“Ah, I haven’t gone cowboying in New Mexico for nothing,” said Mr Hicks complacently. “Go ahead, you fool! The more you kick, the tighter the knots will be, you bet. Ah, Mr Mansfield, you inclined to think I brought this lariat along to fix up my prisoners with before they were caught, but you see it has caught ’em and tied ’em both. Now I’m through, I guess I’ll mount this gentleman’s horse--for these Arabs are so cute that it would make nothing of carrying him right back to his friends all on its own hook, according to the Sunday-school books--and he shall have a seat on mine. But wait a minute first.” He dragged his prisoner to a spot where he was in full view of his dismayed followers, and drawing out his revolver, held it to his head. “You see this, men of the Beni Ayub?” he cried in Arabic, accompanying the words with appropriate gestures. “Your sheikh will go with us the rest of our journey. If you attack us, the first shot we fire will settle his business, and if you even molest us, we will take him to Es Sham and deliver him to the Roumis there. Therefore beware!” Having shouted his warning, Mr Hicks mounted the sheikh’s horse, and with Mansfield’s assistance bound the prisoner firmly on his own; then, with the two Arabs bringing up the rear, they rode on after the rest. Great was the joy and exultation with which the Beni Ismail beheld the unpleasant plight of their hereditary foe; but Cyril interposed to forbid any indignities being offered to the captive, who might yet serve as a useful intermediary with his tribe. The novel method of his capture had produced a strong effect upon his mind, and largely increased his respect for the Prince of the Jews, and this feeling was enhanced by the continued failure of his own tribesmen to rescue him. They followed the party at a distance, and prowled round the camp at night in the hope of taking its defenders by surprise; but Mr Hicks and Mansfield kept watch and watch all night through, and this unceasing vigilance had its reward. By dint of long marches and little rest, the desert was safely crossed in six days after leaving Sitt Zeynab, and within three hours’ ride of Damascus the cavalcade paused while Cyril gave orders for the prisoner to be unbound, and his horse and rifle restored to him. “Return to thy tribe, O Sheikh of the Beni Ayub,” he said, “and tell them of the clemency of the Prince of the Jews. I might have carried thee bound into Es Sham, and left thee to rot in a Roumi dungeon, but I send thee back to thy people, that they may know that I desire to be their friend, and that it is my will there shall be peace throughout the desert.”