human
India has recognized El Hassan as legal head of state of all North Africa. It is expected that Australia will follow before the week is out.
gpt
We have other word. It came by messenger.
human
Elmer Allen. He's been captured by a leader of the Ouled Touameur clan of the Ouled Allouch tribe. You know this Abd-el-Kader?
gpt
He belongs to the Berazga division of the Chaambra confederation. I had a run-in with him a few months ago and had him jailed. He's nothing but a desert bandit on the make.
human
He's escaped, has thrown his weight behind the Arab Union, proclaimed himself the Mahdi and is uniting Algeria and parts of Morocco and Tunisia like a wildfire. The marabouts and Shorfa are backing him.
gpt
Proclaimed himself the Mahdi?
human
The original Mahdi was the holiest prophet since Mohammed and according to the more superstitious Moslems, he's still alive. According to Islamic tradition, he periodically shows up again in the desert and makes various predictions. When he does, it almost always winds up with a jihad, a holy war. Don't you remember in history the anti-British Mahdi at Khartoum, the killing of Chinese Gordon and so forth? That Mahdi was the son of a Dongola carpenter and he managed to conquer two million square miles in two years.
gpt
But, what has this got to do with this Abd-el-Kader?
human
He's evidently proclaimed himself sort of a reincarnation of the original Mahdi. He's out to do the same thing we are--to unite North Africa. But in his case he doesn't exactly have the same dream and he's working under the green ensign of the Pan-Islamic Arab Union.
gpt
And has Elmer Allen captive.
human
Yes, he has Elmer. El Hassan's tone of voice turned sharp.
gpt
Cliff, go get Bey. Tell him we're forming a flying column and heading north.
human
You know, Isobel, he said softly, slowly,