inhuman treatment, George struggled to
release his hands from the rope which held them, but his efforts
were useless and only roused the soldiers to merriment. Suddenly, as
if believing that his prisoner was succeeding in freeing himself,
Abdu leaped upon him, and flourishing his long knife, pricked him
several times in the body with it; with a brutal laugh he then
kicked him again and rejoined his companions at the other end of the
car.

Helmar now understood the reason this brute was sent in charge of
him, and he knew that his journey was to be one of insufferable
agony. Oh, for one moment of freedom again! If it cost him his life
he would exterminate the hound.

After his last onslaught, Abdu left him alone for a while, and
Helmar's anger began to cool down. He thought of Naoum's words, and
realized how truly he had spoken. No, he must remain quiet, and then
even Abdu could not be barbarous enough to murder him. It was one
thing to come to such a determination and another to carry it out;
alternately he was a prey to violent thoughts of revenge and the
calmness of philosophy. In the latter intervals he wondered how long
the train would take to reach its destination, he had not been in it
half-an-hour, and yet it seemed to him an eternity.

The guards were talking in low tones; every now and then Helmar
caught a word of Arabic, but they had taken the precaution to seat
themselves so far from him that he could not hear what they talked
about. The misery of his uncomfortable position and surroundings
gave him little desire to interest himself with them.

About an hour after they had started, Abdu left his companions and
came and sat beside him. Helmar knew this was the prelude to some
fiendish cruelty, but what he did not know. He was not long left in
doubt.

The train was bumping terrifically, the metals over which it was
running being very uneven. For a few moments Abdu watched the motion
of a piece of iron chain, hanging through a ring in the side of the
car, then, having evolved some plan, he turned to his prisoner with
a leer on his face.

"You see this," he said, tapping the place where Helmar had struck
him in the face; "Abdu hasn't forgotten, but he is kind and forgives
easily. You are a prisoner, and must be made comfortable."

As he said this he sprang up, and going over to where the chain was
hanging, took it from its place, and coiling it up into a knot,
returned to George's side. The chain was mad