Henry Bedford-Jones

The Justice of Amru

Warsaw 2022

Contents

The Justice of Amru

The Justice of Amru

Fanatic followers of Mohammed stormed out of Arabia in the seventh century to slaughter the Greek troops of the Great Eastern Empire and conquer Egypt... and again the strange Sphinx Emerald came to the scene to play its part in the unrolling historic drama.

THE young man was robbing a corpse, with perfect composure and efficiency. From the bearded shape lying in the shallows he stripped a fine camel-hair burnous and linen garments, spreading them to dry in the hot Egyptian sun. A purse, fat with gold, a saber of quality, a silver-sheathed knife, followed. A lump, wrapped in cloth and sealed with resin, was laid aside for future examination. The young man, who wore only a native white cotton gown, dirty and tattered, then removed excellent sandals from the feet of the corpse, eyed them with complacent approval, and set them also to dry. This done, he shoved the dead man out into the Nile current and sat down, wearily.

He was thin, hard, but had scant strength. The open neck of his robe revealed the start of a half-healed scar on his left chest. Another showed on his arm. A ring showed on his hand. His features were regular, unshaven for days and blurred with brownish beard; yet his gray eyes sparkled and there was a whimsical humor in his look. He had an air of cool, deft efficiency as he sat looking at the water of the Nile and the opposite shores.

“So our elegant sub-prefect of the Memphis nome now robs dead men!” said a voice.

The young man scarcely seemed to move; yet the knife on the sand beside him vanished. His whimsical look became a wary glint. He glanced around; no one was in sight. The desolate desert hills, the rocks and sand dunes, stretched emptily.

“A dead Arab,” he observed, “may preserve the life of Gregory, the sub-governor who has lost his district, his army and everything else. If you know me, come into sight.”

A movement stirred. From the sand close behind him rose a woman. In this waste of naked sand and rock she seemed a dream- figure: white-clad, jeweled, golden hair knotted behind her head, exhaling a delicious scent of perfumes. Gregory saw her and stared.

“Impossible! Claris–or her ghost! Do ghosts appear in full sunlight?”

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