Page:Weird Tales volume 30 number 01.djvu/83

 hand, and awaited only the arrival of the pale people from the island to free me from the living dead. Now I have again become whole, and with that change comes also the hour to strike.

"Sheik Arbul Ben Kaden!"

Arab, his leathery skin blackened by many years under the hot Sahara sun, stepped forward.

"Your report of the north," demanded Karamour.

Sheik Arbul Ben Kaden bowed low.

"The words of the messengers have met with a response far beyond our wildest dreamings, oh great one," he answered solemnly. "The hot sands of Igidi swarm with impatient warriors awaiting your commands. Kufra desert lives but for you, while the ten thousand swords of near-by El-juf will be drawn only in the service of the oldest ruler."

The Pharaoh nodded approvingly.

"You have done well, loyal follower, and have earned an eternal resting-place in the Valley of the Kings. May the smile of Osiris be always with you. And you, Achmet Eldood?"

An old sheik came forward.

"From the far-off Lybian desert, to Tana's blue waters in distant Ethiopia, the stalwart sons of the old world would resume the rule of the Pharaoh."

"And the Sudan—the Anglo-Egyptian land of the ancients—what of that?"

"El-Obeid down to warm Uganda—yes. A protesting few to be slain at Omdurman; perhaps a feeble resistance at the Lado, and the white Nile is won. Inland to the lonely waters of Lake Chad, your voice is ever law."

Sheik Arbul Ben Kaden spoke again.

"Word has come to us from that sunny land across the water. Again it brings an urgent message from the one who lives only in the past and would restore the ancient glory of his country. He would join us."

"You mean"

"Yes, oh master, the powerful"

The Pharaoh gave a shudder of disgust.

"Dark pits of Jzual!" he exclaimed. "Well do I know the thoughts that ever possess his ambitious mind. It is no love of Egypt's lost grandeur, or of Karamour and his cause that prompts the decision. He would unite with us solely to gain that land which borders his own foreign possessions. Restore the ancient glory of his country, you say. Bah! Egypt had known fifty centuries of the Pharaohs while his land was still a wilderness. Nay, we have no need for such as he in the ranks of the chosen."

"And tomorrow, oh glorious one," spoke a stout chieftain. "We leave then?"

"At dawn," came the reply. "Far to the south, away from the spying eyes of the unbelievers, to a point already designated, we go to test the blue fluids sent us by the mad one of Moscow. A slight experiment has already given us great hopes, but we would test them more fully. If their powers indeed be as great as he would have us believe"—a sudden light of triumph leaped to the dark face,—"the world is ours!"

A hoarse yell rang out from the Arabs at the shouted words, and with one accord the curved swords of the swarthy horde were unsheathed and lifted high in barbaric salute.

Karamour had risen and was watching the cheering cutthroats with the wild eyes of a maniac, while the agile body shook with suppressed emotion. Presently the Pharaoh raised a hand for silence.

"Tomorrow, then, we ride south, but tonight our hearts must be made heavy with the dread that another of the chosen might have proven false. I have called you, therefore, to hear the plea of one W. T. — 6