"I shall soon know if they are
playing fox with us. Our camels are of the Bisharin breed, while theirs
are Persian, so we can always outstrip them if it comes to a race. You
understand, Effendi; they come from Suleiman's Well. Perchance evil
hath befallen Hussain."
Abhur Kad'r's advice was so obviously reasonable that Dick obeyed it,
though unwillingly. He took the camels to the place indicated by his
companion, and had no difficulty in finding a cleft in which they were
quite hidden from the ken of any who followed the main track.
Soon he heard the sheikh hurrying after him.
"Had we awaited Hussain another half hour we should have been dead or
captured by this time, Effendi," was his bewildering news. "A white man
and nearly seventy Hadendowas, all armed, and leading pack camels,
follow close behind the scouts. With them are Hussain and another, but
their arms are bound, and they are roped to their beasts. The Giaour--
may he be withered--rides my Bisharin camel."
Then Royson knew by intuition what had happened.
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