Chapter 7 The Dancing Girl of Sidi Aissa

Tarzan's first mission did not bid fair to be either exciting or

vastly important. There was a certain lieutenant of SPAHIS whom

the government had reason to suspect of improper relations with a

great European power. This Lieutenant Gernois, who was at present

stationed at Sidibel-Abbes, had recently been attached to the general

staff, where certain information of great military value had come

into his possession in the ordinary routine of his duties. It was

this information which the government suspected the great power

was bartering for with the officer.

It was at most but a vague hint dropped by a certain notorious

Parisienne in a jealous mood that had caused suspicion to rest upon

the lieutenant. But general staffs are jealous of their secrets,

and treason so serious a thing that even a hint of it may not be

safely neglected. And so it was that Tarzan had come to Algeria

in the guise of an American hunter and traveler to keep a close

eye upon Lieutenant Gernois.

He had looked forward with keen delight to again seeing his beloved

Africa, but this northern aspect of it was so different from his

tropical jungle home that he might as well have been back in Paris

for all the heart thrills of homecoming that he experienced. At

Oran he spent a day wandering through the narrow, crooked alleys

of the Arab quarter enjoying the strange, new sights. The next

day found him at Sidi-bel-Abbes, where he presented his letters of

introduction to both civil and military authorities--letters which

gave no clew to the real significance of his mission.

Tarzan possessed a sufficient command of English to enable him to

pass among Arabs and Frenchmen as an American, and that was all

that

was required of it. When he met an Englishman he spoke French in

order that he might not betray himself, but occasionally talked

in English to foreigners who understood that tongue, but could not

note the slight imperfections of accent and pronunciation that were

his.

Here he became acquainted with many of the French officers, and