e desert jackal. Instruct those of your people who are
most cunning, to infiltrate Tamanrasset in the night. Let them not
carry arms for they may well be searched by the Arab _meleccha_."

The Tuareg chieftain was intrigued. "And what shall they do in
Tamanrasset, El Hassan? Suddenly seize arms, one night, and rise up in
wrath against the Arab dogs and kill them all?"

Homer was shaking his head. "They will address themselves to the
Haratin serfs and spread to them the message of El Hassan. They will
be told that in the world of El Hassan each man shall be free to seek
his own destiny to the extent his mind and abilities allow. And no man
shall be the less because he was born a serf, and no man the more
because he was born to wealth or power in the old days."

[Illustration]

"Aiii," Guemama all but moaned. "But such a message--"

"Is the message of El Hassan, as all men know," Homer Crawford said
flatly. He turned to Kenny Ballalou. "Kenny, take over this angle. We
want as many propagandists in that town as possible. It's already
choked with refugees, most of them not knowing what they're fleeing.
We might get recruits there, too. But mostly we want to appeal to the
sedentary natives in town. They've got to get the dreams, too. Promise
them schools, land ... I don't have to tell you."

"Right," Kenny said.

Isobel said, "Maybe I ought to get in on this, too. The women might do
a better job than men on this slant. It's going to take a lot to get a
Tuareg bedouin to sink to talking to a Haratin on an equal basis."

Bey and Homer had bent back over the maps, but before they could get
back into the details of guerrilla warfare against Colonel Ibrahim and
his legionnaires, they were halted by a controversy from without.

"What now?" Homer growled. "This camp is getting to be like a
three-ring circus."

The entrance flap was pushed aside and three of Bey's Sudanese
tribesmen half escorted, half pushed a newcomer front and center.

It was Fredric Ostrander, natty as usual, but now in khaki desert
wear. He was obviously in a rage at the three rifle-carrying nomads
who had him in charge.

Bey spoke to the Teda warriors in their own tongue. Then to Homer in
Tamaheq, which he assumed the C.I.A. man didn't know, "They picked him
up in the desert in a hover-jeep. He was evidently looking for our
camp." He dismissed the three bedouin with a gesture.

Ostrander was outraged. He snapped at Homer Crawford, "I demand an