"Do you understand ?" "I have heard of it, my Captain.

For years vague rumors have come to me from the desert-men, from far oases and cities of the Sahara.

Now here, now there, news has drifted in to Algiers--not news, but rather fantastic tales.

Yes, I have often heard of the Kaukab el Durri.

But till now I have always believed it a story, a myth." "No myth, but solid fact!" exulted the Master, with a strange laugh.
"This, Lieutenant, is the very treasure that Mohammed gathered together during many years of looting caravans in the desert and of capturing _sambuks_ on the Red Sea.