
A seasoned officer of the Indian Army, he finds himself far from the jungle camps of his youth, roaming the sands of Arabia and Mesopotamia as a lone wanderer who has learned to speak, pray, and even look like an Arab. Over five years of “language study” he has become a familiar face in every bazaar from Kerbela to Kuwait, forging blood‑brother ties with powerful Bedouin sheikhs and earning the trust of locals across tribal and religious lines. His life is a patchwork of fevers, scars, and whispered conversations in the shadows of bustling markets.
Now the British government watches his every step, aware that his intimate knowledge of the region could prove vital if the great powers ever clash over the Persian Gulf. He balances precarious loyalties, moving between friendly Vali of Baghdad and watchful Turkish officers, while his own future hinges on whether a war will erupt in the desert’s “sphere.” The stage is set for a dangerous game of espionage, ambition, and survival, leaving listeners eager to follow his next move.
Language
en
Duration
~6 hours (379K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Bergquist, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2013-03-31
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1878–1960
A globe-trotting journalist and travel writer, he turned early-20th-century adventures into vivid books about war fronts, remote regions, and life at sea. His work drew on years of firsthand travel across the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
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