Book excerpt: Ahmed, The Son of the Sheik, falls in love with Yasmin, a dancer and the daughter of a renegade Frenchman who leads a troupe of mountebanks and thieves. When Ahmed is captured by Yasmin's father and held for ransom, he is led to believe that she has tricked him; and when freed he abducts her, taking her to a desert camp. He is about to force her to submit to him when his father, the sheik, barges into the tent and frees the girl. Later, Ahmed learns that it was not she but rather her jealous admirer who betrayed him. He follows Yasmin to a dancehall, where a bitter fight with knives takes place; Ahmed emerges victorious, unscathed and with the girl in his arms.