Abdullah blinked sand out of his eyes and thought he had seldom seen a more villainous crew of men. They all had scarred faces, shifty eyes, bad teeth, and unpleasant expressions. The man with the pistol was the most unpleasant of the lot. He wore a sort of earring through one side of his large hooked nose and a very bushy mustache. His headcloth was pinned up at one side with a flashy red stone in a gold brooch.

“Where have you sprung from?” this man said. He kicked Abdullah. “Explain yourself.”

All of them, including the man who was wading out of the pool with some kind of bottle, looked at Abdullah with expressions that said his explanation had better be good. Or else.

Chapter Seven

WHICH INTRODUCES THE GENIE

Abdullah blinked more sand out of his eyes and stared earnestly at the man with the pistol. The man really was the absolute image of the villainous bandit of his daydream. It must be one of those coincidences.

“I beg your pardon a hundred times, gentlemen of the desert,” he said with great politeness, “for intruding on you in this manner, but am I addressing the most noble and world-famous bandit, the matchless Kabul Aqba?”

The other villainous men around him seemed astonished. Abdullah distinctly heard one say, “How did he know that?” But the man with the pistol simply sneered. It was something his face was particularly well designed to do. “I am indeed he,” he said. “Famous, am I?”

It was one of those coincidences, Abdullah thought. Well, at least he knew where he was now. “Alas, wanderers in the wilderness,” he said, “I am, like your noble selves, one who is outcast and oppressed. I have sworn revenge on all Rashpuht. I came here expressly to join with you and add the strength of my mind and my arm to yours.”

“Did you indeed?” said Kabul Aqba. “And how did you get here? By dropping from the sky, chains and all?”

“By magic,” Abdullah said modestly. He thought it was the thing most likely to impress these people. “I did indeed drop from the sky, noblest of nomads.”

Unfortunately they did not seem impressed. Most of them laughed. Kabul Aqba, with a nod, sent two of them up the sand dune to examine Abdullah’s point of arrival. “So you can work magic?” he said. “Do these chains you wear have anything to do with that?”