- A series of six episodes involving the adventures of an American actress in Old Egypt: #1: The Purple Iris; #2: The Cage of the Golden Bars; #3: In the Shadow of the Pyramids; #4: For the Honor of a Woman; #5: In the Name of the King; #6: The Crown of Death.—Anonymous
- Episode 1: "The Purple Iris" Ola Humphrey, the actress, appears at the Khedival Opera House in Cairo. At a supper, given in her honor, she meets Prince Ibrahim Hassan, an Egyptian, and Mr. Stanley Clyde, an American. Both men are interested in the woman, but Prince Hassan is so infatuated that he will not even permit the interruption of a letter from his cousin, the Khedive, and destroys the message unread. Small scraps of it, however, bearing such words as "Moslem uprising" and "Ottoman Empire will fight" attract the attention of young Stanley Clyde. He contrives to piece the letter together, realizing its importance and hastens to Sir Godfrey, consul-general for the Protectorate, and the man most concerned. But before the consul can depart to give warning, his Arab servant, Mehemid Ali, in reality a spy, administers a drug, and Sir Godfrey is rendered unconscious. Meanwhile, the guests at the supper party are entertained by dancing girls and Bedouin musicians. One of the dancers confronts Prince Hassan, and he recognizes her as Zohra, his former sweetheart. The Prince's mother, in the secluded realms of her harem, hears disquieting rumors ,of her son's infatuation for an actress. She at once decides that he must marry his cousin, the Princess Uarda. The Prince demurs, but under threat of losing his share of his mother's estate, finally consents to the wedding. On the night of his marriage, Prince Hassan sees the actress in an Egyptian play and wearing the costume of his own country. This determines him upon the course he is to pursue. He causes two letters and two bouquets of purple iris to be dispatched. The first reaches the Princess Uarda and the message begs that she will permit the ceremony to take place at the hour of midnight. The other letter is for the actress. She is asked to spell her answer in the purple iris. The American girl assents and wears the flowers as token of her love. The letter and the iris are seen by Zohra. She pleads with Prince Hassan to marry her and save her from dishonor. He becomes impatient and angrily strikes the girl, who falls unconscious. Before the Prince leaves the theater, Ila Humphrey has promised to become his wife. Midnight comes. Princess Uarda waits in the harem surrounded by her women. At the theater, Miss Humphrey bids good-bye to the old life, and accomplished by two eunuchs, drives to the palace. Stanley Clyde, coming to warn her of the impending danger, sees her departure, but fails to recognize her in the harem costume. As he enters the theater, he hears screams, and hastening to the rescue, finds Bessie, the actress's maid, struggling with a Nubian slave. She is rescued by Clyde. Zohra, regaining consciousness, learns that Miss Humphrey has gone to the palace to marry Hassan. Seizing a veil and some iris, and exclaiming that she is dressed like the actress, she tears away, vowing to kill Miss Humphrey and be married in her place. Stanley Clyde endeavors to stop her, but before he can overtake the mad girl, he is seized and overpowered by secret service spies, who, warned by Mehemid Ali, have taken this measure to silence the man who knows too much. At the palace, Princess Uarda receives a message from the Prince begging her to meet him alone in the Blue Room. Confident and trusting, she obeys. Miss Humphrey arrives at the palace. She is conducted to a room with velvet curtains. Growing nervous and frightened at the strange surroundings, she endeavors to escape, only to find her way blocked by huge Nubian slaves. The curtains suddenly part, and she sees before her a room filled with people gathered to witness the marriage. The costumes of Miss Humphrey and Princess are alike and as they are both heavily veiled, the transformation is not discovered. The actress, seeing the welcome extended her, is overjoyed and the ceremony at once takes place. Meanwhile, Princess Uarda discovers the door of the Blue Room bolted. Going to the window, she leans over the balcony and Zohra, crouched among the flowers, sees her and mistakes her for the actress. With knife drawn, she stealthily approaches. Princess Uarda, frantic with fear, and determined to escape, endeavors to climb from the balcony. Her long veil catches and she falls headlong to the garden. Here Zohra finds her, dead among the flowers. Above the scenes of this tragedy, alone with his bride in the softly-lighted harem, Prince Hassan lifts the veil from the fair face of the American girl.
