The Sheik

He made a quick gesture with his fingers. "It is accursed. Death lurks

beside those broken palm trees," he said, looking at her curiously.

She jerked her head with a sudden smile. "For you, perhaps, but not for

me. Allah's curse rests only upon those who fear it. But since you are

afraid, Mustafa Ali, let us go on." She gave a little light laugh, and

Mustafa Ali kicked his horse savagely as he followed.

The distance before her spread out cleanly with the sharp distinctness

that precedes the setting sun. She rode on until she began to wonder if

it would indeed be night-fall before she reached her destination. They

had ridden longer and faster than had ever been intended. It seemed odd

that they had not overtaken the baggage camels. She looked at her watch

with a frown. "Where is your caravan, Mustafa Ali?" she called. "I see

no sign of an oasis, and the darkness will come."

"If Mademoiselle had started earlier----" he said sullenly.

"If I had started earlier it would still have been too far. To-morrow

we will arrange it otherwise," she said firmly.

"To-morrow----" he growled indistinctly.

Diana looked at him keenly. "What did you say?" she asked haughtily.

His hand went to his forehead mechanically. "To-morrow is with Allah!"

he murmured with unctuous piety.

A retort trembled on Diana's lips, but her attention was distracted

from her annoying guide to a collection of black specks far off across

the desert. They were too far away for her to see clearly, but she

pointed to them, peering at them intently. "See!" she cried. "Is that

the caravan?"

"As Allah wills!" he replied more piously than before, and Diana

wished, with a sudden feeling of irritation, that he would stop

relegating his responsibilities to the Deity and take a little more

active personal interest in his missing camel train.

The black specks were moving fast across the level plain. Very soon

Diana saw that it was not the slow, leisurely camels that they were

overtaking, but a band of mounted men who were moving swiftly towards

them. They had seen nobody since the traders' caravan had passed them

in the morning. For Diana the Arabs that were approaching were even

more interesting than the caravan had been. She had seen plenty of

caravans arriving and departing from Biskra, but, though she had seen

small parties of tribesmen constantly in the vicinity of the town, she

had never seen so large a body of mounted men before, nor had she seen

them as they were here, one with the wild picturesqueness of their

surroundings. It was impossible to count how many there were, for they

were riding in close formation, the wind filling their, great white

cloaks, making each man look gigantic. Diana's interest flamed up

excitedly.