SIROCCO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13494, 22 May 1907, Page 10

SIROCCO.

{PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.]

, BY KENNETH BROWN. , [ALL EIGHTS RESERVED.] , " [COPYRIGHT.] CHAPTER (Continued). By luck, or through the instinct of the ~ camel, Duncan came upon the celebrated Sehgiz Cleft after a hard night's travel, just as dawn was breaking. He stopped there thankfully during the heat of the day, eating the dates from the palms, dozing, and watching his camel graze and drink. Knowing nothing of the country, and being thinly clad, he decided to travel at night, when the coo! desert breeze invited to action, not to sleep, and to rest during the -heat of the day. He could guide his course as well by the stars as by the sun, and was less visible himself to chance travellers, who might own the Sultan as their lord. His hope was to get well to the east, and then make a dash for the sea through the thin strip of habitable laud along the coast. This was the only chance of escape ho could see.

' Late in the afternoon Duncan roused himself from his somnolence and examined the Sehgiz Cleft With interest. He had ■ heard of it often, as all must who have been in Sirocco. To the natives it is the most wonderful and providential oasis in "' the world, and the stream that issues from it the most wonderful river. They call it a river, just as in Chicago the children speak of the artificial mound in Lincoln , Park as a mountain, because they have never seen a real one. And, besides, all things are relative, and where a mud puddle and two date palms are an oasis, a stream which * man couldn't jump across, and Wi which he might be drowned, if, he abstained from crawling up either bank, seems a good deal of a river. As a matter of fact, however, at its source the Sehgiz is more a liny hike than ;■'■ a river. It begins full-sized in the Cleft, fed by an underground spring, its sides of vertical rock. Thence it runs oil' into the desert, and dwindles away to a wet streak of sand in the arid land. It has peculiari- ' ties shared by no other stream. Its length varies with the thirst of the desert storms. and at times! it is higher than its banks themselves. When the wind blows the dry ;; sand away from its tail, where it is only a ..-:■■■ streak of wet, the streak of wet- sand is. left .^protruding,.until the- water gradually oozes down to the lower level, and the. streak, in its turn, dries out and blows away. . As for the Cleft itself, it is the sure re- ' fuge for travellers in this -region from the • dreaded sandstorms. From some peculiari- ■ ty of its formation, the storms pass harmlessly over it, instead of choking it up, as .-one might suppose they would, and what . "-sand trickles down is carried off by the • Sehgiz River. - ' V_ Duncan did not spend much time loiter- - . ing in the : Cleft, ; after, the heat of the day .", .-'wasi' over. " He mounted his ' camel, and r during : the whole of the second night the :: tireless' feet of the Mulaid padded steadily '.Defbre the cold desert wind. The awk- ' * ward,, swaying gait of the animal tired him, "horseman though, he was, and gave him a i touch of the -camel-sickness, which -is akin to sickness. Once he got off and tried ' , running alongside; but he found he could •;'; r by no means keep up with the lumbering gait of the camel over the tiring footing • afforded by the desert sand and ' shale. , Every hour, or so Duncan stopped his camel 1 -dismounted to stretch his stiffened !>' body while the Mulaid rested. At one of these halts the camel turned his head and sniffed up the breeze, opening his mouth to roar. Duncan struck him on the nose and stopped the roar. Then he clambered quickly on his back, and listened. The dry rustle of the sand, moving before the wind, was the dnly sound he could hear, and he resumed his journey. ..,".,,.-■ When the first rays of the sun noured over the horizon Duncan looked behind . him. An eighth of a mile away was an- ' "' other camel,' bearing an armed man. It : appeared there so unsensationalry that Dun- *~ • can was 'hardly startled. Automatically he pressed his heels to the sides, of the camel for greater speed, then desisted and looked '.' ■ back again.' He was within easy gunshot - distance; or if his pursuer wished to capture him, he had only to shoot and cripple his camel. - ... CHAPTER X. .- .. THE FIGHT OX CAMKI.UACK. u The American was armed with a knife. '-He had a few pounds of dates and a flask of water. He was very lightly clad. The .desert stretched he" knew not how many miles in three directions; the fourth was ■worse. . '.., ■- -.;' . "The jig's up," he said.- He took Dal- '.'" ' mera Grahame's note from his pocket and tore, it-into bits. :. "Well, I'm glad the Sultan won't have -a hand in my demise, anyway," he reflected. He was quite aware of the general nature of the potentate's intentions towards him. . He saw the Siroccan lean forward and ;■: - 'urge his camel to a quicker pace. "May as well give him a run for his money." -Duncan grinned sardonically at 'himself, as he, too, -urged on his mount. It „ became that grotesque.'affair, a : camel-race, '■■■: and the American was beaten. Duncan • was a good horseman, but his camels-hip . was not of the best;-besides, he was on a Mulaid, while a purebred Bisharin was in pursuit. The Siroccan came abreast of ' ! >s-Duncan.fifty yards the right of him. It is easier to shoot from the saddle with a rifle toward the left than toward the right. Duncan recognised his pursuer as Techryk, the captain of the Royal Guard, the strong- >; est man and most famous warrior in the kingdom.. . Techryk did not speak. Duncan slowed '-.* his camel down to the ordinary long-dis-tance pace, and the two drew nearer to- •\. - gether. The American nodded to the Siroccan. " Thought you always rode ■ that white stallion of yours," he said. "In the desert a man would be.foolish." Techryk answered. The stallion will be awaiting me when I bring you back to the Sultan." "The stallion will wait a long time," Duncan muttered, "if you mean me alive .and kicking." After several minutes, during whicn they rode along slowly in the " same relative positions, Duncan inquired: "Well, when does the concert begin?" "I do not understand,"' Techryk answered. ; "I suppose you did not bring that thing for ornament." .Duncan pointed to the gun. ."When.does she go off?" " I have come to take you alive to the - Sultan," the Siroccan answered gravely. - You have come with an amiable intention," Duncan responded, with extreme politeness. "Shall we go at once or wait till . the moon changes?" Techryk had risked a good deal in pursuing Duncan single-handed. His position as captain of the Guard was precarious and wholly dependent on the whim of his master. He had attained it from a lowly origin, by his strength and sagacity, and was not lacking in enemies. When ordered by - the Sultan to pursue Duncan wlith the • whole of the guard, he had felt instinctively that Duncan would flee into the de- . sert. To pursue there with horse cavalry, howeversupposing Duncan to be mounted on a camel—would be useless, and he knew his master well enough not to dare to suggest the delay that would be necessary to mount his men on camels. He hud, therefore, sent his soldiers off immediately in different directions throughout the fertile coast strip, under subordinate officers, while he himself stealthily procured the swiftest camel of the light-limbed Bisharin breed and . stole away into the desert. Failure means almost certain disgrace, for it would be impossible to keep secret the fact that ,- lie had been with,none of his troops; but ■ failure to capture Duncan in any case would be likely to prove his undoing, so incensed was the Sultan against the American; therefore he chose the more derperate course, in which' it was all or nothing. The contest that now took place between Duncan and Techryk was a peculiar one. The conditions were uneven. The only chance the American.saw for himself lay in . Techryk's manifest'- desire not to kill him. , Duncan edged his camel nearer his enemy, hoping to get within knifing distance. He had decreased the space which separated -~"' them one-half, when the Siroccan halted his camel, swung himself to the ground, and covered Duncan with his rifle. The

