"Why did you not tell me that you contemplated ambushing those
fellows?" asked the sheik in a hurt tone. "We might have had them
all if the seven of us had stopped to meet them."

"Then it would have been useless to stop at all," replied Tarzan,
"for had we simply ridden on toward Bou Saada they would have
been upon us presently, and all could have been engaged. It was
to prevent the transfer of my own quarrel to another's shoulders
that Abdul and I stopped off to question them. Then there is your
daughter--I could not be the cause of exposing her needlessly to
the marksmanship of six men."

Kadour ben Saden shrugged his shoulders. He did not relish having
been cheated out of a fight.

The little battle so close to Bou Saada had drawn out a company
of soldiers. Tarzan and his party met them just outside the town.
The officer in charge halted them to learn the significance of the
shots.

"A handful of marauders," replied Kadour ben Saden. "They attacked
two of our number who had dropped behind, but when we returned to
them the fellows soon dispersed. They left two dead. None of my
party was injured."

This seemed to satisfy the officer, and after taking the names of
the party he marched his men on toward the scene of the skirmish to
bring back the dead men for purposes of identification, if possible.

Two days later, Kadour ben Saden, with his daughter and followers,