There seemed to be great command in the dark eyes of the swarthy man, and those eyes were fixed on the priest with burning insistence. The priest hesitated a moment longer, and then, bowing low with dismay and regret he could not utter, he stood aside. Ras al Had marched on, his servants following, still with Dick and Nadia in their midst. They reached the camel train. Behind them the mob had melted away. The danger was past. “Dick,” said Nadia, pressing Merriwell’s arm, “I think that old man is just splendid! I never dreamed a black man could be so fine!” Ras al Had turned to them. “Boy,” he spoke, “it has been truly said that Ras al Had is one who never forgets a debt. Yet when I gave you my word to defend you with my sword and life should the time ever come that I found you in peril, I little thought to what it would bring me. Still I have canceled the debt, and I feel that I owe you nothing.” “You’re all right, sheik!” exclaimed the boy enthusiastically. “I don’t know how we are going to thank you for——” Ras al Had checked him with a gesture. “I want no thanks. Let me caution you against wandering about Damascus without escort or protection. It is a great folly. Where are your friends?” Dick explained how it happened that he and Nadia had been caught in such a predicament. The sheik gazed attentively at the girl and then shook his head soberly. “A maid so beautiful is in great danger here, unless she be well protected. She might disappear suddenly, and years of searching might not disclose her fate. There are men in Damascus who could not look on her without coveting possession of her. How simple it would be for one of these buildings to swallow you both! You, boy, would meet a swift death, and your body would be so completely destroyed that no trace of it could ever be found. There are prisons in the city where dwell beautiful maidens like her, given every luxury save liberty. Once they have passed within the prison doors they may never again come forth.” Nadia shuddered and clung to Dick’s arm. “I have heard of such things,” she said; “but I supposed the custom had been abolished.” “This day,” said Ras al Had, “a friend of mine from the interior has arrived with many beautiful girls, the most of them Circassians. I spoke with him as I was entering the city. He will take them to a certain house, the location of which I know, and there they will be attended by hairdressers and dressmakers, who will do everything possible to add to their attractiveness. When they are prepared for inspection, certain rich men will visit them and choose from among them, paying the price demanded, after which no other man save their masters will ever look on their faces.” “Perfectly dreadful!” gasped Nadia. “It makes me shiver to think what would have happened had Hafsa Pasha been able to hoodwink me and my brother.” The sheik gave her a swift, keen look. “Hafsa Pasha?” he said, a strange intonation in his voice. “How know you that man?”