CONQUEST

Author of "_Desert Love_", "_Leonie of the Jungle_."

FRONTISPIECE BY

G. W. GAGE

NEW YORK

THE MACAULAY COMPANY

Copyright, 1922,

By The Macaulay Company

_Printed in the United States of America_

"IN LOVE AND GRATITUDE
TO
THE DEAREST OF WOMEN
'MIVES'
MY MOTHER"

THE HAWK OF EGYPT

Author's Note: All names in this book are fictitious.

[Transcriber's note: A number of words in this book are Arabic, using
characters that require Unicode to render properly. Refer to the
transcriber's note at the end of this book for more information.]

THE HAWK OF EGYPT

CHAPTER I

"_For in the days we know not of
Did fate begin
Weaving the web of days that wove
Your doom_."

SWINBURNE.

". . . allahu akbar--la ilaha--illa 'llah!"

Across the golden glory of the sky floated the insistent call of the
_muezzin_ just as Damaris, followed closely by Wellington, her bulldog,
turned out of the narrow street into the Khan el-Khalili. Shrill and
sweet, from far and near it came, calling the faithful to prayer,
impelling merchants to leave their wares, buyers their purchases,
gossips their chatter, and to turn in the direction of Mecca and offer
their praise to Allah, who is God.

As the entire male population of the native quarter knelt, the girl
drew back beneath an awning of many colours which shaded silken goods
from the rays of the sun, whilst curious eyes peeped down upon her from
behind the shelter of the _masharabeyeh_, the harem lattice of
finely-carved wood.