at sort are nonsense. But
some day, when everything's ready--when Morocco and Oran and Algeria and
Tunisia will obey the signal, all together, then they'll have a
surprise--and Cassim ben Halim will be revenged."

"It sounds like the weavings of a brain in a dream," Victoria said.

"It will be a nightmare-dream, no matter how it ends;--maybe a nightmare
of blood, and war, and massacre. Haven't you ever heard, or read, how
the Mussulman people expect a saviour, the Moul Saa, as they call
him--the Man of the Hour, who will preach a Holy War, and lead it
himself, to victory?"

"Yes, I've read that----"

"Well, Cassim hopes to be the Moul Saa, and deliver Islam by the sword.
I suppose you wonder how I know such secrets, or whether I do really
know them at all. But I do. Some things Cassim told me himself, because
he was bursting with vanity, and simply had to speak. Other things I've
seen in writing--he would kill me if he found out. And still other
things I've guessed. Why, the boys here in the Zaouia are being brought
up for the 'great work,' as they call it. Not all of them--but the most
important ones among the older boys. They have separate classes.
Something secret and mysterious is taught them. There are boys from
Morocco and Oran, and sons of Touareg chiefs--all those who most hate
Christians. No other zaouia is like this. The place seethes with hidden
treachery and sedition. Now you can see where Si Maieddine's power over
Cassim comes in. The Agha, his father, is one of the few who helped make
Cassim what he is, but he's a cautious old man, the kind who wants to
run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Si Maieddine's cautious too,
Cassim has said. He approves the doctrines of the secret societies, but
he's so ambitious that without a very strong incentive to turn against
them, in act he'd be true to the French. Well, now he has the incentive.
You."

"I don't understand," said Victoria. Yet even as she spoke, she began to
understand.

"He'll offer to give himself, and to influence the Agha and the Agha's
people--the Ouled-Sirren--if Cassim will grant his wish. And it's no use
saying that Cassim can't force you to marry any man. You told me
yourself, a little while ago, that if you saw harm coming to me----"

"Oh don't--don't speak of that again, Saidee!" the girl cried, sharply.
"I've told you--yes--that I'll do anything--anything on earth to save
you pain, or more sorrow. But let's hope--let's pray."