By
the Prophet's beard, I did not like the prospect of this present march,
though I knew there was water and food in plenty at Suleiman's Well.
What, then, would happen if we found every well on the eastern road dry
as a lime-kiln?"
"Yet you have been that way, you say?"
"Once, when I was young. But we were only a few Arabs, with a long
string of camels."
"Did you find water?"
"_Malish_--I have forgotten. It is so long ago."
Royson rose to his feet and stretched himself. He wondered what Alfieri
was disinterring at Suleiman's Well if the legion of Aelius Gallus had
followed the old-world route described by the Arab. Perhaps it was all
a mad dream, and this latest development but an added trick of fantasy.
Abdur Kad'r, looking up at him, chuckled softly.
"Effendi," he cried, "if you are as strong as you look, you must be of
the breed of that Frankish king whom our great Soldan, Yussuf Ibn Ayub,
fought in Syria eight hundred years ago. _Bismillah!_ I have seen many
a proper man, but none with height and bone like you.
Pages:
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362