Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 28, 1928 — page 134: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Ruler of Zem-Zem By G. G. PENDARVES Horrifying experiences in a forbidden city, welcomed as a refuge after being lost in an African desert " FFFENDI! He comes—the sand- devil comes!’ Omar, the guide, pointed a lean hand in the di- rection of a curious twisting pillar of sand discernible in the distance. The south wind—the dreaded Gibli —rose with appalling suddenness as he spoke, and at once the air became a thick sheet of sand, through which the | little caravan fought blindly, des- perately. Every loose cover and mat flapped savagely, thereby irritating the camels to madness. They roared and snarled at the shrieking wind which buffeted them. As he saw the heavy loads begin to sway precariously on the backs of the terrified beasts, Brian Cardell turned to speak to the guide, but it was im- possible to identify any one in the. storm: a corner of the wind-driven curtain would lift momentarily before Cardell’s straining eyes and reveal a group of Arabs staggering blindly to and fro, their hoods down over their heads and handkerchiefs over their mouths; or he would glimpse a camel laboring along in a white, swirling mist—then darkness and sand blotted out everything. At last he heard faint, muffled shouts, and in the roaring darkness his hand was grasped, and Omar’s voice yelled in his ear: “The camels are barraked, effendi! Come, I will guide thee to a place of safety.” Cardell caught a brief glimpse of a wide semicircle of camels, with boxes piled up round them to give protection from the “demon” of the Sahara. Then Ned Montgomery’s voice hailed him, and he crawled under the mound of blankets, beneath which his two friends had found shelter. For hours they crouched there, blinded, gasping, tortured by thirst and the stinging smart of the sand, until at last the howling fury of the wind dropped to fitful gusts of rage, and finally died out completely. The pock-marked, melancholy face of Omar looked very anxious as the 564 Cconnieoooks (C@