Lithe, powerful, alert, with his cap held over his heart, the Master
stood there peering from under his thick, dark brows at the aged
Sheik. A lean-faced old man the Sheik was, heavily bearded with white,
his brows snowy, his eyes a hawk's, and the fine aquilinity of his
nose the hallmark of pure Arab blood.
Hard as iron he looked, gravely observing, unabashed in face of these
white strangers and of this mysterious flying house. The very spirit
of the Arabian sun seemed to have been caught in his gleaming eyes, to
glitter there, to reflect its pride, its ardor. He reminded one of a
falcon, untamed, untamable. And his dress, its colors distinguishing
him from the mass of his followers, still further proclaimed the rank
he occupied.
His cherchia of jade-green silk was bound with a _ukal_, or fillet
of camel's-hair; his burnous, also silk, showed tenderest shades of
lavender and rose. Under its open folds could be seen a violet jacket
with buttons of filigree ivory. He had handed his gun to the man
behind him, and now was unarmed save for a _gadaymi_, or semicircular
knife, thrust into his silk sash of crimson, with frayed edges.
A leather bandolier, wonderfully tooled and filled with cartridges,
passed over his right shoulder to his left hip.
Pages:
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384