“What did he tell?”
“You shall hear.”
Ras al Had touched the wretched victim with a staff which he took from one corner of the shed.
The man did not stir.
“Look, thou dog!” said the sheik; “art longing for further punishment? Then speak promptly, or I swear by the beard of the Prophet that thou shalt be cut into a thousand pieces! Who paid thee to choke the infidel lad?”
“Why, it’s the fellow who nearly murdered me!” exclaimed Dick, for he had not recognized the mutilated wretch.
“The same,” said the sheik. “Why doesn’t he speak? Assouan, bring the whip.”
The black man with the light hastened to obey. The whip, a long, wicked-looking affair, with a rawhide lash into which were knotted many pieces of lead, was quickly produced.
Ras al Had took the spluttering light from Assouan’s hand.
“Stand ready,” he directed. “When I bid you strike have no mercy.”