head rested in luxurious ease against the rough bole of the palm. His long legs were stretched straight before him overlapping the meager blanket, his spurs

o his right rose the noisy activity of his troop of sun-tanned veterans, released for the time from the irksome trammels of discipline, relaxing tired muscles, laughing, joki

he and his little troop had scoured the places of the desert waste in search of a band of marauders to the sin-stained account of which were charged

been severe almost to extinction. A half dozen, perhaps, had escaped; but the balance, with the exception of the five prisoners, had expiated th

wife and little daughter. His eyes softened to the memory of them, as they always did. Even now he could see the beauty of the mother reflected in the childish lines of little Jeanne's face, and

was anything to see-a trait that had won for him the sobriquet of Hawk. Now he saw, just beyond the long shadows, a dozen specks rising and falling among the sands. They disappeared and reappeared, but always they grew larger. Jacot recognized them immediately. They were horsemen-horsemen of the desert. Already a sergeant was running toward him. The entire camp was straining its eyes into the distance. Jacot gave a few terse orders to the sergeant who saluted, turned upon his heel and returned to the men. Here he gathered a dozen who saddled their horses, mounted and rode out to meet the

ersation with a tall, white-robed figure-evidently the leader of the band. Presently the sergeant and t

" announced the sergeant

s of several hundred miles. This man he never had seen. He was a tall, weather beaten, sour lookin

asked, te

e directly t

If you will give him into my keeping I will see th

take him back with me. He will be properly and fairly trie

not innocent?"

For any one of these, if he is p

eces of good French gold. From the size of the purse and its bulging proportions Captain Jacot concluded that it must contain a small fortune. Sheik Amor ben Khatour dropped the spilled gold pieces one by one back into the purse. Jacot was eyeing him narr

ister's son, MIGHT escap

n he went very white and took a half-step toward the Arab. His fists wer

officer hurried toward him, saluting as hi

ered. "See that they leave at once. Shoot the fi

height. His evil eyes narrowed. He raised the bag

my sister's son," he said. "And as much again for the name that

ed Captain Armand Jacot,

Achmet ben Houdin and his accomplices is a matter of record-you may verify it if you

red. Neither the wealth of her father and mother, or all the powerful resources of the great republic were ab

was no case for the modern detective of civilization, yet several of these threw themselves into the se

ssions they worked had long sought them; but, working their way slowly out of the north they had learned many things in the no-man's-land south of the Sahara which gave them immunity from capture through easy avenues of escape that were unknown to those who pursued them. Their raids were sudden and swift. They seized ivory and retreated into the trackless wastes of the north before the guar

heavily palisaded village. Twenty palm-thatched, beehive huts sheltered its black population, while a half-dozen goat skin tents in the center of the clearing housed the score o

eveled doll which a kindly disposed slave had made for her a year or two before. The head of the doll was rudely chipped from ivory, while the body was a rat skin stuffed with grass. The arms and legs were bits of wood, perforated at one end and sewn to the rat skin torso. The doll

d ill tempered. She lost no opportunity to cuff the little girl, or even inflict minor tortures upon her, such as pinching, or, as she had twice done, searing the tender flesh with hot coals. And there was

l little heart. Only when The Sheik was near was she quiet and subdued. Him she feared with a fear that was at times almost hysterical terror. She feared the gloomy jungle too-the cruel jungle that surrounded the little village with chattering monkeys and screaming birds by day and the

ace. She shrunk aside in an attempt to scramble from the path of the leathern-faced old Arab; but she was not quick enough. With a brutal kick the man sent her sprawling upon her face, where she lay

her little form racked at long intervals with choking sobs. She dared not cry aloud, since that would have brought The Sheik upon her again. The anguish in

am picture induced by her own desire for the caresses she never received, but which she lavished upon the much loved Geeka. Never was such a spoiled child as Geeka. Its little mother, far from fashioning her own conduct after the example set her by her father and

gradually, until she was able to control her voice, and po

or it. But why is it wicked, Geeka? Oh dear! I do not know, I do not know. I wish, Geeka, that I were dead. Yesterday the hunters brought in the body of El Adrea. El Adrea was quite dead. No more will he slink silently upon his unsuspecting prey. No more will his great head and his maned shoulders strike terror to the hearts of the grass eaters at the drinking ford by nigh

ave liked to have run down there and learn what it was that caused the men to talk so loudly. Others of the village were already trooping in the direction of the noi

on, for the sameness of the village life was monotonous, and she craved diversion. What she saw was two strangers-white men. They were alone, but as they approached she learne

tings. They had come to trade for ivory they said. The Sheik grunted. He had no ivory. Meriem gasped. She knew that in a near-by hut the great tusks were pil

sight, for she feared all men; but he saw her. Meriem noticed the look of almost sho

peated. "I do not wish t

. They demurred, and then The Sheik threatened. It would have been suicide to have disobeyed

goat skin wall, very frightened. The Sheik stooped and clutched her by the arm. Viciously he jerked her to her feet, dragged

strangers see thy face. Next time you sh

ent, where she lay stifling her moans, while The Sheik paced to and fro m

angers one was speakin

"Not the slightest; but why the old scoundrel hasn'

ab, Jenssen, than money," returned the

rm to try the power of

hn sh

s revenge for gold. To offer it to him would only confirm his suspicions that we must have awakened whe

bery, then," a

lage was a tall, old headman of The Sheik's native contingent. He fell to the lure of the shining metal, for he

their loads, ready to swing them aloft at a moment's notice. The armed askaris loitered between the balance of the safari and the Arab vil

antly the askaris and the whites were on the alert. More than a single man was ap

es?" he

" came t

ught others with him. Presently he understood. The thing they fetched lay upon a litter borne by two men. Je

to a halt befor

and vanished into the darkness toward the village. Malbihn looked at Jenssen, a crooke

Much money shall we realize on a corpse-especially after the six months bene

grumbled Malbihn, grasping a corner of the cloth and j

voluntary oaths upon their lips-for there before them

orcing its way rapidly toward the west, nervous askaris gu