[Frontispiece: Someone leaned above him to inspect his work. Chap X. ]

THE WAYFARERS LIBRARY

The

VALLEY of the KINGS

Marmaduke Pickthall

J. M. DENT & SONS. Ltd. 

LONDON

1914

THE

VALLEY OF THE KINGS

CHAPTER I

"Woe on you, mothers of nothing! May the scourge of Allah flay you asyou go!"

The mother of Iskender held the doorway of her little house in aposture of spitting defiance. Rancour, deep-rooted and boundless, ranged in her guttural snarl. Her black eyes burned to kill, theirthick brows quite united by the energy of her frown as she gazed acrossa sand-dell, chary of vegetation but profuse in potsherds, towards thewhite walls and high red roof of the Mission-house seen above a wave oftamarisks on the opposite dune. The hedge of prickly pear defining hersmall domain did not obstruct the view, for it consisted largely ofgaps, by one of which a group of three Frankish ladies had just gonefrom her. She could see their white-clad forms, under sunshades, downthere in the hollow, battling ungracefully with the sand for foothold. With one hand raised as a screen from the declining sun, the mother ofIskender clenched the other, and shook it down the pathway of thoseladies so that the bracelets of coloured glass tinkled upon her strongbrown arm. 

"Ha, Carūlīn, most ancient virgin, thy stalk is a crane's! There isneither flesh nor blood in thee, but only gristle and dry skin. Thyheart is gall and poison. . . . O Jane, thou art a fruit all husk;half man, yet lacking man's core, half maid, yet lacking woman's pulp!In thee is no fount of joy, no sweetness. Did love of our BlessedSaviour and the Sacred Book bring the pair of you to this land? ByAllah, not so; well I know it! It was the love of change, ofadventure; and what is that in a virgin save the hope of men? And now, seeing none have desired you, your longing is turned to hatred of allthings sweet! My son is bad, you declare; it is a grace for him to beallowed to sweep your house. But the son of Costantīn--that sly-eyeddevil!--he is good: of him you make a clergyman, a grand khawājah!Have I not washed these twenty years for you and the false priest whosethings you are? Was I not among the first to profess your damningheresy? The house of Costantīn are converts of last year. Let Allahjudge between us this day. "

She paused a moment, the better to gesticulate a frantic reverence tothe ladies, now on the opposite slope, who were waving hands to her. 

"O poor little Hilda! Thou art a ripe fruit that whispers 'Pluck me. 'But those two sexless devils guard thee sleeplessly. Thou wast notangry when Iskender kissed thy mouth. Is it likely, since thou didstincite him to it by previously stroking his hand? But the rest, thykeepers. . . . Holy Mother of God! . . . When shall I hear the lastof my son's guilt! Iskender is vile, Iskender is worthless, Iskenderis the son of all things evil. Ah, if the great lady, the mother ofGeorge, had been here, you would never have dared to use the poor ladso, for she loved him from a babe. But alas! she is away in yournative land, watching the education of her many children. You and thepriest, her husband, were gentler in your ways while she was here. Butsince she left, you have become true devils. Aye, you are right, forsooth, and the whole world of nature is quite wrong. May Allah setthe foot of Iskender upon the necks of you, O false saints!"

With a parting menace of the fist, she turned indoors, still snarling. After the sun-glare on the sands, the room was darkness. Doorway andunshuttered casement framed each its vision of relentless light; but noray entered. 

The place consisted of a single chamber, which, with door and windowopen as at present, became a draughtway for what air there was. Acurtain veiled one corner, where the beds were stowed in daytime, withwhatever else was unpresentable through dirt or breakage: for theladies of the Mission valued tidiness above all virtues, and claimedthe right to inspect the abode of their washerwoman and pet proselyte. The mother of Iskender courted their inspection, being secured againstcomplete surprise by the position of her house upon an eminence whenceapproaching visitors could be descried a long way off. To-day she hadrun to meet them with delighted cries; but old Carūlīn had met thewelcome in the dullest manner, stalking on into the house, where, instated in the only chair, with hands crossed on the handle of herparasol, she proceeded to give judgment on Iskender, while Jane andHilda, standing one on either side, contributed their sad Amen to allshe said. 

"We are more grieved than we can express, Sarah, " the old devilconcluded in her creaking voice; "more especially on your account, whoare a Christian woman. It is solely out of regard for you that we areprepared to take him as a servant, provided he repents and mends hisways. We cannot have him associating with men like that Elias. "

She spoke as the mouthpiece of the missionary, the dispenser of wealthand preferment. Sarah was obliged to thank the Lord for her kindness, instead of tearing her eyes out, or treading her dog-face level withthe ground. Yet Iskender was robbed of his birthright. It had alwaysbeen known that one boy of the little congregation would be made aclergyman; and Iskender was clearly designated, his parents having beenthe first converts, and himself the spoilt child of the Mission tillsix months ago. Furthermore, he was fatherless, a widow's only son. Yet Asad son of Costantīn was put before him. Asad had a father--aye, and a clever one--a father who dwelt at the Mission-house, and wasalways at the ladies' ears with cunning falsehoods. If only Iskender'sfather--the righteous Yācūb--had been still alive! . . . 

Thus brooding on her wrongs, with lips still murmurous, the mother ofIskender brushed a hand across her eyes, and looked about her. Therewas the chair still standing in the middle of the room where Carūlīnhad sat. 

Snatching up the defiled thing, she swung it to its usual place besidethe wall, banging it down with spiteful energy enough to break it. Having stooped to make sure that it was not actually broken, shebrushed her eyes again, and wept a little. Then, on a sudden thought, she sprang to the curtained corner, and, groping among mattresses andsweat-stained coverlets which the ladies from the Mission never daredturn over, brought forth a picture of the Blessed Virgin which Iskenderhad made for her with the help of a paint-box given to him by the SittHilda on his eighteenth birthday. This she set upon a stool againstthe wall and, crossing herself, knelt down before it. Here was one atleast to whom she could expose her wrongs, secure of sympathy--a womanof almighty influence bound to her in the common tie of motherhood. 

Was not Iskender clever, handsome, good? For what could any one preferthat lanky, pig-eyed son of Costantīn the gardener--the convert of aday, whereas Iskender had been a Protestant from his birth? Naturally, she had looked for some reward of her long adherence. But lo; theythrust her aside, exalting in her stead the mother of Asad son ofCostantīn. They would never have dared to do it if the wife of themissionary, the excellent mother of George, had not been absent withher children in the land of the English. 

At the first planting of the Mission here upon the sandhills, it hadseemed to many Christians of the town to promise escape from therepressive shadow of the Muslim, and the protection of a foreign flagwhich bore the Cross. O sad delusion! That cold priest, thosebloodless women, considered nothing but their own comfort. To thatthey made every convert minister; their notion being to patronise andnot to raise; witness Allah how she herself had slaved for them, obeyedand flattered them, for twenty years! By the Gospel, it was blackingratitude that the son of Costantīn should be set apart for theirpriesthood, be made an Englishman, a grand khawājah, whilst Iskenderwas offered employment--mark the kindness!--as a scullion and a sweeperin their house--Iskender, who had been their favourite till a month ago!

How had he fallen? Ah, that was a joke indeed! Listen, O Holy Miriamand all saints! It was because one hot afternoon, at theirBible-class, he had kissed the pretty Sitt Hilda, who sat close to him, teaching. Forgetting he was no longer a child, she had caressed hishand approvingly; that was Hilda's tale. A likely one, forsooth! Andthe lad quite sick for love of her, as an infant of the female sex musthave perceived blindfold! Already, before that, they had begun topersecute the lad, finding fault with his painting, his idleness, hislanguage, his smoking--Allah knows with what besides!--so that he wasvexed in mind, no longer quite himself. From his birth he had been asensitive boy, always responsive to a touch of kindness. He was inlove with the Sitt Hilda, and his mind was clouded; she touched himfondly, and he kissed her mouth. It was all quite natural. As wellblame flowers for opening to the sun! Iskender was immoral, was he?Then what should be said of those who set such ripe and tempting fruitbefore a youth of the ravenous age, simply to punish him if he made abite? Ah, they were moral, doubtless! But Our Lady Miriam and theHost of Heaven thought otherwise, they might be sure!

And if, in the month which had elapsed since then, he had turned hisback on prayer-meetings and haunted taverns of the town, whose faultwas that? His new associates were not depraved. Their only crime wasthat they were not Protestants. Even Elias Abdul Messīh, the cause ofall this outcry, was a respectable man, only scatter-brained andlight-hearted. He was a Christian, not a Muslim or an idolater, sowhat was there to justify such bitter chiding?

The missionaries called it a crime in Iskender that he idled abroad, trying to make a likeness of the things he saw with his pencils andpaints--the gift of the Sitt Hilda, mark that well! It was all theirown doing, yet so wrong! Did he smoke a cigarette, it was a sin! Didhe call in talk upon the name of Allah--a sin most deadly! . . . 

"Peace on this house!" said a man's complacent voice at the doorway. 

Still on her knees, the mother of Iskender turned and peered at thedisturber, pressing both hands to her temples. In her confusion on thestart the greeting gave her she failed at first to recognise the figurestanding forth against the sand-glare, which, now that evening drew on, had the colour of ripe wheat. 

"O mother of Iskender, how is thy health to-day?" pursued the visitor;and then she knew him for the brother of her dead husband. 

"Is it thyself, Abdullah?" She rose up to greet him. "My soul hasgrief this day on account of Iskender. They treat him shamefully overyonder--worse than a dog!"

Abdullah rejected her offer of the only chair in favour of a cushion bythe wall. He was an elderly man of most respectable appearance, beingclad in a blue zouave jacket and pantaloons, both finely braided, acrimson sash at his waist, and on his head a low-crowned fez with longblue tassel hanging to the neck. He wore top boots and held a whip, though he had not come riding. The skin of his face had withered inloose folds, leaving the bushy grey moustache and brows undulyprominent, a crowd of wrinkles round his large brown eyes giving aneffect of intelligence to orbs whose real expression was a calmstupidity in keeping with the general dignity of his demeanour. 

"Even the son of Costantīn--that dirt!--is preferred before him. Inthis minute I was kneeling to our gracious Lady on his behalf. "

"Praise to her!" exclaimed Abdullah, crossing himself. "There is nonelike her in a difficulty, as I, of all men living, have best cause toknow, since she gave me all that I possess. "

"Allah increase thy wealth!" said Sarah hastily, fearing the story shehad heard a thousand times. 

Years ago the respectable Abdullah had been no better than a sot andwastrel, having contracted the habit of drunkenness at Port Said, wherehe spent three years as porter in a small hotel. He had squandered allhis savings and had drunk himself to the verge of madness, when onesummer night, as he lay on the floor of his house (as he himselfexpressed it) "between drunk and sober, " the Mother of God appeared tohim, "all white and blinding like the sand at noon. " The vision, aftergazing on him a space, stretched out its hand and vanished. That wasall. But Abdullah arose with new heart. Thenceforth he honouredhimself, whom God had honoured. The change in him was plain for all tosee, and he proclaimed the cause of it aloud with streaming eyes. TheOrthodox Church confirmed the miracle, which made a noise at the time. The Patriarch himself wrote the seer a long letter. People who hadlong since washed their hands of the drunken reprobate vied one withanother to help the known favourite of Heaven. Abdullah obtained goodemployment, first in an hotel at Jerusalem, then with an Englishtraveller of importance. Now, for some years, he had been a trusteddragoman in the pay of a mysterious power called Cook. His religiousvogue had passed, his story and the miracle involved were quiteforgotten of the multitude. But Abdullah himself remembered, viewinghis respectability at the present day with the same feelings of awe andreverence with which he had received it at the first. It was themantle of the Blessed Virgin, her gift to him. In it lay all his hopefor this world and the next. 

"It is of Iskender that I come to speak, " he said, having pulled outhis moustache to the utmost and swallowed twice with solemn gulpspreliminary to the announcement. "It hurts my soul to see him wastingtime----"

"Enough! enough, I say!" The woman screamed aloud to drown his words. "Am I not already killed with such bad talk, deafened with it, maddenedwith it every day from morn till night. Ah, by the Gospel, it hasgrown past bearing! They will no longer make a priest of our Iskender;that honour is for the son of Costantīn;--low, cunning devil! Iskendermay now, as a favour, sweep their house. Here, in this very room, onyonder chair, the abandoned Carūlīn sat and told me the fine news--tome, the mainstay of the Mission, who have not missed a prayer-meetingfor twenty years----"

"Allah is merciful!" ejaculated the dragoman. Though himself a staunchsupporter of the Holy Orthodox Church, he had a regard for theProtestant, as the faith of the wealthy English. He had looked forwardto the welcoming smile of English travellers when he told them that hisnephew was a Protestant clergyman. This rejection of Iskender wastherefore a disappointment to him. Nevertheless, since God so willedit, there were other occupations that the boy could follow. Moreinsupportable by far was the screaming fury of this woman, which, hefeared, might lead her to disgrace her relatives by overt rudenesstowards the English missionaries. He said:

"The flush of anger well becomes thee. By Allah, it enriches thy darkbeauty, like the bloom on purple grapes. "

The mother of Iskender started and blushed hotly, struck in the face bysuch audacious flattery. She exclaimed:

"Be silent, imbecile! Are such words for the ear of one like me? Keepthy fine phrases for the tourist ladies, who know the fashion, and cananswer thee. "

"Nay, the daughters of our land nowadays rival the foreign ladies inwit and fashion, " said Abdullah gravely, pursuing his advantage. "Imyself assisted at a wedding in Beyrūt where the ladies talked andjested freely with the gentlemen, with roars of laughter in theFrankish manner. Ah, that was a sight! A hundred carriages, allfestively bedecked, conveyed the guests to church, with cracking ofwhips and shoutings to clear a way. All the women were arrayed insplendid dresses brought from Fransa, and grand big hats with ostrichplumes and flying ribbons. A sight, I tell thee, equal to anything tobe seen in Barīs or Lūndra. "

"Thou seest such things!" The mother of Iskender pouted, envious. "Here there is never anything to call a show. Even when Daūd el Barūdimarried, there were no fine dresses. Every woman present wore thehead-veil. I fain would try a Frankish hat myself; but the ladies willnot let me--curse their father!"

"They fear to be outshone, " put in Abdullah, and continued quickly, apprehending a fresh storm: "Now, as concerns Iskender, I have aproject for thee. It was for that I came here, not to blame the lad. Know that a young Englishman arrived yesterday at the Hotel Barūdi, insearch of amusement, it would seem, for when Selīm Barūdi inquired howlong he wished to stay, he replied it might be all his life if theplace pleased him. From that and the plenteousness of his luggage Iconclude him to be the son of a good house--no less than an Emīr, byAllah--though why he comes here out of season Allah knows! Elias andthe rest have not got wind of him. He as yet knows no one in the landexcept the two Barūdis and myself, who met him at their house an hourago. My plan is to present our dear one to him----"

At this point Iskender's mother interrupted him with sudden outcry asof one possessed:

"Aha, O cruel priest! O soured virgins! Let the son of Costantīn beyour dog if he will. My son shall tread on all your faces, the friendof an Emīr. "

She shook her fist towards the Mission, seen in fierce sunlight throughthe shadowed doorway. 

"Hush, woman!" cried Abdullah in an agony. Her foolish words set waspsabout his head. "For the love of Allah, let Iskender anger no man, butbe supple, politic, and so respected. Now that he is cast off by yourBrūtestānts, there is nothing for it but he must become a dragoman. The Englishman of whom I spoke is but a step. He has need of all men'sfavour, and must court it diligently. . . . Where is the boy himself?I thought to find him. "

"Ask me not where he is!" The woman raised her hands despairingly. "He went out early this morning with his paint-things, and has notreturned. May his house be destroyed! He is the worst of sons. Heshuns all counsel, and does nothing that one asks of him. How oftenhave I begged him to renounce his painting, or to go with me to theMission and make show of penitence. As well instruct the sand. It islikely he will scout this plan of thine. Oh, what have I ever done tobe thus afflicted? Why, why has he not the wit of Asad son ofCostantīn?"

"Let us go out and meet him, " proposed old Abdullah, still bent ondiverting her mind from its maddening grievance. "He cannot be faroff, and to smell the air is pleasant at this hour. "

The mother of Iskender flung her cares aside. To walk out by the sideof so respectable a man, at an hour when many people took the air uponthe sandhills, was to gain distinction. She draped a black lace shawlupon her head, while Abdullah strode to the doorway and stared out, flicking his boots with his whip. Then, gathering up the skirt of herflowered cotton gown in one hand, she placed the other in Abdullah'sarm, ready crooked to receive it. 

"It is the fashionable way, " she tittered as they set forth. 

CHAPTER II

Beyond the ancient town and its dark green orange gardens, between thetilled plain and the shore, the sandhills roll away to north and south, with here a dwelling, there a patch of herbage. To Iskender, lyingprone on the crest of the highest dune, caught up into the laugh ofsunset, their undulations appeared flushed and softly dimpled, like theflesh of babes. Returning homeward, hungry, from a day of muchadventure, he had espied from this eminence a camp of nomads in acertain hollow, and at once forgot his supper in desire to sketch it. He had settled to the work with such complete absorption that EliasAbdul Messīh, his companion, for once grew tired of the sound of hisown voice, and left him, with a sigh for his obtuseness. And Iskenderwas glad to be rid of him, to lie alone and nurse his secret joy; forhe had this day made the acquaintance of an Englishman, whoseaffability restored his pride of life. Might Allah bless thatlight-haired youth, for he was the very lord of kindness, and beautifulas an angel from Allah. His cheeks had the same rose-bloom as the SittHilda's, while his blue eyes danced and sparkled like sea-waves insunlight. How different from the priest of the Mission, whose gaze wasof green ice! Moreover, he had praised Iskender's painting and taughthim a trick of colouring, which consisted in washing the page yellowand letting it dry before setting to work on it. The artist had neverbeen so happy since the day, six months ago, when the missionary haddeclared against his sketching as mere waste of time. The ladies ofthe Mission, who had fostered it, obsequious to the edict, thencondemned it strongly. His mother, too, turned round and blamed himfor it. Only the Sitt Hilda still was kind, comforting him in secret, till his love leapt up. And then came outer darkness. Iskender was aprofligate, and driven forth. 

Debarred from Christian society, hardly less than Muslim, by hisEnglish education and his Protestantism, he was a pariah in his ownland. This very morning, sketching a gateway in the town, he had beenbeaten by some Muslim boys and called an idol-maker; and, traversing aChristian hamlet among the gardens, had been reviled and pelted by itsOrthodox inhabitants. For company he had been obliged to consort withEnglish-speaking touts and dragomans, who welcomed his proficiency inthe foreign tongue; and these he hated, for they mocked his art. Theone exception was Elias Abdul Messīh. Elias could read Arabic fluently(a feat beyond Iskender, who had been schooled in English), and fromtrips to Beyrūt and the towns of Egypt had brought back any number ofmiraculous romances, which he read and read again until they turned hisbrain. Impersonating the chief characters, he dwelt in a world ofmagical adventure, and spoke from thence to ears that understood not. For this he was named the Liar and the Boaster, and, though well liked, derided. He had taken a fancy to Iskender, and often sat beside theartist while he sketched. 

His talk revealed new worlds to the pupil of the English missionaries, who hitherto had looked to England as the realm of romanticambition--the land where, by simply entering holy orders, a poor son ofthe Arabs could attain to wealth and luxury. Now, for the first time, he was shown the wonders of the East. Elias, in his tales, despisedthe Christians, his own folk, anathematised the Jews, and praised theMuslims, till Iskender longed to embrace the doctrine of Muhammad, andbecome a freeman of the land of old romance. But when he said as much, Elias shook his head. It was known that every Muslim would be damnedeternally. 

Moved by the example of this friend, Iskender's brain conceived wilddreams of greatness, enabling him in imagination to enslave the wickedmissionaries and carry off his blushing love amid applause. He toldElias that his father, Yācūb, had left a treasure buried in the ground, which he would dig up some day, and astound mankind; and Elias acceptedthe statement as quite probable. But such fancies were of no realcomfort to Iskender, being rendered feverish by his sense of wrong. Hehad known no solace till this day at noon, when the English youth fromthe hotel had smiled on him. Now, once again, he looked to England asof old--to England where great honours were conferred on painters. 

With a final dab at the sky, he held his picture off from him, to markthe effect. In love with the figure of a camel belonging to the camp, which was chewing the cud superbly in the foreground, he had atunawares so magnified the creature that it bestrode the whole page ofhis drawing-book; while the camp itself, the sandhills, some scatteredhouses and a palm-tree in the distance, the very sky, seemed no morethan the pattern of a carpet upon which it stood. There was somethingwrong, he perceived--something to do with that perspective which, despite instructions from the Sitt Hilda, he could never rightlycomprehend. 

But his pride in the monster camel condoned everything. He justlengthened all the tent-ropes a little with his smallest paint-brush, thereby imparting to the black pavilions a look of spiders squashed bythe triumphant beast, and laid aside his work, well pleased. Therewere many groups abroad, of people enjoying the cool evening; he sawthem stalking ghostlike in the coloured light; but they kept to thebound sand of the trodden pathways, and if any one descried him on hisperch, none laboured up to see what he was after. 

At ease upon the ground, with chin on palm, he tried to judge whatcolours would be needed in order faithfully to reproduce the sunsetglow. He compared that glow to the insurgent blood ever ready tomantle in the cheeks of the Sitt Hilda; but this was a warmer, swarthier flush than ever dyed the white skin of a Frank. Then, looking east, he watched the blue increase on the horizon, its drowsyglimmer radiating thoughts of rest, as if a hovering spirit whispered"Hush!" A star glanced out above the distant palm-tree; in thatdirection it was night already behind the crimsoned earth. A flashfrom the grand glass windows of the Mission, ruddy with the last ofdaylight, caused him to wag his head and sigh:

"Would to Allah I were rich like one of them!" The English youth fromthe hotel had laughed at missionaries. Though here so great andpowerful, it seemed they were little thought of in their own country. When Iskender eagerly inquired whether a famous painter would take rankbefore them, the Englishman had said: "Yes, rather!" with his merrylaugh. 

"O Allah, help me, " was Iskender's prayer now, "that I may travel tothe countries of the Franks, and reap the honour they accord topainters!"

This with a fond glance at his drawing-book, which contained acamel--ah, but a camel such as Allah made him!--a camel worthy to beframed in gold and hung in king's palaces!

"Is--ken--der!" A shrill, trailing cry disturbed his reverie; when, looking forth in the direction of the sound, he saw in a dell beneath, where ran a footpath, a man and a woman standing still amid theshadows, gazing up at him. 

"Ya Iskender! Make haste, descend, come down to us!" The call cameagain more peremptorily. 

The voice was his mother's. Muttering, "May her house be destroyed!"he emptied the pannikin of paint-foul water which he had carried withhim all day long, picked up his drawing-book, and obeyed. As heprepared to descend, the last red gleam forsook the sand-crests, leaving them ashy white. 

"Make haste, O shameless loiterer. We bring thee news--fine news!Praise Allah who assigned to thee Abdullah for an uncle--one so kind, so considerate, so thoughtful for thy welfare. ~. ~. ~. But first I musttell thee how the three ladies came in thy absence to inform me oftheir intention to educate the son of Costantīn to be a clergyman;whilst thou, whose mother has washed for them these twenty years, artrequired to sweep their house. "

"What matter!" rejoined Iskender, with a listless shrug. "My ambitionis to visit the country of the Franks and gain the honour of a mightypainter. "

His mother stretched out her hands to heaven, screaming:

"Hear him, Allah! Is he not bewitched? Desire of the lady Hilda hasmade him mad. O Holy Maryam, O Mar Jiryis and all saints, condemnthose who have led him thus to ruin. Hear him now; he would makepictures! Well, to Allah the praise; but it is their doing!~. ~. ~. Now, for the love of Allah, put such toys aside and hear Abdullah'sgenerous plan for thy advancement. Know that a young Englishman haslately come to the Hotel Barūdi----"

"I know that well, " Iskender grunted irritably. "He is my friend. This day he spent two hours with me. "

"Thy friend!~. ~. ~. O merciful Allah!" cried his mother. 

"Thou knowest him?" exclaimed Abdullah, much affronted. 

"Come, cease thy dreaming, tell the story, mad-man!" His mother shookhis arm and screamed at him. "Art possessed with thy dumb devil. Speak! What sayest thou?"

"May thy father perish!" cried Iskender, startled. 

"Curse thy religion!" retorted his mother hotly. "Is thy uncle dirt tobe thus disregarded? Ask his pardon, O my dear!"

Abdullah the dragoman laughed at that, and suggested they had best bemoving, for the night was near. A trace of grievance lingered in hisvoice and manner, for he loved ceremonies, and had looked forward to aformal presentation of his nephew to the English nobleman. 

"Come, tell the story of thy day!" he too insisted. At first it hadnot been a happy one, Iskender told them. He had tried to paint thebeauty of the sea between two dunes, but it turned to a blue gate onyellow gate-posts; then a boat turned upside down upon the beach, butthe portrait made resembled nothing earthly. Then the Englishman hadtaught him a new way, and things went well, and he had drawn acamel. ~. ~. ~. 

He was opening his sketch-book to display the masterpiece; but hismother shrieked:

"Who cares to hear all that. Tell of the Englishman; how came he withthee?"

"They stoned me, " he replied indifferently; "and I was running fromthem, weeping, when he met me, and I cried to him in English to protectme. He had compassion on me, and admired my pictures----"

Iskender became aware that his companions were no longer listening, sostopped abruptly. His uncle seemed to think some miracle had happened, for he heard him praising Allah and the Holy Virgin, the while hismother kept exclaiming in her shrill-pitched tones. His mind strayedfar from them, occupying itself with distant features of the landscape. All the earth was now obscure: stars sparkled in the dome of the sky. From a high, sandy neck their path surmounted, he beheld the minaretsof the town, seeming to cut the sky above the sharp sea-line. Thetimbre of his mother's voice made for inattention like the monotonousshrill note of the cicada; and he had at all times a trick ofprojecting his wits into the scene around him, whence it needed a shoutto re-collect them, as she knew to her grievance. She shouted now, andpunched him in the back:

"Forget not to tell the Emīr that thou art a Brūtestant, which is halfan Englishman. "

Jarred in his bones by her shrillness, he exclaimed:

"Merciful Allah! Is my mother mad? The Emīr! In the name of angels, what Emīr?"

"O Holy Maryam! Am I not unblessed in such a son? What wonder thatthe priest and the ladies favour the son of Costantīn--may his house bedestroyed!--who has at least the grace to listen when one speaks tohim. ~. ~. ~. Thou goest in the morning to the Hotel Barūdi, to visitformally this English youth, who is an Emīr in his own country, andproffer thy services. Thou wilt present thyself before him, not as nowin a soiled kaftan, but in thy best. Give him to know how thy motheris esteemed by the missionaries, how thou art thyself a Brūtestānt ofthe English Church. "

"Whist!" said Abdullah warningly. 

Some one was hurrying towards them down the path. 

"Who is it?" breathed the mother of Iskender. 

It was Elias, who was looking for his friend. 

"No word to him, or all is lost!" hissed old Abdullah. 

But Elias for the moment had no ears. After parting from Iskender hehad been seized with a new and vivid inspiration, and felt the need ofhis accustomed listener. Dragging his friend aside he whisperedbreathlessly:

"I am in great haste. A lady--ah, a beauty!--waits for me--a Muslimeh, I do assure thee--one of the most closely guarded. I go now to thetryst. It is to risk my life; but what care I, for love has maddenedme. I would not tell a living soul save thee; but if I die in theadventure, thou wilt pray for me. I sought thee in thy house, butfound thee not. "

"May Allah guard and prosper thee!" replied Iskender. 

But by then his friend was gone, driven on by the fierce wind of hisimagining towards the house-door, not far distant, where his wife stoodlooking for him. Iskender could not prevent a lump from rising in histhroat at the vision of requited love, however perilous. From a dreamof the Sitt Hilda he was roused by his mother saying:

"Thou must sup with us, O Abdullah! After all thy kindness toIskender, thou canst scarce refuse me. "

They were at the house. 

With a polite show of reluctance Abdullah entered, and sat down besidethe wall, while Iskender helped his mother spread the feast for him. Then, when all was ready, the young man wrapped some morsels in a pieceof bread, and carried them out beyond the threshold, to be alone. Squatting there, he was once more happy in thoughts of the fair youngEnglishman who, though a prince, had shown such kindness towards him. By Allah, he would give his life for that sweet youth. He asked nobetter than to serve him always. 

The highest lobes of the cactus hedge before him were like great handsshorn of fingers thrust against the sky. Through a gap he beheld thelights of the Mission--fierce hostile eyes intent upon his thoughts. The wail and bark of a jackal came from the landward plain. 

"Praise to Allah!" The voice of his mother raised for a moment aboveits monotone caused him to turn and look into the house. 

They had made an end of eating in there and were now arranging theprogramme of Iskender's conduct towards the young Emīr. His uncle satcross-legged by the wall, puffing slowly at a narghīleh, his motheropposite to him, in the same posture, also with a narghīleh, notsmoking for the moment, but leaning forward with one hand out, talkingeagerly. A saucer-lamp stood on the floor between them, among remnantsof the feast; it caused their faces to look ghastly, lighted thus frombelow, and sent their shadows reeling up the wall. The woman declaimeduntiringly with gestures of demonstration, and the man kept acquiescingby a nod which set the tassel of his fez in motion. 

The dull sententiousness of the dragoman and his mother's shrill, rashjudgments were alike irritating to Iskender. They claimed tounderstand the foreigners perfectly; and in truth they knew enough ofthe foibles of the lords of gold to secure to themselves a livelihood. They had never, either of them, loved a Frank. 

CHAPTER III

Next morning Iskender was disturbed at daybreak by the movements of hismother in the house. With her black locks all dishevelled, she wasputting out his grandest clothes and dusting them in the feeblelamp-light. 

"Though shalt wear this sweet suit which thy father left thee, " shecroaked out when she knew he was awake. "That and thy new tarbūsh andthe great umbrella. Wallah, thou wilt fill men's eyes. Now rise, andmake haste with thy washing. "

He rose accordingly and, having dedicated his works to God, dipped ahand-bowl in the earthen jar which served as cistern, and carried itout on to the sand before the threshold. There the rising colour ofthe dawn bewitched him; he was reminded of a certain trumpet-flowerwhich bloomed at Easter on the Mission walls--a flower with purplepetals and the gleam of gold in its heart; and, all on fire to registerthe rare impression, he left his bowl of water on the sand andre-entered the house to fetch his book and paint-box. But his mothertried to wrest them from him, cursing him for a maniac, and before hecould shake her off the colours of the sky had changed completely. Thelittle disappointment made life vain. In a pet, he overturned thebasin of water, robbed of the heart to wash his face and hands. Then, as his mother still kept screaming for him, he went indoors and donnedthe clothes which she had laid ready. Even then she would not let himbe, but pulled and patted at the garments till he lost his temper, andmade a rush for the door. A horrified shriek recalled him. Theumbrella! He had forgotten that! His mother thrust it on him. Gathered up into a bunch and tied, not folded, it in shape resembled acharged distaff of unusual size. With it tucked beneath his arm, theyouth escaped at last into the rosy sunlight. 

Up on the well-marked road which runs out to the Mission from the townhe encountered Costantīn, the missionary's servant, driving a donkeyburdened with two jars of water up towards the house. Costantīnremarked upon his finery, and asked where he was going. He showed anamiable inclination to stop and talk. But Iskender hurried on, merelyexplaining that he was going to be a great painter in the land of theEnglish. Costantīn stood scratching his head and staring after him. 

The road soon left the sandhills and meandered through thickorange-groves, full of shade and perfume and the hum of bees. Here headvanced with circumspection, and at a turn of the way stood still toreconnoitre. 

From that point he could see a Christian village, dignified in thedistance by two palm-trees put up like sunshades over its squat mudhovels. The tiny church stood apart, quite overshadowed by an ancientilex. It was there that he had been pelted yesterday; but at presentall looked safe. Only two human beings were in sight--the priest, oneMītri, eminent in black robe and tower-like headdress, sat in thoughtbeneath the oak-tree, and a child in a sky-blue kirtle sprawled at playupon the threshold of one of the houses. The coo of doves and cluck ofhens, the only voices, sounded peaceful in the sun-filled air. Iskender moved on, trusting hard in Allah to save his Sunday clothesfrom base defilement. 

The priest Mītri, seated in the shade, was playing an innocent gamewith two pebbles, which he threw into the air and caught alternately, when Iskender, approaching humbly, wished him a happy day. He returnedthe greeting mechanically, then, seeing who it was, let fall hisplaythings and stared solemnly at the disturber. Iskender becameuncomfortably conscious of his festive raiment, more especially of theumbrella, which seemed to fascinate Mītri. 

For release from the embarrassment of being silently devoured by eyesas fierce and prominent as a bull's, he paused before the priest andasked his blessing. At that the staring orbs betrayed amazement; theirowner raised a hand to stroke his long black beard. The child in thesky-blue shift had left its play to observe the encounter. Standing upagainst the darkness of the doorway it revealed the figure of a slimyoung girl. 

Still gazing fixedly at the suppliant, who stood trembling before him, the priest seemed to ponder the request. Then suddenly he sprang tohis feet, crying: "Come with me!" and, seizing Iskender's arm, draggedthe terrified youth into the church, of which the door stood open. Inthere the sudden gloom, combined with a stale smell of incense, overpowered the victim. 

"Prostrate thy sinful self!" the priest enjoined. 

Iskender fell upon his face obediently. To perform the prostration hewas obliged to discard for a moment the great umbrella. When he rosefrom his knees the priest had hold of it. 

"Wherefore dost thou require a blessing of me?"

Iskender confessed that he was about to present himself before acertain great one, in the hope of patronage, and felt the need ofHeaven's favour to support his worthlessness. 

"What is his name, this great one?"

"That I know not. The man in question is the young Inklīzi who honoursthe hotel of Mūsa el Barūdi. I know only that he is a great Emīr, andhates the missionaries. "

"Then he must be of the High Church of that land, which yet holdsfaithful, christening by immersion, and scorning the interpolation ofthe swine of Rome. May he be a guide to thee, poor unbaptized one. Now, for the blessing, give me ten piasters!"

"Ten piasters!" gasped Iskender. 

The enraged ecclesiastic pinched the objector's ear, and twisted ituntil its owner writhed in anguish. "For a heretic like thee it shouldbe thrice as much. Remember I have power to bind as well as to loose. Insult this place again with heathen haggling, and by the keys ofheaven and of hell, I curse thee leprous. "

Iskender fell on his knees and howled for mercy. 

"I have no money with me, " he explained most piteously. 

"Is that in truth the case?" The priest let go his ear, and seemed tomeditate. Iskender was aware of the girl in the sky-blue robe gazingin at the doorway. Her presence added to his ignominy. "No matter!Thou shalt pay the price another time, and in the meanwhile I shallkeep this fine umbrella. "

"Alas, it is not mine!" Iskender wrung his hands. 

But Mītri had already withdrawn into the inner darkness of thesanctuary, whence he emerged directly, but without the umbrella. Something white and glittering now adorned his shoulders. 

As he came towards Iskender, the light from the doorway picking him outfrom the surrounding gloom, he seemed to bear with him a mysticradiance. The young man knelt instinctively and pressed his foreheadto the ground; while the voice of the priest, now grown tender andmelodious, seemed to warble far above him like a voice from heaven. Anangel stood in the place of his late tormentor. 