latter slipped from his saddle, ,on the opposite side of his camel, and drew his knife from its sheath: He had acted automatically, with. the instinct that had stayed with him from' his : cowboy days _in * the West.' A thought now showed' him that if Techryk wished to kill him, he could do so with his Mauser quite as easily through the camel as on top of him; and in any event death was not what Duncan had to fear so much as the manner of his dying. Duncan looked around the camel's hump and saw Techryk sighting carefully along his rifle. No shot came, and Duncan called out: " Hold on a minute, and I'll give you a better mark!" Putting his knife between his teeth, he coolly clambered back on his camel. " Now fire ahead!" he said, flourishing his knife in his right hand. i Still Techryk did not shoot, and the suspense wore on Duncan's nerves. Life was hardly worth living under the conditions. He wished Techryk would cither shoot or lower his gun. At this instant the Siroccan pulled the trigger, and the knife flew from Duncan's hand. His camel bounded forward, and Duncan had all ho could do to stick on the awkwardly pacing beast. It was several minutes before he got his mount under control, and then Techryk was racing at his elbow. He had put his Mauser in its sling, and his pistols were in his bolt. He reached over with his hairy hand and tried to drag Duncan from his saddle; and there in mid-desert, almost in mid-air, it seemed to Duncan —for he did not feel at home on a camel as on a horse—they struggled. Duncan was a strong man, but he was no match, even in his desperation, for the bravo of the Sultan's army. Given equal arms and bronchos, the fight would have been a pretty one. Under tlio circumstances, it was the rat trying to escape from the terrier. Once Duncan ' almost snatched a pistol from Techryk's belt; but •he was foiled, and in the end Techryk dragged him from the' saddle and sat on his chest while he put irons on his hands and feet, the camels looking on incuriously. The philosophy of a camel is laissez faire.

(To be continued daily.)

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.]