AMATEUR MAGIC.
Frank dismounted and calmly advanced to meet the old Arab, having given
his rifle to Ephraim.
“What do you desire of us, sir?” asked Frank, as they came near
together.
The old man glowered at the boy, and then asked, in rather poor English:
“Is there no man with you? Ain-el-Khair has no time to waste with boys.”
Frank flushed a bit, drawing himself up proudly, as he returned:
“Though I am a boy, I am the leader of this party. If you have any
business with us, you will do it with me.”
“By the beard of the Prophet, you speak boldly for a youth! But you do
not know me, else you would grovel in the dust at my feet.”
“I am not in the habit of groveling in the dust for any one,” said the
boy, proudly. “I scarcely think I would begin with you.”
The scowl on Ain-el-Khair’s face deepened.
“I say you do not know me,” he repeated.
“Ah, but I know you well,” declared Frank. “You are a robber and a great
rascal. You hate your enemies, and you slay them with delight. Your
hands are stained with blood, but your conscience does not trouble you.”
“Dog of a Christian!” roared the old sheik, quivering with passion. “Do
you dare speak thus to me?”
“Why should I fear? You cannot harm me!”
This statement was sufficient to cause Ain-el-Khair’s face to change
from an expression of fury to one of derision and amusement.
“Fool!” he sneered. “It must be that you have lost your senses. I have
more than half a hundred men behind me, and they would wipe three
Christians off the face of the earth in a moment.”
“If you had a thousand men, you could not harm me. I am protected by a
power you know nothing of.”
The old sheik knew not what to make of the boy, and so he said:
“I will not pass words with you. My followers have arrived, and we must
move on. When you have paid tribute, we will leave you.”
“We shall not pay tribute to you.”
“What? Knave, do you dare refuse? Then I will slay you with my own
hand!”
Ain-el-Khair drew a long-barreled pistol, which he pointed at the boy;
but Frank did not seem at all frightened.
The caravan of camels had halted, and the Arabs were gathered in a group
at a little distance, watching what was passing between the old sheik
and the boy. Much nearer were the professor and Ephraim, who had also
dismounted, their horses standing close at hand.
“I tell you it is not possible for you to harm me, Ain-el-Khair,” Frank
again declared. “If you think you can, take aim and shoot. I dare you to
do so.”
The old robber was not one to be dared in such a manner. He lifted the
long-barreled pistol, and, without hesitation, fired at the boy.
When the pistol spoke Frank pretended to take the bullet from his teeth.
He stood erect and unharmed, holding a round ball of lead between thumb
and finger, smiling at the astounded Arab.
Ain-el-Khair staggered, his eyes bulging from his head.
“Allah save me!” he gasped. “He is not harmed!”
“Not in the least,” said the lad, easily. “You might fire a hundred
bullets at me, and not one of them would do any harm.”
“You must be a sorcerer.”
“I am the greatest sorcerer alive. I cannot be slain, but I have power
to slay by touch.”
That was too much for the sheik to believe, and he plainly expressed his
unbelief.
Immediately Frank stepped forward and grasped both of Ain-el-Khair’s
hands. A yell of fear and pain came from the lips of the old Arab, who
began to squirm and dance in a most amazing manner, trying to tear his
hands away. After a moment of this, Frank released him, stepping back.
The robber chief stared at the boy, with fear showing plainly in his
bulging eyes. This Christian was truly a great sorcerer.
“Are you satisfied?” demanded Frank; “or would you see more?”
Ain-el-Khair did not speak.
“Look!” cried the boy. “Behold my protectors. Had I willed it thus a
hundred of them would have planted their poison fangs in your flesh when
I touched your hands.”
Out of the boy’s sleeves, his pockets, and various parts of his clothing
hissing serpents writhed and twisted. They twined along his arms,
twisted about his legs and his neck, popped into view, and vanished. All
the while he was moving his hands up and down and around, seeming to
pick them off his body and cast them into the air, where they instantly
vanished. Of a sudden he slapped his hands, and every serpent
disappeared.
“Are you satisfied?” Frank again demanded.
“I am satisfied,” confessed the sheik. “You are a great sorcerer. What
wouldst thou have me do?”
A sudden thought flashed through the boy’s brain.
“Take me to Ben Ahmet,” he answered. “It is he whom I seek.”
“Ben Ahmet!” cried Ain-el-Khair. “A thousand curses on him! He has led
the sultan to place a price on my head. I have heard that he is in
Tangier, and that is why I am here. I hope to meet him face to face when
he attempts to return to Fez.”
“He is already on his way. He left Tangier this morning, and, with his
fighting men, he is somewhere on the desert. We have followed to
overtake him. We have little money with us, but if you can aid us
against Ben Ahmet, I will promise you a goodly sum. What is your
answer?”
“We will sit down together and talk it over. Perhaps it can be done.”
So they sat upon the ground, Ain-el-Khair taking care to keep at a
distance from the boy whom he now feared and respected.
Frank had played a desperate game, and it looked as if he had won. If
Ain-el-Khair had fired at the boy’s head the game would have ended
suddenly in a tragedy, but the old sheik discharged the pistol at
Frank’s breast, and, although the bullet pierced the outer clothing, no
harm was done.
From the traveling magician of whom he had purchased the cabinet the boy
had obtained a bullet-proof shirt. This he had donned before
accompanying Azza in response to the appeal supposed to come from Igela,
which may account, in a measure, for his unusual recklessness.
