Page:The Mating of the Blades.djvu/183

 influence of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina, is the power which holds Islam together and which, in spite of the many races which compose it, makes of Islam a fighting, thinking, to-be-reckoned- with whole.

The only exception to this freemasonic rule of secrecy is made in the case of a non-Moslem whose advice and help is absolutely essential and who has become an integral part of the community, and that was why Gulabian though an Armenian and a Christian, but a member of the intimate palace household and of the late Ameer's cabinet, would have heard about the prophecy of the blades.

But Babu Bansi was a Hindu, an infidel—and an outsider, working for outside interests.

How then had the man found out?

And Hector voiced the question.

“How did Bansi find out?” he demanded.

Thus interrogated, the Armenian seemed horribly startled and confused, while Koom Khan broke into raucous, disagreeable laughter—laughter presently echoed in a cracked falsetto from the room in back of the balcony whence Ayesha Zemzem, the old nurse, stepped out with a clanking of brass anklets and a low, ironic salaam to Gulabian, who was momentarily becoming more unhappy.

“Al Nakia,” she said, “there are three things the effects of which upon himself no man can foretell—namely, desire of woman, the dice box, and the drinking of ardent spirits—”

"And,” gently cooed Koom Khan, with a glance at