"It is not thy fault that thou art a Brūtestānt, " said Mītri kindly, when the blessing was concluded. "Come to me sometimes; let us talkthings over. I discern in thee some mind to know the truth. "

"Is he indeed a Brūtestānt, my father?" The girl in the sky-blue shirthad stolen close to them. "Ah, woe is me that one so goodly should gothe way of everlasting punishment!"

She wore no garment but the long straight kirtle. Her hair, broughtlow round either temple to be plaited in a tail behind, increased theshadow of her eyes--great thoughtful eyes, which made the childish facedivine. Iskender, smitten dumb with admiration, at that moment thoughtof Protestantism as a foul crone. 

"May thy house be destroyed, O Nesībeh, shameless girl!" the priestrebuked her. "What have this youth's looks to do with thee? Thou artgrown too big to be allowed such freedom. It is time thou didst assumethe veil, and with it modesty. " He took his daughter's hand andfondled it, none the less, adding: "Whence this religious fervour, soulof mischief?"

It was with a sigh that Iskender parted from them and he went slowly, often turning to look back at the little church beneath the oak-tree, till his road debouched into a crowded highway, where the long intentprocession of the fellāhīn conveying the produce of their fields tomarket on the backs of camels, mules and asses, on the heads of women, reminded him of his own errand. He then made haste to the hotel ofMūsa el Barūdi. 

The two sons of Mūsa, Daūd and Selīm, clad in robes of striped silk, and high red fezzes, sat out on stools, one on either side of thedoorway, to feel the morning sun and chat with wayfarers. Behind them, against the doorpost, leaned a tall negro in white robe and turban, whoheld a broom in his hand, but seemed to have done with sweeping. Iskender approached this group with low obeisance. 

"Is his Highness the Emīr within?"

The black alone condescended to heed the inquiry. He replied with thebroadest of grins:

"May Allah heal thy intelligence. Art possessed with a devil, or ajoker merely?"

"I mean the young khawājah who resides here all alone, " Iskenderexplained, replying to the negro, though his eyes kept looking fromDaūd to Selīm, whose perfect impassivity surprised him. He grieved forthe loss of his umbrella, which would have compelled more respect. 

"Ah, " grinned the negro, seeing light. "He is at breakfast. "

"Then with permission, I will wait till he comes forth. "

"What is this youth?" cried Daūd irritably, without looking. 

"Bid him depart!" said Selīm, moving impatiently in his seat as thougha fly annoyed him. 

Of a sudden both the brothers rose and bowed profoundly, laying hand tobreast, and lips, and brow, as a Muslim notable passed up the street onhorseback. Then they sank down again, and the obsequious smile diedaway on their faces, leaving them cold and haughty as before. 

"The great khawājah is my very good friend. He loves me dearly, "proffered Iskender in his own excuse. "By Allah, he is the nicest ofmen! He will be overjoyed to find me here this morning. "

The scornful eyes of Daūd glanced on him for a brief moment, whileSelīm, in his turn, questioned:

"Who is this?"

"Is it not the son of one Yācūb, a muleteer, who sold his soul yearsago to the English missionaries. It seems such renegades are wellpaid, for behold the raiment of this youth. What wouldst thou here, Odog, son of a dog?"

"I ask but to see my friend the Emīr, who loves me dearly--by Allah, Ispeak but the truth!" pleaded Iskender, near to tears. 

"Now by the sword of St. George, " vociferated Daūd, roused at last, "none of thy species enters my father's door. Ours is an honourablehouse, respected far and near. If any of our clients needs a guide orservant, we know where to send for one who may be trusted. We tolerateno lickspittle-rogues, no beggars. Remember the abominations of thyfather and the extraordinary unchastity of thy mother, and take thyshameful face elsewhere away from us. "

"O my kind lords!" Iskender began to protest; but just then Selīm, whohad been silently working himself into a fury while his brother spoke, sprang up, and snatching the broom from the black servant's hand, discharged it at Iskender's head with all his strength. The son ofYācūb, by a lucky move, escaped the missile; but seeing the negrostepping forth to recover his broom, stayed to make no retort. 

Having retired to the opposite side of the street, which was in shadow, he sat down on the doorstep of a Frankish shop, and waited. He saw hisfriend of yesterday come forth at last, Selīm and Daūd rising for hispassage. As he paused upon the steps to taste the sunny air, Iskendercaught his eye and ran to greet him. The Emīr was gracious, asking howhe did, and at once proposing they should walk together. Iskender gavethe sons of Mūsa a triumphant glance. 

"Where are your sketching things?" the Frank inquired; and hearing theywere left behind, would go and fetch them. They sauntered togetherthrough the gardens out on to the sandhills, till within astone's-throw of Iskender's home; when the Englishman lay down on apatch of withered herbage, saying he would wait there till his friendreturned. 

Iskender passed the broken hedge at a bound and stood before his motherin the doorway. She screamed to Allah for protection, in the firstsurprise. 

"Come, O my mother! Come and look!" he cried, and dragged her to apoint whence they could see the young Emīr, lying flat on his back, hisstraw hat covering his face, for the sun was strong. "It is himself, "Iskender whispered, dashing on into the house; while his mother madewild reverence in the Frank's direction, quite oblivious of the factthat the object of her bows and servile gestures could not, from thecircumstances of his position, see them. 

"Make all speed, O beloved!" she implored Iskender. "It is not wellthat his Highness should remain extended in the hot sun. Allah forbidthat he should get a sunstroke, for his life is precious. May our Lordpreserve him for a blessing to us!" But while she spoke her son wasout of hearing. 

Returning towards the town, the two friends had to pass the Christianvillage by the ilex-tree, and the Emīr, who had seen Iskender stonedthere, insisted on his sketching the small church, vowing to punish allwho dared molest him. Remembering the priest's daughter, he was fain, and went to Mītri's house to ask for water. The girl herself appearedin answer to his call, but, seeing who it was, ran back in terror, crying: "O mother, help! It is the Brūtestānt. " Whereat a slatterndame came forth instead of her, and filled his can for him, with everyblessing. 

Soon after, as he sat at work beneath the oak, the priest himselfappeared. Iskender rose and presented the Emīr, who welcomed theintroduction with his ready smile. 

"So the blessing worked, the praise to Allah!" was Mītri's comment. Hemade the Englishman enter his house and drink coffee, then took himinto the church. The door stood open. Iskender caught some fragmentsof the priest's discourse, from which it appeared that he wasdisplaying vestments and a holy relic. When they emerged, the Frankwas thrusting money on the priest, who declined to take it, tillIskender shouted:

"It is for the poor. "

"For the poor, it is well. " Mītri smiled and accepted the offering. Then, with a knowing glance at the son of Yācūb, he once more vanishedinto the church, to reappear next minute with the great umbrella. "Thou hast redeemed the pledge, my son, " he said, as he restored it toits lord, and winked discreetly. "But what have we here? By Allah, thou art a complete painter, a professor of the art! There am I, likelife. There is my house, the church, the palm-trees. O young man, thou art a devil at this work. A pity thou art a Brūtestānt, else thoucouldst make a trade of it, and make us pictures of the Blessed for ourchurches. Come, O Nesībeh, see the pretty picture. "

Iskender fixed his gaze upon the sketch. He dared not look up, for thegirl was at his shoulder. The whole population of the place, his foesbut yesterday, now gathered round him, praising Allah for his wondroustalent; while the Emīr denounced the bad quality of the paint-box, giftof the Sitt Hilda, and swore to have a proper one sent out fromEngland. Iskender's heart was like to burst with pride and happiness. 

CHAPTER IV

It wanted but an hour of sunset when Iskender parted from the Frank. His very brain was laughing, and he trod on air as he strode off, hugging the great umbrella. At noonday he had had his meal at thehotel (no matter though it was flung to him in the entry as to a dog)and afterwards had walked again with the Emīr, showing his Honour thechief buildings of the town. Not a few of his acquaintance had beheldhis glory, among them Elias the great talker. No doubt but that thefame of it was noised abroad. In no hurry to go home, for his motherhad already heard the tidings, he bent his steps towards a tavern wherethe dragomans were wont to assemble at that hour. 

Leaving the road of red-roofed foreign houses in which was the hotel, he crossed a stable-yard, and then a rubbish-heap, and passed throughtunnels to the main street of the town, a narrow, shaded way leadingdown to the shore. Here, what with spanning arches and the merchants'awnings, it was dark already; the business of the shops appearedbelated; the sunlit sea beyond was like a vision. Dodging his waythrough the crowd, avoiding bales and groaning camels, he traversedhalf the street, then turned in at a gateway worthy of the noblestmosque. 

Within was a kind of cloister, three parts ruined, which had once, itwas said, appertained to a Christian church. On one side the outerwall had fallen, allowing a view through shadowy arches of the sunseton the sea; on the other, just within the colonnade, an enterprisingcook had placed his brazier and all else that is required to make atavern. Wherever the ground was clear of débris stools were set, andmen sat talking, smoking slow narghīlehs. The fragrance of coffeestewing filled the place, mixed with the peculiar odour of a charcoalfire. 

Here the English-speaking dragomans used to meet together at the coolof the day, to practise the tongue of their profession and discuss thenews. Clad in the gayest Oriental clothing to attract the foreigner, their talk was all of Europe and its social splendours. At the momentof Iskender's entrance, a man named Khalīl was gravely playing Englishmusic-hall airs on a concertina, having acquired the art by instructionfrom an English sailor at Port Said. 

Iskender advanced self-consciously, knowing himself the hero of thehour. And in the twinkling of an eye the music ceased; he wassurrounded. Elias, a saffron sash at his waist, a scarlet dust-cloakstreaming from his shoulders, flung an arm around his dear friend'sneck, and cried:

"I saw thee! Thou art in luck, my dear; for thy man is of the noblest. I know him well by sight, for he is of the intimate friends of my lady. "

This had reference to an illusion of Elias, who always maintained thathe was the lover of an English princess, and had spent a whole year asher guest among the nobles of that distant land. 

"Thou shalt present me to him, O my soul, " cried a man in yet moregorgeous raiment, "that I may judge of his character, and teach theehow to work him to the best advantage. "

"Aye, it behoves thee to present thy friends, " rejoined another. "Heis a generous man, it is known; they say he gave a sovereign to ourfather Mītri. "

Iskender promised freely. He saw his uncle beckoning to him, andobeyed the gesture, breaking loose from the throng of courtiers. Abdullah removed his stool to a distant spot among the ruins, whitherthe servant of the tavern carried two narghīlehs. He made his nephewsit and smoke with him, then asked:

"What news?"

"The best--thanks to Allah, " replied Iskender. "The Emīr has showngreat love for me, and is having a grand new paint-box sent from theland of the English. "

"Pshaw!" said Abdullah, a shade of annoyance on his brow. "Put awaysuch playthings, which lead nowhere. Let thy whole study be to pleasehis Honour. In dealing with all travellers the first thing is to keepthem interested; for if their mind is dull a single moment they blamethe dragoman and give him a bad report. Thou art conversant with theSacred Book. Quote from it freely in connection with common sights;as, for instance, if thou seest people ploughing, refer straightway toMār Elias who ploughed with twelve yoke of oxen before him; if a womanfetching water from the spring, mention her with whom Our Saviourtalked beside Samaria. Things common among us are strange to them. To-morrow take thy patron to the bath, and conduct him through all itsstages. Thence bring him to my house, where thou shalt find a mealwhich will not fail to please him. To sit on the floor as we do, andeat with fingers from one dish, affords delight to foreigners. Aboveall things, keep him for thine own. I say nought against thy takinghim this day to Mītri, though the visit has made a noise. Our fatherMītri is an upright man. But these----"

He jerked his thumb in the direction of the other dragomans, nowhowling in chorus to the strains of the concertina. 

"----These are all rivals--enemies. In the season thy Emīr would seemas nothing to them; but now he is the only game in sight. Avoid them;lead thy lord away from them. Thy coming here this evening was afault. Go now and quietly, lest they trap thee somehow. I expect theeat my house at noon to-morrow. "

Iskender saw the wisdom in these words. He shot a glance over hisshoulder at the other dragomans. They were still busy singing to theconcertina. Touching his uncle's hand, he stepped out through the openarches and scrambled down over rocks and fallen masonry to thesea-beach, whence he made his way home through the twilight. Hismother had heard of his introducing his Emīr to the priest Mītri, andblamed the folly of it, till she learnt how thereby he had redeemed thegreat umbrella. Even then she still declared it was a pity. It wouldput the missionaries in a perfect fury, since an Orthodox priest wasthe devil in their eyes; and was certain to rouse the cupidity of otherpeople. Allah had blessed Iskender with the friendship of a mightyprince. She bade him keep the blessing to himself, not let it wasteaway in gifts to strangers. 

Her words confirmed the counsel of the wise Abdullah. Iskenderresolved to follow it to the letter. But when, presenting himselfbefore his lord next morning, he announced the programme for the day, the Frank raised unforeseen objections. He would in no case visit thebath, he said, having heard that they used dirty water there. It waswith difficulty that Iskender won him to view Abdullah's invitationwith some favour. 

Abdullah's house was in the town itself, hard by the shore. It stankin the approach, as the Frank was not slow to remark; but within allwas swept and perfumed for the occasion. Borrowed mats strewed thefloor. Two candles burned upon a little shelf, before a picture of theBlessed Virgin placed there in remembrance of the famous vision. Andthe host omitted no formula of politeness that had ever been used by ason of the Arabs to felicitate and set at ease an honoured guest. TheEmīr, completely reassured, smiled graciously. The food, when itappeared, was tasty and abundant, and his Honour seemed to like it. But Iskender knew that it was of the cheapest: the whole feast had notcost his uncle ten piasters. When the Emīr, at taking leave, put twomejidis in Abdullah's hand, he bit his lip and cursed the old man'sguile. 

Thenceforth he determined to keep all English-speaking persons at adistance, since their whole endeavour seemed to be to cheat his lovedEmīr. But it was not so easy to discard his old acquaintance. 

That same evening, after parting from his patron, he ran right into thearms of a pair of merry fellows, who announced their playful purpose todetain him. Both wore their fezzes at a rakish angle, both had arosary dangling fashionably from the left hand, both talked and laugheduproariously--secure in their employment by a foreign tourist agencyfrom the disgust of the Muslim population, whose scowls shadowed them. Elias Abdul Messīh was one of them. The other, who boasted a verylarge hooked nose, like a parrot's beak, which reduced the rest of hisface to insignificance, was Yuhanna Mahbūb, a famous bully. 

"Now we have thee!" cried Elias, laughing loudly. "By Allah, it isrude in thee to shun thy friends. "

"Is it true that the Emīr gives thee an English pound every day?"inquired Yuhanna. 

"He is good enough to treat me as a brother, and has sworn, of hisbenevolence, to make my fortune, " Iskender modestly admitted. 

"Pshaw! Promises--I know them!" sneered Yuhanna. "Coined money is theonly thing I put my faith in. "

"We crave a boon of thee, " pursued Elias coaxingly. "Bring thekhawājah to the house of Karlsberger to-morrow afternoon. We will makea feast in his honour and thine. Say yes, O my soul!"

"Aye, promise, " snarled Yuhanna, "or we shall know thou hast a mind toslight us, and take steps accordingly. "

Iskender promised, with intent to fail them, for the Emīr's protectionmade their threat quite harmless. He pursued his way down a sandy roadthrough the orange-gardens, which looked black beneath the sunset--ofunusual splendour owing to the presence in the sky of ragged clouds. Afellah who passed remarked that rain was coming. 

"Art on the way to visit me?" A hand fell suddenly upon Iskender'sshoulder. A tall black-clad form had overtaken him, unheard by reasonof the muffling sand. It was the priest Mītri. "Or dost thou fear toincur the anger of the English missionaries? By Allah, thou art wrongto fear them. Their religion is of man's devising; its aim is worldlycomfort, which will fail them at the Last Day; whereas ours is thefaith of Christ and the Holy Apostles, the same for which thy fatherssuffered ages before the invention of the Brūtestānt heresy. It is thefaith of the true Romans who reigned in the city of Costantīn, whenRome had reaped the reward of her heathen iniquity and lay in ruins, ahaunt of brigands and wild beasts. Is it not a sin that, after thelapse of so many ages, people calling themselves Christians, people whohave never suffered hardship for their faith as we do, come hither andwage war upon the Church in her bound and crippled state, seducing thefeeble and the avaricious by the spectacle of their wealth and theprospect of foreign protection? These heretics--and the Muscovites, our co-religionists, alas! with them--conspire against the Sultan, whois our sole defender. With the Muslimin we have in common language, country, and the intercourse of daily life. Therefore, I say, a Muslimis less abominable before Allah than a Latin or a Brūtestānt. "

The priest stopped speaking suddenly and embraced Iskender, kissing himrepeatedly on both cheeks. At the same moment a little cavalcade wentambling by, which solved the riddle of his strange behaviour. Iskendercaught a scowl of disapproval from the Sitt Carūlīn, a glance ofagonised appeal from the Sitt Hilda, and then a malicious grin from oldCostantīn, as he ran by on foot, prodding with his staff the hindmostjackass, on which the Sitt Jane sat up with face averted. The threeladies were clad in white with mushroom hats and fluttering face-veils. Their bodies bulged now here, now there, like sacks of grain, obedientto the motion of the trotting donkeys. 

"There they go, mothers of all contention, shameless meddlers!" saidMītri, peering after them in the twilight. "Ha, ha! I angered them, the praise to Allah. I made them tremble for their nursling!"

Iskender made no answer, feeling angry with the priest. At thatreproachful glance of the Sitt Hilda, all his childhood had risen upand testified against him. His heart was stricken with profoundcompunction. He broke away from Mītri as soon as possible, refusing aninvitation to enter his house and argue with him, and sped on acrossthe sandhills to his own home. There, in the little house, a lamp waslighted; his mother stood at the doorway looking out for him. Breathless, he informed her of his encounter with the Mission ladies, and the priest's vile trick to shame him. 

"Aha, " she laughed, "a famous joker is our father Mītri. I would givemuch to have seen the faces of those harridans! Nevertheless, may hishouse be destroyed, for he has done me an ill-turn with his foolery. The ladies are certain to come here tomorrow, deafening me with theoutcry of their poisonous spite. For thee, it recks not, thou hast thyEmīr. In sh' Allah thou wilt soon get money from him. Then thou canstlaugh at the malevolence of these hypocrites!"

But Iskender was not to be so easily consoled. He lay awake thatnight, a prey to poignant self-disgust, remembering in turn his happychildhood at the Mission, his love for the Sitt Hilda, and his recentfrowardness, each with a vividness that hurt his brain. Even thepatronage of a great Emīr seemed nothing worth as compared with theaffection of those who had brought him up. The Emīr spoke lightly ofreligion; he despised the missionaries; it might well be he was wicked, a servant of the Evil One, a creature of that outer darkness into whichhe (Iskender) had fallen through his own fault. Then he thought of thepriest Mītri, and of the beautiful child who for a moment had ensnaredhis fancy; and was overwhelmed with pity for himself. He belonged tonobody. The missionaries loved him so little that they were content tocast him off for small offences; while for the Orthodox he remained aProtestant, a filthy thing. In his thirst for comfort he was drivenback on dreams of greatness, of buried treasure some day to be found, which would cause the English and the natives of the land alike togrovel in the dirt before him. Warmed by such thoughts he fell asleepat last. 

When he awoke in the morning his mind was healed. He viewed theMission with the old resentment, and placed his every hope in the Emīr. On his way to the hotel he saw the daughter of Mītri throwing crumbs tothe church pigeons, and blew a kiss to her with words of love, only tolaugh loud when, picking up a stone, she cursed his father. At theentering-in of the town he was accosted by Elias, who sprang suddenlyfrom the shade of a cactus-hedge. Yuhanna followed, yawning. It wasclear that they had been lying in wait. 

"This afternoon, at the house of Karlsberger; forget not, " Elias cried. "We have ordered a fine feast in thy friend's honour. "

"Fail us not, or it shall be the worse for thee, " put in Yuhanna. 

Iskender swore obedience to their will and hurried on, mentallyresolved to hire horses and take his Emīr for a ride until the evening. It would be easy to say the Frank had willed it so, in which case nonecould blame him. With this in mind he entered the hotel. But againhis Emīr proved refractory. The air that morning oppressed him, hedeclared, and the sons of Mūsa said that it was going to rain. Heproposed a stroll to some near spot among the gardens, where he couldread while his companion sketched. 

Iskender still had hope to foil the dragomans. He led his patron in adirection opposite to that where he had left Elias. But, looking back, he saw two figures shadowing them, and knew the game was up. 

In fact, no sooner had they found a cool retreat than Elias and Yuhannasauntered up, hailing Iskender with delight as loving comrades. He wasobliged to present them to his Emīr, and from the moment ofintroduction they had words for no one else, inquiring how his Honourliked the place, and asking if he knew this and that great lord of theEnglish with whom they, by their own accounts, stood high in favour. They presented their invitation with every circumstance of respect, andthe Emīr accepted it; and then, by the veriest accident, the eyes ofYuhanna happened to light upon the ousted youth. 

"Ah, " he exclaimed, "you like this little one, our dear Iskender! Agood boy, sir, only don't know much yet. Baints fery nicely, for ayoung 'un. He show you, sir, the way this afternoon. "

A tear fell splash upon Iskender's drawing-book. 

CHAPTER V

The house of Karlsberger stood in a hollow of the southern sandhills, only discoverable on a close approach, so that the sight of its redroof, something like an extinguisher, came always as a surprise. 

Its owner was of the number of those Jewish immigrants who, lured bythe offer of perpetual charity, had of late years come in theirthousands to occupy lands provided by their rich co-religionists. Butthe life of a husbandman soon palled on Karlsberger, accustomed totrade upon the vices of a European city; and his wife, a former harlot, shared his disgust. As soon as he could gather money enough he hadleft agriculture to the dullards, and built this house near the town asa rendezvous for all who loved the flavour of depravity. For thedragomans and their kind the house of Karlsberger stood for the fashionand gay life of Europe. 

Thither Iskender conducted his lord in the manner of a reluctantfollower rather than a guide. He had said all he could to dissuade theFrank from going, had exaggerated the ill repute of the place, andcalled the dragomans low, drunken blackguards; but all in vain. TheEmīr was bent on going; and his slave went with him miserably, feelingsure that the kindness he had himself inspired would not survive theintroduction to a set of dashing fellows, whose profession it was towin the hearts of foreigners. The air was sultry, the expanse of sandglared hatefully beneath a sky veiled all over with thin cloud. Allnature, in accordance with his mood, seemed glum and spiteful. 

In sight of the house he pointed to it without a word. It looked intruth a pretty place for a great prince to visit. With a gloomysatisfaction Iskender noticed filth about the threshold, and shabbygarments spread to dry upon the window-sill. 

Sounds of talk and laughter came from the open door. They ceaseddirectly the Emīr was seen by those within; and some dozen men, assembled in a narrow room, rose as one and saluted. The room had beenroughly cleaned for the occasion, the dust and filth of the floorhaving been swept into the four corners, where it lay in heaps. Theceiling and the white-washed walls were grimy, and dust made a bloom onthe ragged curtains of the window, looped pretentiously; a three-leggedtable all but filled the room, leaving just room for one to pass aroundit. His lord was ushered to the seat of honour, a sofa covered with afabric which had once been plush, but now resembled draggled sealskin;while Iskender went quite unnoticed till the wife of Karlsberger--abulky slattern, who kept shuffling in and out with plates andglasses--perceived his need, and placed a stool for him. Throughconfusion and annoyance he caught nothing of the conversation tillElias, in a mincing voice, announced:

"The grub quite ready. "

The Englishman laughed at that; upon which Elias, dancing up to him, exclaimed:

"You are a good fellow; I see that. I like you, and so blease to seeyou here. "

All then drew close to the table, on which were set forth many temptingviands, including mottled discs of German sausage, anchovies, pickledgherkins, and huge chunks of Frankish bread. A bottle of rum and abottle of gin stood one at each end of the board, attended by glassesof all shapes and sizes. 

"Allow me to helb you, sir--a bit of sausage?" cried Elias, seizing aknife and presenting it at the dish in question. The Emīr laughedagain, which was the signal for an obsequious roar. He said he wouldprefer some bread and anchovy, and could help himself. He accepted alittle of the rum for politeness' sake, and then professed himselfsatisfied. After some outcry on his lack of appetite the rest of theparty fell to with avidity. The presence of his uncle, which he nowrealised for the first time, relieved Iskender from the fear ofpersonal indignity. He, too, attacked the victuals with good appetite, but refused the spirits, strong in the example of Abdullah'sabstinence. The work of eating was soon done, and every one sat backfor conversation. There was much ostentatious picking of teeth, andnoises of repletion came from all sides. Tongues were loosed, and viedone with another to display deep knowledge of the English speech andmanners. The company abounded in expressions such as "old chap, ""never say die, " and "right you are!" which Iskender, from hiseducation, knew to be inappropriate. Every one too, except Abdullah, made believe to revel in the gin and rum, out of compliment to theguest, whose national drink it was; but Iskender was not deceived bytheir hilarity. Sitting at the opposite end of the room to his patron, he saw the wry faces which were turned away at every sip. Elias, quitebeside himself with adulation, and intoxicated already by the successof his facetious sallies, drank and drank again with convivial gestures. 

"Ha, ha!" he cried, "I'm feelin' deflish habby. So fery nice to bewith English beeble. The English are our friends; they're Christianslike what we are. Blease God, they take this country like they takenEgybt, and gif the Turks an' Muslims good old Hell! Ha, ha! we'reEnglish, we are, just the same. The Turks all done for--no dam' good. The Christians kick 'em all the time. They got to lick our boots, that's sure. The English they soon string up the rotten ole Sultan, first they christen 'im jus' for luck----"

His words were drowned in cries of horrified protest; his neighbours atthe table flung themselves upon the rash talker, stopping his mouthforcibly with their hands; while old Abdullah rose up in authority andloudly denounced such sentiments as high treason, with glances at theopen door as at an audience. Iskender could see the Frank was quitebewildered; he sat smiling on all that occurred without intelligence. Elias, when let go, was laughing heartily. 

"Well, I neffer!" he observed. "Who's afraid?"

Just then Khalīl, the concertina-player, a dull-eyed, fattish man, whohad kept silence, suddenly drew all eyes upon himself by picking up hisinstrument from the floor and playing a few chords softly. 

"All right, Khalīl! Come along then! Neffer say die, ole chabbie!"Elias encouraged him. 

"I blay you 'Bob goose the Whistle, '" said the musician seriously, andat once struck up a jerky Frankish tune, with eyes intently fixed onthe Emīr, garnering his every smile and sign of pleasure. When hisHonour showed a disposition to sing the words of the refrain, he playedmore loudly than before in triumph. All present flung back their headsand bawled in discord, producing a din so horrible that the JewKarlsberger, with his wife and child, appeared from an inner room withscared white faces. 

"Merciful Allah, make less noise!" the Israelite besought therevellers. "If a Muslim were to hear you, I am ruined. "

At that Elias rose with dignity and swaggering towards the Jew with aFrankish elegance which the depth of his potations made unsteady, seized the landlord by the breast of his gaberdine. He lifted anadmonishing finger, saying:

"You hold your row, Mr. Karlsberger. You go to Blazes, my fery goodfriend!"

The Jew, who knew no English, accepted the assurance and retired. 

The musician struck into another tune, but soon desisted, finding hisart forgotten in a general clamour of conversation, every oneaddressing the Frank, who, after looking from one to another at a loss, gave ear to Yuhanna Mahbūb, who sat next him. Yuhanna, like Elias, hadpartaken of the rum and gin. He struck a vein of amorous reminiscence, and began boasting of his conquests among English ladies. Abdullahsharply bade him hold his tongue. 

"He is a boaster, sir, and neffer did nothing what he say he did, " saidthat respectable man in explanation to the visitor. "If he really donesuch things, he neffer sbeak about them, that sure; he know he get thesack for such a shame. "

"Shame!" chorused Elias with a reproachful shake of the head. "Hear, hear! Order, order! By God, you are a nasty beast, Yuhanna. "

As he spoke he poured out rum into a tumbler, without looking, till theglass was half full. 

Iskender, seeing the disgust in the Frank's face deepen, waxedexultant. It was time to leave now, while that look endured. Hecaught his uncle's eye. The old man nodded. 

"It is time that we dispersed, " he said in Arabic, "unless we wish toget wet through. See how the sky has clouded over while we sat here. Remember, it is the year's first rain, which means a deluge. "

"He speaks truth"--"Rain is coming"--"See the clouds, " cried one andanother, peering out on the world. The company obeyed the motion ofits acknowledged sheykh, all save Elias, who had got beyond the reachof all authority. 

"You think I'm goin' yet, you silly ole fool!" he cried in English. "No dam' jolly fear! I haf not yet talk to my friend, this nice kindmister!"

And holding in one hand the glass half full of rum, he staggered to thesofa, till then sacred to the Emīr, and sank down on it with acontented hiccup. 

"My dear luffed friend, now we talk a little. The rest, they go toHell, " he said; and tried to kiss the Frank. 

He measured his length on the floor, the tumbler was broken, the rumspilt. In a moment the whole room was in an uproar. All who could getnear enough tendered abject apologies to the guest for theircompanion's rudeness; while those debarred by concourse from thatprivilege, consoled themselves by kicking and punching the prostrateElias, who wept aloud, still crying: "My friend! My dearest friend!"In the midst of this tumult, Khalīl struck up the English NationalHymn, a carefully reserved effect which he was unwilling to forgo. 

At length the Emīr won his way to the door, where Iskender was waitingfor him, too happy in the turn events had taken to shake his head orsay "I told you so. " They were joined by old Abdullah. Indoors, behind them, the shrieks of the Jew and his spouse were now heard highabove the furious talking and the strains of the concertina. 

"He come to you to-morrow, sir, and lie down on the floor and lick yourboots; I'll see to that, " said Abdullah with determination. 

"Curse it all! I lost my temper!" said the Frank with a nervous laugh. 

"We best make haste, sir, " said Abdullah, pointing eastward. 

The sky inland was black as ink and formless; the sand looked white assun-bleached bone by contrast; the dark green wave of theorange-gardens appeared pale; a palm-tree in the distance stood up wanagainst the impending cloud. Presently a flash of lightning made themquicken step; big drops of water fell like bullets round them. Beforethey could reach the hotel the rain came down in sheets, beating up thesand like smoke, and they were drenched to the skin. The Emīr lent hishenchman some dry clothes and insisted on his remaining till the stormpassed over. Iskender knew that it might last for days. He dispatcheda ragamuffin, who had sought shelter in the hotel entry, with a messageto relieve his mother's mind; and soon found himself arrayed in clothestoo large for him, sitting in a drawing-room only less luxurious thanthat of the Mission, looking at some English pictures, while the Frankwrote letters. Truly, it seemed, he had been born to honour. 

CHAPTER VI

When Iskender rose next morning from the bed on the floor of theentrance-hall which he had been permitted to share with the blackservant, he saw a woeful figure in the doorway. A man, wrapped in agreat cloak of camel's hair, sat staring out dejectedly at thedaylight, which was greenish grey, the whole air seeming turned tofalling water. A hood drawn low upon his brow concealed his face, except the smouldering anguish of the eyes, when he turned at sound ofmovements in the hall behind him. 

Elias--for he it was--sprang up and made the bound required to bringhim within reach of his friend's hand, which he forthwith seized andcarried to his lips, cringing low and moaning:

"O my horror! O my bitter shame! For the love of Allah, speak for mewith his noble Highness! Thou knowest how I always loved thee, andstood thy friend when others scoffed at thee. Persuade thy Emīr toforgive me and keep silence, or I shall lose my employment, and my wifeand little ones will come to want!"

Iskender's heart leapt up in thanks to Allah for thus abasing one whohad conspired against him. He pressed the suppliant's hand in both hisown. 

"Now Allah witness how I always loved thee!" he murmured with a gaze offond compassion. "It hurt my soul to see thee siding with my enemies, scheming to supplant me in the favour of my dear lord. "

"By Allah, thy thoughts wrong me!" cried Elias with wild earnestness. "Ask Yuhanna, ask Khalīl! My efforts were against them all, on thybehalf. How canst thou think such harm of one who loves thee?"

The speaker burst into a passion of tears. 

"Weep not, O my dear!" Iskender murmured soothingly. "In sh' Allah, all may yet be well, though I will not disguise from thee that my lordis angry. "

"Obtain but a hearing for me; that is all I ask. My tears shall washhis feet; my groans, my heartfelt penitence will surely move him. "

"Thou knowest that I will do all in my power to save thee. But, alas!my influence is not boundless. By naming thy name in his presence, andseeming anxious to excuse thy fault, I fear to draw a measure of hisHonour's wrath upon myself. Last evening he was full of rage againstthee, vowing to see thee a beggar in the gate of the town. And he hassworn at the first opportunity to make complaint of thy behaviour tothe English consul. "

At mention of the consul Elias collapsed utterly. He sank down on themarble pavement, huddled up in his cloak, his chin upon his breast, moaning like one insensible through stress of pain. Complaint to theconsul meant his life-long ruin as a dragoman, since he depended on theEnglish for his daily bread. 

At length he cried:

"Thou must, thou shalt, befriend me! I adjure thee by Him who took ourflesh upon Him, by the Holy Cross! Allah will reward thee, and Imyself will be thy slave till death. "

Pouncing once more upon Iskender's hand, he pressed two large coinsdown upon the open palm. 

"What is this, O my soul?" cried the youth in amazement, after lookingto make sure the coins were silver. "Are such things needed between meand thee?"

He pulled out his silver watch--the gift of the wife of the missionary, the excellent mother of George, which she had caused to be sentexpressly from the land of the English--and gazed long and pensively atthe face of it. Though he had risen later than his custom, deceived bythe darkness of the rain prolonging night, it wanted still an hour ofthe Emīr's waking. He said:

"His Honour is still in his chamber; he objects to be disturbed whiledressing. Nevertheless, since thy cause is urgent, I will crave anaudience. "

"Our Lord reward thee, " sobbed Elias gratefully. 

Iskender repaired to the hotel kitchen, and spent some minutes talkingto the cook, who was his friend, before he returned and said:

"His Highness will not hear me. At mention of thy name he shut hisears. " Then, when Elias burst into a fit of weeping that seemed liketo strangle him, he added: "But he was in the act of bathing his wholebody, which he does daily in cold water. It may be that the coldnessof the water made him angry. After a little, I will try again. "

"May Allah prolong thy life! From this day forth Elias is thy servant. I will give thee my gold ring with the large carbuncle, if thou bringthis business to a good result. "

After a decent interval, Iskender paid another visit to the kitchenand, returning, said:

"He gave no answer to my knock, and I feared to enrage him by repeatedknocking. I will return presently. "

Elias promised him a dagger of rare workmanship. 

"He bade me go away, though not in anger, " was the next report. 

Elias promised him a pistol with jewelled mountings; and after that asaddle with rich tassels, a holy book, some silver buttons, and a youngmare of the noblest desert breed. Thus time passed pleasantly, tillthe sons of Mūsa emerged from their sleeping apartment. Iskender darenot pursue the game with them about; but humbly presented Elias, explaining the reason of his presence. They at once offered themselvesto plead the cause of the sufferer, who was a friend of theirs. 

But the son of Yācūb was beforehand with them. He sped straight to thebedroom of the Frank, who by good luck was up and dressed, and informedhim of the penitence of Elias, begging forgiveness for that broken man. The Emīr consented with a laugh. Together they went down into thehall, where Iskender presented the suppliant to his Emīr, in the faceof the sons of Mūsa, and of all the servants who came crowding to thesight. 

