Page:Weird Tales volume 32 number 05.djvu/30

540 sentries were distant and still. We continued our crawling till we topped a small hillock. On its far side we rose and set off at a rapid pace toward the south. I asked a continuous flow of questions of the young Arab who guided me.

how did your mistress ever come to learn my whereabouts?" I began.

"She does not know, Monsieur—she is hundreds of miles from here. The beauteous one left for the great interior nine days ago."

"Then how"

"It is quite simple. It was I who was to meet you on your arrival in Dakar. You were to have been taken to the House of a Thousand Lights and flown inland to join her."

"The House of a Thousand Lights?"

"The castle of my mistress," he explained, then continued: "For long I watched and waited at the docks, but you did not come. Of course all the passengers, as well as the ship's officers, were talking about the strange disappearance of the big American. For a while it was a mystery to me also, but when I spied Manuel De Costa I guessed a part of it."

"Then he was aboard," I murmured, half to myself.

"I returned to the castle and told the airman, Captain Sabbatier, but he, knowing the terrible anger of my mistress, feared to fly inland and tell of your disappearance. Then tonight came the small black boy who rode to The House of a Thousand Lights and told of the huge white man the warriors of Achmet Bey had captured at the hut of his grandmother. I knew well the douar of the cruel Achmet Bey, as well as the tent where he keeps his captives; so acting on the order of Captain Sabbatier, I mounted a swift horse and came in all haste."

"It was a brave thing to do—to risk all this for a stranger," I answered. "But you should not have come alone."

"It was the only way. A large party would have attracted the attention of Achmet Bey's warriors. Ah"

As we talked we had been walking swiftly toward a range of mountains that rose in the distance. Now on reaching a small cluster of palm trees, I noticed a saddled horse was tethered to one of them. It was the sight of this that brought the exclamation from my companion. A moment later found us beside the beast, and the bridle reins being handed to me.

"Mount and ride swiftly, Monsieur. Three miles straight ahead is the pass that leads through the mountains. You cannot miss it. On the far side you will see the glittering outline of 'The House of a Thousand Lights.' They will be waiting for you there."

Then, as I hesitated:

"Haste, for the love of Allah, Monsieur. If they were to wake and find us we would both die horribly."

"But you? I cannot leave you alone and unmounted. If you are taken"

"Far less chance of that than your own capture, Monsieur. I who was born amid these sands and mountains will follow a long, round-about route, reaching the castle at late sundown. Fear not for my safety."

A revolver had been handed to me, and now as I swung into the saddle it was to hear a "May Allah protect you," as the brave fellow slunk off into the dark.

three miles I rode to the south at a fast gallop, circling the numerous gullies and sand-pits that showed black and treacherous in the starlight