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The latter was longer than that of the men and much heavier. It hung about her

shoulders and was confined by a colored bit of some lacy fabric. Her single

garment appeared to be nothing more than a filmy scarf which was wound tightly

around her body from below her naked breasts, being caught up some way at the

bottom near her ankles. Bits of shiny metal resembling gold, ornamented both

the headdress and the skirt. Otherwise the woman was entirely without jewelry.

Her bare arms were slender and shapely and her hands and feet well

proportioned and symmetrical.

She came close to the party as they passed her, jabbering to the guards who paid

no attention to her. The prisoners had an opportunity to observe her closely as

she followed at their side for a short distance.

"The figure of a houri," remarked Smith-Oldwick, "with the face of an imbecile."

The street they followed was intersected at irregular intervals by crossroads

which, as they glanced down them, proved to be equally as tortuous as that

through which they were being conducted. The houses varied but little in design.

Occasionally there were bits of color, or some attempt at other architectural

ornamentation. Through open windows and doors they could see that the walls of

the houses were very thick and that all apertures were quite small, as though the

people had built against extreme heat, which they realized must have been

necessary in this valley buried deep in an African desert.

Ahead they occasionally caught glimpses of larger structures, and as they

approached them, came upon what was evidently a part of the business section of

the city. There were numerous small shops and bazaars interspersed among the

residences, and over the doors of these were signs painted in characters strongly

suggesting Greek origin and yet it was not Greek as both the Englishman and the

girl knew.

Smith-Oldwick was by this time beginning to feel more acutely the pain of his

wounds and the consequent weakness that was greatly aggravated by loss of

blood. He staggered now occasionally and the girl, seeing his plight, offered him

her arm.

"No," he expostulated, "you have passed through too much yourself to have any

extra burden imposed upon you." But though he made a valiant effort to keep up

with their captors he occasionally lagged, and upon one such occasion the guards

for the first time showed any disposition toward brutality.

It was a big fellow who walked at Smith-Oldwick's left. Several times he took hold

of the Englishman's arm and pushed him forward not ungently, but when the

captive lagged again and again the fellow suddenly, and certainly with no just

179

Tarzan the Untamed