“I no longer doubt the outcome. If those poor Turks ever set their eyes on that saber, their wretched knees will knock together like Spanish castanets and the Street of Cairo which once was haunted with their presence will know them never again.”
“Craig, you are heartless—cruel. Sir, in the land of the Texan this is reckoned only as a play toy.”
“For Heaven’s sake put it away. The sight of it is enough to bring up thoughts of hari kari. If one hated himself he could not wish for anything more desperate with which to end his existence than that same old rusty blade,” says Aleck.
“Rusty old blade, forsooth! You have no reverence for relics, Craig. In the hands of one entirely great, the bowie is mightier than the sword.”
“Well, come along, my boy. Tempus fugit, and I see Samson Cereal with his friends sauntering down the avenue. When he separates from them, as will soon be the case, the Turkish spider will throw his wonderful web across the street, and the American fly be asked to 'walk into my little parlor!’”
Wycherley buttons up his coat and carefully conceals his array of weapons. No one looking at him now would dream he was such a walking arsenal. Appearances are deceptive, and many a person who goes about this Midway Plaisance wears a mask.
Thus they leave their eyrie, and once more rub elbows with the jostling, good-natured crowd, that surges about the spot where the camels kneel to receive and deposit their squealing burdens.
Sauntering down Cairo Street, they keep at a respectable distance behind the great operator and his two companions.
The time for action is near at hand. No doubt the Turk fumes at seeing how Samson’s friends stick closer than brothers, and doubtless he is exercising his mind in the endeavor to invent some way of separating them.
He need not worry. Samson himself will arrange all that. The two gentlemen appear to be ordinary business men, one stout and red-faced, the other tall and cadaverous. They survey the scene as though indelibly stamping it on their minds for production, and are interested in all the details.