Unhesitatingly I dashed forward, springing upon him from behind and wrenching the weapon from his grasp. I was not a moment too soon, for in another instant the keen steel would have been plunged into the heaving white breast of the fair, fragile jewel of the harem.
“Who, pray, art thou, who darest obstruct me?” he demanded angrily, turning upon me in amazement.
“Thy wife hath saved my life, and it is my duty to save hers,” I answered boldly.
“See!” she panted, suddenly recognising me. “See! it is the stranger who was wounded!”
“The stranger who hath learned at his peril the secret of the Ghuzzat,” he added, with grim sarcasm. “As he is thy protector, he is most probably thy lover also!”
“That I deny,” I answered quickly. “I have known nothing of this lady until to-day.”
“Liar!” he shrieked in rage. “Thou boldest our secret. Only thy death will expiate thine eavesdropping!” and ere I could realise his intention, he had drawn a second knife from his waist and made a desperate lunge at me. With difficulty I managed to parry the blow, and for a few moments we engaged in deadly combat. His young wife, alarmed, rushed to a door which led into a beautiful courtyard, and shouted for help. Her cries were answered immediately by two black slaves of gigantic stature, who, in obedience to her commands, flung themselves upon their master, twisted the knife from his fingers, and in a trice had bound his hands behind his back with a cord they seemed to have brought for the purpose.
“Slaves! Suffer not thine hands to thus defile me!” he cried, with a look of murder in his flashing eyes, but they gagged him immediately.
His wife, addressing the two negroes, exclaimed—
“It is as I expected. He hath attempted to strike me to earth, and had it not been for this stranger, I should have been murdered. Three days ago I gave thee certain instructions—carry them out.”