of Islam, which had already
learned of the sacrilege the accursed Feringi had wrought, was
lusting their blood? Nothing of this mattered. It was enough for the
Legionaries that adventure still beckoned onward, ever on!

The Master, standing there before them, called the roll. We should
listen, by way of knowing just how the Legion was now composed. It
consisted of the following: Adams, "Captain Alden," Bohannan, Bristol,
Brodeur, Cracowicz, Emilio, Enemark, Frazier, Grison, Janina, Lebon,
Leclair, L'Heureux, Manderson, Menendez, Prisrend, Rennes, Seres,
Simonds, Wallace. All the wounded had recovered sufficiently to be of
some service. The dead were: Travers, who had died on the passage
of the Atlantic; Auchincloss and Gorlitz, burned to death; Kloof,
Daimamoto, Beziers and Sheffield, killed by the Beni Harb; Lombardo,
killed by the Meccans; Rrisa, suicide.

In addition to these, we must not forget the Sheik Abd el Rahman,
still locked a prisoner in the cabin that for some days had been his
swift-flying prison-cell of torment.

The Master had just finished checking his roster, when quite without
any preliminary disturbance a crackle of rifle-fire began spattering
from the city. And all at once, out of the gate opposite _Nissr_,
appeared a white-whirling swarm of figures, at the same time that a
green banner, bearing a star and crescent, broke out from the highest
minaret.

The figures issuing in a dense mass from the gate were horsemen, all;
and they were riding full drive, _ventre a terre_. Out into the
plain they debouched, with robes flying, with a green banner, steel
flashing, and over all, a great and continual volleying of rifle-fire.

This horde of rushing cavaliers must have numbered between five
and six hundred; and a fine sight they made as the Master got his
binoculars on them. Here, there, a bit of lively color stood out
vividly against the prevailing snowy white of the mass; but for the
most part, horses and men alike came rushing down like a drive of
furious snow across that wondrous green slope between the palm-groves
and the city wall.

As they drew near, the snapping of burnouses and cherchias in the
wind, the puffs of powder-smoke, the glint of brandished arms grew
clearer; and now, too, the muffled sound of kettle-drums rolled
down-breeze, in booming counterpoint to the sharp staccato of the
rifles.

Furious as an army of _jinnee_ with wild cries, screams, howls, as
they stood in their stirr