Kara Ben Nemsi

On his adventurous travels trough the Ottoman empire, Kara ben-Nemsi (the Turkish-Arabic name means 'black(bearded) German', so author Karl May, whose alter-ego he is, would consider shaved blond Lex Barker miscast) and his bragging but helpless 'protector' hajji Halef pass the land of the Skipetars (modern Albanians, one of the few Balkanic people who adopted the Turkish Muslim faith) where a whole region is terrorized by the many accomplices of the secretive 'Schut', one of whose rackets is kidnapping for ransom locals and especially wealthy travelers such as Kara's friend Omar's fiancée. After unmasking the mübarek, a local phony 'magician', and dealing with some other ruffians and corruption, he and Lord Lindsay -who for once succeeds in escaping with his butler Archie by his own ruse- find out the Shut is actually the wealthy Persian carpet merchant Nirwan and set out to finish him off.

After dealing with the Shut in the Balkans, Kara Ben-Nemsi ('Karl the German') receives a firman (precious passport) from the padishah (Ottoman sultan) before he continues his travels through Kurdistan. Achmed El Corda, the son of Halef's Hadedhin Beduin tribe's sheik Mohammed Emin, has been captured by the machredsh (Turkish governor) of Mossul for resisting water seizure by his Turkish troops. Kara takes charge of the rescue. On their way, they help eccentric Lord David Lindsay and his butler Archie, who gallantly try to rescue an Oriental lady, as well as pir ('holy man') Kamek's sun-devoted Yessidi sect.

Kara Ben-Nemsi, friends and rescuees set out to free a young relative of the guardian of the treasure of the Chaldaeans 'Christian sect), who is captured for that fabulous ransom. They discover the machradsh of Mossul isn't dead. Indeed he teamed up with local gangster leader Abu Saif, focusing on revenge viz. the gold. The governor even maneuvers to be reinstated and have Kara declared wanted by the padishah. Kara manages to undo all that and save the Chaldaean treasure.