"But tell me," continued the Shareef, "who told you that you would find your destiny in Tekrit?"
"Ismeddin the Darvish interpreted the dreams which have haunted me since I was a boy, and told me how I could release your brother's daughter from the blackness that clouds her senses on nights of the full moon, when the power of Iblis the Damned is at its height," replied Rankin.
The Shareef frowned at the mention of Ismeddin.
"So that old ruffian and heretic sent you to Tekrit? Did he by any chance speak of the dooms that overtake meddlers who roam about here in search of adventure?"
"At great length, saidi," responded Rankin, "even as he explained that due to various misunderstandings you two have had regarding some horses, he could scarcely appear in person to present me to you. But I came, nevertheless. Is it not written," quoted Rankin, "There is no shield to turn aside the spear cast of Destiny: gold, glory, silver, each avail not?"
"Spoken like a true believer," agreed the Shareef. And then, sharply, "Testify!"
"La illaha illa allah——" began Rankin, and paused.
The sequence was familiar as his own name, but Rankin was not truly a Moslem, and one can not testify falsely when the word of Suleiman and its fulfilment lie in one's hands.
"Wa Muhammad er-rasul allahi!" recited the red-bearded chief. "I have testified in his place. And let us consider that this infidel has testified that Muhammad is the prophet of God as well as that there is no God but Allah. For if he can wear the seal of Suleiman Baalshem without harm, it makes little difference what he testifies. For Allah is wise, all-knowing," concluded Sayyid Absál sonorously.
"There is something in what you say," conceded the Shareef. "Still, am I to entrust the welfare of my brother's daughter to the hands of an infidel? And an infidel sent by that bandit of an Ismeddin!"