They disappeared
and reappeared, but always they grew larger. Jacot recognized them
immediately. They were horsemen--horsemen of the desert. Already
a sergeant was running toward him. The entire camp was straining
its eyes into the distance. Jacot gave a few terse orders to the
sergeant who saluted, turned upon his heel and returned to the
men. Here he gathered a dozen who saddled their horses, mounted
and rode out to meet the strangers. The remaining men disposed
themselves in readiness for instant action. It was not entirely
beyond the range of possibilities that the horsemen riding thus
swiftly toward the camp might be friends of the prisoners bent upon
the release of their kinsmen by a sudden attack. Jacot doubted
this, however, since the strangers were evidently making no attempt
to conceal their presence. They were galloping rapidly toward
the camp in plain view of all. There might be treachery lurking
beneath their fair appearance; but none who knew The Hawk would be
so gullible as to hope to trap him thus.
The sergeant with his detail met the Arabs two hundred yards
from the camp.
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