CHAPTER VIII
MASSOWAH ASSERTS ITSELF
Royson knew not one word of Arabic. His Italian was of a rudimentary
type, based on some acquaintance with Latin, eked out by a few phrases
gleaned from books of travel. The polite hotel manager's French was
only a shade more fluent. Consequently, the latter told Mulai Hamed,
deputy assistant hall-porter, that the Effendi wished to be conducted
to Government House with the utmost secrecy, thus twisting Dick's
simple request, that the guide should avoid the main streets into a
mysterious demand which an Eastern mind could not fail to embroider
with intrigue.
For Mulai Hamed was a negroid Arab, whose ruffianly aspect was rather
enhanced by the swaggering way he carried a broad shoulder-belt and
brass badge of office. He interpreted his orders literally, being eager
to display a certain skill in conducting to an artistic finish any
enterprise that savored of guile. As soon as the two quitted the hotel,
Royson saw that he was traversing by-paths seldom visited by Europeans.
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