ells me that you and he are searching for a young lady who
has disappeared. That you have followed here a man who must know where
she is; that in the city, you lost track of the man but heard he had
gone on to the Zaouia; that this made you hope the young lady was there
with her sister, whose husband might perhaps have some position under
the marabout."

"I told him these things, because I thought, as Captain Sabine's been
sinking an artesian well near the Zaouia, he might have seen Miss Ray,
if she were there. No such luck. He hasn't seen her; however, he's given
me a piece of information which makes it just about as sure she _is_
there, as if he had. You shall have it from him. But first let me ask
you one question. Did you get any news of her?"

"No. I heard nothing."

"Does that mean you saw----"

"No. I'll tell you later. But anyhow, I went into the Zaouia, almost
certain she was there, and that she'd seen me coming. That was a good
start, because of course I'd had very little to go on. There was only a
vague hope. I asked for the marabout, and they made me send a
visiting-card--quaint in the desert. Then they kept me moving about a
while, and insisted on showing me the mosque. At last they took me to a
hideous reception room, with a lot of good and vile things in it, mixed
up together. The marabout came in, wearing the black mask we'd heard
about--a fellow with a splendid bearing, and fine eyes that looked at me
very hard over the mask. They were never off my face. We complimented
each other in French. Then I said I was looking for a Miss Ray, an
American girl who had disappeared from Algiers, and had been traced to
the Zaouia, where I had reason to believe she was staying with a
relative from her own country, a lady married to some member of his
staff. I couldn't give him the best reason I had for being sure she
_was_ there, as you'll see when I tell you what it was. But he said
gravely that no European lady was married to any one in the Zaouia; that
no American or any other foreign person, male or female, was there. In
the guest-house were one or two Arab ladies, he admitted, who had come
to be cured of maladies by virtue of his power; but no one else. His
denial showed me that he was in the plot to hide Miss Ray. That was one
thing I wanted to know; so I saw that the best thing for her, would be
for me to pretend to be satisfied. If it hadn't been for what happened
before I got to the Zaouia gates, I should