"Your friends of last evening, no doubt, monsieur," remarked Kadour
ben Saden dryly to Tarzan.

"No doubt," replied the ape-man. "I am sorry that my society should
endanger the safety of your journey. At the next village I shall
remain and question these gentlemen, while you ride on. There is
no necessity for my being at Bou Saada tonight, and less still why
you should not ride in peace."

"If you stop we shall stop," said Kadour ben Saden. "Until you
are safe with your friends, or the enemy has left your trail, we
shall remain with you. There is nothing more to say."

Tarzan nodded his head. He was a man of few words, and possibly
it was for this reason as much as any that Kadour ben Saden had
taken to him, for if there be one thing that an Arab despises it
is a talkative man.

All the balance of the day Abdul caught glimpses of the horsemen
in their rear. They remained always at about the same distance.
During the occasional halts for rest, and at the longer halt at
noon, they approached no closer.

"They are waiting for darkness," said Kadour ben Saden.

And darkness came before they reached Bou Saada. The last glimpse
that Abdul had of the grim, white-robed figures that trailed them,
just before dusk made it impossible to distinguish them, had made
it apparent that they were rapidly closing up the distance that
intervened between them and their intended quarry. He whispered