Cliff had what amounted to accusation on his face. "Evidently, the El
Hassan rumors are spreading like wildfire. There've been more riots in
Mopti, and the Reunited Nations buildings in Adrar have been stormed
by mobs demonstrating for him. The Arab Union is moving in on the
excuse of protecting the country against El Hassan."
Kenny Ballalou groaned, "They'll have half their Arab Legion in here
before the week's out."
Cliff finished with, "The Reunited Nations is throwing a wingding.
Everybody running around accusing and threatening, and, as per usual,
getting nowhere."
Homer Crawford's face was working in thought. He shook his head at
Kenny. "I think you're wrong. They won't send the whole Arab Legion
in. They'll be afraid to. They'll want to see first what everybody
else does. They know they can't stand up to a slugging match with any
of the really big powers. They'll stick it out for a while and watch
developments. We have, perhaps, two weeks in which to operate."
"Operate?" Cliff demanded. "What do you mean, operate?"
Homer's eyes snapped to him. "I mean to recapture Tamanrasset from the
Arab Union, seize the radio and television station there, and proclaim
El Hassan's regime."
The big Californian's eyes bugged at him. "You mean the six of us?
There'll be ten thousand of them."
"No," Homer said decisively. "Nothing like that number. Possibly a
thousand, if that many. Logistics simply doesn't allow a greater
number, not on such short notice. They've put a thousand or so of
their crack troops into the town. No more."
Cliff wailed, "What's the difference between a thousand and twenty
thousand, so far as five men and a girl are concerned?"
The rest were saying nothing, but following the debate.
Crawford explained, not to just Cliff but to all of them. "Actually,
the Arab Union is doing part of our job for us. They've openly
declared that El Hassan is attempting to take over North Africa, that
he's raising the tribes. Well, good. We didn't have the facilities to
make the announcement ourselves. But now the whole world knows it."
* * * * *
"That's right," Elmer said, his face characteristically sullen. "Every
news agency in the world is playing up the El Hassan story. In a
matter of days, the most remote nomad encampment in the Sahara will
know of it, one way or the other."
Homer Crawford was pacing, socking his right fist into the palm of the
left. "They've given us a rallying _raison d'etre_. These people might
be largely Moslem, especially in the north, but they have no love for
the Arab Union. For too long the slave raiders came down from the
northeast. Given time, Islam might have moved in on the whole of North
Africa. But not this way, not in military columns."
He swung to Bey. "You worked over in the Teda country, before joining
my team, and speak the Sudanic dialects. Head for there, Bey.
Proclaim El Hassan. Organize a column. We'll rendezvous at Tamanrasset
in exactly two weeks."