"But with machine-guns--" "Machine-guns cannot fight against the African sun, against famine, thirst, delirium, madness.

Well--'blessed be certainty,' as the Arabs say." "You mean death ?" "Yes, I mean death.

We always have that in our grasp, at any rate--after having taken full toll of these devils.

I should not mind, so much, defeat at the hands of the nobler breed of the Arabian Peninsula.

There, in the _Ruba el Khali_[1] itself, I know a chivalric race dwells that any soldier might be proud to fight or to rule over.
But these Shiah heretic swine--ah, see now, they are taking cover already?
They will not stand and fight, like men!" [Footnote 1: _Ruba el Khali_ (The Empty Abodes), a name applied by the Arabs to the Peninsula, especially the vast inner region never penetrated by any white man.] Scornfully he flung a hand at the Beni Harb.