The guards were talking in low tones; every now and then Helmar caught a word of Arabic, but they had taken the precaution to seat themselves so far from him that he could not hear what they talked about. The misery of his uncomfortable position and surroundings gave him little desire to interest himself with them.
About an hour after they had started, Abdu left his companions and came and sat beside him. Helmar knew this was the prelude to some fiendish cruelty, but what he did not know. He was not long left in doubt.
The train was bumping terrifically, the metals over which it was running being very uneven. For a few moments Abdu watched the motion of a piece of iron chain, hanging through a ring in the side of the car, then, having evolved some plan, he turned to his prisoner with a leer on his face.
"You see this," he said, tapping the place where Helmar had struck him in the face; "Abdu hasn't forgotten, but he is kind and forgives easily. You are a prisoner, and must be made comfortable."
As he said this he sprang up, and going over to where the chain was hanging, took it from its place, and coiling it up into a knot, returned to George's side. The chain was made of large iron links, with several sharp, square swivels in it, and these Abdu so placed that they projected from the rest. Having arranged it to his fancy, he seized his prisoner's hair, and raising his head by it, placed the bunch of chain beneath it, and then, with brutal force, pushed him back on to the sharp, rusty iron.
"You must have a pillow," he laughed, as he saw George wince with pain.
The moment Abdu had released his head, Helmar raised it from the cruel iron and moved himself away, but the Egyptian was ready in a moment; the knife flashed, and George felt its keen point prick through his clothes.
"Ah! you would refuse my kindness, would you? This must not be," and he pushed the chain again beneath the prisoner's head. "So, if you move again the knife will go farther in next time."
George now found himself compelled to remain with the chain under his head. Strain as he would, to keep from resting upon it, the motion and jolting of the train made it pummel the back of his skull, until he felt that he should soon go mad. Once or twice, in desperation, he moved, but the wretch was as good as his word, and the point of his knife was dug into his legs and arms until his clothes were covered with blood.
After half-an-hour of this Abdu seemed to have had enough of the pastime, and with a sneering laugh removed the chain, and then returned to his companions at the end of the car.