H. Bedford-Jones

“ The darkman shrugged. "All men die. If death were the end of life, then we might fear it; but it is only the beginning. The tortoise, that crawls, is the Chinese emblem of longevity. I am an eagle, and I do not choose to crawl!"
"Then fly high!" said Smith whimsically. "People in this part of the world have buried many kings."
The other laughed.
"You are a true American—no respect for royal blood, eh? Well, neither have I, except for my own. I shall not die in a jungle; my fate lies higher. I go to seek a city of which I have read in a book, and of which men have told me curious things. ”

“ The Turks took this royal sign from the Chinese Mongols and carried it to Egypt, where it became the crest of the seventy-eighth cohort of Janizaries. Sultan Kalouan himself bore it as a crest, likewise. A wonderful thing, a wonderful thing! But not so wonderful as the eagle."
The dark man put away his jade fish and began to puff at a cigarette. Smith was mildly amused by all this.
"Why is the eagle so wonderful, then?" he inquired.
"Because I am of the eagle's blood," said Ardzrouni.
In the Armenian's air there was a singular power. There was no doubt about his learning, his scholarship ”

“ It was an Ardzrouni who slew the Emir Toftji in the year 698 of the hegira—a famous deed, of which you may read in the pages of Makruzi. An Ardzrouni"—here the speaker waved his hand toward the north—"was with Shems-ed-Din Omar, the Arab who conquered Yunnan for the Mongols. ”