Elias fell down flat before the great one and embraced his feet. Heseemed unconscious when the Frank addressed him. It was by theexertions of the sons of Mūsa and the group of servants that thedespairing wretch at length received assurance of forgiveness. Withtears of joy he kissed the hand of his preserver; then, suddenlyflinging open the vast cloak, which he had till now kept close aroundhim, he revealed a splendid whip of rhinoceros-hide, mounted and ringedwith silver. Iskender felt cruelly defrauded; it was with difficultythat he suppressed a cry of rage; for had he so much as guessed thatsuch a thing was hid beneath the cloak of the blubberer, he would longago have had it for his own. Elias thrust that whip upon the Frank, who would fain have refused it; but, the sons of Mūsa and the servantsjoining the donor in entreaties, he at last gave way. 

When his patron went to breakfast, Iskender received many compliments. His manifest ascendency over the mind of the Englishman had made afavourable impression even on the sons of Mūsa. This was as it shouldbe. But it did not please him, as the day wore on, to find that Elias, out of gratitude for his forgiveness, intended to remain in closeattendance on the Emīr. 

Divested of his cloak, his slim but manly figure cased in showygarments, his moustache curled ferociously up to the eyes, his feztilted jauntily to one side, Elias appeared to Iskender's jealousy themost attractive of men. And as he recovered spirits, his talk showedthe lively sparkle which enchanted travellers. 

It being impossible to get out, the Emīr brought down a book, and readto them in the entrance-hall. The tale was one of wild adventures inthe search for treasure. It fascinated Iskender. But Elias wasreminded by one of the incidents of a lion he had slain upon MountSinai; and the Frank shut up the book to hear his story. Eliasdescribed all the fortunes of the fight with singular realism, openinghis mouth very wide and roaring when momentarily impersonating thelion. The Frank showed great amusement; Iskender was vexed with himfor encouraging the silly liar. He gave praise to Allah when Eliasdeparted for the night. 

But his bugbear returned next morning, as the Frank emerged frombreakfast, claiming praise for his devotion in coming through suchweather. The wady to the north of the town was now a raging torrent, he informed them. With his own eyes he had seen ten righteous men tornoff their feet and carried clean away. More than a hundred camels hadbeen swept far out to sea. 

"He is a big liar, sir, " Iskender whispered in the ear of his lord, whoappeared unduly stricken by these tidings; and in proof of theassertion, he referred the matter to the sons of Mūsa, who said that adonkey laden with vegetables had been washed away. Elias, in no wisedisconcerted, thanked God that things were no worse. But Iskendertriumphed, informed by the Frank's sneer that he had struck adeath-blow at his rival's influence. That done, he felt all kindnessfor the handsome dragoman, now his manifest inferior, and encouragedhim to show off for the Emīr's amusement. He even, in the course ofthe day, assured his patron that Elias was not a bad man. 

That evening the rain diminished sensibly; in the course of the nightit ceased. The dawn next day was cloudless when Iskender set out earlyfor his mother's house. 

CHAPTER VII

"May Allah keep thee! Here is a nice to-do!" His mother, who hadspied Iskender from afar, stood in a gap of the cactus hedge with armsakimbo. "Was ever woman blessed with such a son? The Father of Icewas here before the rain, he and the Sitt Jane with him. They spokeagainst thee ceaselessly for two hours, till my poor back ached withstanding there and bowing, and my head swam round with listening totheir tiresome iterations. Had I not heard it all before a thousandtimes--thy idleness, thy kissing the Sitt Hilda, thy choice of lowcompanions in the town? And then thy friends--Elias, what a wretch!Once, years ago, when conducting a party of travellers, he pushed hishorse among the ladies, who were on their donkeys. Unheard-ofinsolence! He shouted--actually shouted at English ladies--to makeway; of course, they paid no heed to such impertinence, and then herode among them. Ma sh' Allah! And Mītri too! To hear them talk ofMītri, any one would suppose the poor, good priest some dreadful ghoul. . . . All that was empty talk, however spiteful, and Allah knows I amwell seasoned to it. But when they came to speak of thy Emīr, andswore to turn his mind against thee, I saw danger. What ailed thy witsthat thou must needs tell Costantīn a tale of thy going to the land ofthe English to study the art of painting at thy lord's expense? Theyhave it that thou wouldst defraud the good young man. . . . Ah! Allahknows I have my fill of troubles. "

She paused from sheer exhaustion, pressing a hand to her heart. 

Iskender laughed at her concern, assuring her that his favour with theEmīr was now established past all fear of assault. Exultant from hisrecent triumphs, and flushed from a walk through air which the rain hadleft pure and invigorating, he did in truth believe himself beyond thegrasp of adversity. His mother's woe seemed senseless. When he toldof the wicked plot of the dragomans, and how signally it had failedthrough Allah's mercy, it angered him to see her wag her head withboding looks. She could not realise the victory his words implied. 

"Think, O my mother!" he cried out impatiently. "These three days haveI been his guest and chosen comrade, sitting with him at allhours--aye, even in the seat of honour in the guest-room, in myslippers--admitted to the secret of his every thought. It is well seenthat he loves me truly. Give praise to Allah, therefore, and throwgrief aside. "

But his mother still looked rueful as she shuffled about the roomgetting food--a bowl of curds, some olives, and a slab of bread--to setbefore him. 

"All that is well enough, " she grumbled audibly, "but to what end? ByAllah, I perceive no profit in it. Thy need is money, not merecompliments. Better get him to appoint thee monthly wages as hisservant. "

"Merciful Allah! is my mother mad?" exclaimed Iskender, teeth on edgewith irritation. The woman's lack of understanding rasped his soul. "He loves me as a friend, an equal, not a slave. And what are thepaltry wages of a servant as compared with the friendship of a mightyprince? In the end he is certain to provide for me honourably; he willmake me a great painter, as I said to Costantīn. "

"In sh' Allah, it may prove so, " replied his mother; "but I doubt itgreatly. Thou wast ever one to follow distant dreams, neglecting thegood that lay within hand's reach. Were Elias or Yuhanna in thy place, no doubt at all but they would make some money. There is a chance whenmaking purchases or hiring horses for his Honour. But thou art capableof scorning every gain--nay, even of bestowing all thy goods!--for thesake of a fine friendship which may leave thee naked. "

"By Allah, I will hear no more of this!" Iskender started to his feet, past patience. "Know that my love for my Emīr equals his love for me. He is my soul; how then should I defraud him? I shall buy for him asfor myself; he shall admire my honesty--it is the virtue most esteemedamong the Franks--and be assured that in the end he will reward it. "

His mother sighed profoundly, and spread out her hands. 

"Thou art young, O my son, nor hast thou my experience. It is truethat the Franks hate guile or any cleverness; but I never heard of oneof them rewarding honesty. For them it is a thing of course, unnoticed. I warrant thou wilt get no credit for it. Moreover, Allahknows thou needest money; for, if the missionary's wrath goes onincreasing, I cannot keep thee here. I must either turn thee out orlose a good appointment which enables me to lay by something every yearfor thy future fortune. They grow to hate thee so that soon they willrefuse to send their dirty garments to be washed where thou dost dwell. . . . Wouldst leave me now already, when I have not seen thee forthree days? May thy house be destroyed! Stop, in the name of Allah;stop, I say! Was ever mother cursed with such a son?"

But by then Iskender had passed through the cactus hedge, and wasrunning down into the sandy hollow. The clear, cool air at oncerestored his exultation, and his mother's words became a buzz of flieswhich he had left behind. The sky was dreamy blue; the sandhills roseagainst it shapely like the backs and flanks of couchant lions. Thered roof of the Mission on its ridge seemed placed there by somechildish whim--a thing incongruous. As Iskender fixed his gaze on it, he saw a figure coming thence with speed--a figure in dark Frankishclothes beneath the red tarbūsh, which he recognised as that of Asadson of Costantīn. A minute later he was called by name, and saw thesame shape running fast towards him. 

"O my soul!" cried Asad, panting, as he drew near. "What are thesetidings that we hear of thee? Why wilt thou show thyself todisadvantage?" Pausing to gather breath, he caught Iskender's hand andpressed it to his heart. "What is this talk of thy friendship with thepriest Mītri? Wouldst thou for ever forfeit the goodwill of thoseabove?" He jerked his head towards the Mission, hidden from where theystood by the brow of the sandhill. "Only think! To whom in all theland can we look for support and encouragement unless to these peoplewho have brought us up? The Orthodox have neither wealth norinfluence. Wert thou to join them, I fail to see how it could profitthee. In this land there is no hope for a Christian unless by foreignprotection. And of all the races of foreigners the English are therichest and the most powerful. By Allah, thou wast a fool ever toanger them; thou shouldst have hid thy thoughts and bowed to their willin all things, even as I do. Thou seest they will make of me a priest, a grand khawājah. They would have done the same for thee hadst thoubehaved with common prudence. If not a priest, thou mayest stillbecome a well-paid schoolmaster by their protection. Thou wouldst dowell, therefore, to forsake this Mītri, who has nothing to offer. Beadvised, I entreat thee!"

Asad was a tall, lean youth, lantern-jawed, and of a seriouscountenance, in age a few months younger than Iskender. His complexionwas swarthier than the common, and his eyes, like the eyes of hisfather Costantīn, were furtive, with a cast of malice. The boys hadalways been on friendly terms, in spite of standing jealousy betweentheir parents. But to-day the patronage in Asad's speech incensedIskender. What need had he, the Emīr's right-hand, of compassion andadvice from any whipper-snapper? He replied with sarcasm:

"May Allah repay thy kindness, O my dear! Had I known thy mind hadsuch anxiety on my account I should certainly have sent a messenger toreassure thee. Believe me, all thy fears for my welfare are quitegroundless, for never had I such good cause to praise the Lord as atthis present. Behold me in the road to wealth and honour, possessingthe favour of an English nobleman, for whom these missionaries are merespecks of dirt. My kind lord vows that I have talent as a maker oflikenesses, and wishes me to receive the best instruction in that art. For a beginning, he has sent express to the land of the English forbetter instruments and materials than I could here obtain. Indeed, there is no cause to fear for me. The praise to Allah!"

"Praise to Allah!" echoed Asad sneeringly, stung to reprisals byIskender's tone. "But concerning that Emīr of thine I have a word tosay. They have heard up there how thou hast fastened on him like aleech, and dost boast to all men that his wealth is thine. I myselfheard the Father of Ice declare that thy designs were iniquitous andmust be thwarted. He himself will go to the Emīr and tell him thywhole history, which is nothing good; so thou hadst best beware. ByAllah, thou dost wrong to take this tone with me, who came as a friendto warn thee!"

"I thank thee, " rejoined Iskender loftily. "But have no fear, I sayagain, for my Emīr esteems and loves me far too well to give ear tolying tales made up by mischief-makers. Moreover, he abhors themissionaries with such utter loathing that I think he would defile thebeard of the Father of Ice did the poor wretch dare approach him. Thousupposest the missionaries to be all-powerful, as I did once. But, believe me, they are nothing thought of in their own land. My Emīrwould hardly deign to notice things so low. Now I must leave thee, Omy dear, for my lord awaits me. "

He began the ascent of the sandhill. 

"Well, remember I have warned thee!" shouted Asad after him. 

Relieved of the irritant of the lank youth's voice and presence, Iskender felt dismay at his own boastfulness, and repented of it humblybefore Allah. He knew that a jealous eye is fixed upon the heart ofevery man to mark when pride leaps up and straightway blight it. Toshow elation was to court calamity. However, he repeated diversformulas reputed potent to avert the evil; and when, from a high pointof the dunes, he saw the minarets and the square roofs of the townstanding forth clear and white with the blue sea for background, beyondthe gardens freshened by the rain, he clean forgot misgivings. 

CHAPTER VIII

The love Iskender bore to his Emīr transfigured every detail offamiliar life. The walk to the hotel each morning was a joy throughexpectation, the return each evening a delight through memory. Thevestibule in which he waited his lord's pleasure, with its marblepavement and its painted walls, a few cane chairs and tables, and agreat clock ticking steadily, became the entrance-hall of paradise. Ofnights the thought of sitting there next morning caused his pulse toquicken. The sons of Mūsa and the negro doorkeeper shared in theradiance of his loved one's neighbourhood. It was easier for his mindto pasture on accessories than to conjure up the Emīr's own presence, which left the memory blind as with excess of light. At times he wouldrecall with a thrill the lofty brow with short fair hair reposing onits summit as lightly as tamarisks upon the crest of a dune, thelaughing sea-blue eyes with golden lashes, or it might be the smoothcurves of mouth and chin. But the face as a whole escaped him, thoughhe never tired of studying it, and was always trying to produce itslikeness; now with pencil upon paper, now with finger in the sand. Noartist in the world could hope to show the beauty of that face as hebeheld it, the glow its smile diffused through all his being. Even hismother's shrieks to him to get money from the Emīr enhanced hisrapture, making his own pure love shine forth more brightly. 

A week's fine weather followed on the rain. The Emīr rode out onhorseback every day, with Iskender at his right hand, and Elias, whowas a showy rider, circling round them. Iskender had told Eliasplainly:

"The Emīr is mine. I found him; and shall keep him all my own. "

"It is known he is thine, " the elder had made answer with alldeference. "Allah forbid that I should seem to rival thee! But hisHonour has been merciful to me, and my soul is bound to him and thee ingratitude. Moreover, nowadays I have much spare time, which I canscarcely hope to spend more profitably than in the society andconversation of so exalted and refined a nobleman. He is thine andshall remain so. Only drive me not away!"

Iskender acceded to this petition the more readily that his Emīr, hecould see, regarded the most exquisite of dragomans simply as astanding joke. They laughed together at his superstition and hisboastfulness. But their butt was really serviceable in small ways, knowing where to hire good horses at the lowest price, and pointing outin the course of their rides objects of interest of the very existenceof which Iskender had been ignorant. 

Never had the son of Yācūb known such happiness as he tasted in thoserides across the plain which basked in sunshine, with violet mountainsbefore them and a gleam of the sea behind. Here they traversed amud-village plumed with palms, its narrow ways alive with dogs, andfowls, and children, where Iskender shouted, "Way for the Emīr!" tillmen and women bowed their heads and praised him; there an olive-groveprofuse of dappled shade, where they were content to let their horseswalk at ease. In their saddle-bags was much good food from the hotel, which they devoured at noon in some secluded spot; when Elias woulddiscourse to them of strange vicissitudes, of beggars suddenly upliftedto the height of honour, and the Emīr, reclining lazily, would smileand wink privately at Iskender, who, at every such mark of preferment, longed to kiss his feet. No marvel yet related by Elias could comparewith his own good fortune in Iskender's eyes. 

One evening, on their return to the hotel, when two stable-boys wereleading off the tired horses, and Iskender, with Elias, stood waitingto take leave of his kind lord, the negro brought a little card to theEmīr, who eyed it strangely. 

"It is that missionary-man you hate so, " he informed Iskender. "Whatin the name of Moses made him call on me?"

"Ha, ha! 'Name of Moses!'" laughed Elias, who was daily adding to hisstore of English idioms. "By gum, that's good!"

Iskender inwardly thanked Allah Most High for his mercy in directingthe Father of Ice to call while the Emīr was out. He thought no moreof it. They rode again the next day and the next; his happiness wenton, unshadowed, till a certain morning when the Frank announced, with ayawn, that he supposed he must return the visit of the missionary. This he gave as a reason for not riding on that day. He would writeoff arrears of letters in the morning, and in the afternoon would walkout to the Mission. 

Iskender's jaw fell. It had never occurred to him as even remotelypossible that his Emīr would stoop to enter the abode of people he hadalways mentioned with such fine contempt. The picture of his loved oneseated in the well-known drawing-room, an object of attention to theladies, hobnobbing with the Father of Ice--his Emīr, whom he had cometo regard as the very counterblast of that house and all it stoodfor--gave him a sense of being upside down. The Frank laughed at hisdismay, inquiring:

"Why so surprised? I must return the poor man's call in merepoliteness. "

"They hate me very much there, " said Iskender miserably. "I fear theytell you things not true about me. "

"I know the truth from you, don't I? Let them say what they like!"

Iskender went forth from his presence, pondering this reassurance, which contained no comfort for him, since he had given his lord tounderstand that he had received his education at the Mission as anindependent paying pupil, and had quite concealed the fact that hismother was a washerwoman. The Emīr, if he thought at all of thematter, supposed him a youth of substance. How could he thinkotherwise, when he heard Iskender offer to defray the cost of horses, and saw him daily bring some present in his hand? Now he would learnthe truth. 

Elias was standing in the doorway talking to Daūd son of Mūsa when hisfriend came out. He noticed his glum looks, and asked the cause. 

"My Emīr is going to visit that accursed missionary, who hates me andwill work my ruin if he can. "

"Why then remain a Brūtestānt among such enemies? Return to theOrthodox Church, and thou shalt find friends enough. "

The mighty Daūd deigned for once a glance at Iskender. The house ofMūsa were fanatics in religion. 

Elias took Iskender's hand and went out with him. 

"The news is bad for me, too, " he said ruefully, "for they hate mealso--curse their religion!"

"What matter for thee? He is not thy Emīr. For me, it is the risk oflife itself. "

Iskender broke away from him at the first chance, and walked back tohis home upon the sandhills. His mother screamed surprise at sight ofhim. 

"My Emīr is busy, " he explained, assuming cheerfulness as a good shieldfrom questions, which might easily have probed too far into his causefor grief. For the same reason he forbore all mention of the purposedvisit of his Emīr to the Mission. "I am free to-day, and so returnedto see if I could help thee in the house. "

Receiving his offer of help in sober earnest, she sent him presentlyupon an errand to the house of Costantīn; but on the way there, withthe Mission full in sight, its red tiles glaring fiercely in thenoon-day sun, it occurred to him that his Emīr would surely fall inlove with the Sitt Hilda. Rent by the twofold anguish of the thought, he wandered aimless for an hour, and then returned, to gape at mentionof an errand. His mother hurled a saucepan at his head. 

"May thy house be destroyed!" she screamed. "Nay, go not now. It istoo late! Within this minute I have seen Costantīn take the road tothe town. O Lord, what have I done to be thus afflicted?"

Iskender then sat down before the threshold, and fell to drawingpictures in the sand, smoking cigarette after cigarette withoutcontentment, till he knew by the shadow of the prickly-pears that theafternoon was well advanced; when he changed his position for onecommanding the approach to the Mission, lit a fresh cigarette and beganhis watch. 

"Thou dost smoke enough for twenty men!" his mother scolded. "Thou artalways asking me for cash to buy the stuff, even now when thou hast thyEmīr! Take from him, he will be none the wiser. Thou hast no moreintelligence than a sheep. "

Iskender heard her not. He had caught sight of the figure of a Frankmoving briskly along the ridge of the opposite dune. It seemed but asecond ere it passed into the Mission, and was lost to sight. Iskenderfell face downwards, making some idle play with the sand for hismother's benefit, the while his heart went out in prayer to Allah. Itseemed an age ere the Emīr came forth. From where he lay Iskendercould not distinguish so much as the colour of his clothes, yet hefancied he could see his heart was sad or angry. Having watched himout of sight, he sprang up suddenly and strode off towards the Missionin the hope of news. As luck would have it he met Asad son ofCostantīn. 

"I was on my way to tell thee. " That youth of promise grinned from earto ear at the sudden encounter. He had to apply his mind for a minuteto a stick of sugar-cane he was sucking before he could compose acountenance suitable to the bearer of ill tidings. "The Father ofIce--curse his father!--has done what I told thee he would do, hasruined thee with thy Emīr. He made thee out the lowest of the low, andtold his Honour of thy boast that thou wouldst use his money as thyown, even to the extent of making him pay for thy education as apainter in the English schools. He told him it was wrong for him toride on horseback beside one like thee--for whom to ride an ass weresignal honour. Ah, I assure thee by Allah he has done it thoroughly. I have the story from the maid who carried tea to them. She listenedby the door at my request, because I knew how nearly it concerned thee. "

By way of consolation Asad offered to his friend a length of sugar-canehe had himself sucked three parts dry. It was accepted blindly. Iskender knew not what he did or said. He wandered by the sea till itwas dark, and then went home and passed a sleepless night in dreams ofwealth, by which alone it seemed his love could be cleansed from allappearance of self-interest. Before his mother awoke in the morning heslipped out, and walked into the town, where he loitered down by thequay, kicking his heels, until it was time to present himself at thehotel and learn his fate. 

"The khawājah has announced his will to ride alone to-day, and for anhour only, " said Selīm the son of Mūsa, who stood sunning himself inthe doorway. 

The words struck like bullets on Iskender's heart, they so cruellyconfirmed the tale of Asad son of Costantīn. 

Elias arrived, and asked him how he did. Iskender made known histidings in a voice half-choked by grief. 

"Was any word said against me?" asked the dragoman eagerly. 

Iskender shook his head. 

"The praise to Allah! Take heart, O my soul! If I am still in favour, I can plead for thee. "

"Thou in his favour! Thou art nought to him!" replied Iskender with asudden burst of spite. 

Elias was about to answer angrily when the subject of their speechappeared. Both sprang to their feet expectantly. But the Emīr, with ablunt "Good-morning, " passed them by and mounted the horse which stoodin waiting before the door. They watched him ride away, then turnedand gazed into each other's eyes. Both agreed that there was nothingfor it but to sit down again and await further revelations of the willof Allah. 

When the Emīr returned, after less than an hour's absence, his temperhad improved, for he laughed at a joke of Elias, and suffered them bothto accompany him to his room. Elias pushed home his advantage, tellinga succession of funny stories in exaggerated broken English. The Emīrlaughed heartily, and talked with him. Iskender, abashed by theuncertainty of finding favour, dared not risk a word; and his loved onenever even looked at him. 

"You come with me, sir, this afternoon. I show you sefral things youneffer seen!" said Elias, when the bell had rung for lunch. 

The Emīr consented. 

"You see, he hears me!" cried the dragoman with exultation, when he andIskender were once more alone together. "Confide in me, and I willlead him back towards thee!"

The touch of patronage entombed Iskender. His Emīr, to be led to himby Elias! But "Weep not, O my soul!" the latter begged him. "Comewith us this afternoon and I will bring thee forward. "

CHAPTER IX

The son of Yācūb longed to be alone and weep his fill, but could notleave Elias in possession. It was as a dumb and piteous plea againstthe usurpation of Elias, and not from any hope of reinstatement, thathe attended the Emīr that afternoon, when the dragoman led them amongthe stinking alleys of the town, under archways and through privatehouses, pointing out sites of interest which Iskender felt sure were ofhis own invention; and he very soon wished that he had kept away. ForElias, according to his promise, "brought him forward, " begging theEmīr to have compassion on him, because he was a good boy and devotedto his Honour's service. Iskender could only mutter, shamefaced, whenthe Frank addressed him. 

"Why did you deceive me? I thought you were well off, or I shouldnever have accepted all those presents. Now you must please accept atrifle from me. "

Iskender found in his hand a piece of gold, and saw Elias nodding andgrimacing. He murmured words of thanks perfunctorily, the while hegnashed his teeth with secret rage. Such kindness was an outrage tohis love, being given at the bidding, in the presence, of the rogueElias. The cup of his humiliation overflowed. 

"Now all is well, " Elias told him afterwards. "Be thankful that thouhast a friend like me. He smiled on thee; he gave thee money. Thouart back in favour. "

Iskender was obliged to thank him kindly. What his soul needed was tobe alone with his Emīr, to throw himself at his feet, and win his trueforgiveness. The casual kind word with a fee was worse than nothing inthe realm of love. But Elias, as if of fixed intent to thwart him, stood always in the way, annihilating the unhappy youth withcondescension, bidding him cheer up and amuse his Honour. Iskenderheard his rattle with a stupid admiration which the Emīr's applaudinglaughter made quite envious. He himself had fallen to the level of amere serving-lad, to run his Honour's errands and be tippedoccasionally. 

His mother judged that things were thriving with him, since he broughthome money; and he did not undeceive her, wishing to keep his grievousfall a secret as long as possible; though soon, he feared, it must beevident to all the world. Already Yuhanna and the other dragomansjeered at him in the streets, acclaiming the triumph of Elias, theirown comrade. He thought of invoking the aid of his uncle Abdullah, butthat respectable man was for the moment absent on Cook's business. There seemed no hope of success by his own efforts, for in the presenceof the Emīr he could not now think clearly, nor find a word to please. Distress of longing set a cloud upon his brow, a weight upon histongue, which was not lightened when Elias chaffed him for a dullcompanion. 

It was only when alone that he regained his normal wit; and then hissoul leapt up in envy of the brilliant dragoman. Elias was clever; hehad seen the world; his position as a dragoman would bear inspection. No wonder that the Frank preferred him to the son of a poorwasherwoman, whose lowliness Elias himself was always emphasising. Thus attacked, and without defence, since there was no denying that hisorigin was humble, Iskender's pride took refuge in its old imaginings. Walking to the hotel, he would picture himself a king's son indisguise, or else the owner of enormous treasure; would smile, andclench his hands, and step exultantly; would think:

"If the Emīr but knew me as I really am!" But, approaching the Emīr, such fancies vanished. They were of no use because no one wouldbelieve them. It took Elias to give truth to wondrous stories byjudiciously eschewing points that could be verified. Iskender, ingreat anguish, prayed to Allah to destroy Elias, or at least to teachHis servant a true story, that he might outshine the miscreant. Dazzled by the triumph of that splendid liar, he thought ofstory-telling as the only way to the Emīr's good graces; and lay awakewhole nights constructing fables which the first faint light of dawnshowed to be worthless. 

An appeal to the good nature of his rival failed irrevocably. WhenIskender entreated to be left alone with his Emīr, were it but for fiveminutes, Elias stiffened, crying:

"Curse thy father! What means this plaintive whisper in my ear? ThyEmīr! He was thine by his own will, and has tired of thee. Now he ismy Emīr. It is natural he should prefer the society of a grown man whohas dwelt in England, and acquired the manner of its nobles, to that ofa loutish, sullen boy, untravelled, ignorant! Behold, I have stood thyfriend. But for me, he would have cast thee off entirely. . . . Leavethee alone with him? No, by Allah, that I will not--and have theetelling wicked lies against me. "

Iskender turned away in great unhappiness, deeming his last hope gone. 

That night he lay awake and thought of wealth as the only power thatcould confound his enemies. At last he fell asleep and dreamt ofgold--nothing but gold; small rounded pebbles of it clothed the groundfor miles. It was more, ten thousand times, than all the wealth of allthe kingdoms put together. The sky above was black as pitch, thoughsomething told him that the hour was noon; the gold put out the sun. "All mine!" he thought, and was preparing to gather it, but some onestopped him with an iron hand; and then he woke, to hear his mother'ssnores and see the flicker of the night-light on the rafters. 

His first sensations were of disappointment as though great wealth hadreally lain within his grasp. But presently as he pondered on thevision, his heart leapt up with exultation at the thought that here wasthe nucleus of a story, marvellous as any that Elias had related, andtrue, for who save Allah had surveyed the whole wide world, and coulddeny the existence somewhere of a plain all gold. Moreover, it wouldbe a story after the Emīr's own heart, concerning, as it would, thesearch for treasure. 

"If I say that I myself beheld the place, it will be false, " thoughtIskender to himself, "because I am young and every one knows that Ihave never travelled. But suppose I say my father saw it, then it willbe true, for my father is dead and he travelled far in his day, andAllah alone knows what he saw or did not see. "

The rest of that night was spent upon the story, considering in whatmanner it should be revealed, with what precautions and what vows ofsecrecy. As it shaped itself in his mind it seemed a fortune hardlyless than that he had beheld in sleep. He rose at daybreak, thought-worn but light of heart. As it happened, that morning, hismother sent him to the Mission with a message concerning some mistakeshe had discovered in the tale of the last week's washing. He had towait the pleasure of the ladies, to carry a message from them to hismother, and bring back her answer; so that it was past the usual hourwhen he reached the hotel. He met the Emīr and Elias going outtogether. 

"His Excellency has graciously consented to honour with his presence anorange-garden which belongs to me, " said the dragoman to Iskender inArabic. "The weather is fine, like summer; the fruit ripens. It willbe pleasant reclining in the shade. "

The whole world swam before Iskender's eyes around the handsome figureof Elias, whose scarlet dust-cloak seemed a flame of fire. What was aplain of gold in the truest of stories to compare with an orange-gardenactually existent close at hand? He had prepared to vanquish Elias inone sphere, and the coward leapt into another where he could not reachhim. Never till now had he heard that Elias owned a garden. This wasthe end. Iskender resigned a contest so unequal. He heard the Emīrinvite him to go with them, but shook his head, quite unable toarticulate a reply. The despair of his mother, the hateful triumph ofthe missionaries, the derisive laughter of the dragomans, came beforehis mind. Some one, passing by, gave a chuckle. He sprang toself-consciousness with the impression that the whole world laughed. The doorway of the hotel was near. He fled through it, pretending thathe had come to claim the sketching things he was wont to leave incharge of the doorkeeper. With those in his hands he hurried forthagain, glad to escape the negro's friendly grin. 

CHAPTER X

Half-blind with tears and rendered witless by despair, Iskender hadwalked half the distance to his mother's house before he realised thathe had no desire to go there. A pool of shade by the roadsideinviting, he sat down in it, and gave the rein to grief. It was with amild surprise that, when his sense returned, he found himself under theilex-tree before the little church which Mītri served. Afraid ofinterruption he looked round uneasily. But no one was in sight, and hewas loth to move. He opened his sketch-book for a suggestion ofemployment in case any one should espy him, and returned to sorrow. 

From the group of hovels close at hand came women's voices and thecluck of hens; over his head, among the branches of the oak-tree, doveswere cooing. The plumes of the two palm-trees hung dead still amid thesunshine! the shade in which he sat was quite unruffled. A train ofcamels sauntered by along the sandy road, with clanging bells, theirdriver chanting softly to himself. Iskender's heart went out inyearning to the peaceful scene. He envied the dwellers in those lowmud-hovels, who led their simple lives with praise to Allah; envied thepoor camel-driver singing in the sunshine as he jogged along. Alas forhim, he had no part with these, but was a Protestant, a stranger in hisnative land, a monstrous creation of those English who had cast himoff, a byword, a bad joke. The iridescent plumage of some pigeons, which, emboldened by his stillness, came strutting and pecking on theground before him, drew his gaze; and, half-unconsciously, he began totrace their likeness on the page before him. While thus engaged heheard a stealthy tread behind him, and felt a breath on his neck assome one leaned above him to inspect his work. In a flash heremembered the beautiful child, the daughter of Mītri, and his heartbeat fiercely. The violent change of emotion paralysed him for someseconds; then he turned round suddenly and made a grab. The girlsuppressed a scream, and tried to run, but he had caught her arm. Withjoyful eagerness, though the tears of despair were still wet on hisface, he pleaded:

"Why wouldst fly from me, my soul? Why art thou here if not to talkwith me?"

"The picture, " she murmured angrily, pulling against him hard, withface averted. 

"The picture is it? Only stay till it is finished, and I will give itthee with pleasure. "

"No, no, I tell thee; let me go or I will tear thy eyes out! Art thounot a Brūtestānt, a dog? Thy touch is defilement. How canst thoucontinue in that lying faith? Art thou not scared each night at thethought of the devils and the eternal fires?"

She gave up resistance, and stood surveying him with great round eyesof horror, fascinated by the sight of a creature doomed to everlastingtorment. The feel of her slight brown wrist was like a snake forcoolness. Iskender ventured to caress it with his fingers. But at thetouch she snatched it from him angrily, and sprang to a safe distance. 

"Thou hast been weeping; why?" she asked with a cool directness, whichwas like a sword-thrust in Iskender's heart. His woe broke out afresh. 

"O Lord!" he blubbered. "I have none to love me. My Emīr, whom I lovetruly, casts me off. The Brūtestānts, who brought me up, despise me. The Christians call me dog!"

"O man, stop crying, for it frightens me. " Nesībeh came again andleaned over him. "Be sure thy sorrow is from the hand of Allah topunish thy errors and disgust thee with them. My father says thatcalamities are often sent as warnings to the reprobate. Be thouwarned, O my dear, and return to the Church. Then our Lord will bepleased with thee, and make men love thee. "

"And thou--wilt thou too love me, or still call me dog?" Iskenderseized her hand again, though she resisted furiously. But the wordswere cut in his mouth by a heavy hand which smote him sideways, deafening one ear; and when he recovered from sensations of a generalearthquake, it was to find himself alone with Mītri. 

The priest stood smiling down on him with folded arms. 

"What means this, O son of a dog?" he said through clenched teeth. "Dost thou take us, by chance, for Brūtestānts, for shameless heathens?Praise be to Allah, we are quite unused to Frankish manners. Respectour daughters as thou wouldst the daughters of the Muslim, or harm willcome to thee. "

At those words all his former misery returned upon Iskender. He buriedhis face in his sleeve. 

The anger of the priest turned to astonishment. After staring for aminute, he sat down beside the youth and, putting his arm round hisneck, inquired:

"What ails thee, O my dear? It cannot be that thou dost weep sobitterly because I struck thee, nor yet for penitence in the matter ofmy daughter. Such things afflict not thus the mind of youth. Come, tell me what it is! Open thy heart. Who knows but, in Allah's mercy, I may be of help to thee?"

Iskender lifted his eyes for one swift glance at his would-be consoler, then hid them once more in his hands. The expression of the priest'sstrong face commanded confidence, and he felt the need of a friend. After a second's hesitation, he confessed all: how he had deceived theEmīr at first as to his worldly station, how that deception had giventhe missionaries power to set his lord against him, and then how Elias, by unheard of perfidy, with diabolical arts, had taken possession ofthe Emīr, and prevented Iskender's obtaining the private audience whichwould have put things right. 

The priest heard him to the end, then eyed him curiously. 

"Allah is merciful!" he observed. "See what it is to be an infidel. Had this happened to me I should simply have turned away with a shrugand 'Praise to Allah. ' But this youth has been taught to put his trustin worldly things, and when these fail, as fail they always do, hecomes near to kill himself. "

"I am no longer a Brūtestānt!" rejoined Iskender vehemently. "Allahknows I hate the race of them! But I have not yet told thee all mycause of grief--all the perfidy of the fiend Elias. It was bad enoughwhen I supposed him poor like me. Now it seems he is the owner of anorange-garden. I knew it not until this morning. He has taken my Emīraway to feast there in the shade. How can I ever compete with a richlandowner?"

"I ask pardon of Allah! An orange-garden? Elias own an orange-garden?Never, in this low world! Now whither has he led the good khawājah?"Mītri laid a finger between his eyebrows, and thought deeply. Anon hisface brightened. "If I give thee thy revenge upon Elias, " he demanded, "wilt thou swear by the Incarnation to forsake the errors of theBrūtestānts, and come to me henceforth for instruction in the way ofright?"

"I have done already with the Brūtestānts, " replied Iskender, all alertin an instant at the suggestion of a bargain; "but as to joining theOrthodox, my mind is not yet clear. "

"By the help of Allah, I will clear it for thee. Come and reason withme; that is all I ask. Swear to do this or I will not help thee. "

Iskender swore with secret alacrity, having the girl Nesībeh in hismind's eye. 

