desert. A grim smile plays
about Tarzan's lips. At least Rokoff will be cheated. How mad he will
be! And death will be more merciful than he could have hoped for at
the hands of the Russian.

Now the back of the tent drops into place, and all is darkness
again--whatever it is is inside the tent with him. He hears it
creeping close to him--now it is beside him. He closes his eyes and
waits for the mighty paw. Upon his upturned face falls the gentle
touch of a soft hand groping in the dark, and then a girl's voice in a
scarcely audible whisper pronounces his name.

"Yes, it is I," he whispers in reply. "But in the name of Heaven who
are you?"

"The Ouled-Nail of Sisi Aissa," came the answer. While she spoke
Tarzan could feel her working about his bonds. Occasionally the cold
steel of a knife touched his flesh. A moment later he was free.

"Come!" she whispered.

On hands and knees he followed her out of the tent by the way she had
come. She continued crawling thus flat to the ground until she reached
a little patch of shrub. There she halted until he gained her side.
For a moment he looked at her before he spoke.

"I cannot understand," he said at last. "Why are you here? How did
you know that I was a prisoner in that tent? How does it happen that
it is you who have saved me?"

She smiled. "I have come a long way tonight," she said, "and we have a
long way to go before we shall be out of danger. Come; I shall tell
you all about as we go."

Together they rose and set off across the desert in the direction of
the mountains.

"I was not quite sure that I should ever reach you," she said at last.
"EL ADREA is abroad tonight, and after I left the horses I think he
winded me and was following--I was terribly frightened."

"What a brave girl," he said. "And you ran all that risk for a
stranger--an alien--an unbeliever?"

She drew herself up very proudly.

"I am the daughter of the Sheik Kabour ben Saden," she answered. "I
should be no fit daughter of his if I would not risk my life to save
that of the man who saved mine while he yet thought that I was but a
common Ouled-Nail."

"Nevertheless," he insisted, "you are a very brave girl. But how did
you know that I was a prisoner back there?"

"Achmet-din-Taieb, who is my cousin on my father's side, was visiting
some friends who belong to the tribe that captured you. He was at the
DOUAR when you were brought in. When he reached home he was t