More than once before this same Sheikh Abdullah had
seen David, and once they had met, and had made a treaty of amity, and
Abdullah had agreed to deal in slaves no more; and yet within three
months had sent to Cairo two hundred of the best that could be found
between Khartoum and Senaar. His business, of which Ebn Ezra Bey had due
knowledge, had now been with Nahoum. The business of the other Arab, a
noble-looking and wiry Bedouin from the South, had been with Ebn Ezra
Bey, and each hid his business from his friend. Abdullah murmured to
himself as David passed--a murmur of admiration and astonishment. He had
heard of the disfavour in which the Inglesi was; but, as he looked at
David's face with its quiet smile, the influence which he felt in the
desert long ago came over him again.
"By Allah," he said aloud abstractedly, "it is a face that will not hide
when the khamsin blows! Who shall gainsay it? If he were not an infidel
he would be a Mahdi."
To this his Bedouin friend replied: "As the depths of the pool at Ghebel
Farik, so are his eyes.
Pages:
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629