"
"Well, then, what is the matter? I know something is worrying you. I
can read your face like a book."
"I distrust Alfieri, dearest,--that is all."
"But he simply dare not fight us. Grandad knows these Arabs for many
years. He says that they depend wholly on a surprise. And how can we be
surprised, when Alfieri himself admits that he is near, and has
actually sent Abdullah, who can tell us the exact number of his men?"
"I think I shall call you Portia, not Irene, if you reason things out
in that fashion."
She stamped a foot in mock anger.
"That is your old trick," she said. "You try to hide your thoughts by
an adroit twist in the conversation. Out with it! What do you really
fear?"
"Let us find Abdullah. Then I shall tell you."
The Spear-thrower, though polite, was not disposed to be communicative.
The absence of the two people who were his allies had puzzled him, and
none of the Arabs could meet his inquiries as to the motives which led
to their sudden journey. In this man's attitude Royson found ample
corroboration of his own estimate of Alfieri's views under similar
conditions.
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