"Sa'ad," commanded Bara Miyan, "seest thou this dog?"
"Master, I see," answered one of the gigantic blacks, speaking with a
strange, thick accent.
"Lead him away, thou and Musa. He was brought us by these _zawwar_
(visitors). Thy hands and Musa's are strong. Remember, no drop of
blood must be shed in El Barr.[1] But let not the dog see another sun.
I have spoken."
[Footnote 1: Literally "The Plain." This name, no doubt, originally
applied only to the vast inner space surrounded by the Iron Mountains,
seems to have come to be that of Jannati Shahr itself, when spoken
of by its inhabitants. El Barr is probably the secret name that Rrisa
would not divulge.]
The gigantic executioner--the strangler--named Sa'ad, seized Abd el
Rahman by the right arm. Musa, his tar-hued companion, gripped him by
the left. Never a word uttered the Apostate as he was led away through
the horsemen. But he gave one backward look, piercing and strange, at
the Master who had thus delivered him to death--a look that, for all
the White Sheik's aplomb, strangely oppressed him.
Then the horsemen closed about the two Maghrabi, or East Africans,
and about their victim.
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