"That is well. Now I think I know the trick that rogue is playing. Ihave seen him in the company of one Muhammad, who tends theorange-garden belonging to a member of our Church, the rich Azīz; andAzīz is gone these two days upon business to El Cuds. But his brotherremains with us, praise to Allah, and it is but a step from here to goand warn him. I too have a debt against Elias, who invited me to blesshis house, yet never paid me. So dry thy tears, my son, and come withme. "

The priest went in among the hovels, while Iskender gathered up hissketching things, with hope revived. It being noon, the brother ofAzīz was in his house. It was plain he did not share his brother'swealth, for his abode was of the humblest, and in dress and bearing hewas a poor fellāh. His dark face brightened wonderfully when he heardwhat the priest required of him. He seized his staff and called outall the neighbours, who burst out laughing when they learned the natureof his business. When Iskender joined them, however, there were looksaskance; one said to another, "Is not this the Brūtestānt, the son ofYācūb? What hand has he in this affair? It were a sin for us to vex atrue believer for the pleasure of a child of filthy dogs, " till thepriest cried, "Welcome him, for he accepts the truth, " when all gavepraise to Allah. One tall fellāh forthwith embraced Iskender, andbegan at once to tell him of the joys of Heaven. 

The brother of Azīz then led the way down a narrow path amongfruit-trees to his brother's garden, which was not far off. The crowdof neighbours followed. Arrived at the gate, he ordered the women andchildren to remain there, while himself and Mītri, with six turbanedmen all armed with big tough staves, crossed themselves devoutly, murmured "Bismillah, " put the right foot first, and stole in veryquietly. 

Iskender followed at a distance, contrary to the command of Mītri, whohad bidden him wait without with the women and children, till he sawthem stop and whisper together, when he struck off independently. Pressing his way through the dark foliage, hung with yellowing globesand sweet with the scent of orange-flowers, he reached a secret placewhence he could watch what happened. 

CHAPTER XI

On a carpet spread in the shade which fringed some open ground besidethe sakieh, Elias and the Frank reclined at ease. Within hand's reachof them was placed a heap of oranges and sweet lemons, representingevery variety which the garden produced; and between them reposed atray on which were seen the remains of a choice repast. A creeper witha wealth of crimson flowers, wreathing a rough arbour built to shadethe sakieh, contrasted the dark foliage of the fruit-trees. The skywas pure blue and cloudless. There was a hum of insects in the air. The man Muhammad, keeper of the garden, sat on his heels at arespectful distance from the feasters, watching for a signal to removethe tray. All at once this man sprang up, his mouth fell open. With agreat oath he fled among the trees. Whereupon the brother of Azīz andhis company threw off concealment, and came forward boldly with loudtalk and laughter. Elias gazed upon them, stupefied. Before he couldget on his feet, they closed around him. Iskender heard the priest cry:

"Woe to him who withholds from the Church her dues!"

Mītri, with the brother of Azīz, then paid respect to the Emīr, engaging his attention while Elias was being led away. Guided by theoutcry of the prisoner, Iskender followed his captors on a parallelline among the orange-trees. He heard the howls of derision with whichthe women hailed the appearance of the boaster, and their demand thathe should be well beaten to reward his impudence. Iskender drew closeto them and peeped out through the leaves. 

"Beat me? Nay, that you dare not!" cried Elias. "The lives of all ofyou would not suffice my vengeance. Wait, wait till I get hold of mygood sword!"

"Thy sword, if thou hast one, is of wood, O braggart!" laughed one ofhis captors, at the same time giving him a shove which sent him reelingup against another of the band, who straight returned him. 

"Nay, nay, " he protested, in his passage through the air. "By Allah, Ipossess one, of the finest steel. Ask Mītri, ask Iskender; they haveseen it!"

Then, as they continued their rough game with him, he screamed out:

"Are you Christian men or devils thus to maltreat me on account of afew oranges for which I paid the guardian?"

"Nay, O beloved! Allah witness, it is not the oranges we begrudgethee, but the honour thou didst take unto thyself feloniously. "

"Aha, thou art the owner of this place, and we thy servants!"

"Oranges! Let him have his fill of them!"

A woman snatched an orange from the nearest tree, and flung it full inhis face. He opened his mouth to remonstrate, but another orangestopped it on the instant. With a fearful oath he gave up theargument, and ran for his life, amid a roar of laughter. 

Then Iskender came out upon the pathway, and walked along it till hereached the sakieh. As prearranged with Mītri, he feigned greatsurprise at sight of the Emīr, exclaiming:

"I thought you said the garden of Elias. This is the garden of Azīzabu Suleymān. "

"Something queer has happened, " said his patron, showing greatuneasiness. "These people have been trying to explain to me, but Ican't understand them. "

Iskender looked to the priest for elucidation. After a shortconference apart with him, he was in a position to inform his lord, who, learning the deception put on him, was very angry. His Honour wasfor leaving the place at once; but Mītri and the brother of Azīz wouldnot let him depart as if in dudgeon. 

The little crowd of men, women, and children, having finished withElias, now drew near, and sat or lay in a half circle at a respectfuldistance from the group upon the carpet. The brother of Azīz flungoranges to them; and both he and Mītri asked for tidings of theboaster, which Iskender was called upon to translate for the Frank'sbehoof. The downfall of Elias seemed complete. But the victor couldnot take much joy in it, for the face of his Emīr still showed nothingbut annoyance. 

If only Mītri and the rest would now retire, he thought impatiently, hemight throw himself at the feet of his dear lord. As it was, he wasforced to make his petition lamely, calmly, shorn of all that outwardself-abasement which the case demanded. It was something, however, tobe sure of privacy, to know himself alone with his Emīr in knowledge ofthe English tongue. 

"Oh, sir, " he faltered, "forgif me, do, or I shall die of grief. You'f neffer been the same to me since goin' to the Mission. I luf you, sir, enough to gif my life. I thought you would hate me if you knew mymother was a washin'-woman! It break my heart ef'ry time you gif memoney; I luf to gif you things, not take things from you. If themissionaries tell you contrary, they're dam' liars. Elias thinks ofmoney; but not me, because I luf you truly. I'll be a slafe to you. Do blease belief me!"

His lord was deeply moved. He said, "That's all right, " and gave hishand to Iskender, who all at once beheld the beauty of the trees andsky, the wealth of crimson flowers above the sakieh. But when thesuppliant pressed it to his lips, the Frank seemed angry, cried, "Don'tbe idiotic!" and glanced round him nervously. 

"I luf you, sir!" pursued Iskender passionately. "By God, I neffertell you lies again. You trust me, sir, and just be kind to me. Itkills me when you luf that false Elias. "

"Oh, that's all right, " was the impatient answer. "I shall trust youfor the future. Can't you talk of something else?"

Then it dawned upon Iskender that his Honour did not like this talk oflove. At a loss, he changed his tone, but not the subject, giving hispatron the true history of his difference with the missionaries, whicharose from his boyish passion for the Sitt Hilda. 

"Is that the young one? Not a bad-looking girl, if she dressedproperly!" threw in the Emīr; and again Iskender was at a loss, for hecould not conceive how dress could do otherwise than hide a woman'sbeauty. He returned to his own case. 

"I luf you, sir, and neffer, neffer will deceif you more. "

"Oh, shut up, can't you?" said the Frank disgustedly; but presently, when they had taken leave of Mītri and the brother of Azīz, he graspedIskender's arm in friendly wise. As they strolled together down asandy path among the gardens, whose dark rich green encroached upon asky of living blue, the scent of orange-flowers pervading the stillair, and the murmur of innumerable bees enforcing languor, Iskenderwalked in heaven. 

"You trust me now, dear sir?"

"Yes, yes, I trust you. I shall never forgive Elias for that dirtytrick. "

"It is only just what I did always tell you. He is an imbudent fellow, and a most horrible liar, " returned Iskender lightly, grudging Eliaseven his lord's anger. 

A pause ensued. Iskender had no more to say, yet dreaded silence, recalling his uncle's advice to him to keep the Frank amused--advicewhich he had so lately seen confirmed in the case of Elias, the amusingtalker. He knew that his patron's mind, unless engaged, was sure torevert to the adventure of the orange-garden, and recall his rival, ofwhom he wished to obliterate the very thought. 

Then, of a sudden, while he racked his brain, he was seized withrecollection of his vision of the night before. It returned to himfrom without, by no effort of his own; and was first announced to hisconsciousness by the sensation of a sudden flush from head to foot. Here was a subject able to engross the Emīr's whole interest, to theexclusion of Elias from his thoughts for ever. 

"Sir, " he said, "I wish to sbeak to you. "

CHAPTER XII

The solemnity of Iskender's voice claimed grave attention. The Emīrrecalled his gaze from far-off things, and fixed it upon the speakerwith some awe. 

Both stood stock still. 

"If you blease, sir, I think I tell you better sittin' down. "

Iskender had espied a Muslin tomb among the leaves ahead, a small whitecube, with egg-shaped dome atop of it, having in its shade a place forthe repose of wayfarers. Thither he conducted the Emīr, and both satdown. Iskender toyed with his fingers in the crevices of its roughpavement. He wished to enjoy his love alone as long as possible; andthe walk from thence to the hotel was but a short one. From agarden-hedge before them, two cypress-trees stood sharply out againstthe jewel sky. 

"I wish to sbeak to you, sir, about something which I neffer told toanybody. My mother knows, but no one else. Will you bromise, blease, to keeb it secret, what I'm goin' to tell you?"

"Yes, rather! Fire away, " said the Emīr. 

"Well, sir, I know of a blace where gold is found more blenty than theoranges in that garden we now come from. "

"You don't? You're joking!" The Emīr stared at him. 

"I do, sir. You know, there's lots of country neffer been exbloredaway there to the south and east, behind the Jordan. No one effer goesthere. My father went there once--he was a muleteer and traffeled allabout in those days--and in the desert, far away from any houses, hefound a blace where bits of gold were lyin' on the ground quite thicklike bebbles in a mountain wady. "

"But your father was not rich, " the Frank objected. 

"No, sir; and just because he was not rich, he could not go again andfetch the gold. It wants horses and camels, and many men and arms tomake afraid the Bedouins. My father saw that blace with his own eyes, and before he died he wrote a baber teach me how to get there. He toldme he got a big biece of gold, enough to make him rich, but had to drobit after a bit, it was so heffy. "

"How far is the place from here?"

"Nine days or ten, I think. When I get home I look in the baber whichmy father left and see for certain. "

"But perhaps your father was mistaken, and the stuff he found was notgold at all. "

"That might be. " Iskender grasped his chin reflectively, admittingthat he had not thought of that contingency. "But father was a knowingman, " he added; "he looked close at things. Though he was only a boorcommon man, he had traffeled a great deal, and I think he'd know goldwhen he saw it. "

"I must say I should like to go and see, " exclaimed the Emīr, nowwarming to the subject. 

"You'd better not, sir, till you make sure of brotection. The desertbeeble don't like strangers hangin' round. And the Guffernment wouldstob you, if they got to know. I thought I'd tell you, sir, becauseyou're kindest friend I effer had. Then by-and-by you get some friendsto join you, and go with a strong barty; and then, when you've got muchgold, you think: Iskender made me a nice bresent. I hobe you think so. I know I am only a boor common man, like dirt to you. But I luff youtruly, sir, and wish to gif you something. "

"Don't talk such rubbish, " said the Emīr impatiently. "Of course weshould share alike, and go together, if at all. By Jove, it would befun!" and he began to shadow forth the expedition, Iskender helping himwith tempting details. To Iskender the vision of riding for daystogether alone with his beloved seemed all glorious. Sitting therebeside the Muslim tomb, with the Emīr talking to him like a brother inthe excitement of their common dream, he lost the thought of time, andwas surprised to see the fires of evening in the sky, and the shadowsof the two tall cypress-trees extending right across the sandy road. 

"We must find out more about that place, " said the Emīr with a greatyawn as he rose and stretched himself. "We must make inquiries. Otherpeople must at least have heard of it. 

"Oh, sir, I beg you not!" the son of Yācūb cried in sudden terror. "You bromised faithfully to keeb my secret!"

"Of course, you stupid!" came the laughing assurance. "We can makeinquiries without telling any one. "

At the door of the hotel they found Elias waiting. He stood forth andgreeted the Emīr quite unabashed, convulsed with laughter at thelatter's cold amazement. 

"You thinkin' of that business in the garden? Neffer fear, sir! Thatwas all a dam' bad joke of that briest-fellow, Mītri--I'll be efen withhim yet, by Jingo!--all to pay me out because I neffer gif him nothingwhen he bless my house. He is a funny man, sir--that briest is! Hemakes me laugh fit to sblit with his awful silly jokes. "

Yet while thus joyously ascribing his late discomfiture to the Orthodoxpriest, his manner towards Iskender showed new deference, clearlyindicating that he saw the young man's hand in the business, andrecognised his master in guile. Iskender was greatly shocked when hisEmīr allowed that proven rogue to enter with them. What was his horrorwhen, arrived in the bedroom, his Highness lightly asked Elias if hehad ever heard of a place in the interior where gold lay on the surfaceof the ground. 

His lord shot a glance at Iskender to reassure him on the score ofsecrecy. But the poor youth gnashed his teeth and clenched his hands. He saw his credit hanging on a thread, his new-found favour on thepoint of leaving him, Elias avenged, triumphant. The dragoman hadtravelled far and wide; he was sure to ridicule the tale, and proveconvincingly that no such place existed. He could hardly suppress acry when Elias, instead of laughing, pulled a grave face and solemnlyaffirmed:

"I know it well. "

"Have you been there?" inquired the Emīr, himself astonished. "I heardof it to-day by chance, and am curious to know the whole story of it. "

"Not I myself. But I know one man what went there. He left this bartof the country, though; may be dead, by Jofe, for what I know!"

Interrogated further, Elias declared that the name of the place waswell known. It was Wady 'l Mulūk, the Valley of the Kings; though whyhe could not say, unless it were because the kings of old, who werecertainly richer than kings are nowadays, derived their gold fromthence. Many persons had, at divers times, set out to find that place;but few had reached it, for the reason that no one knew the roadexactly, and the desert tribes were fond of killing travellers. 

"Don't you make no mistake!" he concluded. "The Wady 'l Mulūk, he'sthere all right, only a job to find him. If you want to hear abouthim, I tell you what, dear sir, I ask some beebles. "

"I should be obliged if you would, " said the Frank. 

Iskender was still in the stupefied state of one who wakes to find hisdream made real. After such evidence from Elias, an unprepared, impartial person, there was no longer any room for doubt but that thegold of his vision actually existed. He felt a trifle jealous of thewitness for knowing more about it than he did himself. A servantsummoning the Emīr to dinner, he went out into the twilight with Elias, who still treated him with the gravest deference. As they walked awaytogether, the dragoman still talking of the wonders of the place ofgold, Iskender could not help informing him that he had certainknowledge of the whereabouts of that valley, away in the easternwilderness, beyond the Jordan. 

"Thou sayest? Now may Allah bless thee!" muttered Elias, withimmediate reverence. "Allah witness how I always loved thee. Iunderstand now why his Honour questioned me with so much mystery. Youare going there together. The Emīr will furnish forth the expeditionand become thy partner. Allah witness how I always loved thee. Bitterly do I repent my conduct towards thee of the last few days, andAllah knows thou hast had ample vengeance. Thou art too strong for me. Henceforth I am thy friend and loving servant. Take me also, I beseechthee, O my soul. I can be useful to thee from my wide experience intravel; and of the spoil I would claim no more than an alms orgleaning. Fear not that I shall breathe a word to any man. Elias isrenowned for his discretion. Say yes, O beloved! For the love ofAllah, let me go with you. "

Iskender said yes, though with mental reservations. The concession setElias upon heights of glory. He kissed Iskender on both cheeks atparting, and swore by Allah that the love he felt for him transcendedthat which he bore his own father and mother. 

CHAPTER XIII

Iskender followed the sandy road through the gardens. It was dark, andthe forms of one or two men who passed him made him tremble, theysprang so suddenly out of the gloom, noiseless, their footfallsdeadened by the soft sand. The events of the day had left on him astrong impression of the supernatural, and now he felt that witchcraftwas abroad, expected each minute that some evil claw would pounce onhim out of the gloom. The very stars of heaven looked uncanny. Coldsweat came out upon his forehead; his legs dragged weakly though helonged to run. Two palm-trees standing out against the sky told him hewas approaching the abode of Mītri; the church, the hovels, even theilex-tree, were swallowed up in the dark cloud of the gardens whichrolled mysterious on every side. Presently he saw a light among thedwellings. It occurred to him to call at the priest's house, andrender thanks for his intervention in the matter of Elias. He longedto speak to some one, any one, for rescue from the grinning terror ofthe night. 

He knocked at the door with loud blessings. It was opened, with asudden gush of light. The priest peered out into the gloom. 

"Is it thou, O my son?" he cried, recognising at length the voice thatpraised his kindness. "No, Allah be my witness, I will accept nothingfrom thee--neither thanks nor anything else, save thy conversion. Hastcome to seek instruction in accordance with thy promise? Alas! Icannot bid thee enter, for my wife and children are abed; the hour islate. What ails thee that thou tremblest? Art afraid of the powers ofdarkness, poor Brūtestānt without a saint to guard thee? Wait, I willtake my staff and bear thee company. 

"By Allah, thou hast every cause to fear, " he continued, stepping forthbeside Iskender. "Thy errors give the devils power to harm thee. TheFranks are not afraid; for in each one of them there sits a devil farmore powerful than those outside. But thou, poor innocent dupe, areleft defenceless. Surely the falsehood of their teaching must beevident to a youth of thy intelligence?"

"Nay, O my father, though my soul abhors them, I still discern muchgood in their beliefs. " Iskender, freed from fear, could arguelightly. That morning, when he gave his word to Mītri, he had feltalone and helpless. Now, in repossession of his Emīr, with boundlesswealth in prospect, the question of his change of faith seemedunimportant. That the Orthodox creed was the way of salvation, he hadno doubt; his mother had always said so; but there seemed plenty oftime in which to save his soul. He added: "How can their faith befalse, seeing it is founded on the Holy Scriptures?"

"They quote the Scriptures, it is true, " retorted Mītri, "but withoutrule or guidance, each in the pride of his own understanding--thedevils do the same!--so that no two Brūtestānts believe alike. Theyreject all those sacred traditions which lead back to Christ. Theironly union is in hatred of the Church. They exist for themselvesalone, to the hurt of others, just like stinging insects. And Allahalone knows why they were ever created, unless it be as a kind ofhornet to molest the faithful. Consider, O my dear, how transient thislife is; its prosperity departs with the breath. Think on the anguishof those who, attracted by the wealth and luxury of these missionaries, forsake the truth of God, when they stand before His Throne of Judgmentat the Last Day!"

Iskender listened, but was unimpressed. His mind had wandered back tothe events of the day; and at that moment Wady 'l Mulūk was moreapparent to his mind than the Last Judgment. He murmured:

"I will ponder what thou sayest. "

"Again bethink thee, thou who hast the gift of making likenesses andcolouring them so that they resemble living things, what fame awaitsthee as a maker of sacred pictures for our churches and our dwellings!"

"True, I must think of that, " replied Iskender. He meant, in case hefailed by any chance to find the valley full of gold, whose wealthwould raise him to the social rank of his Emīr. 

"Well, go in peace, my son; may Allah guide thee!"

With the blessing Mītti [Transcriber's note: Mītri?] kissed Iskender onthe brow, and pressed his hand. They were then quite near the littlehouse upon the sandhill; could see light streaming from its open doorand, silhouetted on the light, Iskender's mother looking out for him. 

"Mercy on us!" she exclaimed, when her son came bounding through a gapof the cactus hedge. "Praise be to Allah thou art still alive andwell! I have kept a bowl of lentils hot for thee, which is more thanthy deserts, O shameless one! O my despair, ever to have borne such ason! When--when wilt thou learn discretion? Why didst thou express ahope that thy Emīr would foul the beard of the Father of Ice, and thatin the hearing of the son of Costantīn? Here have the ladies beenagain to-day, railing against thee as the worst of malefactors. ByAllah, I can keep thee here no longer. Yet whither canst thou go, unhappy boy, for now I learn that thou hast angered thy Emīr? Thyuncle, the respectable Abdullah, has been here in great trouble forthee. He has this day returned from Beyrūt, that great, splendid city, and I thought that he had come to tell me of its progress and highfashion. But no, it was for thee he came. In the town, on landing hehad heard the tidings of thy downfall. Why hast thou hid the truthfrom me these many days? I could have fallen lifeless when I heard himsay that thou art nothing, that Elias is the friend of thy Emīr. Whence came that money thou didst show me? Was it stolen? Tell me, Ounfortunate! I am thy loving mother, and shall not condemn thee. "

Iskender laughed at her concern. 

"It is true, " he said, "that my Emīr did for a time prefer Elias. Butnow, praise to Allah, all is well again!" And he proceeded to relatewhat had happened that morning in the orange-garden. 

"May Allah reward our father Mītri!" his mother exclaimed. "But Iwould not have thee go too far in friendship with him, on account ofthe missionaries, who may yet forgive thee. To-day when I condemnedthy conduct fiercely, their hearts, I could see, were touched with pityfor thee. Now if I drive thee forth, and vow never more to look onthee, there is a chance they will forgive thee quite. It is certainthat they do not love Asad as they loved thee. By Allah, I should liketo see my son a mighty clergyman. Then I would wear fine Frankish hatsin their despite; and thou couldst wed the Sitt Hilda, though she isold for thee. To-morrow, therefore, seek some new abode. . . . Allahcut short thy life! Thy wits are wandering. Is the matter of myspeech so light, O misbegotten?"

Iskender, who was half-way through the mess of lentils, protested withhis mouth full that he had heard and would obey. But his tone was soindifferent as to increase his parent's wrath. To one deep in thoughtof the valley of gold, her words seemed trash. She stormed unceasinglytill they had both lain down to rest and the night-light was burningfitfully on the ground between them. Then at last came peace; shesnored aloud; while Iskender thought of the valley full of gold, whosetrue existence had been miraculously revealed to him, and then of thecareer as a church painter offered to him by the priest Mītri. Anything was better than to be the fatted slave of the missionaries, who, he felt sure, hated him. His desire was to be loved. 

In the morning early he returned to the house of Mītri. As he reachedit a noise of chanting in the little church informed him that thepriest was at his duties; so he squatted down in the shade of theever-green oak, and waited till the service should be ended. Presentlya group of brown-legged boys came tumbling out, smiting one another andshouting the minute they had passed the threshold. A few girlsfollowed, all discreetly veiled, in one of whom he recognised Nesībeh;and then some older people, turbaned men and white-veiled women, amongthem one blind sheykh with hands outstretched; and finally, after aninterval, the priest himself. Iskender sprang to him, and kissed hishand. 

"I seek a boon of thee, O lord of kindness!"

"In the name of Allah!" Mītri seized the suppliant's hands and pressedthem to his heart. "Say on; I listen. "

Iskender told him how the hatred of the missionaries had reached such apitch that his mother was obliged to cast him out. He had come to thepriest, his best friend, for advice in this dilemma, thinking that hemight recommend him to a lodging. 

"Now may Allah house thee!" said Mītri with a thoughtful frown. "Allahknows thy mother does great wrong thus to cast thee abroad, a youngunmarried man; unless she wishes to debauch thee utterly. For who butthe worst of characters would take thee in, to share the intimacy oftheir wives and daughters, except it might be as a traveller, and for asingle night? Wallah, I am at a loss how to advise thee. There is notat present among us an old childless couple, nor yet a bachelor, whosedwelling thou couldst share. By the Holy Gospel, I see no resort forthee except a khan. . . . I have it!"--his perplexity was lightenedsuddenly, and he raised his eyes, till then downcast. "Thou shaltlodge at the hotel of Mūsa el Barūdi, where thy patron dwells. Mūsa isof my congregation, and he loves me well; while, as for Selīm and Daūd, his two sons, I taught them their duties and chastised their youthfulconduct. Wait here, and I will write a word to them, how thou arttired of the vain beliefs of the Brūtestānts, and wouldst tread thepath of Salvation. "

"Write all that pleases thee, our father!"

Iskender waited to receive the missive; and then, with blessings on thepriest and all belonging to him, sped with it to the hotel. To be nearhis sweet Emīr both night and day fulfilled his dearest wish. 

The sons of Mūsa had not yet risen when he entered the hall; and theblack doorkeeper, accustomed to see him come in every day without leaveor question, betrayed astonishment when asked to bear a letter to them. 

"To which of the twain?" he asked, with a dubious grin. 

"By Allah, that I care not; for see, by the superscription, the messageis to both alike. "

"I will show it to the Khawājah Selīm, " the negro muttered, and wentoff, holding the paper wrapped in his white robe. 

He returned almost immediately, on his heels Selīm the son of Mūsa, whocried gladly:

"Thou art welcome and thrice welcome, O my dear! The praise to Allah, and good luck to thee! Our father Mītri must be mad with joy; for thouart the first that ever came from them to him, while they have stolenmany from his flock, though not of late. The Holy Orthodox Churchinvites no proselyte, so the more credit to the man who comes to her. She resembles some old-fashioned, quiet merchant, too dignified tocompete with Frankish cheapjacks. Our house is thy house; dwell hereas long as is convenient to thee, and may Allah preserve thee always. "

Iskender murmured his thanks, standing reverently, with hands foldedaway and eyes downcast. Then, when Selīm had gone back to hisdressing, he crossed his legs upon the pavement of the hall and musedon his good fortune, praising Allah. 

Elias came into the hall and greeted him. 

"I have news for thee, " he whispered; and Iskender, remembering theValley of the Kings, gave eager ear; but just then Selīm, the son ofMūsa, called from an inner room:

"Iskender is a convert, O Elias. He returns to the bosom of theChurch. The praise to Allah!"

"Is it true?" cried Elias, starting back and staring at the youth. Perceiving no denial, he embraced him fondly, crying: "Our Lord blessthee! Allah knows I always loved the soul of thee, though theBrūtestānt stank in my nose; now from this day forth I am thy brother. By the Most High, thou shalt lodge nowhere but in my house. "

"May Allah reward thy hospitality, O Elias, " cried again the son ofMūsa. "The honour thou wouldst have is mine already. "

"A pity!" sighed Elias, seeming really disappointed. 

But the next minute, hearing steps upon the stairs, he brightened up, and said in Iskender's ear:

"The Emīr descends! Ah, I assure thee by the Holy Gospel, I have newsfor both of you. "

The Frank stayed only long enough for salutations, then passed againfrom sight, going to breakfast. But though they were long alone, without a listener, Elias refused to impart the matter of his news, bidding Iskender wait till the Emīr gave audience. 

"Ah, I assure thee, news of price!" he repeated, hugging himself, withbig round eyes of mystery. 

CHAPTER XIV

The news, when Elias did at last reveal it, was simply another of hiswondrous stories. The Frank, however, listened to it with someinterest as the three walked out together. 

In the watches of the night Elias had remembered how years ago amuleteer, by name Mansur, had brought a piece of gold to show himsecretly. This man had been upon a journey to the Wady Mūsa with someEnglish gentlemen of the kind who seek adventure in wild places. Outin the desert, far away from any house, he had the misfortune to beseparated from his company, and wandered alone for three days in vainattempts to rejoin them. At dusk one evening he found himself in awild ravine, its cliff-walls honeycombed with caves, in one of which hechose to pass the night. No sooner had he lain down than he imaginedthat he heard unearthly music; but by dint of repeating the name ofAllah the trouble left him, and he went to sleep. 

In the middle of the night he woke with a start, to find the cavernlighted up, and full of people talking angrily. By their pointed ears, domed heads, and slanting eyes he knew them for the dwellersunderground. Fear paralysed and kept him silent; which was lucky, forhe learnt presently that their wrath concerned him. They were there, it seemed, to guard a treasure-ground against intruders; and weredebating in what manner they should kill him, when Mansur, who was aChristian, lifted up his voice and cried:

"In the name of Allah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!" They vanishedinstantly with horrid yells. 

In the morning, when Mansur arose and went to the cave-mouth, he sawthat the bottom of the ravine was strewn with lumps of gold. Indelight he ran and gathered of the stuff as much as his bags wouldhold, and then set forth. But he had forgotten to give thanks to Allahfor the burden; and in consequence of the omission it was not madelight to him. For relief he was forced to thrust a hand into hisplacket, to pull out lump after lump and drop it on the road, tillthere remained but one piece, small as compared with the rest, butstill enough to make his fortune in the world of common men. 

Allah blessed his journey, and he reached his home at last. There, after a consultation with his wife, he resolved to submit the nugget tosome man renowned for probity and wisdom. He brought it, therefore, toElias, who believed it to be gold, but, loth to trust his judgment, advised Mansur to show it to a certain jeweller of high repute, as wellfor virtue as for craftsmanship; and Mansur did so. The jeweller askedMansur to leave it with him for a day or two, that he might applycertain tests, and when asked for a receipt, appeared so hurt, calledso loudly upon Allah and the neighbourhood to attest his honesty, andin all respects bore himself so nobly, that Mansur retired convincedthat he had left his treasure in clean hands. 

But when he returned after two days, that jeweller informed him that itwas not gold. Mansur then asked for it to be returned, saying that ifit were only brass it would be worth preserving. The merchant repliedthat he had thrown it away, and told the muleteer to go and hunt for itupon the rubbish-heaps outside the city gate. Mansur then called himthief. The jeweller cried "Ya Muslimin!" and roused the neighbours, who fell upon Mansur, and beat him soundly, leaving him for dead. Butbefore he lost consciousness he heard the jeweller exhorting themultitude not to spare him, for that he had stolen a lump of fine goldfrom the Sultan's treasury. 

"What you think of that?" said Elias, when he had made an end. 

"A truly wonderful story, " rejoined the Emīr. 

Their walk had ended on the sea-beach, where they now, all three, laystretched upon the sand. The Emīr, with his straw hat tipped over hiseyes, threw a stone from time to time into the azure ripples, as darkin contrast with their foam as ink on paper. There was a moment'ssilence. Iskender whispered in his lord's ear:

"It is all a lie. He made it up last night. "

"There may be some truth in it; you never know!" replied the Emīr inthe same tone. He added aloud for Elias, who was staring fixedly outon the sea, still entranced by the vision he had just related:

"If the place is guarded by nothing more terrible than your genis, Ishould like to go there. "

"Ha, ha!" laughed Elias. "That's all tommy-rot about the jinnis. "Nevertheless he glanced around in haste, and muttered an exorcistformula beneath his breath. "The Bedouins they're more real to beafraid of. But neffer say die; you square them easy with a fewdollars. Iskender, he know the way there, so all serene!"

"I told Elias all about it, sir, last night, " said Iskender sheepishly, in reply to a glance of surprise. 

"Yes, sir, he tell me, and I'm goin' to helb you all I can. TrustElias, sir, he knows his way about!"

"Well, " said the Emīr after a little meditation, "I feel inclined forthe adventure, provided always that it doesn't cost too much. "

"We soon see what that's a-going to cost. "

In a trice Elias whipped out from his breast a greasy pocket-book, stuffed with testimonials from travellers, which, by the violence oftheir owner's haste to begin calculations, were scattered on the sand. As there was no wind, Elias let them lie there for the present, andholding the pocket-book close to his nose, fell to dotting down Arabicnumerals on the tablet allotted to memoranda. 

Iskender glared at him. The wretch who yesterday had been crushed andall-submissive, to-day aspired to take command of an expedition thevery idea of which was all Iskender's. 

"This was gif me by one American gentleman, " Elias remarked of thepocket-book. "Well, come along then! You take camels or mules?Camels hold the most, but mules much nicer. We say fifty mules. Thenyou want a cook, and a waiter, and 'bout ten muleteers, and five--sixbig tents. I think you do it easy, grub an' all, sir, for 'bout fivehundred bound. "

"Good Lord!" ejaculated the Emīr. 

"Well, I do it for less, much less, but you be uncomfortable. "

Iskender, then awaking from his trance of horror, grasped thedragoman's arm and shook it angrily. 

"What do we want with fifty mules, O ass?" he asked in Arabic. "Onemule would carry enough to make us all as rich as Mūsa el Barūdi. "

"By Allah, thou art an ass thyself! Is it not well to bring away themost we can, " returned the visionary, sore dismayed; when, seeing howtheir talk apart made the Frank suspicious, he relapsed into Englishwith a genial smile:

"Yes, fifty too dam' many; we take ten. A friend of mine got threenice tents--a bit old, but neffer mind! He let you haf 'em cheab, because he luf me. Then three horses for you and me and 'Skender. Howfar you say it is?" He turned to Iskender. "You know the way. "

"About nine days from here, accordin' to the baber which my fatherwrote. My mother kebt it to this day. "

"Well, sir, I think you get there under one hundred bound, and once yougot the gold you not care a dam' what it coss comin' back. "

"No, " said the Frank firmly. "I want to know the expenses there andback, and I can't afford more than fifty pounds for the wholeexpedition. "

At this unlooked-for ultimatum Elias opened his eyes very wide andsucked his pencil, staring ruefully at his scattered testimonials. Hedeclared it to be "no go. "

But Iskender, seeing the opportunity for self-assertion, stood by theFrank, undertaking recklessly to arrange the whole expedition, on asmaller scale, for the sum stipulated. 

Elias shrugged to the ears. 

"Be careful to keep this secret, " he said sullenly in Arabic. "ByAllah, if the others, who dislike thee already, get to know of it, theywill go mad with rage and probably take thy life. Abdullah, thy uncle, himself would wish to slay thee. For a missionary or a resident in thecountry, and out of season, it might pass. But this is a lord ofwealth, a prince, the best sort of traveller!"

"Canst thou not perceive, O my dear, that the desire of his Honour isfor rough adventure, and not luxury? And verily, to travel in thestyle of thy proposal would simply be to invite every bravo of thewilds to come and rob us. "

This Iskender uttered in a tone of high impatience, and he was pleasedto observe, out of the corners of his eyes, that his patron approved ofthat tone being used towards one who had designed to overcharge him. 

"Well, Allah reward thee; for thou canst make no profit on it, that iscertain, " said Elias with another shrug, and after that kept silencefor some minutes, resigning all part in the discussion. But soon, asthat discussion grew more animated, and the vision of the sea of goldcame dazzlingly before his eyes, he forgot his dudgeon and chimed inonce more, thus tacitly accepting the leadership of Iskender, who wassatisfied. 

"When shall we start?" asked the Emīr at last. 

"Wheneffer you blease, dear sir, " replied Iskender. 

But Elias thought profoundly, visibly, with finger laid to brow. 

"I think you better wait a bit, Iskender, " he said presently. "I tellyou why. Just now there's no trafellers comin' to the country, so thedragomans just stand around and jolly well watch all what you do. Wego now, it make a talk. Wait a month or two, in the name o' Moses, then there's lots o' trafellers; they think about makin' money, and gohang! I shan't want no trafellers this year. No jolly fear, byGeorge! I stick to you. Like that they think you got a broberdragoman and all serene!"

This was sound advice, and, as it was proffered with the righthumility, Iskender commended it to his beloved. 

CHAPTER XV

On the day following that council on the sea-beach, something happenedwhich pushed the Valley of the Kings into the background for a time. This was the arrival from the land of the English of a fine newpaint-box, which the Emīr presented to his henchman with most graciouswords. With this beside him and his sketch-book on his knees Iskenderheard the talk around him with but half an ear, and, when referred toanswered without thinking, thus assenting to propositions and acceptingresponsibilities the onus of which dismayed him when he came to realiseit. For instance Elias earnestly desired to know if Iskender couldhave included the services of a first-rate cook in his estimate for theexpedition. The best of cooks, he vowed, was necessary for the honourand contentment of their dearest lord. How was it to be done?

