A single glance he took at that gaunt, familiar figure
and then he turned tail and scurried back to his canoe calling his
followers after him. And so it happened that the party was well
out in the stream before The Sheik reached the shore, and after a
volley and a few parting shots that were returned from the canoes
the Arab called his men off and securing his prisoner set off toward
the South.
One of the bullets from Malbihn's force had struck a black standing
in the village street where he had been left with another to guard
Meriem, and his companions had left him where he had fallen, after
appropriating his apparel and belongings. His was the body that
Baynes had discovered when he had entered the village.
The Sheik and his party had been marching southward along the river
when one of them, dropping out of line to fetch water, had seen
Meriem paddling desperately from the opposite shore. The fellow
had called The Sheik's attention to the strange sight--a white
woman alone in Central Africa and the old Arab had hidden his men
in the deserted village to capture her when she landed, for thoughts
of ransom were always in the mind of The Sheik.
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