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There came the wild shouts of a new party to the controversy, and the pounding of the feet of many horses from down the road to Bou Saada. The Arabs did not wait to learn the identity of the oncomers. With a parting volley as they dashed by the position which Tarzan and Abdul were holding, they plunged off along the road toward Sidi Aissa. A moment later Kadour ben Saden and his men dashed up.
"Then all we can do is wait until he is ready to try his hand upon us," laughed Tarzan, "and I warrant that he will get his bellyful of robbing now that we are prepared for him," and so he dismissed the subject from his mind, though he was destined to recall it before many hours through a most unlooked-for occurrence. Kadour ben Saden, having dined well, prepared to take leave of his host.
All the balance of the day Abdul caught glimpses of the horsemen in their rear. They remained always at about the same distance. During the occasional halts for rest, and at the longer halt at noon, they approached no closer. "They are waiting for darkness," said Kadour ben Saden. And darkness came before they reached Bou Saada.
It was yet early in the morning, for Kadour ben Saden had elected to ride far that day, so that it happened that when Tarzan returned there were guests still at breakfast. As his casual glance wandered into the officers' dining-room, Tarzan saw something which brought a look of interest to his eyes.
Tarzan had felt it necessary to find the girl's father that night, for fear he might start on his homeward journey too early in the morning to be intercepted. They had waited perhaps half an hour when the messenger returned with Kadour ben Saden. The old sheik entered the room with a questioning expression upon his proud face.
In his head revolved an idea that when he had completed his mission he would resign and return to live for the remainder of his life with the tribe of Kadour ben Saden. Then he turned his horse's head and rode slowly back to Bou Saada. The front of the Hotel du Petit Sahara, where Tarzan stopped in Bou Saada, is taken up with the bar, two dining-rooms, and the kitchens.
But he promised to come later if it lay within his power to do so, and they had to content themselves with that assurance. During these two days Tarzan had spent practically all his time with Kadour ben Saden and his daughter.
But my father can reward you, and he will, for is he not a great sheik? He is Kadour ben Saden." "Kadour ben Saden!" ejaculated Tarzan. "Why, Kadour ben Saden is in Sidi Aissa this very night. He dined with me but a few hours since." "My father in Sidi Aissa?" cried the amazed girl. "Allah be praised then, for I am indeed saved." "Hssh!" cautioned Abdul. "Listen."
While they were mounting in the DOUAR of Kadour ben Saden the morning of their departure, the girl came to bid farewell to Tarzan. "I have prayed that you would remain with us," she said simply, as he leaned from his saddle to clasp her hand in farewell, "and now I shall pray that you will return."
In itself the thing was nothing, but as the man had stooped to speak to the officer, Tarzan had caught sight of something which the accidental parting of the man's burnoose had revealed he carried his left arm in a sling. Numa "El Adrea" On the same day that Kadour ben Saden rode south the diligence from the north brought Tarzan a letter from D'Arnot which had been forwarded from Sidi-bel-Abbes.
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