nce's. Now that I saw him on his feet I could judge him
better. He had a fat face, but was not too plump in figure, and very
muscular wrists showed below his shirt-cuffs. I fancied that, if the
occasion called, he might be a good man with his hands.

Sandy and I ate a hearty meal, but the American picked at his boiled
fish and sipped his milk a drop at a time. When the servant had
cleared away, he was as good as his word and laid himself out on my
sofa. I offered him a good cigar, but he preferred one of his own lean
black abominations. Sandy stretched his length in an easy chair and
lit his pipe. 'Now for your story, Dick,' he said.

I began, as Sir Walter had begun with me, by telling them about the
puzzle in the Near East. I pitched a pretty good yarn, for I had been
thinking a lot about it, and the mystery of the business had caught my
fancy. Sandy got very keen.

'It is possible enough. Indeed, I've been expecting it, though I'm
hanged if I can imagine what card the Germans have got up their sleeve.
It might be any one of twenty things. Thirty years ago there was a
bogus prophecy that played the devil in Yemen. Or it might be a flag
such as Ali Wad Helu had, or a jewel like Solomon's necklace in
Abyssinia. You never know what will start off a jehad! But I rather
think it's a man.'

'Where could he get his purchase?' I asked.

'It's hard to say. If it were merely wild tribesmen like the Bedouin
he might have got a reputation as a saint and miracle-worker. Or he
might be a fellow that preached a pure religion, like the chap that
founded the Senussi. But I'm inclined to think he must be something
extra special if he can put a spell on the whole Moslem world. The
Turk and the Persian wouldn't follow the ordinary new theology game.
He must be of the Blood. Your Mahdis and Mullahs and Imams were
nobodies, but they had only a local prestige. To capture all
Islam--and I gather that is what we fear--the man must be of the
Koreish, the tribe of the Prophet himself.'

'But how could any impostor prove that? For I suppose he's an
impostor.'

'He would have to combine a lot of claims. His descent must be pretty
good to begin with, and there are families, remember, that claim the
Koreish blood. Then he'd have to be rather a wonder on his own
account--saintly, eloquent, and that sort of thing. And I expect he'd
have to show a sign, though what that could be I haven't a notion.'

'You know the East