The small electric battery which came with the magician’s cabinet was
very powerful, and was supplied with some fine wires that ran down
Frank’s sleeves to his hands. Before going out to meet the robber sheik
Frank had taken care to see that the battery was in working order, and
he had given the old rascal a severe shock when he grasped his hand.
The serpent trick was one of the illusions he had learned from the
magician, and it had proved very valuable in working on the
superstitious fears of Ain-el-Khair. Even after they had seated
themselves face to face upon the ground, the sheik was constantly
watching for the swaying head of a snake to appear somewhere about the
boy’s person. The old robber was sure a hundred serpents must be
concealed in Frank’s clothes.
The astonishment of Professor Scotch can be much better imagined than
described. To him it had seemed that Frank was crazy when he advanced to
meet the old chief, and what followed that meeting filled him with
unspeakable amazement. He could not understand why Frank did not fall
when the sheik fired point-blank at him, nor could he imagine why
Ain-el-Khair danced and yelled when Frank grasped his hands.
By the time the serpents began to appear and disappear about the boy’s
person the professor realized that Frank was attempting to overawe the
Arab by a display of legerdemain.
“It is folly,” muttered the professor. “We shall be murdered just the
same.”
“Wal, I dunno abaout that,” drawled Ephraim Gallup. “By gum! I kainder
cal’late Frank knows what he’s doin’ of.”
The boy from Vermont was beginning to believe Frank could accomplish
almost anything he undertook, no matter how difficult it might be.
For nearly half an hour the boy and the old sheik sat face to face on
the ground, talking earnestly. The robber chief was seen to make excited
gestures, as if much aroused by something Frank had told him.
The sheik’s followers witnessed this interview with unbounded
astonishment. They could not understand what it meant.
Finally the old sheik and the boy arose, and Ain-el-Khair made a gesture
that caused his fighting men to leap upon their horses and come tearing
down at the two about whom they gathered, paying not the slightest
attention to the professor and Ephraim.
The chief made a brief speech in Arabic, and his words were greeted with
loud yells from his followers.
Then the band parted, and Frank walked back to his anxious friends.
“For Heaven’s sake! what does all this mean?” fluttered the agitated
professor. “Explain it at once.”
“It means that I have made a compact with Ain-el-Khair,” declared Frank,
smiling triumphantly. “He hates Ben Ahmet and Ali Mustaf most heartily,
and he is looking for them now.”
“What kind of a compact have you made?”
“I have agreed to give him a garment that will make him bullet-proof if
he will aid us in rescuing Igela from Ben Ahmet. He says he will do so,
and will guard us to within a short distance of the wall of Tangier.”
“But how can you give him a garment that will make him bullet-proof?”
“By giving him the shirt I have on. You must stand between me and the
Arabs while I remove it. Bring two of the horses on the same side.”
This was done, and Frank hastily and deftly removed the shirt, while
Ain-el-Khair supposed the young sorcerer was manufacturing the garment
by some mysterious process.
“I hope he will be able to get it on,” said the boy anxiously.
A great shout went up from the Arabs as Frank advanced toward them, with
the garment in his hand. The sheik met the boy and received the shirt,
examining it curiously. He asked many questions about it, and Frank
assured him that no bullet could pierce it.
Then Ain-el-Khair made one of his followers don the shirt, after which
the fellow was forced to stand up while the old sheik fired a shot at
him at a distance not more than ten feet.
The wearer of the shirt staggered a bit, but remained unharmed by the
bullet.
When Ain-el-Khair saw this he turned to Frank and made a most profound
salaam, saying:
“You have kept your word, Christian sorcerer, and now you shall see that
Ain-el-Khair can keep his.”
Then he lost no time in donning the shirt, which, fortunately, was large
enough, although it was a “tight fit.”
The caravan of camels had been captured by the sheik, and he was holding
them for tribute; but he quickly decided not to bother with them longer,
but to ride at once with horses in search of Ben Ahmet.
In a short time the desert robbers were on the move, and Frank rode at
the side of Ain-el-Khair, with Ephraim and the professor close behind.
It was a queer adventure, and Frank was inclined to wonder if he would
not awaken and discover that it was a dream.
Night came on the desert, and the caravan had not been sighted. Still
Ain-el-Khair pressed on, and he was finally rewarded by seeing the gleam
of a camp-fire.
Toward the light they rode. When they had come near enough for him to
tell, the old sheik declared a caravan had halted there for the night.
“We will attack it,” he said, “and I pray Allah we may find my enemy
there.”
Straight toward the caravan they rode, and like a whirlwind the desert
robbers dashed down upon it. The fighting men of the caravan fired a few
shots, but, discovering they were greatly outnumbered, quickly ceased,
throwing down their muskets and crying to be spared.
Ain-el-Khair looked for Ben Ahmet—and found him! The old sheik had
joined that caravan, and Ali Mustaf was at his side. They stood before
one of the small tents.
“Praise Allah,” cried the robber sheik, exultantly, speaking in Arabic.
“I have found you, Ben Ahmet! You are the one who caused the Sultan to
put a price on my head, but you shall not live to see me destroyed. I
have come to kill you.”
“But I will kill you first!” shouted the sheik, as he lifted a pistol
and fired straight at the breast of the robber chief.
Ain-el-Khair felt the bullet strike against his wonderful shirt, but he
was not harmed by it, and, a moment later, he shot Ben Ahmet through the
head.
Seeing this, Ali Mustaf uttered a yell of terror and fled in the
darkness.
In a moment Frank leaped from his horse and tore open the front of the
tent.
“Igela!” he called; “are you here?”
With a cry of joy she sprang into his arms!
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