If it comes to war, none of
us must be taken prisoner!"
To the Olema he exclaimed, in suave tones:
"_Dakhilak, Ya Shayk!_ (Under thy protection, O Sheik!) Let not the
laws of hospitality or the Oath of Salt be forgotten!"
The Olema only smiled oddly, in the dim and perfumed obscurity of the
passageway, along which the slither of the many sandaled feet on
the gold pavement made a soft, creeping sound. Nothing more was
said--except for some grumbled mouthings of Bohannan--during the next
few minutes.
The passage seemed enormously long to the Master as, flanked by
Leclair, "Captain Alden," and the major, he peered curiously at its
smooth, dull-yellow walls all chased with geometrical patterns picked
out in silver and copper, between the dull-hued tapestries, and
banded with long extracts from the Koran inlaid in Tumar characters of
mother-of-pearl.
Several turnings, and three flights of steps descending through the
solid gold "dyke" that ran down into the bowels of the earth no
one could even guess how far, served still more to confuse the
Legionaries' sense of direction and to increase their conviction that,
in case of any outbreak of hostilities, they would find themselves
trapped more helplessly than rats in a cage.
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