Episode 2: "The Cage of the Golden Bars" Stanley Clyde is thrown into prison because he knows the secrets of the Moslem rulers. After sentence of death has been passed upon him, the mob threatens his life and Prince Tousson, for his own reasons, removes him to the palace dungeons. He is placed in a cell adjoining the one occupied by Zohra. They communicate through an opening in the wall. The Prince endeavors to keep his wife a prisoner in the harem. She rebels and escapes, to learn that Clyde and Zohra are prisoners, and that the Prince, her husband, is the father of Zohra's child. Zohra reveals to her that all are condemned to death. The Princess pleads with the Prince to set them free. Instead, he proceeds to taunt her with their sufferings and discloses to her papers which are an Imperial order for a massacre of all Christians. The Prince threatens to dispatch them within the hour. By a ruse the Princess procures the papers, outwits the Prince and leaves him a prisoner upon his own house-top, while she liberates the condemned at the point of a pistol. Assuming disguises, they flee from the palace grounds and mingle with a mob entering the mosque, where a fanatical gathering against all Christians is being conducted. They are pursued by the Prince and his guards on horseback, and, as Clyde endeavors to prevent the frenzied mob in the mosque making a sacrifice of Zohra's baby, the Prince overtakes them and endeavors to seize his wife. The princess shoots and wounds him. In the ensuing confusion she and Zohra procures the horses of the escort, and leading an extra one, dash up the steps of the mosque, through the mob, and bear down on them in time to rescue Clyde. The Prince follows them.
Episode 3: "In the Shadow of the Pyramids" The Princess, Stanley Clyde and Zohra, with her little baby, having escaped from Prince Tousson in the Mosque, seek refuge in a tomb in the Pyramid. Prince Tousson is forced to admit the loss of the documents, without which the Christian massacre cannot take place. He is granted twenty-four hours by the Khedive in which to find and return the papers or pay the penalty. Spies are placed at every entrance to the city, and Zohra, who has bravely volunteered to procure food for the fugitives, is seen, followed and the hiding place disclosed to Prince Tousson. He at once sets out for the Pyramid with soldiers and a camel caravan, intending to capture his bride and carry her across the desert to his palace in the oasis. The fugitives anticipate an attack and barricade the entrance of the tomb with a huge boulder. A fight in the tomb takes place and Stanley Clyde, in final desperation, hurls the rock down the steps, crushing the Prince's men. He is wounded in the attempt and a search for the Princess and the precious documents follows. She hides in the coffin of a queen, almost escapes capture, but is betrayed by a portion of her veil becoming caught in the lid of the coffin. The documents are torn from her and carried post haste and at the eleventh hour, to Said Pasha who, from the balcony of the Palace, decrees the death of the infidels at the hands of the fanatical Mussulmen. Meanwhile, with the Princess and Zohra once more in Tousson's power and Stanley Clyde a prisoner, the dreary caravan sets forth upon its desert journey.
Episode 4: "For the Honor of a Woman" The caravan of the prince, on its long trip across the desert, pauses at an oasis for the hour of prayer. A rising sandstorm sweeps up from the desert and threatens to obliterate the kneeling Arabs. All hasten to shelter, but in the meantime Tousson has taken advantage of the storm and Zohra's absence (she having gone to procure water from the well in the oasis), to rid herself of what might be an unwelcome heir. He causes her child, his own illegal son, to be hidden beneath a rock, and after the storm has passed, the caravan goes on its way, leaving the little one deserted. The child is found by a band of Bedouins. Their leader, Rasaid, recognizes an amulet about its neck as that belonging to his daughter, Zohra, who, months before, ran away with the prince and dishonored her father. The Moslem idea of honor is to wreak vengeance on the woman, and Rasaid sets forth to trace and kill his daughter. He finds her in the prince's palace, gone mad from the loss of her infant. Madness is sacred to the Mohammedans and Zohra is saved from his wrath. He casts about for a means of vengeance upon the man who wronged her and accidentally discovers a secret door and passageway in the palace leading from a leopard cage to the bath of the harem. This leopard the prince calls his "Little Executioner." In its cage is a trap door leading to a cell below, where Stanley Clyde is confined. The princess defies and loathes Tousson. In determination to break her spirit, he causes the trap door to be opened and the leopard is face to face with its prey. The prince hurries back to the harem baths to inform the princess of what he has done, but reckons without Rasaid who, creeping up to the cage, unbars the door, setting the leopard free. The beast finds its way into the harem baths. Clyde, in his cell, hears the princess scream. He reaches her in the nick of time. While the leopard is being killed, Clyde, the Princess Zohra and her father escape.
