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Foiled Escape Plans!
In The Jewelled Caftan
and Burning Love,
Rosalind (Ross) Lindsay and Temple DuPlessis
Longworth are slender blonde beauties, who find themselves under the watchful eyes of
manly, brooding Sheikhs.
The heroine of The Jewelled Caftan by Margaret
Pargeter, Ross, is being protected by Sidi Armel ben Yussef after he
rescues her from desert barbarians in Morocco. After a tumultuous week with the short-tempered
desert bad boy, Ross plans a wreckless escape, aided by Salem, a guard of Armel's
desert camp.
Certainly, the plan is a weak one, even from the start: Salem speaks no English, and
the two resort to communicating via hand gestures and crude drawings. Admittedly, Ross has no
idea how this man is going to arrange the escape, and relies on the notion that "these people would have
their own way of going about such matters." The next morning, she gallops
away by horse, but doesn't think to bring along food or water, leaving this detail to Salem,
who brings provisions only for himself.
The poor planning of this hapless blonde becomes perilous by sundown. Fortunately,
however, she is saved from her own
inane actions by Armel and his men, who easily find her, and punish Salem with an old
fashioned whippin'.
In Burning Love by Nan Ryan, Temple's unsuccessful plan to escape Sheik Sharif Aziz Hamid also involves a crude map; however
she has the sense to pack a water canteen, dates and nuts for the impending desert journey.
Early one morning, Temple slips out
of bed, puts on a white silk dress--the only garment she has to wear--and heads toward her
stallion Toz. Unfortunately, as soon as she steps out of the tent, she is confronted by a
jewel-collared cheetah. Naturally, Sharif is instantly on hand to save the fair beauty
as he sweeps Temple in his arms and calms the snarling cheetah.
Similar to Armel in The Jewelled Caftan, Sharif was one step ahead of the blonde under
his charge and easily prevented an ill-fated escape from the safety of his desert camp.
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