Iskender murmured his thanks, standing reverently, with hands folded away and eyes downcast. Then, when Selim had gone back to his dressing, he crossed his legs upon the pavement of the hall and mused on his good fortune, praising Allah.

Elias came into the hall and greeted him.

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

"Iskender is a convert, O Elias. He returns to the bosom of the Church. 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 bless thee! Allah knows I always loved the soul of thee, though the Brutestant 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 of Musa. "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 Emir descends! Ah, I a.s.sure thee by the Holy Gospel, I have news for both of you."

The Frank stayed only long enough for salutations, then pa.s.sed again from 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 Emir gave audience.

"Ah, I a.s.sure thee, news of price!" he repeated, hugging himself, with big round eyes of mystery.

CHAPTER XIV

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

In the watches of the night Elias had remembered how years ago a muleteer, by name Mansur, had brought a piece of gold to show him secretly. This man had been upon a journey to the Wady Musa with some English gentlemen of the kind who seek adventure in wild places. Out in the desert, far away from any house, he had the misfortune to be separated from his company, and wandered alone for three days in vain attempts to rejoin them. At dusk one evening he found himself in a wild ravine, its cliff-walls honeycombed with caves, in one of which he chose to pa.s.s the night. No sooner had he lain down than he imagined that he heard unearthly music; but by dint of repeating the name of Allah the trouble left him, and he went to sleep.

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

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

In the morning, when Mansur arose and went to the cave-mouth, he saw that the bottom of the ravine was strewn with lumps of gold. In delight he ran and gathered of the stuff as much as his bags would hold, and then set forth. But he had forgotten to give thanks to Allah for the burden; and in consequence of the omission it was not made light to him. For relief he was forced to thrust a hand into his placket, to pull out lump after lump and drop it on the road, till there remained but one piece, small as compared with the rest, but still 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 to some man renowned for probity and wisdom. He brought it, therefore, to Elias, 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 well for virtue as for craftsmanship; and Mansur did so. The jeweller asked Mansur to leave it with him for a day or two, that he might apply certain tests, and when asked for a receipt, appeared so hurt, called so loudly upon Allah and the neighbourhood to attest his honesty, and in all respects bore himself so n.o.bly, that Mansur retired convinced that he had left his treasure in clean hands.

But when he returned after two days, that jeweller informed him that it was not gold. Mansur then asked for it to be returned, saying that if it were only bra.s.s it would be worth preserving. The merchant replied that he had thrown it away, and told the muleteer to go and hunt for it upon the rubbish-heaps outside the city gate. Mansur then called him thief. The jeweller cried "Ya Muslimin!" and roused the neighbours, who fell upon Mansur, and beat him soundly, leaving him for dead. But before he lost consciousness he heard the jeweller exhorting the mult.i.tude not to spare him, for that he had stolen a lump of fine gold from the Sultan's treasury.

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

"A truly wonderful story," rejoined the Emir.

Their walk had ended on the sea-beach, where they now, all three, lay stretched upon the sand. The Emir, with his straw hat tipped over his eyes, threw a stone from time to time into the azure ripples, as dark in contrast with their foam as ink on paper. There was a moment's silence. 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 Emir in the same tone. He added aloud for Elias, who was staring fixedly out on the sea, still entranced by the vision he had just related:

"If the place is guarded by nothing more terrible than your genis, I should 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 exorcist formula beneath his breath. "The Bedouins they're more real to be afraid of. But neffer say die; you square them easy with a few dollars. 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. Trust Elias, sir, he knows his way about!"

"Well," said the Emir after a little meditation, "I feel inclined for the 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 of their owner's haste to begin calculations, were scattered on the sand.

As there was no wind, Elias let them lie there for the present, and holding the pocket-book close to his nose, fell to dotting down Arabic numerals on the tablet allotted to memoranda.

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

"This was gif me by one American gentleman," Elias remarked of the pocket-book. "Well, come along then! You take camels or mules?

Camels hold the most, but mules much nicer. We say fifty mules. Then you want a cook, and a waiter, and 'bout ten muleteers, and five--six big tents. I think you do it easy, grub an' all, sir, for 'bout five hundred bound."

"Good Lord!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the Emir.

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

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

"What do we want with fifty mules, O a.s.s?" he asked in Arabic. "One mule would carry enough to make us all as rich as Musa el Barudi."

"By Allah, thou art an a.s.s thyself! Is it not well to bring away the most we can," returned the visionary, sore dismayed; when, seeing how their talk apart made the Frank suspicious, he relapsed into English with a genial smile:

"Yes, fifty too dam' many; we take ten. A friend of mine got three nice 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. How far you say it is?" He turned to Iskender. "You know the way."

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

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

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

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

But Iskender, seeing the opportunity for self-a.s.sertion, stood by the Frank, undertaking recklessly to arrange the whole expedition, on a smaller scale, for the sum stipulated.

Elias shrugged to the ears.

"Be careful to keep this secret," he said sullenly in Arabic. "By Allah, if the others, who dislike thee already, get to know of it, they will 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 the country, and out of season, it might pa.s.s. But this is a lord of wealth, a prince, the best sort of traveller!"