Thank you for your many kind comments on this latest Tale for Our Time. There are seventy-eight others in our extensive archive.
Our seventy-ninth is Sax Rohmer's Mohammedan caper of 1914 The Quest of the Sacred Slipper. In tonight's episode the girl with the violet eyes offers to help Cavanagh track down Hassan of Aleppo:
"When did Dexter first conceive the plan to steal the slipper?" I asked.
"In Egypt!" answered Carneta. "Yes! You may as well know! He is thoroughly familiar with the East, and he learned of the robbery of Professor Deeping almost as soon as it became known to Hassan. I know what you are going to ask—"
"Ahmad Ahmadeen!"
"Yes! He travelled home as Ahmadeen—the only time he ever used a disguise. Oh! the thing is accursed!" she cried. "I begged him, implored him, to abandon his attempts upon it. Day and night we were watched by those ghastly yellow men! But it was all in vain. He knew, had known for a long time, where Hassan of Aleppo was in hiding!"
And I reflected that the best men at New Scotland Yard had failed to pick up the slightest clue!
If you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club you can hear Part Eighteen of our serialisation of The Quest of the Sacred Slipper simply by clicking here and logging-in. All previous episodes can be found here.
We always get queries about the theme music I choose for each tale. Well, this seventy-ninth caper marks a first in our series: we've occasionally had a piece of musical accompaniment by a friend or family member of the author, but The Quest of the Sacred Slipper is the first occasion on which the writer of the tale is also the writer of the theme tune - The Camels' Parade, composed in 1910 by Sax Rohmer and T W Thurban, during Mr Rohmer's brief flirtation with a musical career.
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And do join me tomorrow for the nineteenth episode of The Quest of the Sacred Slipper.