? ? ? ? For a while neither spoke further. The Arab was the first to break the silence.
? ? ? ? "And my master, Achmet Zek, was well when last you saw him?" he asked.
? ? ? ? "Never was he safer from the sins and dangers of mortality," replied the Belgian.
? ? ? ? "It is well," said Mohammed Beyd, blowing a little puff of blue smoke straight out before him.
? ? ? ? Again there was silence for several minutes.
? ? ? ? "And if he were dead?" asked the Belgian, determined to lead up to the truth, and attempt to bribe Mohammed Beyd into his service.
? ? ? ? The Arab's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, his gaze boring straight into the eyes of the Belgian.
? ? ? ? "I have been thinking much, Werper, since you returned so unexpectedly to the camp of the man whom you had deceived, and who sought you with death in his heart. I have been with Achmet Zek for many years--his own mother never knew him so well as I. He never forgives-- much less would he again trust a man who had once betrayed him; that I know.
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