blade, but seeing his intention, my fingers tightened their grip upon his
throat, and he was compelled to spring up again without obtaining
possession of the weapon. For several minutes our struggle was desperate,
for he had managed to pinion my arms, and I knew that ere long I must be
powerless, his strength being far superior to my own.

Liola screamed for help, but no one seemed within call, when suddenly the
thought seemed to suggest itself to her to snatch up my weapon and hold
it.

I turned to take it from her, but by this action my grip upon my Arab foe
became released, and with a desperate spring he forced himself from my
grasp, bounding away, leaving a portion of his white _jibbeh_ in my hand.
But, determined that he should not escape, I dashed after him headlong
across the chamber, and out by the opposite door. In the court beyond a
knot of our soldiers were standing discussing the events of the day, and
I shouted to them; but the sight of me chasing a single fugitive slave
did not appeal to them, and they disregarded my order to arrest his
progress. Nevertheless I kept on, feeling assured that sooner or later I
must run him to earth, but never thinking of the intricacies with which
all such palaces abound, intricacies which must be well-known to the
Mohammedan ruler.

Suddenly, after endeavouring to elude me by ingenious devices
innumerable, and always finding himself frustrated, he entered a chamber
leading from the Court of the Eunuchs, and had gained on me sufficiently
to disappear ere I reached the entrance. I rushed through after him,
believing that he had crossed the deserted court beyond, but was
surprised to find that I had utterly lost him. I halted to listen, but
could hear no footsteps, and after a careful examination of all the
outlets, presently returned in chagrin to the chamber into which he had
suddenly dashed, before escaping.

Standing in its centre I looked wonderingly around. Then, for the first
time, I discovered that our soldiers, obeying their instructions, had
been pouring inflammable liquids everywhere throughout the Kasbah, and a
great burst of blood-red flame in the outer court told me that the place
had been ignited. At that moment, Liola, with white scared face,
believing that she had lost me, entered the chamber, but I recognized our
imminent peril, surrounded as we were by a belt of fire.

"Fly!" I cried, frantically. "Fly! quick, back across yonder court to
save thy life!