Episode 5: "In the Name of the King" The Prince, as soon as the excitement over the leopard's escape has subsided in the harem, seeks out the Princess, Clyde and the Princess's father. He learns from a spy that they have fled into the desert and immediately saddles his horses and orders his troops to follow after. After an exciting brush with desert "rats" or robber barons who infest the wastes of the Sahara edge, the Prince sees the Princess, Clyde and the Princess' father silhouetted against the sky with a band of roving Bedouins. The Bedouins, anxious to give harbor to all the enemies of the merciless Turks, have taken the Princess and her party into their councils and in order to recapture them the prince realizes that he will have to make a strong fight. He sends back for more reinforcements and camps several miles in the rear of the desert nomads waiting for his additional troops to come up. Next morning the Bedouins discover that they are being followed by the troops of the Khedive and although they realize that their fight is a hopeless one against great odds determine to sell their lives as dearly as possible. A running cavalry fight follows in which the ferocious Turks and bloodthirsty Bedouins slash and cut at each other with razor edged scimitars. Borne down by sheer force of numbers, the Bedouins are exterminated one by one, each one of them, however, fighting off at least three Turks before being cut down. The Prince finally comes to the tent where Zohra, the Princess. Stanley Clyde and Zohra's father have hidden. The old man attempts to shield those in the tent, but the Prince brutally runs him through with his sword. Zohra, over his dead body, vows to be revenged upon the Prince, who has struck her father down in cold blood. Meanwhile the Princess and Clyde escape through the back of the tent into the desert. By feigning madness, Zohra aids in the escape of the Princess and Clyde. Prince Tousson pursues on horseback, but they elude him and come across the dead body of a dispatch bearer, who was conveying to the commander grave information of the impending massacre of the Christians. They decide to risk passing through the enemy's country for the purpose of delivering the dispatches. By a ruse, they evade capture, but are separated. The princess is finally captured and taken before the Khedive, who recognizes in the supposed spy the wife of his Prince. He threatens every kind of torture to make her betray the Christians, but suddenly dies of heart failure just as the Princess is about to kill herself to escape his tortures. The attendants arrest her for the murder of Said Pasha.
Episode 6: "The Crown of Death" Zohra has assumed a disguise and is employed in Prince Tousson's household. Zohra takes a secret poison from a vial she constantly carries and puts some of the liquid in a bowl. Later, when she has an opportunity. Zohra puts the slow poison in the prince's wine, from which he drinks deeply. Meanwhile the princess is arrested for murder of the Khedive. The cabinet, which has just passed on her case, is informed immediately afterward that the heir to the Egyptian throne has been taken prisoner. Realizing that the enemy would lose no time in seizing an empty throne, the cabinet at once proclaims Prince Tousson king. The prince is discovered surrounded by his girls and officers. The poisoned wine has just began to take effect and he faints. He falls exhausted on his lounge as a messenger hands him the document announcing his accession to the throne. The prince is overjoyed despite his weakness. Meanwhile, Clyde, who escaped from the Khedive's soldiers by a ruse, has reached the British camp and notified the officers of the threatened massacre of the Christians by the Turks. The British soldiers assemble their artillery and thunder away to help the Christians. The Princess next is seen peering from her prison cell at the grave which several slaves are digging in the courtyard of the prison, in anticipation of her execution. She is led out soon afterward and a priest offers up a prayer for her. The guards then lead her out to the place where she is to be executed. Zohra watches the king as he passes in a stupor through the streets. Zohra's poison finally kills the newly-created monarch. Consternation reigns among the cabinet officers and it is decided to suppress the news of the death of his highness in order that they may control the country under Mohammedan rule. Meanwhile the Princess is led to the edge of the grave which has been dug for her. The soldiers raise their guns to fire when, at the last moment, the Princess takes off her veil and shows them who she is. The Cadi recognizes Prince Tousson's wife, now the country's queen. The Cadi tells the Princess that Prince Tousson is dead and that she is the queen. The queen thereupon steps forward and addresses the people: "Soldiers and citizens: The king is dead. As your queen I command the release of the Christians." The Cadi, hearing her confession, is overwhelmed. He quickly recovers and denounces the queen as a traitor and a Christian spy. Natives and soldiers rush up toward the queen, intending to kill her. Meanwhile, however, the English soldiers have reached the outskirts of the city and ride swiftly toward the palace with their artillery, Clyde dashing ahead on horseback. The soldiers open their machine guns, which mow the natives down mercilessly. Clyde lights his way through the native soldiers at the head of his band, reaches the queen and helps her down the palace steps to safety over the bodies of the natives. The picture fades with the Princess resting in Clyde's arms.
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