Chapter 84

“Oh!” she breathed in delight. It contained a shawl of the finest Moroccan lace.

Next he gave the boys a set of Arabian horses, carved from teak and ivory. “My friend, Sheik Abd Al-Malik, had them made when I told him I knew of two boys who would treasure them.”

They took the tiny statues with awed pleasure.

“We thought this might suit Hal,” Roddy said as he handed a leather bound book to Bertie. It turned out to be an original translation of The Three Musketeers, which had somehow wound up in a bazaar in North Africa, and was inscribed by Alexandre Dumas in faded blue ink.

For Little Thomas he had found a miniature uniform of the 2ndLoyal North Lancashires, the regiment to which I had belonged, down to a little wooden sword and rifle.

Then he handed the saddlebag to Bertie, who stroked it with appreciative fingers. “Here, what’s this?” He removed seven chamois pouches and weighed them in his palm. “Marbles, Roddy?”