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Show - t~--<~ ·- ~ . -' ------;::: I; ~~ Benchaalal said nothing more, but 1~-----:_ ~ ~i walked down the road slowly towards; > ~~~: the gate of the Sahara. :.-: ..... So the Englishman had gone away -~-• again and had left his woman to do as she willed! Benchaalal's astonishment deepened as he realized it. He thought about it carefully as he walked, and turned it over many times in his mind. Crafty as he was, he dismissed the idea that this departure was a trap. He could not help having an Arab's point of view, and it -.vould have been absolutely impossible for an Arab who knew the truth to ride off into the mountains leaving his woman alone, even if he meant to come back and surprise her. He must have stayed. He must have acted quickly. His jealousy must have fulfilled its lust promptly, decisively, furiously. Benchaalal decided in his mind that the Roumi did not know anything yet. Despite his return in the night he did not know. But surely Achmed would tell him! The Spahi was now entering the gorge, and was close to the rock where Sir Claude had seen him when they spoke together. Near it, with his flute to his lips, sat the perpetual piper playing the perpetual tune. Benchaalal glanced at him, then backward towards the desert. Not far o~ he saw the Marabout coming furtively along the road, following him. \ He stopped. The Marabout stopped, too, and looked uneasy, but did not retreat. Benchaalal began really to wonder why the poor creature was intent upon him. Some strange idea _ ~ must have dawned in his mind. Usu"'- ally he loved solitude. He attached himself to no one. Many had striven -~ _ to persuade him to enter their houses -,_~had endeavored to win some rec~ |