Iskender with eyes intent upon a spot of colour newly laid, with brushin air, replied:

"Have no fear, O beloved. I shall find a man; and, if not, I myselfwill do the cooking. "

"But canst thou?"

"By Allah, I am a known professor of the art. " And again when Eliasspoke of other services certain to be required upon the journey, Iskender undertook, in default of trained servants, himself to make thebed and wait upon the Frank at table. 

The Emīr was greatly pleased by this alacrity of the absorbed artist;seeing which, Elias cried:

"No, no, by God, you can't do all the work, I help you, 'Skender. Letme wait at table. "

Iskender saw Elias waiting on their lord alone, breathing his pleasurein the great man's ear! Yet he assented gratefully. Elias was not togo with them at all, he had firmly resolved; but there was no need totell him so just now, in this time of preparation when his experiencewas sure to be useful. In Iskender's mind the Valley of the Kings waslittle more than a romantic pretext for a ride alone with his Emīr. But Elias thought of nothing but the gold. His eyes seemed to havegrown larger in these days, and were fixed wide open to contain thevision. He treated Iskender with a kind of worship as the repositoryof that precious secret, showed great care for his health, and was inall things his loyal helper. But the young man did not trust him. Hekept the details of the expedition to himself as organiser; and, thoughElias pestered him with questions concerning the whereabouts of thatdesirable valley, he would reveal nothing. By dint of thus withholdinginformation, he himself acquired the firm conviction that there wasreally information to withhold. 

It was not till more than a week after the coming of the famouspaint-box that Iskender found time to go again to the house of Mītri. Repairing thither in the glow of a fine evening, following a rainy day, he was surprised, as he drew near the place, to see his mother talkingwith Mītri in the doorway. She was wrapped from head to foot in agreat shawl, and seemed in some trepidation, casting frequent glancesup and down the road. In so doing she caught sight of Iskender, andraised hands to heaven. She ran to meet him. 

"What is this?" she cried. "Day after day have I been here to seekthee, because the whole world says that thou hast joined the Orthodox, and my heart yearned towards thee; but I dared not go openly to thehotel where thou art known to lodge, having sworn to the missionariesthat I would never see thee more. Here, too, I am in terror of mylife, for if it were known that I held intercourse with Mītri, theywould cast me off. Well, thou hast no more hope from them, thanks tothy rashness. Why couldst thou not shun the priest here, as I toldthee to? Now, with all the Orthodox boasting of thy conversion, thouart more than ever accursed in their sight. Even at me they lookaskance, I fancy, as if I had a finger in the mess. Come indoors wherewe can talk privately. The worthy priest will let me enter with thee. What made thee go and change thy faith just now?"

"I have not yet changed it, O my mother. I do but hear the reasoningof our father Mītri. "

"Well, that is something. I will tell them that. " She held her tonguesuddenly, finding herself within the hearing of Mītri, who, however, took no notice of her, but welcomed Iskender fatherly and bade himenter. She entered with them unrebuked, and sat by while they argued, feasting her eyes upon her son's good looks. The girl Nesībeh cameoccasionally to the door of the inner room, and exchanged mischievousglances with Iskender, who was on the watch for her. His mother's eyeswere quick to notice this, and, leaning to his ear, she whispered:

"Cunning devil! Thy plan is not amiss, for she is comely, and herfather stands well with the highest in the land. Thou wilt mix withthe Barūdis and the rich Azīz. "

Iskender shook her hand from off his arm, and brushed her words away asstinging insects, in terror lest the priest should overhear. Thepriest rebuked her for the interruption. But she continued unabashed, and sat on smiling to herself, and nodding at Iskender when she caughthis eye. 

After that Iskender went to the priest's house every evening, and hismother often stole so far to meet him, hurrying, chin on shoulder, inevident terror of pursuit by the missionaries. She endured all Mītri'sreprobations with a shrug, content so long as he allowed her to embraceher boy. 

"Poor people must eat bread. Our Blessed Lord knows that and will makeallowance for me, " was her reply to the accusation of hypocrisy. Butshe now seconded Mītri's designs upon Iskender, gratified by the notionof an alliance with the priest's family. "It is different with him, "she admitted, "since they have cast him out. Let Iskender follow theguidance of the Spirit. Doubtless the congregation will take care ofhis future, for he has forfeited a great career for conscience' sake. "

Iskender, however, still held back, from no conscientious reluctance, but merely to prolong a hesitation which he found delicious as givinghim value in the eyes of the girl Nesībeh. Her delight when any of hisobjections went down before her father's reasoning and the triumphantprivate glance she shot at him made a joy not lightly to be forgone. When all his veritable doubts had been demolished, he invented othersto prolong this happiness. He cherished definite hopes, dream-like aswas the nature of his mental process, of obtaining her for his own, when he returned full of treasure from Wady 'l Mulūk. The big priest, it was clear, had conceived a liking for him, and had come to count onhis visits of an evening, loving an argument; her mother always blessedhim when he came and went, and baked choice sweetmeats for hisdelectation. 

It was not long before Iskender received evidence that the question ofhis change of faith possessed a lively interest for others besides thepriest Mītri and his lovely daughter. One day, returning from a walkwith the Emīr, he heard that the missionary had been inquiring for himin his absence; and the following evening, on the road to Mītri'shouse, he was overtaken by the Father of Ice in person, who got downoff his horse and addressed him very kindly. 

Why did Iskender never come to church nowadays? why had he not been tovisit the ladies? why had he refused their offer of employment in thehouse, which would probably have led to better things, perhaps to hisappointment as assistant master in one of the Mission schools? Evennow it was not too late to reconsider; they, on their side, were quitewilling to forget bygones. It had grieved them much to hear thatIskender was drifting into bad company, and entering on a viciouscourse of life; still more to learn that he showed an inclination toforget the enlightened religious teaching which he had received inchildhood. 

His words moved Iskender more than he desired to show, arousing in hismind a thousand happy memories, reproachful now. He replied in Arabicwith the sullenness that masks emotion:

"I am a son of the Arabs, and I return to my own kind. Allah knows Iam nothing to be considered. "

"What do you mean?" asked the missionary in a colder tone. 

"Your Honour and the ladies could not make of me an Englishman. It isfor that you cast me off. "

"We tried to make of you a Christian man. " The missionary's face grewstern, and his ice-green eyes gave forth a sword-flash. "Well, go yourway; God grant it lead not to perdition!" He nodded his head in thedirection of the two palm-trees which marked in the dusk thewhereabouts of Mītri's house. 

Iskender, glancing in the same direction, discerned the tall blackfigure of the father of Nesībeh in the road, looking out for him. Theidea of evil in connection with the jolly priest suddenly struck him asperverse and ludicrous. He laughed in the face of the missionary. 

"My friends are no worse than your friends. And which of us will belost, which saved, will not be known until the last judgment. May OurLord forgive your Honour for such bad thoughts. "

In a white rage, the Father of Ice remounted his horse and rode away, disregarding the ironical salute of Mītri, who stood out before hisdoor, awaiting the arrival of his catechumen. 

"What didst thou say to the hog to make him snort like that?" was thepriest's first question of Iskender; and, when the youth informed him, "By Allah, it was a true word, " he chuckled heartily. "They think allmen should be on one pattern--the pattern of their wondrous selves, whom they esteem perfection. They suppose that what is good for theirrace must be good for all the others, thus ignoring the providence ofAllah, Who made the peoples of the earth to differ in appearance, speech, and manners. They know nothing of our beliefs and ways ofthought, so call them wicked, since they are not theirs. They condemnmen freely, sitting in the seat of judgment, unaware that theythemselves will be judged at the last day. By Allah, there is only oneof all that breed whom one can talk to as a human being--I mean thelittle preacher Ward, who runs their errands. He has not been here forthree months or more. From much travelling among the villages, heknows the customs of our people and respects them. Moreover, he ismodest, while the rest are arrogant. . . . But, merciful Allah, whatis this I see? What ails thee, madwoman?"

The mother of Iskender, stealing forth from the priest's house, hadcast herself upon her son, with fearful moans:

"O Holy Virgin! O my terror! Please God, he did not see me where Istood in the doorway! Some one has informed him where I go--it must beCostantīn, the spy and liar--and now he rides at dusk to try and catchme. I shall not come here again; it is too dangerous. Come thou tothe house sometimes quite late at night. Farewell, O beloved, and mayAllah keep thee!"

"Allah is greatest!" ejaculated Mītri, with a shrug and a gruff laugh, as he watched her flight along the twilight road. "Now let us enterand dispute together. "

But the shock of his encounter with the missionary had left Iskenderwith no wits for argument. He took leave earlier than usual; and, ashe walked back to the hotel in the dark, he realised that the lastvestige of his Protestantism had that evening been demolished. Hisbaptism would follow as a matter of course, in the mind of Mītri; andhe was by no means prepared to receive it, since the priest, for thetriumph of his congregation, was certain to demand a public ceremony, and Iskender feared the scorn of his Emīr, whom he imagined to besomething of a sceptic. 

Moreover, it would entail a full confession of his inmost thoughts, which, with Wady 'l Mulūk in mind, he could not face; and at least itought to be postponed till after the great Fast, which the Orthodoxobserve with cruel rigour. 

To stave off the ordeal he saw himself forced to invent a new set ofdoubts and objections. On his next visit to the house of Mītri, heowned himself convinced of the vanity of the Protestant faith, buthinted at an inclination towards the Catholic. The big priest staredat him with mouth agape. 

"Curse thy father!" he exclaimed. "Wouldst thou turn from bad toworse, and rush straight to Jehennum. Thou hast studied history, soknowest that the Latins are our ancient enemies. They slew us with theMuslims when their armies took by storm the Holy Places, and enslavedthe remnant of us in a cruel slavery. They have statues, rank idols, in their churches; and is it not the worst idolatry to concentrate thepower which belongs of right to the whole Body of Christ, and adore itin the person of one living man? Their lips have corrupted the creed:they have no baptism, so can have no orders. Their Pope of Romehimself is nothing but an unbaptized layman. Speak of that again, andI will drive thee from my house with beatings!"

Iskender, greatly alarmed, made haste to explain that he had spoken injest. He had caught an angry look from the girl Nesībeh. 

"Jest not upon what concerns thy soul's salvation, " said the priest, letting his wrath evaporate. "Thou knowest not what harm those Latinsdo us, tempting souls astray. They allow proselytes to retain ourbeliefs, our language, and our form of service, so only that theyacknowledge the supremacy of the hound of Rome, which means perdition, truly, in the next world, but foreign protection in this. It is littlewonder that they have seduced many. . . . What hinders thee fromreceiving at my hands the inestimable boon of baptism?"

Iskender murmured that he still had doubts. The angry glances of thegirl Nesībeh made him shame-faced. 

"Show me thy doubts that I may straight resolve them. "

Iskender was muttering that he must think them out, that they were notyet quite clear in his mind, when Nesībeh cried from the inner room:

"Hear him not, O my father! The low dog is mocking thee. Force him tobe baptized, or drive him forth!"

"Silence, shameless one!" the priest cried sternly; nevertheless hetook her suggestion and, turning to Iskender, whose brow was throbbingpainfully, inquired: "Hast thou one good reason to desire delay?"

"Yes, O our father!" Iskender blurted out the truth at last. "I knownot how my patron would regard it. On him I depend entirely for thepresent. I have heard him scoff at all who change the faith that theywere born in. Wait a little, I beseech thee, until he is gone!"

"Is that in truth all?" replied Mītri, fully satisfied. "The right iswith thee. We must wait awhile. But Allah grant thou die not in theinterval. "

CHAPTER XVI

The season recommended by Elias as most favourable for their adventurenow drew near. Each steamer that touched at the port disgorged alittle crowd of travellers. The Emīr being no longer alone in thehotel, his radiance suffered eclipse. Other Franks of distinction cameand went continually; dragomans, splendidly attired, hung about theentrance, tugging at their moustachios, tapping their riding-boots withsilver-mounted whips, and spitting superbly, as became men whosespecial province it was to order the lords of gold about like dogs. Merchants and pedlars, as many as could get permission from the sons ofMūsa, spread out their wares on the floor of the hall, and smiledallurement on the visitors. The servants of Cook and other Powers ofEurope and America strutted about and gave command like princes. 

Iskender, for his footing in the house, helped the servants wherever anextra hand was required, and in that way learnt to wait at table, topolish boots and brush clothes, and acquired some inkling of the art ofcooking. The positive need of these attainments for the coming journeymade him quick to learn. The Emīr himself admired his generalusefulness, and the sons of Mūsa paid him money for his services. As aresult of all this bustle there were fewer visits to the house ofMītri, while the book and paint-box were perforce laid by. 

The excitement of Elias grew with every day. He never tired of askingwhether all was ready, of reminding Iskender of the need of this orthat small comfort, and urging him to fix a date for their departure. Indeed his eagerness became a visible disorder, and, seeing him minglefreely with the other dragomans, Iskender went in hourly fear ofindiscretions. One noon when, after a spell of work in the hotkitchen, he had rushed to the outer door to breath the air, he fellupon a group of persons splendidly arrayed, who welcomed his appearancewith unfriendly glee. Yuhanna Mahbūb, the bully, seized his arm, andthreatened him with his whip not altogether playfully. 

"Confess the truth!" he commanded, with his cruel grin. "Thy journeywith the Emīr is not for pastime. Thou hast a secret; it is useless todeny it, for we know the fact from thy partner Elias. I, with othersof thy friends, resent this great preferment of Elias. Reveal thysecret now immediately, and if it is of worth, I too will go with thee. "

"What words are these?" Iskender cried out in extreme amazement. "Asecret! I possess a secret! It is some lying fable of that mad Elias!"

"That, Allah knows, is possible, " put in a bystander. "Elias is thevery prince of fable-mongers. "

Yuhanna still kept grinning in Iskender's face. 

"Wilt thou swear by the Blessed Sacrament that thou knowest nothing ofthe whereabouts of any treasure?"

"Art mad? How should I know of any treasure?"

"Swear by the Blessed Sacrament! Nought else will serve; and ifhereafter it should prove that thou art perjured, I will beat thyfilthy soul from out thy body. "

"By the Blessed Sacrament I swear!" replied Iskender. 

"That is well!" Yuhanna curled his long moustachios. "Then why doesElias refuse every other engagement? It is not likely thy Emīr willpay him much. "

"By the same pledge I know not! Ask the man himself!"

"Thou seest, 'Hanna, as I told thee, it is all a lie, " laughed abystander, the same who had before spoken. 

Iskender escaped from them, bearing the conscience of a perjuredwretch. He called Allah Most High to witness how the sin was forced onhim. It was some comfort to reflect that he was still technically aProtestant, so might be taken to have sworn by the sacrament of thatsect which he knew to be without Divine significance. But all the samehis crime was very heinous. 

Early in the morning following this grave event, Iskender was engagedin sweeping out the entrance-hall, when his uncle strode in out of thesunlight, of which he seemed an offshoot in his splendour of apparel. More respectable than ever through pride in the command of a company ofhigh-born English bent on sight-seeing, he addressed his nephew fromthe height of condescension:

"O son of my brother, I start this day upon a journey of ten days withmy party, and would say a word to thee before I go. Elias tells methat both thou and he propose to ride forth with the young khawājah, and show him something of the land. That is well. Elias, thoughsometimes foolish, has experience; and I have told him to instruct theefully in our business. Go not too far, for travel in wild places istoo arduous for one so young; and Elias has little acquaintance withthe desert ways, and that little disastrous, he and all his partyhaving been captured and held to ransom by the Bedū, because he forgotto pay the tribes their proper dues. Be cautious and observant. Insh' Allah we shall all return in safety. "

"In sh' Allah!" echoed Iskender in great astonishment; for it had thatminute occurred to him that he had no real knowledge of the whereaboutsof the place to which he had undertaken to conduct his patron, beyondwhat Elias had implied, that it was somewhere in the neighbourhood ofWady Mūsa. His first sentiment on the discovery was one ofthankfulness, because he had not sworn falsely in his oath to Yuhanna. 

His next was one of self-abasement before Allah. Was not His mercyboundless, like His power? During the few days which remained beforethe start, he spent much time in prayer, and offered votive candles tobe burnt in Mītri's little church beneath the ilex-tree. Why should henot find his way to the Valley of Gold, by the blessing of the AllPowerful? Did not his vision of the place, and the strangeconcatenation of chances which had led him on to the adventure, seem toindicate that he was destined to find it? Even if he failed, the Emīr, he told himself, would have had a pleasant outing, and could not in thenature of things be very angry. Thus he lulled his fears. 

The one thing left to trouble him was the adherence of Elias, and hetried by every means to throw him off. 

"We cannot afford a horse for thee, " he told the dragoman. "Allahknows I have enough to do to make the money suffice for the barenecessaries. "

"What did I tell thee?" said Elias cheerfully. "When thou hast hired acook and baggage animals, I know, by Allah, there is nothing left. Nomatter, I will hire a horse on my own account. "

Iskender next informed his friend in confidence that there was no realintention of going to the Valley of the Kings. It was all a jokebetween himself and the Emīr. 

"Ha, wouldst thou leave me out?" exclaimed Elias, with a laugh. "No, no, my soul. I am not to be gulled so easily!"

Iskender despaired of ever getting rid of him, when Elias himselfunexpectedly afforded him the opportunity. Two days before the start, the Emīr asked for an account of the arrangements, and Iskender gaveit, in the presence of Elias. His Honour was to ride the horse whichhe had lately bought; Elias would provide his own. Iskender himselfwould act as cook and waiter and his Honour's body-servant, and alsoassist in his functions the single muleteer, who provided three mulesand one horse. A good-sized tent, a little the worse for wear, acollapsible bed, a table, a chair, and cooking utensils completed anoutfit of which the whole cost amounted to little more than half thesum which the Frank had assigned as a limit. 

The Emīr was greatly pleased; not so Elias. When Iskender had made anend, the dragoman flung up his hands. 

"That only!" he cried to heaven; "and for an Emīr, a great one, likeour friend here!"

It was a crime unheard of, an abomination! Their beloved would die ofdiscomfort in a single night. No, that should never be, so long as he(Elias) enjoyed life and health, with some slight credit among honestpeople. He would himself provide two upright men, a cook and a waiter, at his own expense. He knew them well. They had retired frombusiness, but they loved him dearly and would come forward willingly, he felt sure, to save so excellent a prince from vile indignity. 

This outpour of his indignation was addressed to Iskender in fierceArabic. When his proposal was translated, the Emīr pooh-poohed it, declaring Iskender's arrangement to be all he could desire. Eliasthen, in a frenzy, fell down at his feet, imploring him with tears toreconsider. 

"Beeble'll think we're some common fellows and be rude to us, " hemoaned. "Neffer mind the exbense, sir; that not matter a blow. Thesebeeble friends o' mine, they come for nothin' 't all. You gif themwhat you dam' blease!"

His agony was terrible to witness. Iskender had the feelings of amurderer as he looked on. Their patron stroked his small moustache andsmiled uneasily. 

"You not go like that, sir!" pursued Elias, starting up. "It is ashame for you! I go to the consul now direc'ly; make him a-stob you!Now I'm off! My friends of which I sbeak lif long way off; but I beback with them in two days, the time you start. Bromise to wait tillthen! All right! Ta-ta!" With a final casting-up of hands to heaven, the enthusiast was gone. 

"We had better start at once, or he'll spoil everything, " said theEnglishman, when he recovered from his astonishment. It was preciselywhat his henchman had been thinking. By no word had they pledgedthemselves to abide his return. 

Iskender went at once to hasten the preparations. But their muleteerproved sulky on the sudden change of plans; and it was only as theresult of a dispute which lasted the whole afternoon that Iskenderwrung from him an assurance that all would be ready when the sun nextrose. 

CHAPTER XVII

Iskender, having roused his dear Emīr, went out to inspect the train. It was then some half-hour later than the time appointed; yet neithermules nor man were in sight, only the horse of the Emīr, with its neatleather saddle and bridle, was being led up and down before the hotelby a bare-legged boy. In a rage Iskender hastened to the khan whenceat the recommendation of Elias he had hired his muleteer. There hisreproaches caused extreme amazement. The man, he was told, hadreceived his order as for the following day. He was not on thepremises, and his house was some way off. 

An idle witness of the youth's despair volunteered to go and fetch thedefaulter; he set off at a run, but was gone for more than an hour. Iskender tired of waiting, and strode back angrily to the hotel. Tidings of his dilemma having gone abroad, he was escorted by a littlecrowd of the curious, among them some muleteers who were loud in theiroffers of service. From a distance he beheld the missionary, with backtowards him, conversing with his patron at the door, and quickenedstep; but before he could come up the dialogue, whatever it concerned, was ended, and his enemy had moved on. 

"Not about you this time, " his beloved laughed; "though he declaresthat you are none of you to be trusted out of sight. He has just beenwarning me against our friend Elias, who, he says, once played a trickupon some tourists--bribed the Bedouins to take them prisoner, and lethim rescue them. I assured him that Elias was not going with us; buthe seemed to doubt my word, and I shall begin to doubt it myself unlessthose mules turn up. What has become of them?"

"The man bretends I told him for to-morrow. That is a lie, because Isboke as blain as anythin'. I think it some trick of that Elias todetain us here. "

By that time all the unemployed muleteers in the town had joined thegrowing crowd that watched their conference. One man had gone so faras to bring a good-looking mule ready saddled with him, as a sample ofwhat he could provide. Iskender paid no heed to the prayers of allthese suppliants, whispered confidentially by those in front, shoutedwith fierce gesticulations from those behind, any more than he gave earto the counsel of the sons of Mūsa that he should employ one of them. He still had hopes of the person he had first engaged, who appeared atlength, but without any mules, and in a state of indignation evengreater than Iskender's. 

The clash of words when they met electrified the whole street; themouths of the rival muleteers, now mere onlookers, grinned alltogether, showing milk-white teeth. Accused of laziness, of breach ofcontract, the delinquent hurled back the accusations in Iskender'sface. He said he knew his business, and was not going to start withoutproper orders. The Khawājah Elias, the responsible dragoman, was away, and might Allah end his life immediately if he set forth without him atthe call of a beardless boy. 

So the truth was out. Iskender reported to his patron that the man wasa mere creature of Elias. 

"There's nothing for it, " said the Emīr with a shrug. "We must engageanother man. "

"But I baid this one already some money. "

"Never mind. It will cost us more than that if we wait for Elias!"

So that muleteer was dismissed and retired, conscientiously objectingin terms abusive and obscene; while the man who had had the wit tobring a mule already saddled was promptly engaged in his place. Thisindividual had attracted the Frank from the first by his cheerfullooks, and the way he kept aloof from the group that pestered, onlysmiling now and then to the Englishman and patting his mulesignificantly. He now showed great alacrity, kissing first the Emīr'shand, then Iskender's, asking where the tent and other baggage might befound, and promising by the cloak of the Prophet, to have all inperfect readiness within an hour. The other candidates then fell away, one or two volunteering to help the winner with his preparations, themajority sitting down on their heels in the shadows of neighbouringwalls to watch the outcome of it all, the actual start. 

The new muleteer was punctual to his word. But by the time the ladenmules came up, luncheon was ready, and the sons of Mūsa insisted on theFrank's partaking of the meal. An invitation, the first he had everreceived, to join them at their private table, reconciled Iskender tothis new delay. He told the muleteer to go on in advance, indicatingthe road he was to take and naming a good place for that night'sencampment; and saw the mules start off with jangling bells, leavingbehind the horse he was to ride, which was tethered in the yard of thehotel. 

After the meal the Frank was lazy with repletion, and asked to restawhile; so that the afternoon was far advanced before they got onhorseback. The Frank was then for a gallop; but Iskender warned himthat that pace was not for travel, and kept him down to the walk. Passing the house of Mītri, he looked for the girl Nesībeh, hoping shewould see him riding at his lord's right hand, but in vain. 

After an hour's journey, having left the orange-gardens far behind, they forsook the highway and followed a bridle-path through fields. Big scarlet tulips shone among the green cornstems. Here and thereupon the fertile plain stood forth a grove of olives, their foliagelooking nearly white by contrast with its own dark shadow; a village ofmud-houses set upon a knoll and plumed with palms, with attendant barnsand ovens shaped like beehives; a man with oxen ploughing or a camelbrowsing in the custody of a small child. The breeze grew fresher asthe sun declined. The colours of a dove's breast played upon thebarren heights which walled the land to eastward. The sun sank lowerand lower; shadows grew upon the plain; the sea-coast sandhills becameclearly outlined; soon rays went up like fire from off the sea, and thewhole rampart of the eastern heights became empurpled; then a shadowrose, a cold breeze roughed the corn, and presently the evening starshone out in a soft sky. 

It was dark when they reached the appointed halting-place, in a wady ofthe foothills, close to a village which possessed a spring of water. They found their tent well-pitched, a good fire burning in the shelterof a cunning wind-screen, and the kettle boiling. They had tea atonce, and afterwards Iskender went to cook the supper. His lord soonfollowed with desire to help. 

"It's splendid fun!" he cried. "You are a trump, Iskender!"

Iskender answered nothing, but gave praise to Allah. 

CHAPTER XVIII

About the third hour of a cloudless day Elias Abdul Messīh crossed thesandhills from the northward, traversed the gardens, and approached thetown. He was riding a showy horse, which he caused to prance wheneverany one was looking; and had assumed the panoply of the fashionabledragoman. His slim but manly figure well became a tight andmany-buttoned vest of murrey velvet, a zouave jacket of blue silkycloth, and baggy trousers of the same material, whose superfluouslengths were tucked away in riding-boots of undressed leather. Ascarlet dust-cloak streamed from off his shoulders. The tassel of hisfez, worn far back on the head and dinted knowingly fluttered on thebreeze; the tassels on his bridle led a dance. 

In his wake followed two fat, middle-aged men, set one behind the otheron a donkey's back, of whom the hindmost held a rope which led fourmules laden with all the requisites of Frankish travel. 

Elias flourished in his hand the silver-mounted whip of rhinoceros-hidewhich he had long ago reclaimed from the Emīr. The pride of a leaderof men informed his bearing as he brought his train at last through thecrowded market, shouting loftily to clear a way. 

Arrived at the khan where he was accustomed to hire beasts of burden, he was preparing to dismount, when a man ran out and, stooping, kissedhis stirrup. It was the muleteer who had been first retained byIskender. 

"May Allah keep thee, O my dear!" exclaimed Elias, cheered by suchworship in a public place. "What news in the town to-day?"

The muleteer raised hands and eyes to heaven. 

"Grave news, O my lord Elias. They sent me about my business, and aregone without thee. "

"Merciful Allah!" cried Elias, stupefied. "Gone, sayest thou? Theyare gone, the miscreants? . . . But it is impossible. Gone, sayestthou? When and how did they go?"

In vain did he strive to discredit the muleteer's story, throwing doubton every point as it arose; it was only to remove all ground for doubtconcerning it. 

"Merciful Allah!" he exclaimed again, in tones of horror. "May theirfathers be destroyed, their mothers ravished. Wait till I catch thee, O thou pig Iskender! The good Emīr will perish of discomfort; for thattreacherous boy is ignorant of all things that pertain to travel. Y'Allah! Let us make all speed to overtake those wretched ones!"

But his companions, Aflatūn the cook and Fāris the waiter, were in nosuch hurry. They were hungry from much riding on an empty stomach, andflatly refused to proceed another step until replenished. Cursingtheir greed, Elias was forced to resign himself. He indulged ineating, as he told himself, to pass the time; but afterwards, when itcame to coffee and narghīlehs, he squandered more than an hour inboasting with what speed he would catch up the fugitives, how suddenlyand effectually he would repay the beast Iskender. It was Aflatūn thecook who reminded him at length that time wore on. Once on horseback, his eagerness again became active, and, in a measure, practical. Heknew the direction Iskender had proposed to take, and, stopping beforethe hotel for a minute, he learnt from the sons of Mūsa the name of thefirst halting-place. 

Amused by his indignation at the start without him, those old friendsmocked him, crying:

"They have fled from thee. Sooner than endure thy converse any longer, they have thrown themselves on the mercy of Allah. They would ratherface wild beasts and savage warriors than have thy sweet voice alwaysat their ears. "

Cursing the ancestry of such heartless jokers, Elias rowelled hishorse's flanks with the sharp corners of his stirrups, and went off ata furious gallop. Through the orange-gardens, out on to the plain, hesped like the wind, until his steed gave signs of fainting and he hadto stop. Looking back along the way he had come, he could not see hiscompanions and their string of mules, though the ground was open andthe air quite clear. Evidently they had not yet left the gardens. With horrid malediction of their religion and parentage he rode on at afoot's pace. 

At the third hour after noon he reached the spot where Iskender and theFrank had passed the night, and stood staring at the ashes of theirfire with teeth and hands tightly clenched. A fellāh from theneighbouring village told him they had set out very early that morningwith the avowed intention of making a long day's march. 

These tidings sent Elias raging mad. They were fleeing towards thevalley full of gold, of which Iskender, alone of all men, knew thewhereabouts; and he, Elias, their predestined chief, was left behind!His fiery spirit craved to mount at once and gallop day and night tillhe rejoined those treasure-seekers; but the frailty of his horseprecluded any such transports, and the snail-like pace of his adherentsbound him down. At present he was obliged to wait for Aflatūn andFāris and the baggage animals, while conscious of the fugitivesreceding rapidly, sucked in irresistibly to a whirlpool of livinglight, his mind's image of the object of desire. 

Having procured some barley and chopped straw for his horse, he leftthe beast in charge of some of the villagers, and climbed alone to thesummit of a rock hard by, which commanded the plain. His retinueappeared, a great way off, mere dots upon a certain cornfield. The sunwas high when he first descried them; it had touched the sea beforethey came in hail. 

"Make haste, accursed sluggards! Yallah! Onward! They fly before us!We must march all night, " he cried in anguish. 

But they said:

"Wait a little! All the beasts are tired. We will not march throughthe night. In truth we are minded to have done with this mad business, which is the same as hunting the shadow of a flying bird. Allah aloneknows whether we shall catch those people; but we ourselves are able toperceive that we are tired and hungry. "

"May Allah shorten your days!" roared Elias furiously. "Would you failme now and betray me, O treacherous dogs?"

They still refused to travel through the night; and when he persistedin requiring it of them, took umbrage, and vowed that they would leavehim then and there. For hours he remonstrated with them, but they onlyate and drank and smoked, then slept, unheeding. He lay down by theirside, but could not sleep. 

At the first breath of dawn they were still snoring, when Elias rose, prepared his horse, and rode away. After all he felt well rid of suchunsoulful hogs. He could travel much more quickly by himself; and thefewer reached the Valley of the Kings the better, for some are thieves, and gold corrupts true men. So he rode on, pushing his mount to theutmost, in and out among the stony hills, inquiring at every villageand of all he met in the way for tidings of the Frank and hiscompanion. In the heat of the day he paused for an hour, to bait andwater his horse, which, nevertheless, was quite worn out ere sunset. Elias was forced to dismount and lead him slowly. 

The mountain slopes were hung with vineyards, fields and gardens. Sauntering groups appeared upon the path, which now began to assume theaspect of a proper road. Rounding a shoulder of the terraced hill, Elias had a view of the chief town of the region, clothing half themountainside, beneath its famous mosque. He determined to enter theplace and make inquiries, though the Muslim mob, he knew, was fierceand dangerous. 

Going straight to the house of a Christian of his own Church, he askedfor hospitality, which was granted to him in Allah's name. Havingcared for the horse, he went indoors and told his errand, seekingtidings of the chase; and presently his host went out to makeinquiries. He returned to declare, upon authority of an officer of thewatch, that no party resembling that described had entered the town. 

Now Iskender had named this city many times as lying in the direct roadto the seat of treasure. His avoidance of it, therefore, must havebeen of purpose to elude Elias--his best, his truest friend! Theoutraged dragoman called God to witness. It was evident that Iskendermeant to be the only one to find the golden valley. Having used hismoney as the means to get there, he would doubtless make away with theEmīr. Elias wept at picture of the cruel fate which awaited thatunsuspecting nobleman. However, he himself was not yet beaten. Hestill had hopes that, by minute inquiry, he might come upon theirtracks and overtake them. 

But when the morrow came his horse was useless. Having money, he wentout to hire another. But while he was about the business, soldierscame to him and asked to be shown the permission by which he travelled. He produced a document, but it was out of date. They told him so. Insome alarm, he swore by Allah he was in the service of an Englishprince as mighty as the Sultan. They straightway asked to see theprince in question; and Elias had to own that he was not forthcoming. Then they laughed him to scorn--the dragoman without a tourist. Onetook a fancy to the knife that decked his waist-band. Another admiredhis whip, and promptly took it. His pistol too was gone. In vain helooked for help or sympathy; the crowd of fierce-eyed, turbaned Muslimsonly jeered at his despair. At a threat to put him in prison, he flungthem all the money he possessed, then cast himself upon the ground withface buried in his arms. Seeing he was finished, his tormentors lefthim thus; and the crowd, when they were gone, advised him friendly, bidding him look to Allah for redress. 

Scared in his very soul, Elias rose at last and crept back to the houseof his co-religionist. There he sat and moaned through all that day, refusing food and every other comfort. Disarmed and penniless, hecould proceed no further in that lawless region. It was all Iskender'sfault--the cunning devil! The valley of the gold seemed now his legalbirthright, of which he had been defrauded by a wicked malefactor, who, not content with that, was leading out the good Emīr to kill him in thedesert. Iskender had bribed Aflatūn and Fāris; Iskender had lamed hishorse; Iskender had set on the soldiers to despoil him. By the time hestarted on his homeward way, the world was poisoned by Iskender'swickedness; he could not look at rock, or myrtle-bush, or waysideflower without groans and gnashing of teeth; and wherever he reposed atnoon, or spent the night, he told his wrongs. The story ran before himthrough the countryside. When he came at last to his own door, it wasto find a crowd awaiting him, anxious to know the truth of strangereports. Several of the dragomans were there, including Abdullah, uncle of Iskender, who questioned Elias in no peaceful tone. 

Awed by the sternness of so respectable a man, Elias dissembled hisrage, and spoke in sorrow:

"Alas! it is too true. Allah knows, it grieves my soul to relate it. Iskender, whom I loved as my own eyes, has led the good Emīr into thewilderness, meaning to rob him there and take his life. "

"It is a lie!" cried Abdullah furiously. "Take back those words thisinstant, or thy blood shall pay for it. Allah knows thou wast ever thechief of liars. "

"That is true, " agreed the bystanders. 

"That is true, perhaps, " Elias owned; "yet in this case I speak thetruth. Those two had learnt the hiding-place of a great treasure, andIskender means to have the whole of it. I had secret warning of hiswicked purpose, and went to bring good honest men to defeat it. Buthe, suspecting what I was about, persuaded the Emīr to start withoutme. Moreover, he dismissed the muleteer whom I had chosen, engaging inhis stead a murderous ruffian. My soul died within me when I heard oftheir departure. Allah witness how I strove to overtake them. But therogue had set every one upon the road against me. I was delayed atevery turn, flouted and finally robbed of my weapons and all my money. "He exhibited his empty belt. "So I returned, despairing. May God havemercy on that kind Emīr, and let his soul find peace. "

These words, and still more the heart-broken manner of their utterance, made a profound impression upon all who heard them. They were receivedas true by every one there except Abdullah, who talked of hiringruffians to assassinate the wicked slanderer. He swore at once toclear his nephew's honour. But his excitement was regarded with merepity, as natural to a man afflicted in so near a relative. 

