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M'hámed rasul Allah!" was raised there in the cabin of the rushing Eagle of the Sky surely the strangest place where Moslem prayer was ever offered since first the Prophet's green banner unfurled itself upon the desert air of Araby. Devoutly Rrisa prayed, then with a "Bismillah!" The latter, wise in Eastern ways, remained gravely unsmiling.
All carried vacuum-flashlights in their overcoat pockets, and lethal-gas pistols, in addition to ordinary revolvers or automatics. And all were keyed to the top notch of energy, efficiency, eagerness. The Great Adventure had begun. In the stern of the swift, twenty-four cylinder launch a racing model sat Captain Alden and Rrisa.
"Bismillah! Yea!" A flash of pride irradiated the dark face of Rrisa. His figure drew itself erect. Beneath the veneer of civilization with which life among the Feringi had overlaid him, the Master sensed the wild, fierce, free soul of the desert man, to whom the death of the unbelieving dog is sweet. "It is well," nodded the Master.
When Rrisa had withdrawn, the Master pulled over one of the huge atlases, opened it, turned to the map of Arabia, and fell into deep study. Rrisa's tapping at the door, minutes later, roused him. At his order to advance, the door swung. The Arab ushered in a guest, then silently disappeared. Without a sound, the door closed. The Master arose, advancing with outstretched hand. "Bohannan!
Wise, he waited till Rrisa had made the compulsory prayers of Labbayk, Takbir, and Tahiti, as all Moslems must do when coming near the Black Stone. Then, as the orderly's voice suddenly died away, he bent and laid a hand on the quivering Arab's shoulder. "Come, come, Rrisa," said he, not unkindly. "Be thou not so distressed.
Is that not true?" "True, M'almé, praise to Allah!" "It may be that I shall be called on to preserve some other and still more sacred thing. If so, remember that my salt is still in thy stomach." "Master, I will not forget." Rrisa spoke dutifully, but his eyes were troubled. His face showed lines of fear, of the struggle already developing in his soul. "Go thou, then!
"As thou wishest, Rrisa. But come, take his feet. I will hold him by the shoulders. So! Now, forward!" "And have a care not to breathe the sand, Master," Rrisa warned. "Turn thy face away when the jinnee smite!" Stumbling, heavy-laden, the three men made their painful way down to the beach, turned to the left, and plowed southward in deep sand.
'The grave is darkness and good deeds are its lamps; but for the betrayer, there shall be no light! Wallah, Effendi! Do not make me your guide!" "I have not said I intended to do so, Rrisa. I merely asked thee if thou couldst!" The Master's voice was silken, fine, penetrant. "Well, Rrisa, tell me if thou couldst!" "Yea, Master. Ya gharati!
Nor did any of the Legionaries, bold as they were, look upon it without a strange contraction of the heart. As for the Apostate Sheik, that old jackal of the desert was crouched in his place of confinement, with terror clutching at his soul; with visions of being torn to pieces by furious Sunnite mobs oppressing him. And Rrisa, what of him?
"It is my will that thou speak to me and declare this thing, Rrisa," said he, decisively. "Say, thou, hath no man of the Nasara faith ever penetrated as far as to the place of thy birth?" But three did reach an oasis not far to westward of it, fifty years ago, or maybe fifty-one." "Ah, so?" exclaimed the Master, a touch of eagerness in his grave, impassive voice. "Who were they?"
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