"I go with you, Master, where you go, were it to Jehannum! I swear that by the rising of the stars, which is a mighty oath. Tawakkàl al Allah!" (Place reliance on Allah!)
"By the rising of the stars!" repeated Leclair, also in Arabic. "I too am with you to the end, M'almé!"
The Master assured himself that his night-glasses with the megaphotic reflectors were in their case slung over his shoulder. He looked once more to his weapons, both ordinary and lethal, and likewise murmured:
"By the rising of the stars!"
Then said he crisply, while the fire-glow of Leclair's strongly inhaled cigarette threw a dim light on the tense lines of his wounded face:
"Come! Let us go!"
Leclair buried his cigarette in the warm earth.
Rrisa caught up a handful of sand and flung it toward the unseen enemy, in memory of the decisive pebbles thrown by Mohammed at the Battle of Bedr, so great a victory for him.
Then he followed the Master and Leclair, with a whispered:
"Bismillah wa Allahu akbar![1]"