CHAPTER XIX

Abdullah's furious indignation with Elias was complicated by a strainof keen anxiety upon his own account. Though most of the story seemedabsurd to his intelligence, there remained enough of possible and evenprobable to justify dismay in so respectable a man. It seemed morethan likely that his nephew, that unlucky boy, had led a Britishsubject into lawless regions quite unknown to him; if harm ensued therewould be trouble with the consul; and the power called Cook was socareful for its dragomans that the mere relationship to one whose facewas blackened might involve dismissal. The bare idea of thiscontingency swamped Abdullah's intellect in pure amazement, for sincehis vision of the Blessed Virgin years ago he had believed that thebreath of scandal could not come near him. He crossed himselfrepeatedly and muttered prayers. But these misgivings were secretedfrom the world, before which he appeared as the intrepid champion ofhis absent nephew, prepared to refute the story in its entirety. 

His first thought was to make Elias eat his words either by bribes orviolence; but a little reflection sufficed to show it worthless. For, once pronounced, those words were all men's utterance; the town, thecountryside, was now ablaze, and Elias but a fuse that had done itswork. Abdullah demanded on behalf of Iskender that all who professedany knowledge of the matter should be called and questioned in thehearing of the group of dragomans. The proprietor and servants of thekhan, who had beheld Iskender's mad excitement on the morning of thestart, the discarded muleteer, Aflatūn and Fāris, who still lingered inthe town in hopes to recover their expenses from Elias, with othersquite unknown, bore witness to the suspicious manner of the young man'sflight, and the dance he had led each and all of them. Abdullah gnawedhis heavy grey moustache, with eyes downcast, when Elias turned towardshim with expressive hands. 

From the scene of this inquiry, which was the tavern in the ruinedcloister, looking through shadowed arches on the purple sea, aprofessional errand led Abdullah to the hotel of Mūsa el Barūdi. Thesons of Mūsa sat on stools before the door, as did also the priestMītri, taking coffee with them. "What news?" they asked. Abdullah hidhis face. Could it be that they had not yet heard those wicked liesabout Iskender? He enlightened them forthwith with fervent crossingsof himself and prayers to Allah; and confessed that he was at his wits'end, since all the evidence obtainable tended strongly to confirm theinsane story. The laughter of his hearers did him good. Theyridiculed the very notion of Iskender's guile; and they were men ofposition, respectable men, whose opinion was worth having, while therest were riff-raff. Abdullah went home greatly comforted. 

But the story spread and grew in all the land, with variations and mostwonderful additions. People came to Abdullah for the rights of it, andwere visibly disappointed and incredulous at receiving a flat denial. They wanted the true story to replace the false, and Abdullah knew nomore than that Elias was a liar. He sat still in his house for hourstogether, gnawing his thick moustache and staring at the ground. Thenhe bethought him to call on the mother of Iskender, who might haveknowledge of her son's true purpose in this mad excursion. If he hadabstained from visiting her till now, it was in the hope to keep fromher a scandal which was sure to wound her. Now the time had come totry her value as a witness. Though the weather was bad, he could notwait for sunshine, but, taking his umbrella, walked out on to thesandhills through the pelting rain. His boots were caked with mud whenhe reached the little house; he would not enter therefore, but spokefrom the doorway, sheltered by his umbrella. It seemed she had nothingto tell him. It was only from the voice of common rumour that she knewthat her precious son had left the town, and since then reports hadreached her which made her wash her hands of him for ever. When thosereports came to the ears of the missionaries, as they were sure to do, it would ruin his mother in their eyes for ever. 

"Take no thought for him, O Abdullah!" she cried furiously. "He is noson of mine, but a changeling of the children of the Jānn. Doubtlessmy true son, whom I loved and nursed, is with the devils somewhere inthe Jebel Kāf. Allah knows he was too good for me; my pride in him wastoo great! And so they took him, and put a miscreant, a devil, in hisplace. They say he has a mighty treasure written in his name, so thatnone but he can free it from the spell that guards it; that shows uswhat he really is, for who but a jinni, a vile changeling, would hideso glad a secret from his loving mother? Thou sayest, Has he killedthe good Emīr? He may have done so, for I say he is no child of mine;he is a devil. Tell all the world my son is lost to me, carried off tothe Jebel Kāf or some lone ruin; and a jinni masquerades in hislikeness, doing evil. "

She screamed her parrot-scream; she could not talk. It was one of herblack days when the world was turned to madness. Abdullah retired fromthe vain attempt to get some sense from her with hopelessness increasedinstead of lessened. 

That same evening, as he sat in his house, enjoying a ray of pallidsunshine sent through the branches of a leafless fig-tree whichstretched its gnarled, grey twisted arms before his door, YuhannaMahbūb came to him with an angry brow. 

"What is this I hear about Iskender?" he inquired. "Within this hour Ihave returned with my party from El Cuds. He has gone with the Emīr tofind a treasure; is it true? I came at once to thee, his nearrelation. For know that he swore to me by the Blessed Sacrament, inthe presence of witnesses, that he knew nothing of any treasure, norwas his trip with the Emīr concerned with aught save pleasure. This Itell thee that thou blame me not hereafter if I take dire vengeance onthe perjured dog. "

"Wait a little, O 'Hanna, " said Abdullah pacifically, "thou wilt learn, in sh' Allah, that he did not swear falsely. All this scandal is theproduce of Elias, whom all men know for the very father of lies. Wait, I tell thee, and the poor lad's innocence will be seen. "

"Aye, wait I must perforce, for he is absent. Were he here among us, Ishould not have had recourse to thee unless as bearer of his dead body. He swore, I tell thee, by the Blessed Sacrament! Shall such a wretchlive on, to practise sacrilege?"

"May Allah, of his mercy, show the truth to us, " replied Abdullah, while Yuhanna went off, breathing threats against the perjurer. Heprayed to God that his nephew might not have sworn falsely and soincurred the punishment of everlasting fire. Yet there was muchtreasure lying undiscovered in the land, and it might be that hisnephew had got wind of some of it. He knew not what to think, butspent most of the night in prayer, prostrate before that tiny pictureof the Mother of God which he had set up to commemorate his radiantvision. 

In the morning came the finishing blow. He stood in the doorway, watching his chickens pecking amid the wet litter of refuse round thetrunk of the fig-tree, when the sound of a horse's hoof-beats reachedhis ears, and presently from a narrow opening in the neighbouring wallemerged a Frank in black clothes, black, leaf-shaped hat and yellowriding-boots--the Father of Ice in person. The missionary dismounted, tied his horse by the head-rope to a loose stone of the wall, and cameforward, stooping to escape the branches of the fig-tree. 

"Welcome, sir!" exclaimed Abdullah, smiling and bowing, though his mindmisgave him. "My house a boor one, sir, but at your service. "

"Good day to you, " replied the missionary coldly, and passed in beforehim. 

"I have come about this shocking business of your nephew, " he observed, declining to sit down, though Abdullah brought forth cushions. "Thenews reached me only yesterday, and I have been this morning to seethat man Elias. His story seems quite clear, in spite of all thenonsense about buried treasure. The young Englishman doubtless took aconsiderable sum of money with him, and Iskender has beguiled him bythe story of the treasure, meaning to rob him, if not worse. "

"Oh, sir, it's all a lie, by God!" exclaimed Abdullah; but the Fatherof Ice paid no attention to him. 

"I grieve to think of that misguided boy. He was like a child of ourown at the Mission, till bad companions led him into evil ways. Ofcourse, now he must pay the penalty of his transgression. You nativesmust be taught once more that the life and property of British subjectsare not to be lightly made away with. I wrote to the consul lastnight, directly I had news of this atrocious affair. Iskender, poormisguided boy, will bear the punishment. But in my opinion, and in thesight of God, there are others more to blame than he in the matter. Imean those who led him astray, who first suggested to him a life offraud and peculation. " The missionary looked straight into Abdullah'seyes with the sternness of a righteous judge. "It is of no use to denyyour own part in it, for I have spoken with the mother of the wretchedlad, and she has told me how you were the first to propose that heshould attach himself to this young English visitor with a view tomaking money, how you egged him on and taught him all the tricks of thetrade. Are you not ashamed of yourself, an old man, with death closebefore you? But all you natives are alike conscienceless, blind to thetruth as if a curse from God was on you. Be sure that I, for one, amnot blind to your guilt in this affair, and that I shall mention it toCook's agent at the first opportunity. You have led the boy torenounce his faith, and now to crime! I hope you are proud of yourhandiwork! Good-day!"

Abdullah found not a word. He stood staring at his feet, stunned andtrembling. The whole structure of his pride caved in on him. He, theSheykh of the Dragomans, the respectable of respectables, made so byespecial favour of the Blessed Virgin, to hear such words from one ofthose very English whose esteem upheld him! He soiled his face withmud and camel's dung and sat in his house, lamenting, refusing everycomfort that his wife or the sympathising neighbours could devise tooffer. Some two hours after noon there came a storm with terrifyingflashes. The thunder shook the house, the solid earth. At one momentthe gnarled and twisted branches of the fig-tree were seen blackagainst a sharp illumination, the next smoke-grey and weird amid theinky gloom. They seemed like snakes approaching stealthily, and thenlike loathsome arms intent to seize his soul. The storm gave place tosteady rain; the world was lightened somewhat, but without relief. Abdullah, though a prey to all the horrors, sat there quite still tillevening, when suddenly the force of life returned to him. He rushedout to the nearest tavern, called for arac, and drank heavily. Thehonour which had resulted from his vision now seemed torn from him; andsince She withdrew her favour, he was free to break his vow. Thatnight, returning home, he snatched the sacred picture from its shelfand trod it under foot, to his wife's terror. 

CHAPTER XX

Southward and eastward rode Iskender with his loved Emīr. Cragssucceeded crags; the sky was turquoise. At noon the very gorges heldno shade; but in the morning and the evening there were halls ofcoolness, while the sunlight made the heights as bright as flower-beds. Wild-flowers shone everywhere among the rocks; and in the open placesblew wide fields of them. Whenever they came to a village, and pitchedtheir tent beside the well, the inhabitants bustled out to do themservice in return for stale scraps of news from the outer world; andIskender told them of the greatness and the power of his Emīr, tillthey esteemed it a rich reward merely to peep through the hangings ofthe tent at such a potentate. Even supposing that they never found theValley of the Kings, this ramble together through delightful solitudeswas worth the money spent, it seemed to him. The valley full of goldwas a pretext only, giving the taste of purpose to their doings andclothing them in the glamour of romance. And his patron seemed to viewit in the same reasonable light, for he evinced no hurry, but when theyreached some pleasant spot, would waste a day there, prowling among thegullies with his gun, while Iskender sketched. If the worst came tothe worst, Iskender considered, he could always declare in anguishedtones that he had lost the way--a matter of no wonder in the pathlessdesert. And he still trusted that Allah, of His boundless mercy, wouldlead them straight to the gold. 

But one night there came a sudden storm of wind and rain when they wereencamped upon the summit of a rocky mound at the junction-place of twowild gorges. Their tent was blown away, and they were drenched to theskin. It was found impossible to raise the tent again because of thestrong wind hurtling through the ravines. The rain soon ceased, however; they managed to protect the fire, and sat close round it, trying to make a joke of the disaster. But in the morning the Emīr'sface had changed its colour, he kept shivering till his teethchattered, and was very cross. Happily they had with them a supply ofquinine. Iskender, who knew something of the ways of English people, administered a dose at once. He was for going back, seeing that thetheatre of these misfortunes was a place remote from any dwelling; hewarned his friend that they would find no village in the waste beforethem--nothing but scattered wells, and chance encampments of the Bedū, who might or might not prove friendly. But the Emīr announced hisfixed intention to go on, whatever happened; and when Iskender venturedto remonstrate, told him angrily to hold his tongue. Was it likely hewas going to turn back now, having come so far? He drank some whiskyneat, and then felt strong enough to mount his horse. 

They went forward miserably in the chill, wet morning. The sky wasnowhere seen; damp mists obscured every feature of the landscape. Themuleteer, with head wrapped up in a shawl, intoned a kind of dirge, pausing sometimes to ask Allah to improve his plight. The Emīr's teethchattered and he cursed at intervals. But most hapless of all threewas Iskender, who now knew that his lord was bent on finding the gold, and valued the pleasant days already spent, their adventures by theway, their friendly converse, solely as conducing to that end. 

About the fourth hour the sun made itself felt; the mists began todisperse, and depths of blue appeared. The afternoon was fine and, inthe sunshine, the Emīr recovered cheerfulness. He apologised for hisill temper of the morning to Iskender, who strove to regard the sternresolve he had expressed to see the Valley of the Kings as likewisepart of the attack of fever; but his mind misgave him. 

That evening, after supper, the Emīr remarked that they had come aneight days' journey at the lowest estimate, so, by the guide's ownshowing, must be near the place. He spread out his map between them, and asked Iskender to point out its exact position. Forced to decidethat instant, or arouse his friend's distrust, the poor youth breatheda heart-felt prayer to Allah for direction and, after some show ofexamining the chart, laid finger firmly on a certain spot. The Emīrthen marked the place in pencil with a tiny cross, and reckoned up thedistance by the scale provided. 

"It is quite near, " he cried. "We ought to be there to-morrow beforemidday. "

He talked of nothing else till sleeptime. Iskender listened with ananxiety that was physical pain. He wished to Allah that Elias had beenthere to assure him that the place had real existence. Lying on theground, wrapped in his coverlet, he spent the night in prayer. Allahis all-powerful; at His mercy all things are and are not; even if thevalley lay not where Iskender had placed it, Allah could convey itthither in the twinkling of an eye; even if no such place existed inthe world, Allah could create it as easily as a man can yawn. Bydwelling thus in imagination on that Boundless Power, he gained atlength a certain comfort in dependence such as the baser sort of slavesenjoy. 

This mood of resignation was still upon him when he rose at daybreak. There remained nothing possible for him to do; and in the freshmorning, when the rocks in sight presented each its separate mass ofliving colour, he could not believe that the Emīr would quarrel withhim, even if he knew the worst. The Emīr was a rich man; what did hewant with gold? And had not Iskender proved himself his faithfulservant? Surely the great one felt some love for him, sufficient tocondone a little fiction which had been kept up simply for his Honour'spleasure. 

But the Frank had his map before him in the saddle, and he more thanonce dismounted to consult the compass on his watch-chain. 

After three hours they reached a plain of alternating sand and rocks, where nothing grew except some prickly shrub. On one side, not faroff, a lake was seen, with many palm-trees mirrored in its tranquilwaters. The Frank stared at it in amazement, remarking that it was notin the map. Iskender guessed it was mirage, and was soon confirmed inthat opinion by the gradual disappearance of both lake and palm-trees. But the vision tended to reassure him, seeming a word from the MostHigh. If Allah, he thought, could thus imprint a perfect likeness oftrees and water on the hot, still air, He would have no difficulty inpainting a few rocks golden. 

The sun was fierce. For miles they saw no shade, but only strangerock-ledges rising no higher than a doorstep above the sand, which grewlow, prickly shrubs. A range of hills before them seemed hopelesslyremote. Near the middle of this waste, the Emīr drew rein. 

"The valley should be here, " he said with finger on the map; andIskender in the tension of his nerves was going to shout out "Praise toAllah, " for the sand just there was full of shining particles; when thenext words came and froze him to the marrow: "There's no valley;nothing but this beastly plain. Are you a liar?"

A trace of kindness or dry humour in his tone would have compelledIskender to confess the truth, with self-accusal. As it was, he cried:

"Haf batience! Wait a minute! I had counted wrong. See, there aremountains! Surely the wady will be there among them. " Inwardly heprayed Allah to make good his words, to save him from the scorn of onehe loved so truly. 

"Well, come on!" said the Emīr, with a shrug; and they toiled insilence towards the range of hills. 

"You, who know the way, point out this valley, " said the Emīr as to adog, when they were near enough to observe the configuration of thoseheights. 

Iskender pointed to what seemed an opening; but knew that his gesturecarried no conviction. The Frank's cold looks askance at him deprivedhim of the power to play his part. 

"We shall see, " said the Emīr, urging his horse forward. At theentrance to the wady he dismounted, and Iskender, who was then some waybehind, could hear derisive laughter. It was no valley at all. Theshadow of a big projecting rock had been mistaken in the distance foran opening. The Frank was sitting calmly in that shadow when hisfriend came up. 

"I can see no gold here, " he observed politely; "but you have bettereyes. Look well about you!"

Three parts unconscious, the unhappy youth obeyed. Alighting off hishorse, he scanned the heights above, the ground at his feet, the sandyplain on which their mules were seen at a great distance. 

"No gold! no gold!" he murmured idiotically. 

"Give up this acting!" cried the Frank with vehemence. "Confess it wasall a lie! Say why you brought me here. We are man to man just now, and may as well arrange our business before your friend the muleteercomes up. That missionary told me to look out for villainy. "

Iskender bit the dust and wept aloud, calling on Allah to attest hisinnocence. To be accused of acting, when his heart was broken; to besuspected of a purpose hostile to his patron, when he would have shedhis blood to bring a smile to that beloved face!

"Confess!" the Emīr repeated; and, hearing the voice of the Father ofIce, Iskender lied, as he had always lied, through fear, to that stern, upright man. 

"No, it is true, sir, but we went wrong somehow. My God, it is true, sir; Elias said so too!"

"Elias is a liar. . . . Confess now that you never knew the way, andthat your father never in his life saw any valley such as that you'veso often described to me. "

But Iskender would not admit that he had lied at all; to do so wouldhave been to justify his patron's cruel scorn. Indeed, the fiction ofthe gold had grown so natural that he believed, even now, that it waspartly true. 

"You never knew the way; your father never left you any paper. It ispretty certain that he couldn't read or write. What a fool I was notto think of that before! If there were such a paper you would have itwith you. Show it me!" the Emīr insisted. 

Iskender appealed to Heaven against his lord's unreason. Was it likelythat his mother, to whom it of right belonged, would let so important adocument out of her own keeping? He had read it through and copied it, but lost the copy yesterday, he knew not how. It was owing to thatloss that he had missed the way. His memory had played some devil'strick to shame him. The sand at his feet, the plain, the rocks besidehim seemed all flame, reminding him poignantly of his vision of theplace of gold. The air upon his face and hands was the breath of anoven, the sky a blackness overhead. 

The Emīr rose and walked towards his horse. The contemptuous movementstung Iskender like a lash in the face. He clutched at his patron'sraiment, sobbing and blubbering, imploring forgiveness for his onemistake. The Emīr beat him off with his whip, and, springing into thesaddle, rode off slowly. Leading his own horse by the bridle, Iskenderfollowed after him, with piteous appeals. Nothing mattered save theirmutual affection. What was truthfulness as compared with human love?Appalled by the prospect of life, if deprived of his lord's regard, heput forward his limitless devotion as a claim for kindness, and fanciedthat his friend was listening, not unmoved. It was with disappointmentthat he heard again, in icy tones:

"You knew from the first that it was all a lie. "

Nay, he protested, how could he be certain? He had not been alone indeclaring that the gold was there; Elias had said so too. Why shouldhe alone be made responsible?

The Emīr deigned not so much as to look on his despair. 

Returning thus across the plain, they met the mules. The driver'smouth fell open at the Frank's command to turn back, just when theywere near the limit of that arid waste and all the beasts were tired. It was some time before this man, Mahmūd, had mind for aught beyond hisown complaints; but when at length he realised that Iskender, his goodfriend, was in disgrace, he also made entreaty for his pardon. TheEmīr, with him on one side and Iskender on the other, took alarm. Helaid his hand on the revolver at his belt, and commanded both to keeptheir distance. 

Mahmūd with a shrug dropped behind, calling out to Iskender that it wasthe sun, and asking Allah to restore the poor khawājah; but Iskenderstill adhered to his beloved lord, wishing that he would carry out histhreat and shoot him dead. Then perchance his righteous anger would beturned to sorrow; he would regret the blind devotion of his willingslave. 

A sudden shout from the muleteer made them both look round. 

CHAPTER XXI

A swarm of mounted Arabs, shadows in the sun-haze, was careeringtowards them, leaving a dust-cloud trailing on the distant plain. Their lance-points glittered. They were nearing rapidly. Iskenderstood gaping, awestruck at the sight, when a whip-lash scored his face. 

"You infernal scoundrel!" snarled the Emīr through his clenched teeth. "So this is why you've brought me all this way. They made it worthyour while, no doubt. I might have guessed. That missionary warned meplain enough. "

Iskender nursed his wounded face, and writhed with pain. For themoment he could neither hear nor think nor see. 

The wild horsemen galloped in a herd to within a hundred yards of thetravellers, when they fanned out neatly and surrounded them. The Frankhad plucked out his revolver. 

"Don't do that, sir, for God-sake!" Iskender shrieked. "You make themcross. "

Still with hands pressed to his wounded face he blessed the assailantsloudly, and asked how they did. For answer they told him to make hiscompanion drop the pistol; which, when the order was conveyed to him, the Amir did sullenly. The Arabs then rode near, and stared in thefaces of their captives. 

They were a ragged-looking troop, clad every one in armour, were it butof leather. Queer helmets showed beneath their dirty head-shawls, anda few wore tattered coats of mail of high antiquity. Only their fiercebold eyes, strong spears, and clean-limbed horses kept the laugh fromthem. Their husky speech was full of words and phrases strange toIskender. 

When all had satisfied their curiosity, the throng rode off, leaving asufficient guard to follow with the prisoners. Iskender learnt thatthey were surprised to find so small a company. Having heard of theapproach of a great prince of the English, their chief expected toreceive a visit from his Highness, with supplication in due form forleave to journey through his territory. When he learnt that the Emīrhad entered his realm without so much as a salām aleykum, he resolvedto make the mannerless cub his guest by force. For this purpose he hadsent forth all his braves in war trim, supposing that the English chiefhad power to match his insolence, only to surprise a train which ablind man could have taken single-handed!

Bitterly did Iskender curse his own vain-glory which had led him toboast at every village of his patron's greatness, and the absolutepower which he wielded in the land of his birth. He was separated nowfrom his dear one in the cavalcade, catching only an occasional glimpseof his back, which had a sullen hunch. He forgot the pain of his ownface in fears for him. 

At the end of an hour's slow riding, the barren waste gave place toslopes of coarse grass, where a number of camels, sheep, and goats werefeeding peacefully. The camp of the Bedū appeared--a little town ofblack tents in a hollow, from which shouts, neighs, and much barking ofdogs proceeded. Once there, Iskender lost sight of his Emīr, who, asthe prisoner of importance, was taken straight to the chief's tent. Hehimself was left standing with Mahmūd among the tent ropes, in someperil from the heels of tethered stallions. A smell of hairy beastsdefiled the air. Dark-skinned women and children came to stare atthem. The girls expressed compassion for Iskender's wounded face, andcried shame on the man who had disfigured it, supposing him to be oneof their own people. The muleteer, a Muslim, made profession of hisfaith, attesting the Unity of God and the Mission of Muhammad loudly, in the evident persuasion that his hour had come. 

Iskender wondered what his lord was undergoing, and then as the daygrew cooler, gave up thinking altogether, happy to lie down and rest. The women told him he was free to walk about, but for long he felt nocall to use the privilege. At last, however, seeing his horse wastethered close at hand, he went and took from the saddle-bags his bookand paint-box, and began to make a likeness of the scene; the womengathered round and cried: "Ma sh' Allah!" They took the lines andspots for magic writing, and gathered shyly round them, half expectingapparitions. 

He was in this employment when men came in haste and dragged him to thechief's tent. He managed to stow the paint-box in his trousers, butthe book was lost. 

"Allah have mercy on thee, O Iskender!" groaned Mahmūd, as he was ledaway. "They have slain the khawājah; now they come for thee. Well Iam a Muslim, and resign my cause to God!"

In the tabernacle of the chief, superior only in size to the rest ofthe tents, the elders of the tribe were set in council, the Emīr beforethem. At the moment of Iskender's entrance there was a puzzled lookupon each bearded face, directed towards the Frank in perfect courtesy. The arrival of an interpreter was hailed with exclamations of relief. 

Iskender, having made obeisance, was invited to take a place in thecircle. From the join of two camel's hair curtains screening an innertent, he fancied he could see bright eyes of women peeping. 

"Is this the great Emīr, of whom report has reached us?" he was asked. "And if so, how comes he to travel with so small a retinue?"

The Frank's eyes dwelt upon Iskender's face with an intensity ofdistrust that neighboured actual hatred. He still believed his friendin league with the marauders. 

"It is true; he is an Emīr of the noblest, O my lords, " Iskenderanswered; "but, may it please your Honours, he has not that wealth towhich his rank entitles him. Indeed, for one in his position, he ispoor. "

The chieftains of the Bedū nodded comprehension, for poor Emīrs werenot unknown among them. They murmured of compassion saying:

"May Allah make him very rich and powerful!"

But one objected:

"Why then does he travel? The rich among the Franks come hither foradventure and to rest their stomachs after too much feasting; theirlearned come to find out ancient ruins, and study the writings of theidolaters which are found here and there among the rocks. But whyshould this poor noble youth have wandered hither?"

"Aye, answer us that, O Nazarene! Why, why, and for what reason?" camethe chorus. 

Iskender found himself at a loss, being loth to revive his lord's angerby naming the valley of the gold in his hearing; he was looking up anddown in the vain search for inspiration, when the Emīr himself cameunexpectedly to his relief. With an ironical glance at theinterpreter, the Englishman mustered all his Arabic and, turning to asheykh who was his neighbour, asked:

"Is there a wady named Wady 'l Mulūk?"

"Wady 'l Mulūk!" cried all the elders in surprise; and then, in thetwinkling of an eye, their foreheads cleared from all bewilderment. Wady 'l Mulūk! Ah to be sure! The vale in which lay scattered all thetreasure of the ancient kings. So that was what his Honour came toseek!

Iskender was no less perplexed than was his lord by all this outcry, when the chief of all the tribe leaned towards him, saying:

"I understand. He seeks the Valley of the Kings, " and touched hisforehead meaningly. "May Allah heal him! The Lord forbid that weshould plunder such a one, or detain him beyond his pleasure. All suchare favoured of Allah! Be our guests from now. "

And he gave his orders for a feast to be prepared. 

All the old men fell to petting and caressing the Emīr, grieving tothink that one so young and comely was spoilt for the commerce of lifeby a deranged intelligence. Iskender, too, they treated as a friend. Their original intention, they confessed, had been to hold his Honourup to ransom; but now they offered gifts instead of claiming them. 

Iskender, the moment he could do so with politeness, went out andsearched the camp till he regained his sketch-book. Mahmūd, themuleteer, called to him from the mouth of a tent where he was feastingas the guest of a tall Bedawi. He proclaimed the safety of their livesa miracle, attributable solely to the fact that he himself had notceased to assert the Unity of God from the moment he was taken captivetill men came and blessed him. All gave praise to Allah. 

CHAPTER XXII

In the morning, Iskender's face had swollen where his lord had whippedit, half-closing one of the eyes. The chiefs of the Arabs cried out atsight of it and asked to know the cause of its disfigurement when theirguests prepared to set forth in the morning under the escort of twoarmed and mounted tribesmen. He put them off with the story of a fallfrom his horse. The Frank glanced but once at his handiwork; and thenlooked down and bit his lip, contrition and annoyance at war in hisdemeanour. After riding long in gloomy silence, he inquired:

"What made them change?"

Iskender, wishing to take all the credit of the deliverance to himself, and at the same time to avoid mention of Wady 'l Mulūk, replied:

"I told them you are mad. "

"You told them what?" exclaimed the Emīr from frozen heights of anger. 

"That you are mad, sir. "

A storm of abuse, couched in language he had never heard among themissionaries, stupefied Iskender, who had expected compliments upon hiscleverness. 

"You dared to tell them I was mad. " The Emīr seemed thunderstruck. Hepresently announced his resolve to return at once to captivity; butIskender with a courage unexpected by himself, assured him that wouldbe to prove his madness. The palpable truth of this contention angeredthe Frank, like a blow. He flushed crimson and turned upon Iskenderwith whip raised. 

"Leave me, you infernal fool, " he cried. "Clear out, I say! Let menever see your cursed face again! . . . Don't grin, you ape! Get outof my sight, or I shall murder you. "

Iskender turned his horse and rode off slowly with many a backwardglance of pure dismay. Who would have dreamt that his Emīr, theeasiest of men, could ever be transformed into this raging tyrant? Thetragedy of his own disgrace seemed insignificant beside the wreck ofhis dear lord's intelligence. For the Emīr was mad, not a doubt of it;Iskender had not lied in his report to the Arab sheykh. He went backtill he met the baggage animals, then turned his horse and rode besideMahmūd. The latter paused in his journey-chant to ask:

"What news, O my dear?"

"The Emīr has driven me away, " Iskender blubbered. "He wishes never tosee my face again. "

"May Allah cure him of his illness! It is sure he is possessed withdevils more than one! Be not so mournful, O my soul! After an hour, in sh' Allah, he will have forgotten anger. "

"In sh' Allah!" Iskender echoed, weeping bitterly. 

The muleteer resumed his road-song, and they fared along through a landof sunbaked rocks, where spots of shade were welcome to the eye assprings of water, the mule-bells clanging ceaselessly, until theyscaled a ridge whence the whole rough sea of uplands could be surveyed. Their Arab guides had stopped here, clearly wishing to return, and weretrying to make the Emīr understand their purpose by shouting in hisears. 

"Go thou, Mahmūd, and hear what they have to say. Inquire the road ofthem and point it out to the Emīr, " Iskender murmured. 

He himself stopped short, fearing his lord's fresh anger. The Emīr haddescried him, however, and came riding towards him. 

"What are you following for? Didn't I say that I had done with you?"

"Oh, sir!" Iskender burst into a flood of tears. "Haf mercy! Drifeme not away! I luf you so! and how can I leaf you in this wilderness. You loose your way, and I--I die of fear!"

His tears and piteous words only displeased his lord the more. But itseemed to be the livid weal upon his face that quite incensed theFrank. The moment his eyes fell on that, his wrath leapt past allbounds. 

"You lying, cringing cur!" he yelled. "Get out, I tell you! The sightof you's enough to drive one mad. If I catch you following again, I'llgive you such a thrashing as you never had in all your life. "

With that he gnashed his teeth and rode away. 

Iskender remained where he was. The two Bedawis, departing, wishedgood luck to him, but swore that, for their part, they had liefer feedon prickly shrubs than serve so mad a master. He could hear Mahmūdobjecting to go on without him, and the Frank commanding, threatening, till with a shrug the muleteer gave way, and shouted: "Straight on!"for Iskender's guidance. The clangour of the bells broke out anew. 

Iskender waited till the little train was lost to sight, then followedmiserably. His love was very ill, there was no doubt, and neededbetter tendance than Mahmūd, with the best intentions, could affordhim. The muleteer could only, at the best, cook country food, whilecleanliness and comfort were unknown to him. He could not make a bedor clean a riding-boot. Iskender clenched his teeth and swore itshould not be. At all risks his sick lord must be made comfortable. So when, at sundown, he came in sight of the tent, he dismounted andtethered his horse out of sight, then walked up boldly. Mahmūd was atthe fire behind the wind screen. 

"Welcome, O my eyes!" he whispered, giving place. "Allah knows Icannot cook a Frankish supper; yet his Honour will not hear of thyreturn. Now, praise to Allah, he is sound asleep, being tired from thejourney. Make no noise, however, for, if he found thee here, he mightwell shoot thee. He is very mad indeed; may Allah heal him!"

Iskender stayed and cooked a tempting meal out of the provisions givenby the Arab sheykh. Then taking food and water for himself and hishorse, he returned to his hiding-place, where, in the shelter of arock, he spent that night. 

In the dawn he listened for the sounds of starting, and heard themule-bells die away before he mounted. He had saved a piece of bread, a date or two, on which he broke his fast at noon; and not long aftersaw the tent shine forth, white in the yellow landscape, beside theflat roofs of a village terracing a steep hillside. He recognised theplace as one of those where they had rested happily upon the outwardway. The sheykh received him in his house; his horse was cared for. Towards sunset he approached the tent. Mahmūd, from afar off, signalled that the coast was clear. 

"The Emīr has wandered off among the rocks, " he told Iskender. "Thereis no cooking to be done this evening, he has no appetite except forfruit and arac. His sickness tightens hold, it is well seen. Enternow, I pray thee, and make straight the bed. I cannot do it in themanner thou didst teach me. I myself must go into the village and buyfruit of some kind. "

Iskender made the bed with loving touches, full of thoughts of his dearlord. He was finishing the work, when a shadow came across the sunsetat the tent-mouth. The Emīr stood there as one transfixed with horror. Iskender clasped his hands, and drooped his eyes. An oath rang forth, a fierce hand clutched his throat, a whip descended on his back andlimbs; it burnt like fire. Iskender, maddened, closed with hisassailant, wrenched the whip from his hand and flung him off. The Emīrfell heavily. Iskender flung away the whip, and fled in terror. 

What had he done? The Emīr was weak through illness. His knowninferior in strength had thrown him easily. Iskender would have shedhis life-blood to recall the blow, would have borne the beating to theend unflinching. He prayed to Allah that no hurt had come to hisbeloved. Returning after dark, he interrogated Mahmūd, who assured himthe Emīr was just the same, no worse, no better. That was some smallcomfort. 

Sadly he followed in his loved one's track, through places which hadseen his former glory, secreting himself always in the village next towhich the tent was pitched, and stealing forth at evening, when theEmīr rested, to cook the supper and consult Mahmūd. 

"His madness grows much worse, " the man informed him. "He throwsthings at my head and often beats me, because I cannot do things thatare not my business, or fail to understand his words. My soul is angrysometimes, and I long to show my strength; but behind the weakest ofthese Franks there is the consul standing; and indeed it were a sin forany man to punish one so afflicted. His face is yellow, his handsshake. I often fear that he is going to die!"

"Allah forbid!" exclaimed Iskender fervently. It was his daily prayerthat they might reach the town and its conveniences before his sicknessquite disabled the Emīr. It seemed as if this prayer was to beanswered. They had returned to within a few hours of theirstarting-place, and had pitched their tent upon the coastland plain atthe foot of the hills, when Iskender one morning, in his hiding-place, listened in vain for the accustomed noise of starting. Alarmed atlength, he quitted cover, and drew near the tent. Mahmūd sat outbefore it in the sunshine, cross-legged, and staring gravely at hismules, which were browsing the coarse grass. From time to time hepushed his turban back to scratch his head with a perplexed expression. 

"Allah is merciful!" he exclaimed at sight of his friend. "The Emīrstill lags a-bed. He will not hear me, though three times I havecoughed from soft to loud in his presence, and knocked the chairagainst the table with progressive noise. His sleep seems troubled, for I hear him utter unknown words. God grant that he may awakerefreshed and free from madness!"

Iskender advanced on tip-toe to the tent and entered its deep shadow. The Emīr turned on the small camp-bed and spoke his nameaffectionately. With a bursting heart Iskender flung himself upon theground, confessing all things, asking pardon for his crimes. It waslong ere he realised that his beloved was not present, that what hadgreeted him so friendly was the demon of delirium. His very marrowfroze on the discovery. 

Then, in that moment of his greatest need, his thoughts flew straightto his old foes, the missionaries. Though harsh and arrogant in timesof health, they had not their like in the land for kindness when a manwas ill. He told Mahmūd to take the horse of the Emīr and ride for hislife to the Mission. 

