Kagig began to laugh—­a sort of dry cackle that included wonder as well as rebuke.  He threw both hands outward, palms upward, in a gesture that complemented the motion of shoulders shrugged up to his ears.

“All around—­high hills!  From every side from fifty places rocks could have been rolled upon you!  So—­and so you sleep!”

“I set guards!” Will exploded.

“Eleven guards I found—­all together in one place—­fast asleep!”

He showed his splendid teeth and the palms of his hands again in actual enjoyment of the situation.  For the first time then I saw there was wet blood on his goat-skin coat.

“Kagig—­you’re wounded!”

He made a gesture of impatience.

“It is nothing—­nothing.  My servant has attended to it.”

So Kagig had a servant.  I felt glad of that.  It meant a rise from vagabondage to position among his people.

Of all earthly attainments, the first and most desirable and last to let go of is an honest servant—­unless it be a friend. (But the difference is not so distinct as it sounds.)

A huge fear suddenly seized Fred Oakes.

“You said Monty is in Zeitoon—­alive or dead?  Quick, man!  Answer!”

“Should I leave Zeitoon,” Kagig answered slowly, unless I left a better man in charge behind me?  He is alive in Zeitoon—­alive—­alive!  He is my brother!  He and I love one purpose with a strong love that shall conquer!  You speak to me of Lord what-is-it?  Hah!  To me forever he is Monty, my brother—­my—­”

“Where’s Miss Vanderman?” I interrupted.

“Here!” she said quietly, and I turned my head to discover her sitting beside Will in the shadow cast by Kagig’s lantern.  She must have entered ahead of Kagig or close behind him, unseen because of his bulk and the tricky light that he swung in his right hand.

Kagig went on as if he had not heard me.

“There is a castle—­I think I told you?—­perched on a crag in the forest beside Zeitoon.  My men have cut a passage to it through the trees, for it had stood forgotten for God knows how long.  Later you shall understand.  There came Arabaiji, riding a mule to death, saying you and this lady are in danger of life at the hands of my nation.  I did not believe that, but Monty—­he believed it.”

“And I’ll wager you found him a hot handful!” laughed Fred.  “Not so hot.  Not so hot.  But very determined.  Later you shall understand.  He and I drove a bargain.”

“Dammit!” Fred rose to his feet.  “D’you mean you used our predicament as a club to drive him with?”

Kagig laughed dryly.

“Do you know your friend so little, and think so ill of me?  He named terms, and I agreed to them.  I took a hundred mounted men to find you and bring you to Zeitoon, spreading them out like a fan, to scour the country.  Some fell in with a thing the Turks call a hamidieh regiment; that is a rabble of Kurds under the command of Tenekelis.”