“Yes, he gone.”

Here was an acknowledgment that there was a white man among them, as Barney had surmised.

Frank was quick to notice it.

He therefore asked:

“Why did the white man dress like you?”

“‘Fraid of de Bedouins.”

“Do you know his name?”

“Mr. Martin, he say.”

“Martin, eh? He had a cut face, didn’t he?”

“One mark on de cheek dis shape,” said the Arab, stretching open his first and second finger in a V-shape.