Having seen the messenger depart he went back into the tent, and satdown on the ground beside the sick-bed. He sullied his face withearth, and moaned to Allah. When some fellāhīn from the village nearat hand became spectators of his grief, he asked them to provide freshmilk, a lot of it, having heard that milk was salutary in the treatmentof a feverish illness. The milk was brought to him, with scorn ofpayment. He gave a cupful to the Emīr, and repeated the dose atintervals thereafter, with ceaseless prayers to Allah for his lord'srecovery. 

It was the third hour after noon when he heard foreign voices and thetramp of several beasts before the tent. The priest of the Missionentered gravely with the Sitt Carūlīn. The Sitt Hilda followed, looking fresh and tempting despite the sorrow painted on her face. Iskender sprang to greet them, giving praise to Allah; at such a timehe had no thought of bygones; but the ladies turned from him indisgust; the Father of Ice bade him begone and hide his infamy. Goingout in obedience to that harsh command he found a litter with two muleswaiting in charge of Mahmūd, in addition to the thoroughbred horse ofthe missionary and the donkeys of the two ladies, which were guarded byCostantīn, the father of Asad. 

"May Allah comfort thee, O Iskender!" exclaimed the muleteer fervently. 

"May Allah have mercy on thee, rather, " chuckled Costantīn malignantly;"for thou art like to suffer death for this last exploit!"

Iskender scarcely heard. He ran until he was out of their sight, andthen lay down among some rocks and wept his fill. When he returnedtowards the camp an hour later, meaning to make himself usefulunobtrusively, it was to find nothing left on the spot where all hisinterest in life had been so lately concentrated except an empty tinand some bits of paper. That, and the ashes of their last night'sfire! He stood a long while staring fixedly at these memorials. 

CHAPTER XXIII

More from subconscious attraction than from impulse Iskender trudgedfor hours across the wide coast plain till he reached the sandhills andbeheld the house of the missionaries. It was then towards midnight, and the moon was rising. He sat and watched that house, with scarcelya movement, till the dawn came up, and the moon became a symbol in thelighted sky. With the cries of waking birds, with the return ofcolour, his blood flowed warm again. He arose, and turned towards hismother's house. The sun appearing as he reached the cactus hedge, hepaused a moment to survey the well-known scene in that moment oftransfiguration, when the sea caught light, and shadows stretchedthemselves luxuriously. He felt the paint-box at his breast with hoperevived. 

Through the open door he could see that his mother was at prayers, kneeling before the picture of the Blessed Virgin which he had paintedfor her long ago before he knew the way of it. From time to time shelowered herself upon her hands until her forehead touched the ground. He stood without upon the sand till she had finished. 

Her first expression was of glad thanksgiving, as she ran and claspedhim to her breast; then, in a trice, her voice resumed its ancientscold, with an addition of real anger. 

"May thy life be cut short! What devil brought thee hither, of allplaces in the world the one where thy foes are most sure to seek thee?Fly, I tell thee! Fly, O accursed malefactor! They have complainedagainst thee to the consul. "

Iskender begged for food, which she could not refuse, though sheproduced it unwillingly, and stood over him while he ate, adjuring him, for the love of Allah, to make haste. 

"O my terror, my despair!" she wailed. "All the slaves of power areout in search of thee. They have been here already, threatening mewith torture. And the missionaries also have been here each day, maligning thee, and forcing me to join the hue and cry. They have spattheir venom also on Abdullah, thy paternal uncle, even blackening hisface with Kūk! The poor good man has been forced to return to hisdrunkenness. Have I not grief enough already that thou must needs flyhither and increase my terrors? What ailed thee to mislead the youngEmīr? I warrant thou hast made no profit by it. And that finetreasure written to thy name, predestined for thee, hast brought backany of it, luckless boy?"

"I missed the way, O my mother. The Emīr fell ill; we were captured bythe Bedū; all things warred against me. "

"So I could have told thee! It is a judgment on thee for keepingsecrets from thy loving mother! . . . For the love of Christ, makehaste, have done with eating. If Costantīn or one of the ladies wereto catch thee here, or if the soldiers come and slay thee before myeyes!"

Something of her anxiety communicated itself to him. With the rest ofthe food in his hands he departed hastily. But after running for, perhaps, a hundred paces, he shrugged his shoulders and resigned hiscause to Allah. On all hands homely objects wooed his gaze: a lonefig-tree down in a hollow, among whose branches he had perched anddreamed as a small boy; the path, now scarce defined, by which he wentto school, choosing always to rush up the steepest part of the dunethrough excess of energy; the tamarisks round the Mission, and its highred roof; minarets and a dome of the town peering above the dark greenwave of gardens. All looked so pleasant in the early sunlight, itforbade him to feel concern for his own fortunes. Even though, bycruel misconstruction of his motives, he were disgraced for life, allthis remained to him. In attaching his desires to this he ran no riskof being wounded, as he had been by the human things he sought to love. 

Strolling thus in reverie, he came upon the house of Mītri withsurprise. The thought of the priest as a protector at once occurred tohim; for Mītri was a favourite with the Muslim rulers, and the OrthodoxPatriarch, his ecclesiastical head, could oppose a power almostconsular to any attempt to persecute a member of his flock. 

On the sunlit open space before the church, in the centre of which rosethe ilex-tree, pigeons and a few lean fowls were pecking and dustingtheir wings, with rapturous coos and chuckles. No one appeared at thedoors of the hovels, all of which stood open, nor did any voice butthat of hens proceed from thence. But through the door-way of thelittle church came a sound of high monotonous chanting, interrupted atregular intervals by loud ejaculations from an audience. 

Iskender pulled off his boots, and went in. The little nave was fullof people, some standing, a few kneeling, the most part lying prostrateon the beaten earth which served instead of pavement. Through the doorof the sanctuary, he could see the priest Mītri, gorgeously arrayed, serving at the altar, bright with many candles which leaned this wayand that without the least arrangement. Now he walked all round itswinging a little censer, now stopped before a largeish book upon astand, reciting all the time in nasal tones. Nor was this all hisbusiness; for, except when the curtain was drawn at the moment of theSacred Mystery, he kept an eye on the behaviour of some little boys whosat demurely on the doorstep of the sanctuary, and, catching one ofthem at some mischief, interrupted the service to fetch him a cuff onthe ear and ejaculate, "Curse thy father, child of Satan!" Among thoseof the congregation who lay face to the earth, Iskender presentlyrecognised Elias; and close to him, both standing, were Selīm and Daūd, sons of Mūsa. No one seemed to have remarked his entrance. 

The service ended, all pressed forward to kiss the hand of thecelebrant, and, having done so, one by one, streamed forth into thesunlight. Iskender soon thought himself alone in the church watchingthe priest put out the altar-lights. But suddenly out of the darkestcorner a man rose up and made a step towards the sanctuary, with armsoutstretched in fierce appeal; then cried aloud and, burying his facein his hands, ran stumbling out. Despite the untrimmed beard, thedirty clothes, Iskender recognised Abdullah, and a shudder ran throughall his bones. 

The priest, having disrobed, at length emerged from the sanctuary inhis everyday costume of black cassock and tall cylindrical headpiece;when Iskender knelt before him with choice blessings, and implored hisaid. In the shadow, with eyes yet dazzled from the radiance of thetapers he had just extinguished, Mītri could not make out who it was, but holding the suppliant's hands led him up to the light. "Ma sh'Allah!" he exclaimed when he identified Iskender; and holding his handsmore tightly, took him to his own house. 

There, having sent his wife out on an errand, he called for Iskender'stale without delay, saying:

"I am much distressed on thy account; for the whole world speaks evilagainst thee. It is said that thou hast robbed and slain the EnglishEmīr who trusted thee. A lie, no doubt; but still I fear for thee, forthe common voice outcries the truth down here. Moreover, it is saidthat thou hast sworn falsely by the Blessed Sacrament; Yuhanna Mahbūbhas vowed to kill thee for it. That is a heinous sin if it be true. Answer that first, before we proceed further. Art thou indeed soperjured?"

"No, O our father. By Allah, I swore truly when I said I knew of notreasure, as will appear from the full confession I now make to thee, "Iskender answered, with eyes full of tears. He was going to embarkupon his story when the figure of a woman closely shawled appearedbefore them in the doorway. 

"May Allah reward thee, O our father Mītri, " cried his mother, as, stooping, she kissed the priest's black robe. "In pity save Iskenderfrom those hounds of hell! All that they speak against him is a lie. It was the Frank led him astray, not he the Frank. I guessed he wouldfly straight to thee, the known friend and protector of the wronged, and my soul desired to be with him and hear his story. "

Relieved of the fear of the missionaries which pervaded her own abode, she now embraced her son and, sitting beside him, took his hand in hers. 

"Proceed with the story, O my son!" said Mītri. 

When all was told the woman wept aloud, exclaiming:

"Woe upon us! It is worse than was supposed. Iskender is a loser. Iskender is most innocent of all men living. Oh, who will show thetruth to those who hate him? He has shown himself a fool--a perfectfool!"

Therewith she rose to go, explaining that she dared not stay anotherminute for fear the ladies of the Mission should go to the house in herabsence, and grow angry and suspicious at not finding her. It wastheir usual morning for the visit. Once more she embraced her son, exclaiming:

"This is upon us from the hand of Allah, unto whom be praise! Yet--bythe Gospel!--I had thought thee more intelligent!"

Having made sure from the threshold that no one from the Mission was insight, she shuffled off along the burning road. 

For some time Mītri sat immersed in thought; while Iskender, on whomthe business of narration had brought back despair, hid his face in hisarm. At length the priest pronounced:

"In all thy conduct as related I discern no grievous sin, but onlyfolly and a youth's wild fancies. The Franks will call thee sinful anda liar; but they, I think, have never known the youth which weexperience--the warmth, the wonder and the dreams of it. The lad whohas been taught to read, or fed with stories, is dazzled by the visionof the world, its sovereignties, its wealth, its strange encounters. He pictures himself a ruler or a lord of riches, and invents a store ofmarvels for his own delight; and that because he would admire himself, and cannot do so in the daily tasks and mean surroundings of his actuallife. I myself, when at the seminary, considered the Patriarch'sthrone as mine of right, and should not have been greatly surprised tofind myself installed there with my copy-book in my hand. Butby-and-by the world enlarged. Its distances and depths appeared moreclearly. I perceived how, in order to become a Patriarch, I must leadthe monastic life, renouncing homely joys; and even thus stood littlechance of gaining my desire, since all the chief among the monks areforeign Greeks who despise us sons of the Arab, and would keep us down. The face of a girl I loved soon exorcised ambition; and behold me asmall parish priest, a friend and equal of poor fellāhīn. Now thydream was to be a Frank in all save birth, to associate with thy Emīron equal terms. To that end all thy follies were invented. The wishwas foolish only, but to put it into practice, that was fatal tothee--a crime in all men's eyes! 'O dreamer, sit still in thy chamber, thou art a prince: air thy princeship, men will teach thee thou art anass!' The world defames thee, as is only natural. It would have donethe same for me, had I, a poor young student, actually claimed thehonours of a Patriarch. Allah made thee a son of the Arabs. Acceptthe part allotted, and give up aping that which thou canst never be. The charge of perjury at any rate, is groundless as against thee. Iwill send word to Yuhanna, lest he harm thee. And now the moral is: Iwish to help thee, but cannot well do so whilst thou art a heretic. Promise to let me baptize and anoint thee without more ado, and Allahwitness I will make thy cause my own. "

For the first time since their meeting in the church, the priest heresmiled. 

"I swear it, " said Iskender; "though Allah knows I care not whatbecomes of me. I pray thee, tell my uncle Abdullah what I have told tothee, that his mind may be healed. "

"That is useless, O my son; for I have reasoned with him. His grief isneither for thy deeds nor what is said of thee, but for some wordsthrown at him by the English missionary. He set such store by hisrespectability and the esteem in which the Franks all held him, thatnow, in his humiliation, none but Allah can relieve his mind. "

While thus expounding, the priest took up his staff and exchanged histhin house slippers for stout walking ones. With the last words hedeparted, bidding Iskender wait till he returned. 

The youth sat still in dejection, hypnotised by the bright edge ofsunlight on the threshold, seeing nothing else. He believed himselfalone, when a hand touched one of his--a hand as cool and lissom as aserpent's skin. The daughter of Mītri knelt on the ground beside him. She kissed his hand, and pressed it to her childish bosom. 

"May Allah comfort thee!" she whispered. "Look not so miserable, Ientreat thee, for it makes me cry. When my father sent my mother out, I hid behind the oven, and so heard thy tale. If it is true, thoudidst well; and if it is false, I care not, thou didst well! Praise toAllah, thou art no longer a Brūtestānt; thou art one of us, and I cancall thee brother. "

Up to this point her voice was full of love; but when, awake at last, he tried to draw her to him, she cursed his ancestry and broke away. She had supposed him quite disabled by misfortune. Running fast acrossthe space of sunlight, she sat down in the shade of the oak-tree, wherehe could still see her in the frame of the doorway, and fell to singingsoftly to herself. 

She was still sitting there, at play with some glass beads, when herfather returned. 

CHAPTER XXIV

"Praise be to Allah!" exclaimed Mītri, striding in and sitting downbeside Iskender. As soon as he recovered breath, he told his story. 

He had seen the secretary of the caimmacām, and from him had learntthat the English consul was Iskender's chief accuser. Having noinfluence to oppose to so powerful an adversary except that of thePatriarch, Mītri had decided in his mind to make appeal to HisBeatitude, who was sure to feel kindly disposed towards a convert fromProtestantism; when a message was brought to the functionary, whosemanner changed at once. A telegram just received from the consulhimself declared the young man guiltless of the crimes imputed to him. So pursuit was at an end. 

Iskender thanked the priest, and praised his name. In the warmth ofkindly treatment after many hardships, he cast aside reserve andcaution as mere winter garments, and, the girl Nesībeh being stillbefore his eyes, kissed Mītri's hand and owned his passion for her. Already he loved Mitra as a father. He prayed to Allah he might someday be in truth his son. That was his dearest wish, the one hope leftto him. The priest regarded him with pure amazement for a space, thenburst out laughing. 

"Thou son of a dog!" he cried. "What words are these? Is this theseason for such talk? The girl is young to marry. And thou artoverbold, a youth with nothing! If thy mind is still the same, saythree years hence, then let thy mother approach her mother, who, Ithink, would scorn such wealth as thou couldst offer. Now to talksense. Thou canst no longer lodge at the hotel, though Selīm and Mūsahave maintained thy innocence, and, for themselves, would still havewelcomed thee. But Mūsa, their father, has forbidden it. He says, andjustly, that thy dwelling there would bring discredit on the house justnow, when every traveller has the tale of thy misdeeds and hates thyname. Come, and I will show thee thy lodging in the house of an oldcouple on whom Allah has bestowed male offspring only. It is but astep from here. "

Again Iskender thanked the priest and kissed his hand. For the firsttime in his life he felt at home in his own land. The whole of theOrthodox community were henceforth his brethren. 

On the next day Elias came to visit him, without malice for the past orthe slightest recollection of ever in his life having slandered hisgood friend, now his brother in the faith. All his thoughts were ofWady 'l Mulūk. Had Iskender been there? No? Well, how was that?Iskender confessed that he had lost the description of its whereabouts, and his memory had played him false. They had been very near to theplace, of that he felt sure; but the Emīr lost patience and refused tosearch any further. So, for lack of a little perseverance, all waslost, and the whole expensive journey made for nothing. 

Elias listened with devout belief. 

"A pity!" he explained. "But take heart, O my soul; thou and I will gotogether one of these days and examine that whole region. We shallfind it yet, in sh' Allah!"

So obliging was his friendliness that he insisted on being a witness ofIskender's baptism upon the morrow. His presence, with the scarletdust-cloak and the silver-mounted whip, astride of a prancing charger, reflected glory on the little group of peasants who trudged out to thenearest river, the priest with them. On the return there was a feastset forth in the house of Mītri, and great rejoicing of the wholecommunity. Elias was in boisterous spirits, boasting and tellingstrange stories; the sons of Mūsa discussed politics and the price ofmoney with the rich Azīz; the priest made childish jokes and laughed atthem; while the remainder of the party, mere turbaned fellāhīn, swarthy-faced and rough-handed, ate heartily and applauded all that wassaid. The only death's-head present was Abdullah. Dismissed by Cookas a result of the aspersions of the missionary, he now proclaimed hisintention to start business on his own account. But men shook theirheads and winked aside when he talked of it. The testimonials which hevaunted as his stock-in-trade had been given to an elderly man ofdignity and pronounced decorum, not to this mouthing sheykh of thedirty raiment and the visage ploughed by dissipation. On the presentoccasion he had no appetite for solid food, but sat apart morosely, tasting from time to time with manifest disrelish the light drinksprovided. It seemed he wished to go, but lacked the strength of mindrequired to detach his person from so large a company. His head andhands kept trembling, and he muttered to himself. 

Merriment was at its height when there came a knock at the door. Thepriest Mītri opened, and exclaimed in glad surprise:

"Honour us, O khawājah! Come in! Fear not! All my guests are honestpeople, and the occasion of our feast concerns thee nearly. We havethis day reclaimed a Brūtestānt from the way of perdition. Would toAllah I might baptize thee also, O light of my eyes!"

The belated visitor would have drawn back at glimpse of so large agathering, but Mītri took him by the arm and brought him in. It wasthe preacher Ward, the humblest of all missionaries, who was sent aboutthe country on the errands of the proud ones; a modest, pious man, whospoke good Arabic and scorned not to converse upon a footing with thenatives of the land. 

All rose upon his entrance. Old Abdullah straightened his frame tosomething of its former majesty, and said:

"Good efenin', sir!"

"I have come too late, I find, " the small white-bearded clergymanremarked to Mītri, who had forced him to be seated and set food beforehim. "I knew not that the baptism had taken place. My desire was onlyto ascertain that Iskender was earnest in this change of faith, and notimpelled by anger at a treatment he conceived to be unjust. "

"By Allah, no, he is the most sincere of converts!" responded Mītriwith his jolly laugh. "Have I anything to tempt a proselyte? Lookround this room--with one beyond it, it is all my house--and compare itwith the dwelling of the Father of Ice. Ah, no, my friend: this is atrue conversion!"

"I ask you to belief, sir, that I haf nothin' to do with it, " said oldAbdullah angrily in English. "I suffer much from unkind thin's beeblesay about me. They haf ruined me in my brofession. "

Mītri silenced the old man. With a Protestant missionary for hisguest, the priest thought all words wasted that were not employed oncontroversial subjects. 

"Thou art a good man, O khawājah, " he observed politely but with acertain malice. "Thou alone of all thy tribe wouldst deign to enter mypoor house without arrogance, and sit down with my friends andneighbours in this kindly way; more especially this evening, when ourgladness is at your expense. Tell me, I beseech thee, in what sensethe others of your kind serve Allah by building palaces in the land, displaying a luxury unknown among us, and so tempting the weak andworthless of the Church to gather round them in the hope of gain. TheMuslimin are unassailable, being the rulers; and the Latins are toostrong and clever for them; so because their Honours must convert someone, being paid and sent here for the purpose, they take example fromthe Latins and turn on us, who are weak and not well educated. But howdo they serve Allah in all this? Explain to me, O my soul!"

The visitor stroked his thin white beard. 

"Are the schools nothing? Are the hospitals nothing?" he inquired. 

"By Allah, it is true, they are much!" came in chorus from the company. 

"But the charity might be greater if it were dissociated from attemptsat perversion, " submitted Mītri with a show of deep humility. 

The missionary reflected for a moment before he said gently:

"Your ideas and ours are widely different. When I was young I thoughtwith others of my kind, and preached conversion zealously and from theheart. But now that I am old I sometimes think as you do, and askmyself what good there is in making proselytes. But Allah is above allof us; He alone sees the end. We strive, and others strive, forspecial objects, an all fail, or else find disappointment in success;but Allah uses our success and failure, and with them gains an objectwhich we never saw. Look back, O my friend, a score of years, and tellme: Is not the intercourse between the divers sects and religions inthis country more friendly than it used to be; has not each more regardfor the other, while adhering more strongly than ever to its own creed?Is not this to be ascribed to the missionaries, who pass from one tothe other, and cause them to compare their views, or at leastinvestigate them; who, by their very attacks, as you call them, havedone good, by forcing the attacked to look to their position andresources? The Muslimin, the very Jews, have grown more tolerant; theynever stone me now as heretofore. Strange indeed if, where faithassails faith in the name of Allah, Allah Himself should by that meansproduce general toleration, and an end to proselytising! Yet that iswhat is happening, it seems to me. The assaults of the Catholics andthe Protestants upon your Church have revived her. Her priests arebetter in their lives; they begin to be educated; and, as aconsequence, she holds her ground. I submit to thee that we have madefew, if any, converts from you in the last ten years. "

"That is true, " said Mītri, greatly interested; "and by my life thouspeakest like an angel. Nevertheless, there is but one true Church onearth; would that I might convince thee of her authority! . . . Butthou eatest nothing! Taste this sweetstuff, I entreat thee; it isquite a delicacy!"

The rest of the company, finding the argument beyond them, were talkingamong themselves in lower tones. Only Abdullah, as a sometimedragoman, kept near the missionary, interrupting his speech withsenseless scraps of English, all eagerness to translate for him thewords of Mītri, till the latter stopped him with a curt "Be silent, fool!" And Iskender also hung upon the missionary, waiting anopportunity to inquire for the young Emīr. On a pause he thrust in hisquestion; when the missionary, who had been smiling at a joke ofMītri's, became of a sudden very grave. 

"He lies at the gate of death, " was his answer. "The doctor doubts ifhe will pass this night; but if he sees to-morrow's light, it meansthat he will live, in sh' Allah!"

"May Allah preserve the poor young man!" said Mītri, and resumed thecontroversy. 

But Iskender heard no more. He slipped out, unobserved, into thenight, and stole down the sandy road through cloud-like orange-grovesto where the sandhills rolled beneath the stars. 

CHAPTER XXV

Iskender walked all round the low garden-wall of the Mission, staringthrough the feathery cloud of the tamarisks at the upper windows of thehouse, till he saw a light in one of them, when he sat down on hisheels and watched it doggedly. He feared the blame which would attachto himself were the Emīr to die; still more the reproaches of his ownmind; but above all things he was conscious of a return of his olddevotion to the fair-haired stranger. He recalled the Frank's manykindnesses--in particular the splendid paint-box, which remainedIskender's own--and, sobbing, prayed from the heart that he might live. The hooting of an owl, or the bark of some dog in the distance, alonebroke the stillness, of which the rustle of the tamarisks seemed part, so faint and vague it was. At moments, looking up at the stars, hecould have deemed them living creatures, for they seemed to throb intime with his own grief. 

He knew not how long he had sat there in the darkness unafraid, whenthe light in the room was moved. A chill smote his heart. He jumpedover the wall and drew nearer, in the hope to catch some word of whatwas going on in there. Inside the hedge of tamarisk the air was sweetwith flower scents, which floated thick and separate on the still air, like oil on water. He came beneath the window. The light was oncemore steadfast; so again he sat down on his heels and waited. Presently the tamarisks were distributed by a cold breeze; they sighedaloud; the stagnant perfumes of the garden were confused and scattered;a whiteness came upon the wall before him, and the windows in it gave apallid gleam. Having no desire to be caught lurking there by one ofthe servants, he was on the point of departing, when the light in thewindow was again moved, and while he stood in wonder what suchmovements of the light portended, a door close by him opened, and theSitt Hilda came out into the garden. She was weeping silently, with noattempt to hide her tears. Iskender sprang to her. 

"He is dead?" he moaned in Arabic. "May Allah have mercy on him!"

"He lives, the praise to Allah!" she replied, and with the words shewept more copiously, and turned from him to smell the clustered flowersof a certain creeping plant against the wall. 

Echoing "Praise to Allah!" he withdrew. 

She had not recognised him, had heard his question as the voice ofNature. It seemed to him that she had not answered it, but merelysighed aloud her own thanksgiving. 

"She loves him!" thought Iskender, with a flush of sympathy. 

He found strange rapture in the knowledge of her passion for the fairEmīr, in the prospect of a union of those two whom he had loved most ofall people in his former life. They seemed in a sense his creatures, and their love his handiwork. If only he could help them to obtaintheir heart's desire, could serve their happiness by any means, and getforgiveness, he felt that he could enter on his new life without oneregret. 

CHAPTER XXVI

Each morning and evening Iskender walked upon the sandhills until hemet with some one coming from the Mission who could give him the latesttidings of the Emīr. His mother spied him once from her house-door, and indulged in furious gesticulations to the effect that he must flyfor his life. When he gave no heed she shook her fist at him, andopened her mouth wide to utter something, the sense of which was lostin the distance. She even came to his lodging, stealthily as of wont, and implored him never to walk again so near the Mission. It stoppedher breath, and caused her deathlike palpitations to behold him there. The hatred of those children of abomination was so rank against him, that they might hurt his body. At the least they would wound his soulwith indignities which she could not bear to think of for her boy. 

"Hilda is the only one of them with any kindness; and she, I know, isalways in the sickroom; she never now goes out beyond the garden. Themother of George is absent; the preacher Ward has gone again. Theothers! They are known for devils, and they hate thee! What madnessin thee to approach their house!"

When Iskender only laughed, she wrung her hands despairingly, and askedher Maker for deliverance from such a madman. Her apprehensionsproved, however, quite unfounded. 

The ladies Carūlīn and Jane were touched by Iskender's solicitude, andnoticed him when passing on the road. Costantīn the gardener answeredhis demands, though grudgingly; and Asad told him all he wished toknow. The last named even condescended to remonstrate with Iskender onhis change of faith, displaying the interest of a cultivated observerin the motions of some curious wild creature. 

"I am a son of the Arabs, " was Iskender's invariable answer, "and haveno wish to seem to be a Frank. My religion teaches me to remove myhopes and ambitions from this world; and Allah knows I have experiencedenough of its vicissitudes. All I ask now is leave to live and die inpeace. "

"That is beautiful, what thou sayest!" Asad would rejoin with hissuperior smile. "But wait a month or so till thou hast survived thypresent grievance; then wilt thou wish that thou hadst done as I have. For, only think! I am to be sent to the land of the English to perfectmy studies. There I shall take care to ingratiate myself with thegreat ones of their Church, and to wed some noble lady of their race;that, when I return hither, these people may be forced to treat me withrespect, and no longer as their servant and inferior. I shall be agreat khawājah, receiving perhaps two hundred English pounds everyyear, whereas thou canst hope to be no more than a humble toiler atsome trade or other. With the exercise of but a little self-control, thou mightst have been all this instead of me. Hadst thou but heardthe voice of my good counsel, much might have been preserved to thee. Even now I would have helped thee for old friendship's sake. In theday of my power which is to come, in sh' Allah, it would have been easyto procure for thee the post of a teacher in some school or oflay-reader in some lesser mission. But thy espousal of a barbaroussuperstition, which no civilised and cultured person can so much astolerate, has put it quite beyond my power to serve thee. "

Iskender hardly listened to such talk. His mind found business in itsown devices. He would have chosen to avoid the speaker altogether; buteven Asad's unconcerned announcements, sandwiched in between gibes atthe Orthodox faith were better than no tidings of his former patron. And Asad always lay in wait for him, delighting to dazzle one sodowncast with the vision of his own high future. One morning he said:

"The uncle of the convalescent is expected to arrive to-day. He hascome all the way from Lūndra on hearing of his dear one's illness. Itseems that thy sometime patron was ordered by the physicians to visitMasr, his health being weak. Growing weary of that land, where he knewno one, and wishing to extend his travels, he came on here and made thefriends we know. This uncle, who is his nearest relative, cared notwhither he went, so only that he was gaining health and strength; buthearing that his beloved lay at death's door, he hastened hither, madwith grief and rage. The Father of Ice has received from him athousand costly telegrams, which demonstrate sufficiently his mind'sdisorder. It were well for thee to keep out of his way, for he willcertainly vow thy destruction when he has heard the story. "

After this warning Iskender saw no more of Asad for three days, theclergyman-designate being called upon to help in the housework. But hecontinued to walk near the Mission at sunrise and sunset; and at last, one evening, going there as usual, he found Asad sitting, Frank-wise, on a chair before the gate, devouring chunks of the sweetment calledbaclāweh, which the cook had given him. Espying the son of Yācūb fromafar, the friendly youth sprang up in great alarm and waved him offwith frantic gestures, sweets in hand. 

"Allah preserve thee, O Iskender; go back, O rash one! Did not I tellthee not to come again? Only to approach the house is certain death. The uncle of the poor sick man has sworn to drink thy blood, or at allevents to beat thee senseless, in payment for the way thou didstbeguile his nephew. " Asad sat down again upon the chair, and ateanother mouthful, then pursued: "The young man now is so much betterthat he is able, with assistance, to pace the garden. Yesterday it wasthe Sitt Hilda who supported him; but to-day it is the furious uncle, and the Sitt Hilda has red eyes. The uncle thinks her not well-bornenough, or else too poor, to mate with his dear nephew. The young manhas tired himself with pleading; but the old man locks his heart. AndI am glad, for I myself would not object to marry Hilda when I am inholy orders. She is plump and shy and has fresh ripe-fruit cheeks thatI should like to bite. Thou thyself didst love her once, I am aware;and Allah knows thou mightst in the end have enjoyed her by theexercise of a little self-control, by waiting humbly, as I do, tillthey made a priest of thee. At least, if I succeed in getting her, theFather of Ice, to whom she is like a daughter, will no longer be ableto despise me, and keep me in dependence. "

In spite of his first announcement of tremendous danger, Asad detainedIskender by the gate for nearly an hour, talking with him openly infull sight of the house. His discourse was chiefly of women, concerning whom he developed ideas purely cynical. He said that thedaughters of the country were the more appetising, but that he himselfwould choose a daughter of the English to increase his consequence. Ifshe possessed wealth or good looks, so much the better; but she must beEnglish, and of an honourable house. As an English missionary, with anEnglish wife of good family, how he would lord it here on a stipend oftwo hundred pounds a year! Iskender, being deep in thought ofsomething else, made an excellent listener. Asad presented him with asmall piece of baclāweh. 

"At what hour does the Emīr take his pleasure in the garden?" Iskenderasked at parting from that child of promise; leaving Asad to suppose heput the question out of caution, to the end that he himself might shunthe Mission at that hour. 

"Between the fourth and fifth after noon, " was the reply. "But avoidthe house altogether, if thy life is precious to thee! The foe, I tellthee, is a seasoned warrior, a drinker of blood from his birth. "

From all that Asad had let fall, two facts shone forth: that the Emīrwas mad in love with the Sitt Hilda, and that he was oppressed by hiscruel uncle. Iskender mused on these, seeing a chance to help him andobtain forgiveness. 

CHAPTER XXVII

Between the fourth and fifth hour after noon of that same day Iskenderonce more approached the house of the missionaries, this time withextreme precaution, keeping as far as might be hidden in the folds ofthe land, and, when obliged of necessity to cross a space of groundexposed to view, crawling on his belly, with his tarbūsh, which, beingscarlet, was conspicuous, doffed and rolled up tightly in one hand. Itwas important for the enterprise he had in view that no one of thehouse should see him coming. 

Having reached the garden boundary undiscovered, he stole round it, crouching, with his ear to the wall. Soon he caught the sound ofvoices, and, guided by them, reached a point quite near the speakerswhence he could hear every word they were saying. The Emīr had justconcluded what must have been a long petition, and now the uncle spoke:

"Need we have it all over again?" he inquired irritably. "You know Iwould not cross you in your present state, unless I were convinced itis for your own good. As I have before observed, she is a good manyyears your senior; she has neither birth nor money, nor anythinguncommon in good looks. If, in eight months' time, you still desireit, I shall have no longer any right to forbid your marrying. But itshall not be now. "

The tamarisks just there were a sufficient screen. NoiselesslyIskender surmounted the low wall and parted with his hands theirfeathery boughs till he could see the disputants. The uncle's face wasrichly bronzed, in striking contrast with his light blue eyes and heavywhite moustache. Clad in a white suit, with a white pith helmet on hishead, he appeared to Iskender like a portrait just begun, of which onlythe hands and the flesh of the face had yet been coloured by theartist. Of figure he was broad and upright, without a symptom ofdecrepitude unless it might be the stout cane he used in walking. TheEmīr looked fragile and infirm beside him, pale with the trace ofillness, and bowed by his present dejection. 

"Pshaw! Bless my soul!" pursued the uncle, with a lively flourish ofhis cane. "Why, every man falls in love with his nurse if she's at allpersonable; it is a phase of convalescence. I could tell you of adozen cases, within my own personal knowledge, out in India; but Inever saw a happy marriage come of it. Now come, I only ask you towait eight months until you are of age--you can't call that requestunreasonable--and to stop all communications for the same period. Itwill give both you and the lady time to think about it, and save youboth from rash and ill-considered action. Our good host here and theelder ladies quite agree with me. Now sit down on this bench and rest, while I go and get my notebook with the dates of sailing. "

With that the old man went into the house, leaving the Emīr alone, resting forlornly on the garden-seat beneath a flowering tree andstaring at the ground. Iskender parted the growth of tamarisks andstood out before him. 

The Emīr gave a start and a faint cry, with eyes dilated. Iskenderpounced on his hand and, murmuring words of love, essayed to kiss it. It was snatched from him. 

"What the devil are you doing here? Get out, I say!" The Frank spokelow and angrily, with a glance at his hands which cursed their presenthelplessness. "If I were not so confoundedly weak, I would send youflying over that wall! . . . Oh, yes, I suppose I forgive you, and allthat. Only I don't want to speak to you, or see your face. You've gotto be a kind of nightmare to me. I daresay I misjudged you; I don'tpretend to understand you; in some ways you behaved quite well andhonestly. Only I can't endure the sight of your face, the sound ofyour confounded voice. Get out, I tell you. "

But Iskender came close, and, despite his efforts to repel, leaned overhim and whispered in his ear:

"Just listen, sir! I bring her to you where you like--to England?--toAmerica?--anywhere you tell me. Gif to me a bit of writing, for me toshow to her--you know!--to Miss Hilda, her you luf! The old man is afery wicked deffil to wish to sebarate you. "

"So you have been listening, have you?" said the Frank, with amirthless laugh. "Just as if you hadn't done enough already in the wayof meddling with my affairs. Go! and may I never see your face again. You will make haste and begone if you're wise. My uncle will be backin half a jiffy. "

But Iskender was too astonished by these words, and the listless mannerof their utterance, to trust his understanding. He went on entreating:

"Just a word in your handwriting, sir, so she can know it's all right. I bring her to you anywhere at my exbense. God knows I do anything toblease you! I treat her honourably, sir; I be her servant like as I'fbeen yours. All that I told you about me and her was nothin'; I wasjust a silly boy. I resbect her, sir; I be her slave; you trust me. By God, I treat her like as if she was the Blessed Firgin! It willcost you nothin', sir; I bray you do not doubt----"

But he got no further, being suddenly collared from behind, and beatenwith a cane which stung like hornets. Screaming under the punishment, and struggling hard, he at last succeeded in breaking away just asCostantīn came running round a corner of the house and terrified facesappeared at its lower windows. He heard his assailant, panting, exclaim, "That's the only argument the beggars understand. We learntthat in India, " as he (Iskender) dashed through the hedge of tamarisksand cleared the low wall at a bound. 

