looked up as the European came into his presence.
"Greetings, O, Brother!" he said.
"Greetings!" replied Werper.
For a while neither spoke further. The Arab was the first to break the silence.
"And my master, Achmet Zek, was well when last you saw him?" he asked.
"Never was he safer from the sins and dangers of mortality," replied the Belgian.
"It is well," said Mohammed Beyd, blowing a little puff of blue smoke straight out before him.
Again there was silence for several minutes.
"And if he were dead?" asked the Belgian, determined to lead up to the truth, and attempt to bribe Mohammed Beyd into his service.
The Arab's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, his gaze boring straight into the eyes of the Belgian.
"I have been thinking much, Werper, since you returned so unexpectedly to the camp of the man whom you had deceived, and who sought you with death in his heart. I have been with Achmet Zek for many years — his own mother never knew him so well as I. He
