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                         Daughters of Destiny

               [Illustration: AHMED KHAN TO THE RESCUE.]




                               DAUGHTERS

                                 _of_

                                DESTINY

                                  BY

                           SCHUYLER STAUNTON

                    AUTHOR OF “THE FATE OF A CROWN”

                       The Reilly & Britton Co.

                                Chicago




                            COPYRIGHT, 1906
                                  BY
                       THE REILLY & BRITTON CO.




                           LIST OF CHAPTERS


BOOK I--THE MAN

CHAPTER                                                             PAGE

I PRINCE KASAM OF BALUCHISTAN                                         11

II THE AMERICAN COMMISSION                                            20

III THE PERSIAN PHYSICIAN                                             41

IV THE DAUGHTER OF THE VIZIER                                         49

V THE PERIL OF BURAH KHAN                                             61

VI THE MAN OF DESTINY                                                 71

VII DIRRAG                                                            83

VIII A WOMAN’S WAY                                                   111

IX THE SIXTH DAY                                                     119

X AHMED KHAN                                                         130


BOOK II--THE WOMAN

XI CAPTURE OF DAVID THE JEW                                          151

XII THE GIRL ON THE DIVAN                                            172

XIII A WILD WOOING                                                   189

XIV THE VEILED WOMAN                                                 206

XV SALAMAN                                                           215

XVI THE ABDUCTION                                                    224

XVII DAVID SELLS AN IMPORTANT SECRET                                 230

XVIII THE VIZIER OPENS THE GATE                                      246

XIX IN THE GARDEN OF AGAHR                                           262

XX THE GIRL IN THE HAREM                                             270

XXI THE CHAMBER OF DEATH                                             284

XXII BY THE HAND OF ALLAH                                            288

XXIII THE VENGEANCE OF MAIE                                          298

XXIV THE SPIRIT OF UNREST                                            301

XXV KASAM KHAN                                                       308

XXVI HER SERENE HIGHNESS THE KHANUM                                  317




                                BOOK I

                                THE MAN




CHAPTER I

PRINCE KASAM OF BALUCHISTAN


“What country did you say, Prince?”

“Baluchistan, my lord.”

The great financier lay back in his chair and a slight smile flickered
over his stern features. Then he removed his eye-glasses and twirled
them thoughtfully around his finger as he addressed the young man
opposite.

“I remember,” said he, “that when I attended school as a boy one of my
chiefest trials in geography was to learn how to bound Baluchistan.”

“Ah, do not say that, sir,” exclaimed Prince Kasam, eagerly. “It is a
customary thing, whenever my country is mentioned, for an Englishman to
refer to his geography. I have borne the slight with rare patience, Lord
Marvale, since first I came, a boy, to London; but permit me to say
that I expected _you_ to be better informed.”

“But, why?” asked the nobleman, raising his brows at the retort.

“Because Baluchistan is a great country, sir. You might drop all of
England upon one of its plains--and have some trouble to find it again.”

Lord Marvale’s eyes twinkled.

“And how about London?” he asked. “You have many such cities, I
suppose?”

“There is but one London, my lord,” answered the young man composedly;
“and, to be frank with you, there are few clusters of houses in my
country that are worthy the name of cities. We Baluchi are a wild race,
as yet untamed by the influence of your western civilization, and those
who wander in desert and plain far exceed in numbers the dwellers in
towns.”

“I am not so ignorant as you may suppose,” declared Lord Marvale; “for
it is a part of my