With mouth full of sobs, he ran across the sandhills, every salientobject, every shadow, swelling and sinking with the horror of eachbreath he drew. It was not that the old afrit, the uncle of the Emīr, had beaten him, nor that his back was sore, but that the Emīr himselfhad refused his services, which so appalled him. He felt like thespectator of some ghastly crime. Surely no man really in love wouldquestion by what means he got his dear, so only that she was brought tohim with despatch and decency. It was a catastrophe hardly less thanthat of the gold. Even in love--the fierce, unreasoning passion of ayouth for a maid--it seemed a Frank must differ from a son of theArabs. Once more Iskender had erred in attributing to the Emīr his ownsensations, and been punished for it as for an offence unthinkable. Once more he gazed into a soundless gulf, impossible to bridge; and wasappalled. 

Seeing a convenient hollow close before him, he plunged into it, andhad flung himself down to think and fetch his breath, before he knewthat it was already occupied. A sudden burst of music with the strainsof the English National Hymn was the first announcement he received ofthe proximity of Khalīl, the concertina-player, and of his own uncleAbdullah. 

"Welcome, O Iskender, " said Khalīl, when the tune had finished withbecoming gravity. "I come out here to play my music undisturbed. AndAbdullah follows me through love of the strange sounds, which soothehis mind's disease. "

"May Allah preserve thee in happiness, O son of my brother!" saidAbdullah gloomily. "But thy folly has brought ruin to my house. OurLord destroy those children of iniquity who slandered me in the ears ofKūk. "

"Take heart, O my soul! Be not so downcast!" pleaded the musician, whowas all urbanity, doing the honours of his one accomplishment there inthat lonely hollow of the sands for all the world as though it had beena fine reception-room, and they his guests. "Stay, and I will play toyou both the air of 'Yenki-dūdal'--a noble air, none like it, and ofwide renown. So shall Abdullah cease from brooding on misfortune. "

This Frankish music hurrying to an end, of a rhythm monotonous as thehoof-beats of a galloping horse, seemed very ugly to Iskender. Howdifferent from the delicious waywardness of Eastern airs, whose charmis all by the bye, in precious dawdlings and digressions! It revealedto him the mind of his Emīr. Gradually, as he listened to it, grieffell from him; and in its stead rose hatred for a race that measuredall things, even the sweet sounds of music, even love. He rememberedonly that his back was sore. 

CHAPTER XXVIII

That night Iskender still endured distress of mind. Anger and fiercehatred of the Franks overcame him whenever he recalled what hadhappened in the Mission garden, and the recurring smart of his woundsprevented his forgetting it for more than a minute at a time. But inthe morning, when pain had given place to a bruised stiffness, herecovered the resignation which had been his before the preacher Wardcame with the tidings of his Emīr's great danger. For the first timesince his return from the search for Wady 'l Mulūk he took out hispaints and sketch-book, and went and sat beneath the ilex-tree, awaiting inspiration. But the buzz of flies, of bees, and otherinsects inseparable from the creamy morning sunlight set his mindafloat, and prevented its settling on any one object. 

In this happy state of indecision he was found by Asad son ofCostantīn. That high-minded youth had come, as he explained, at nosmall peril to himself, solely to warn his dear one to beware of evercoming near the Mission. The indignation of the missionary and theladies with his conduct of the day before was intense; and no wonder, for from the excitement consequent upon that scene in the garden theFrank was back in bed again as ill as ever. All, to the very servants, blamed Iskender; while as for the uncle of the sufferer, that ancientblood-drinker had sworn to cut the son of Yācūb into little pieces, andgive his meat to dogs--a form of punishment, Asad explained, which theterrible old man had practised daily while in India at the expense ofthe native inhabitants of that unhappy country. 

"Wallah, he is a veritable ghoul; he is more blood-thirsty than theworst among the Turks. Did I not warn thee of his state of feeling?What ailed thee thus to rush into his arms?"

To all this Iskender's sole reply was:

"Allah is bountiful!"

"But wherefore risk thy body in his presence? Tell me, O my soul, whatimp possessed thee?" pleaded Asad in his most seductive tone. Hiscuriosity was real, and very great. "All demand to know. That oldghoul vows he caught thee begging money of thy former patron--the Emīr, we used to call him, who is no more an Emīr than I am, it turns out, but only the son of a merchant in the city of Lūndra--but I cannotbelieve that he speaks truth in this. Inform me of thy motives, tellwhat really happened; then I can defend thee. Is not my discretionknown? Have I not always stood thy friend? By Allah, I will keep thematter secret, if that is thy desire. Tell me, me only, O my soul--thybrother Asad!"

Still Iskender only answered: "Allah is bountiful!" In truth thetidings of the Emīr's relapse concerned him not at all. He murmured inhis soul, "May Allah heal him!" as he would have prayed on hearing of astranger's illness, but with no sense of guilt or responsibility. Tohave opened his heart to Asad would have been to risk destroying thisblissful state of indifference. He feared to revive his emotions ofthe day before; so confined himself to pious exclamations. 

Asad's inquisitiveness, however, was of a hardy kind. Again and yetagain did he return to the charge, pleading, remonstrating, eventhreatening; holding out every inducement he could think of; evenoffering the fine penknife with three blades and an ivory handle, whichhad been given to him only yesterday by the Sitt Jane. He held thistreasure up before his patient's eyes, opening the blades one by one todisplay the glory of it. But Iskender still sat on composedly, smilinginto distance, like a graven image. Finding he could elicit nothing, Asad grew angry. 

"Thou art still at thy childish toys, I see, " he sneered as he at lastwithdrew. "Much they will profit thee! Ma sh' Allah! I can see howthou wilt envy me hereafter when I am a grand khawājah, and thou artdirt in the road!" Having attained a safe distance, he let fly hisfarewell shaft: "Cursed be thy religion, O dog son of a dog!"

Iskender then glanced round in the hope that some others of theOrthodox communion might have heard the insult, in which case it wouldhave fared extremely ill with the son of Costantīn. His heart leaptwith joy at the sight of Elias close at hand armed with his finesilver-mounted riding-whip. But instead of pursuing Asad, who hadtaken to his heels, and of whipping the life out of him, Eliascontented himself with throwing a stone and celebrating in a loud voicethe immodesty of Asad's mother and the revolting manner of hisconception and birth. That done, he came and sat beside Iskender. 

"I have killed a man for cursing our holy religion before now, " heremarked, smiling; and proceeded to give an outline of the murder. Butthis was not the object of his coming. He had obtained command of aparty of American travellers, men bound for Wady Mūsa, and, rememberingthat the valley of the gold lay somewhere in the same direction, hadcome to ask Iskender to join the expedition in the quality of cook. These khawājāt knew nothing of the country, Elias could conduct them bywhat road he chose; might even keep them encamped in one spot for days, if necessary, while he and his dearest friend explored theneighbourhood. 

"Say yes, O my soul!" he entreated. "It is an opportunity that may notoccur again. In sh' Allah, we shall come back each as rich as theSultan's Majesty. Without thee, I am nothing; for thou alone art inpossession of the knowledge to ensure success. We set forth to-morrow. Make all thy preparations now directly, and come with us!"

Iskender refused, vowing by Allah Most High that he had had enough ofdesert travelling to last a lifetime. At that the chagrin of Elias waspitiful to witness. He saw the valley full of gold, which the secondbefore had seemed quite close to him, removed by this reply a great wayoff. But when Iskender offered to describe its whereabouts to the bestof his remembrance, and to make over all his rights in it to him(Elias), confiding in his far-famed generosity, the seer's lips partedand his eyes started out from his head with astonishment and delight. Whipping out his grand pocket-book, he took down hurried notes whileIskender thoughtfully reviewed his route with the Emīr, naming everyvillage and outstanding mark upon the road, as also the precise pointat which he believed that he had gone astray. 

"It was there that my memory failed me. I should have borne more tothe southward. But even as it was, we must have been within an hour ofthe place, when the Emīr--curse his father!--gave the fatal order toturn back. Forget not, O my soul, to bribe the chief of the Arabs inthat district, who is surnamed Son of the Lion; or he will certainlyoppress thy party as he did mine. "

Elias, having replaced his note-book, flung both arms around Iskender'sneck and kissed him on the mouth repeatedly. Tears rolled from hiseyes. He whispered fiercely:

"Never will I forget this deed of kindness; I will pay thee half thetreasure--by my head I swear it, by my honourable reputation, by myhope of life hereafter! Allah knows I always loved thee! May Allahdestroy those wicked people who spread abroad foul lies concerningthee. Only let them dare to come within reach of my two hands!"

The transport past, he sat beside Iskender, with arm about his neck. Some girls at a round game in the shadow of the church caught hiswandering eye. He called his friend's attention to the good looks ofNesībeh, who was one of them. Iskender turned his head and threw acareless glance in the direction indicated. 

"Thou hast not seen her properly. Wait a minute! . . . O Nesībeh! Omy pearl! Come hither! . . . Ah, the rogue has fled to hiding; shehas slipped inside the church; and the rest, her playmates, are flying, each to her mother's side, as if my sweet-toned voice had been a lion'sroar! A year ago she would have flung herself into my arms, and satupon my knee and begged for stories. But now she wears the veil, sheis a woman, and therefore must be captious like the rest of them. Inthy grace I depart, having much to put in order for to-morrow'sjourney. "

Once more he flung both arms around Iskender's neck, kissing him onboth cheeks and on the mouth, and vowing by Our Lady, and by the threeArchangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, to repay him half thetreasure of the Valley of the Kings. 

CHAPTER XXIX

Left alone, Iskender took up a position in which he could watch theopen door of the church without seeming to do so. Then, as soon as hebeheld Nesībeh peeping out, he opened his paint-box, laid hissketch-book on his knee, and made believe to set to work in earnest, crooning a facetious song the while, to complete the deception. Hisobject was to tempt or provoke the girl to come to him. For days pastshe had withstood all his allurements, taking to her heels at hisapproach. He desired an explanation of such queer behaviour, and, having learnt that frankness was of no avail, resorted now to subtlety. 

After a space of apparent absorption in his work, he hazarded a glanceout of the corners of his eyes, and was glad to see that she wasdrawing nearer. From the glimpse thus obtained he judged herdiscontented, sullen, even angry, and suspected some hostility to bethe object of her stealing up behind him. But he was quite unpreparedfor what actually happened. A large stone, flung at close quarterswith all the strength of her young arms, struck him fairly between theshoulders, just where the bruises resultant from yesterday's beatingmost thickly congregated. It knocked all the breath out of his body. The shock, however, stood him in good stead; since it prevented hisacting on the first angry impulse of retaliation, and at the same timegave him a look of genuine anguish. In a trice she was at his side, weeping and imploring his forgiveness. 

"Say thou art not badly hurt--say it, I implore thee. By my life, Ishould die if I had injured thee. "

Iskender did his best to personate the last agony, writhing and rollinghis eyes, and clutching at the air with palsied hands. In despair ofsoothing one in that condition, she changed mood swiftly and becamedefiant. 

"No matter, " she sneered. "Thou art not hurt to death; and by Allahthou deservest any suffering in return for the shame and humiliationthou hast put upon me. What was that Frank--curse his religion!--tothee, that thou must go every hour only to watch the house where he layill? He had cast thee off, when I came and comforted thee. Yet is hedearer! O the disgrace to me to have offered my love and to be thusrejected! Would to Allah I had never seen thy dirty, ugly, wicked--thyaccursed face! It is the face of a pig, of an afrīt; so now thouknowest! What had I ever done to harm thee that, after speaking to meof love and asking for me, thou didst turn thy back and spurn me forthe sake of a vile foreigner who has blackened thy face and made ofthee a byword for infamy? I heard thee ask my father; and I heard hisanswer. There was hope for thee. Why has thy mother never come totalk with mine? By Allah, I will take that stone again and kill theewith it; for it seems that I am nothing in thy eyes, O misbegotten!"

Iskender knew not how to answer, for her reproach was righteous; yet heloved her dearly. He was released from this embarrassment by thereturn of Mītri, who had been into the town to visit a sick man. Hehad drawn quite near before the bickering pair perceived him. Nesībehmade as if to fly indoors; but the priest called her back rathersternly. 

"Art afraid of me, thy father, child of mischief? By the Gospel thouhast cause to fear, O shameless, O deceitful. But wait a minute, Icommand thee, and hear what I have to say to this young man. "

The girl obeyed demurely, standing by, with hands folded in the fall ofher white headveil while her father addressed Iskender. 

"It is known, O my son, that I have conceived a fondness for thee; andso it seems has this wild girl of mine. The mother of Nesībeh, too, speaks well of thee, because thou dost run her errands, and art fond ofplaying with the younger children--things which seem naught to me, butplease her greatly. I say not that I will not give Nesībeh to thee, some day in the future, if thou walkest straight. At present she isvery young; and thou hast yet no trade by which to gain a livelihood. Now I have been thinking; Allah has bestowed on thee a rare andwondrous gift, which is, to make flat likenesses of all things thatthine eyes behold. There lives in El Cuds a sheykh of myacquaintance--a righteous man, and steadfast in the faith--who earnshis living, and a fat one, by no other means. He makes the icons andreligious pictures for many of our monasteries and great churches. Often, in old days, when I was at the seminary, have I watched himshape the blue and crimson robes and spread the gold like butter. Iwill write a word to him and, maybe, pay a trifle, that he may receivethee as his disciple. Devote thyself to his instruction and soon, withthe grace of Allah, thou wilt far surpass him in accomplishment. Then, after a year or two, return and speak to us of marriage. We shall hearthee favourably. Have I said well, O my daughter?"

The child was silent. The weight of her father's words had stilled andsolemnised her, removing every trace of coquetry. Her head was bowedas at the benediction; she was sobbing. Mītri patted her head and badeher run indoors. 

"There is yet another reason, " he told Iskender privately, "why I woulddefer the nuptials for a year or two. Did thy wedding with my daughterfollow close on thy conversion, scoffers would see in it a clearinducement, would say that I bribed thee with my flesh and blood; andthat would grieve me. Go away, therefore, for a reasonable time; letthe noise of thy conversion die away; and all is said. "

So it was arranged. 

CHAPTER XXX

On the day when the Emīr set sail for England in the custody of hisforbidding uncle, Iskender, with the sum of two mejīdis in his pouch, set out on foot for the Holy City. On his way to join a horde ofRussian pilgrims with whom, by Mītri's advice, he was to walk forsafety, he saw the carriage belonging to the Hotel Barūdi, conveyingthe two Englishmen to the gate of the town. The carriage passed himfrom behind; its inmates must have had him long in view, the road beingempty; yet the Emīr deigned never a glance at him, but laughed andtalked, as if enchanted, with the horrible old ghoul who sat besidehim. Iskender called down curses on their race, and hastened on tofind his Russian pilgrims. 

These were peasants, men and women, for the most part old, with facesgnarled and knotted like the trunks of ancient olives, and pale eyeswhich had a patient, rapt expression as if they saw Heaven opened, buta long way off. They took no notice of Iskender there beside them, though his adherence was conspicuous as a flower among grey rocks, buttrudged onward, singing hymns in a strange tongue. 

The general rate of advance was very slow, so many aged, feeble folkwere of the company; but some three hours after noon of the third day, having toiled long through a wilderness of stony hills, they saw thecity. Men and women kissed the ground, weeping and crying aloud. Thepriests in charge of the pilgrims struck up a psalm of thanksgiving. 

Iskender left them at these devotions, passing on into the city. Therehe lost all purpose and the count of time in rapture with the coloursof the motley throng, which budded in the night of long, dark tunnelsand blossomed in the open alleys, full of shade. The sense of aninfinitude of burning light, resting above, gave to the shadow and itsbedded splendours something magical, reminding Iskender of his childishfancies of what it must be like to live at the bottom of the sea. Hehad stood for a long while glued to the pavement of a certain entry, outside the jostling crowd, gazing entranced at the shop of acoppersmith across the way--where, in the darkness of a kind of cave, the burnished wares gave forth a bluish gleam like negro faces--whensome one smote his chest. 

There was Yuhanna the dragoman, his old enemy, grinning down at him, for once quite friendly. 

"Shrink not, O my son, fear nothing, " he said, laughing, when Iskenderhalf retreated. "Thou didst not perjure thyself, it seems, that timethou knowest, so I have no grudge against thee. And now thou hastjoined the Church, thou art my brother. I heard the blessed news fromone I met upon the road. Art thou not happy to be now a child oflight, delivered from the prospect of everlasting damnation? Wallah, it is bad to be Brūtestānt. "

He gave Iskender's arm a cunning twist, just enough to suggest thetorture in reserve for heretics; and then, detaining his hand inquiredthe nature of his business in the city. Thus reminded of his errandwhich had quite escaped him, Iskender confessed that he was in searchof the shop of one Ibrahīm abu Yūsuf, a painter of religious pictures. Yuhanna told him it was close at hand, and, having treated him to a cupof coffee and some sticky sweet-stuff, showed him the way, which couldhardly have been found without direction. Through a deserted alley, down first one dark, stinking passage, then another, Iskender reached acrazy door and, knocking on it twice, was told to enter. 

The room within was small and very dark. It had only one window, highup in the wall, and even that looked out upon a covered way. WhenIskender entered, the artist was in the act of rising from his knees, having been on the floor at work upon a picture. He was a wizenedelder with a fine white beard, clad in a soiled kaftan, black turbanand big black-rimmed spectacles. Lighting a candle-end he read theletter of the priest Mītri, and, having read, embraced his newdisciple. He took off his spectacles, brushed them, wiped his eyesrepeatedly, and then knelt again to his painting, bidding Iskenderwatch the way of it. When the youth suggested that more light wasneeded, Ibrahīm abu Yūsuf shook his head decidedly. This room, heexplained, had been chosen precisely on account of its obscurity, whichmeant seclusion. Were he to ply his trade in the light of day, theMuslim zealots of the city would speedily tear him in pieces as anidol-maker. "Though some of them make pictures also, " he explained, "not here but in Esh-Shām and other places. They quote in excuse somefetwah of the learned. I have no appeal; for did I quote their fetwahthey would call it blasphemy. " The room, he said, possessed advantagesfor health as well as privacy. Its window gave upon the market of theshoemakers, and, when it stood open, admitted the smell of leather, than which nothing in the world is more wholesome and invigorating. Iskender was glad to learn that he was not required to sleep there, butin the private house of his master, whither he was conducted at the endof the day's work. The old man and his wife seemed pleased to have himin the room of their only son, an adventurous youth who had gone withmerchandise to America to seek his fortune. 

The Sheykh Ibrahīm took great pains with his pupil's instruction, andtaught him divers little tricks which saved much trouble. 

"But times are bad!" he would suspire in moments of depression. "Onceit was a profitable trade; all the pictures required used to be wroughtand purchased in the land. But now the majority of the clergy buy themready-made from Europe. That the Franks have a pretty, life-like trickis undeniable; yet I think our ancient style, stiff and conventional asthey call it, is far more reverent. There is no one left to practiseit, nowadays, except myself, and here and there a religious in themonasteries. "

Yet, for all the old man's moan, there seemed no lack of business; andIskender wished that he had half the money which he saw paid into hismaster's hand. Monks and nuns and priests, and even prelates, foundtheir way to the cell of the painter; and Iskender's work was highlythought of by such visitors. The old man was laughingly told to lookto his laurels, for the young one at his side had almost Frankishtalent. 

"Heed them not, O my soul!" said Abu Yūsuf. "They speak as fools whoknow not. That the Frankish way has merits, all must allow; but ours, I do maintain, is more devotional. Let it be one thing or the other;that is all I ask. And I would have thee purge thy style, once and forall, of just those lifelike touches which these fools admire. "

Iskender, of sheer laziness, was content to humour the old man; andsoon acquired such skill in practice that he could have wrought withhis eyes shut, as the Sheykh Abu Yūsuf virtually did, for he was almostblind. Every morning, before setting to work, he hastened to theChurch of the Resurrection and said a prayer there, kneeling at thetomb of Christ, ere studying the paintings which adorn its dim oldwalls. At the end of a year and a half his work was in greater demandthan that of his master. The latter, recognising that his hand wasfailing and his sight would soon be gone, offered to sell him thebusiness. But Iskender had no money for the purchase. He consented, however, to a scheme of partnership; and, proud of his achievements, sent a letter to the priest Mītri, announcing his return to claim hisbride. After four days came the priest's reply, to the effect thatpreparations were being made for the wedding; upon receipt of whichIskender set forth on his journey, mounted upon an ass, and accompaniedby two wealthy Christian merchants of El Cuds, new friends of his, whovalued his acquaintance. Their escort won him standing in his nativetown. 

CHAPTER XXXI

The bridal was attended with festivities. The little Christian villagere-echoed with the ululation of the crowd of women forming the bride'sprocession, as they paraded their joy among the hovels before going tothe church. And when, after the ceremony, the train came forth, carryingNesībeh to a house not her father's, the zaghārīt broke out afresh, andguns and pistols were discharged. Much feasting of a solid kind ensuedat the bridegroom's expense, in a house which had been ceded to him forthe purpose. Elias was there in gorgeous raiment, telling all who wouldgive ear a strange romance of how he had once been all but married to aroyal princess. Khalīl, the concertina-player, was a thought aggrievedthat Mītri forbade him to make music in the church itself, but forgot hisdudgeon when the crowd trooped out again. For hours he played onindefatigably, repeating his whole repertory of Frankish discords atleast a score of times, and telling all who asked that he had acquiredhis skill in foreign music by instruction from the greatest living masterof the art--a certain English mariner named William. 

Of Iskender's family not one was present. His mother dared notadventure, for fear of the missionaries; and his uncle Abdullah lay atthat time ill in his house as the result of a wound received in a drunkenbrawl. 

It was not until two days later, when Iskender was beginning to overcomethe shyness of his young bride, that his mother came to bless him. 

"Ah, thou hast won for thyself a pearl of price, my son, a gem desired ofmany!" she whispered in his ear, when she had embraced Nesībeh. "Becareful of her goings, guard her closely; for it has reached my ears thatshe is ripe for naughtiness. May Allah, of his mercy, bless the pair ofyou, and grant you honoured increase. "

Congratulation, however, was only part of her purpose in the visit, assoon appeared. 

"My son, " she cried excitedly, "the great lady, the mother of George, hascome hither from the land of the English, for a few weeks only, havingleft the children. She had ever a fondness for thee, and has asked tosee thee, as I hear from the servants at the Mission. Even when informedof all thy misdoings by the Father of Ice, her husband, she smiled in hisface, they tell me, and still protested she would like to see thee. So Ithrew this shawl over my head, and came to fetch thee to the house. Themother of George loves thee, as I said before; and her husband denies hernothing, both because she comes of a good house, while he is the son oflow people, and for the sake of the many children she has borne him. Bythe Gospel, I perceive a chance for thee to retrieve the past, if onlythou wilt deign to be a little politic and respect their foibles. ForAsad son of Costantīn is in the land of the English, and the report ofhis doings displeases the Father of Ice. It is said that he shows atendency towards the High Church in that country, which for the time isuppermost, and has found some favour with its dignitaries; which means heis accursed in the eyes of our friends here. . . . What art thou doing?Come, make haste, I say!"

Iskender, on his knees upon the floor, was looking through a little pileof paintings, his own work. 

"I would take in my hand a gift for the mother of George, " he explained;"a specimen of my art, that she may see what proficiency I have attainedin it. It was she who first encouraged me to draw and paint--she and, after her, the Sitt Hilda. I should like them both to see the beauty ofmy present paintings. "

"Now Allah forbid!" exclaimed his mother in alarm. "Verily thou art madto think of it. They view with horror all religious pictures, regardingthem as idols, in their ignorance, like the Muslimin! Here is a chanceto recover all their favour, to supplant Asad, to become a priest oftheir religion, a rich khawājah; and lo! thou wouldst spoil it all byshowing them a holy image! When thou askest aught of the Devil, make notthe sign of the Cross. Be wise, my son; and come at once!"

But Nesībeh, who had till now stood speechless by, here flung herselfbetween them, threatening to tear the eyes out of the mother of Iskender. She swore that she would never let her husband visit the home of unbeliefin the company of one so wicked. If he went at all, let him take theholy picture to protect his spirit from pernicious influence. 

"Tush! tush! thou silly babe, " the elder woman chid her, "were it notbetter for thee to have for husband a rich khawājah than a wretchedpainter of religious pictures? Thou wouldst wear fine Frankish clothesof wondrous texture and hats, I tell thee, hats with waving feathers. Thou wouldst sit at ease all day, with maids to wait on thee. "

"I want none of it, " screamed Nesībeh. "These are devil's wiles. MayAllah blast thy life, unnatural woman, thus to tempt thy son to sell hissoul, his part in everlasting life, for earthly gain. "

Iskender took her in his arms and silenced her; then turned to pacify hismother, who was much incensed. Had she thought for herself at all? Wasnot all her endeavour to secure prosperity and a high position forIskender, and, of course, his bride? What right had this chit of a girl, who knew nothing of the world, nor the shifts that folks are forced towho would live in it comfortably, to call her husband's mother anunnatural woman for displaying a little forethought? And Allah knew itwas a grievous pity, for her adherence would have clinched the matter. They would have given Iskender anything on earth to secure the conversionof the daughter of the Orthodox priest. Appeased at length, she asked tosee the picture. It was a simple fancy of Iskender's, done in leisuremoments, of angels fighting devils in mid-air, with clouds like solidcushions spread to fall on. 

"Aye, that may pass, " she admitted grudgingly, "the fiends at all events, for they believe in them. "

In a dream, Iskender, at his mother's side, approached once more theMission on the sandhills, traversed the garden and the clean cool hall, and entered the reception-room with its soft carpets, polished chairs andtables, which had presented to his childish mind the life of palaces. There sat the ladies with their work-baskets, each in her special chair, exactly as of yore. There was the canary in its cage, and there was thedog in Hilda's lap as usual. The mother of George came forward and shookhands with him, then made him sit beside her and recount his doings. Conscious of independent standing, he was fearless and behaved withdignity; he even asked for news of the Emīr without confusion. The otherladies chatted kindly of his marriage, praising the beauty of the bride, whom they knew only by sight; even the Father of Ice shook hands withhim, and hoped with a smile that he was well and thriving. It surprisedhim much to see his mother making frequent reverence, to hear her askingpardon in his name. 

Having inquired for George and the rest of the children, each by name, and assured himself of their welfare, he conceived that he had saidenough, and wished to go. It was then that he made his offering, producing the little picture and placing it in the lady's hand withconscious pride. The effect was quite other than he had expected. Theladies Carūlīn and Jane turned from it with a pitying smile; Hildaremarked, "I prefer your earlier work;" the missionary indulged in a curtlaugh; while the mother of George herself, the blest recipient, was dumb, till, seeing trouble in Iskender's eyes, she forced a smile and exclaimed:

"A curious picture! I shall certainly preserve it among my treasures. "

Outside the house again, his mother punched Iskender in the back and spatat him, calling him fool and marplot, cursing all his ancestry. 

"Hast thou no sense, no perspicacity? When all went well, what need toshow thy picture? Why bring a picture that had angels in it? I saw themshudder and go yellow at the sight of those white, holy ones. Couldstthou not paint a picture all of devils, or else of things withoutreligious meaning? And what possessed thee to inquire concerning thehealth of that bad Emīr, who spurned the love of the Sitt Hilda? Thouknewest nothing of the story? Say that again, unblushing liar!--when Imyself informed thee on our way up thither. Merciful Allah! So thouheardest nothing; thy wits went wandering off, as always, to thypainting, or the pleasures of thy bride; and, for the lack of a littleattention, mere politeness, the hopes of our house lie ruined. Naturallypoor Hilda thought thy question was designed to taunt her. I saw how redshe went, though thou didst not. But for that she would certainly havepraised thy picture. Now she hates thee. Well, no doubt it is fromAllah! But none the less it is hard for me to bear, with the wife ofCostantīn for ever dinning in my ear her son's achievements. And why, ifthou must be a painter, dost thou not go to Beyrūt, that greatfashionable city, superior to any in Europe, where folks have taste, andthou couldst make a fortune by thy art? Thy bride could help thee in theworld of fashion, for her father is well known and has rich friends amongthe Orthodox. But where is the use in talking to a man like thee? Thouhast no spirit, no ambition. "

Iskender did not argue. His mother's note of angry lamentation, instrange accordance with his feelings at that moment, condoned thesharpness of her words, which hardly reached him. The failure of themissionaries to see the merit in his work showed ignorance, but was theirown affair; the omission to say "thank you" for his gift was downrightrudeness. Their open contempt of his little masterpiece rankled hot inhis mind. He vowed before Allah never again to seek to please a Frankand risk such insult. Henceforth he would cleanse his mouth whenever heso much as passed in the street near one of that accursed race. 

With pride he called himself a Nazarene, a native Christian of the land, preferring the insolent domination of the Muslim, his blood-relative, tothe arrogance of so-called Christian strangers. 

Returning home, he told Nesībeh of his determination to start nextmorning early for the Holy City. His bride was glad, for she had fearedmuch from his visit to the missionaries, and longed to remove him farfrom their hellish wiles. 

CHAPTER XXXII

Two years later, when Allah had given him a male child by Nesībeh, Iskender visited his wife's father in the spring-time. He arrived onfoot leading the donkey, on which his wife sat with the baby in herarms. An excited group stood out beneath the ilex-tree. They shouted"Praise to Allah!" The mother of Iskender ran and seized the baby, androcking it in her arms, poured forth her hoard of tidings. Asad ebnCostantīn was married--had Iskender heard?--to a great lady of theEnglish, a virgin strictly guarded, the only child of rich and honouredparents. Ah, the cunning devil! The people there at the Mission werefurious, he might believe; the more so that Asad was bringing his brideto visit them as an equal--he, the son of Costantīn, who fetched thewater! Ah, they were well repaid for their treatment of Iskender; andthey knew it!

But Mītri broke in, crying:

"Hast thou brought the picture?"

"Be sure I have!" replied Iskender cheerfully. Opening one of thesaddlebags he produced it, wrapped in a linen cloth, which he removed. A howl of delight went up from all the company. 

"Ma sh' Allah! It is Mar Jiryis himself!" "May we be helped throughhim!" "Now our church will wear a richer and more modish look!"exclaimed one and another. 

It was indeed the crowning triumph of his art, which Iskender broughtas an offering to the little church of St. George beneath the oak-tree, which he regarded as the fountain of Heaven's favours towards him. Forthe form and posture of the saint he had gone to one of those grandEnglish newspapers which the Emīr had given to him years ago. He hadtaken thence the likeness of a mounted officer slashing downward withhis sabre, while his charger, dragged back on its haunches, pawed theair convulsively. A uniform of gold embellished this equestrianfigure, which was framed in coils of Dragon, green and black; while theDragon, in its turn, was framed in a fine decorative gush of blood, pure scarlet, which swirled and eddied round the combatants, springingvisibly from the monster's many wounds. 

"It is a feast for the eyes!" cried Mītri, when he had gazed his fill. There were tears on his cheeks as he turned and kissed Iskender. "Thesaint will be pleased, in sh' Allah! To-night it shall honour myhouse. To-morrow we will carry it in procession seven times round thechurch before we enter. It is all arranged. Khalīl will be there withhis music, which is lawful anywhere except in church. In sh' Allah, wewill have a ceremony such as has not been seen in this place for many ayear. I have spoken to the caimmacām and to the learned at the Mosqueabout it; and they say we may do what we like among ourselves, but mustdesist if any Muslim passing by should make objection. To-morrow ishigh festival with us!"

Accordingly, next morning, there was concourse at the house of theOrthodox priest. Within, upon a kind of altar, the picture wasdisplayed with tapers burning. Each new arrival paid respect to it. Abdullah, who had strayed in aimless with the crowd, stood fixed beforeit as if petrified, in horror of the dragon's hideous face. Then, witha fervent "God protect us all!" the spell was broken and he hurried out. 

"A miracle!" cried Mītri joyously. "Our picture has already scared asinner. "

Some one in the room inquired tremulously whether dragons such as thatportrayed were still to be found in the world?

"No, praise be to Allah!" replied Mītri. All laughed at the simplicityof the questioner, except Elias, who solemnly averred that suchexisted, that he himself had seen one crunching a poor one-eyed blackman in its cruel jaws. 

"He has seen a crocodile, perhaps, in Masr, " Yuhanna laughinglysuggested, with a hand on the shoulder of the visionary. But Eliasprotested vehemently, swearing by Allah that he knew a crocodile whenhe saw one. The monster in dispute had been no crocodile, as witnessits possession of two wings, like the wings of a bat, only fifty timeslarger, and a voice which could be heard for many miles. There was oneblessing, however, about all such creatures; that they had power onlyover unbaptized people. This last touch pleased the majority of hisaudience, causing them to praise Allah, and inclining them to acceptthe truth of the whole story on religious grounds. Elias was preparingto support it with some cognate marvel, when Mītri announced that theprocession was being formed. At the same moment, a few prelusory notesof the concertina were heard without. The house soon emptied. 

Out in the heavy sunlight, hens fled clucking from the sudden tumult, pigeons circled overhead and cooed distractedly, children were drivingdogs away with stones and curses. Khalīl, the musician, stood to leadthe way, making his concertina speak occasionally as a protest againstfurther waiting. Iskender was to follow next to him as donor of thehonoured picture; then the males of the congregation by twos andthrees, many of them carrying lighted tapers; and, last of all, thepriest fully robed, bearing the sacred picture at his breast. Groupsof white-veiled women, mere spectators, waited in the shadow of thehovels, or beneath the oak-tree. 

"Play that tune that thou didst play at our wedding, O Khalīl, " criedNesībeh to the musician, who was chafing for the start. 

"Which tune may that be of all tunes, O lady? I played you all I knewon that most blessed day!" Khalīl was very grave and ceremonious, thisbeing the greatest hour of all his life. "Is it this?" He broke into"God save the Queen. "

"No, no; it goes like this!" Nesībeh strove to shadow forth theFrankish air. Do what she would, she could not keep from smiling, forpleasure in her husband's great success. 

"Ah, yes, I know thy meaning now. That is a tune indeed--a tune ofplayful triumph without arrogance, well suited to the occasion. It wastaught to me by an English mariner in Būr' Saļd, and is entitled 'Bobgūs the wīssal. '"

"Play it, O Khalīl! Play it all the time; for it is merry and it makesus laugh!" cried Nesībeh, clapping her hands. 

"Ready!" cried Mītri from the house; and Khalīl stepped out withtriumph, flourishing his concertina, flinging its strains out far andwide; his head, his whole body carried this way and that with theviolence of his exertions. Elias and other excitables cut strangecapers or embraced each other. The more serious rendered praise toAllah; the women looking on gave forth their joy-cries; and Mītri, bringing up the rear of the procession, smiled a blessing on theirenthusiasm over the picture held against his breast. They hadcompassed the church five times to the tune of "Pop goes the Weasel, "and were coming round again when a carriage which they had not heardapproaching drew up beneath the ilex-tree. Its occupants were aFrankish clergyman dressed in black, and a lady dressed in white with awhite sunshade. They watched the procession curiously with pityingsmiles. Iskender from a distance was struck by the clergyman'scomplexion, which seemed darker than is usual among Europeans; thenwhen he passed the front of the church and got close view of him, hesaw that it was Asad son of Costantīn. In a flash he remembered thingshe had forgotten, recalled a standpoint that had once seemed alldesirable. He perceived how ludicrous this joyful marching round mustseem to English eyes; and for a moment felt ashamed for himself and hisfriends. But the next minute, having turned the corner of the church, he met his young wife's smile, and grew once more exultant. The ladyin the carriage beside Asad was very ugly, and no longer young. Proudly he followed the musician round again, and, once more abreast ofthe carriage, returned the contemptuous smile of the son of Costantīn. And then the music ceased, as the procession passed into the darknessof the little church.