nd squalid
canvas to the splendor of a palace in the eyes of the dreaming man. He
saw the gilded halls of pleasure that would open their portals to the
possessor of the wealth which lay scattered upon this stained and
dented table top. He dreamed of joys and luxuries and power which
always had been beyond his grasp, and as he dreamed his gaze lifted
from the table, as the gaze of a dreamer will, to a far distant goal
above the mean horizon of terrestrial commonplaceness.

Unseeing, his eyes rested upon the shaving mirror which still hung upon
the tent wall above the table; but his sight was focused far beyond.
And then a reflection moved within the polished surface of the tiny
glass, the man's eyes shot back out of space to the mirror's face, and
in it he saw reflected the grim visage of Achmet Zek, framed in the
flaps of the tent doorway behind him.

Werper stifled a gasp of dismay. With rare self-possession he let his
gaze drop, without appearing to have halted upon the mirror until it
rested again upon the gems. Without haste, he replaced them in the
pouch, tucked the latter into his shirt, selected a cigaret from his
case, lighted it and rose. Yawning, and stretching his arms above his
head, he turned slowly toward the opposite end of the tent. The face
of Achmet Zek had disappeared from the opening.

To say that Albert Werper was terrified would be putting it mildly. He
realized that he not only had sacrificed his treasure; but his life as
well. Achmet Zek would never permit the wealth that he had discovered
to slip through his fingers, nor would he forgive the duplicity of a
lieutenant who had gained possession of such a treasure without
offering to share it with his chief.

Slowly the Belgian prepared for bed. If he were being watched, he
could not know; but if so the watcher saw no indication of the nervous
excitement which the European strove to conceal. When ready for his
blankets, the man crossed to the little table and extinguished the
light.

It was two hours later that the flaps at the front of the tent
separated silently and gave entrance to a dark-robed figure, which
passed noiselessly from the darkness without to the darkness within.
Cautiously the prowler crossed the interior. In one hand was a long
knife. He came at last to the pile of blankets spread upon several
rugs close to one of the tent walls.

Lightly, his fingers sought and found the bulk beneath the
blankets--the bulk tha