and at his appearance in it. On the following day the
sheik, taking his son, Edgar, and two of his followers, left the caravan
and rode on to Cairo, leaving the others to travel by easy stages to
join the rest of the tribe.

"Doubtless we shall find many other sheiks assembled there," he said as
they rode along; "the government is sure to have sent orders already for
all the Bedouin tribes to hold themselves in readiness to gather there
to oppose the advance of the French. The levies of the city and the
neighbourhood will also be called out, not so much perhaps to fight as
to labour at the fortifications. That they will not ask of the Arabs,
for no Arab would work like a fellah. We will fight, but we will leave
it to the peasants to work. The Mamelukes will, however, in the first
place oppose the Franks. I love them not. They are the oppressors of
Egypt, but the lions of the desert are not more courageous. They are
proud of themselves, and believe themselves to be invincible. They will
not believe that the Franks can stand for a moment against them, and you
know that the night that the Franks landed, twenty Mamelukes rode out
against them, killed many, and brought in their heads in triumph. They
would not ask us to charge with them, but would deem it shame to ask for
aid in such an encounter, but they will be willing enough to accept our
help in cutting off the fugitives and in preventing others who may land
from spreading over the country."

"Then you still feel sure that the Mamelukes will defeat the French?"
Edgar said.

"If it be the will of Allah, my son. The Mamelukes are not like the
people who defended Alexandria; they are warriors. We Arabs are brave,
we do not fear death; but when, from time to time, a tribe refuses to
pay its annual tribute, and a band of Mamelukes is sent against them,
truly the sons of the desert cannot withstand them in combat, even when
much more numerous, and are either destroyed or forced to make their
submission. These men regard themselves not as simple soldiers; it is an
army of emirs. Each has his two or three slaves to wait upon him, to
groom his horse and polish his arms. Their dresses are superb; their
arms and trappings are encrusted with gold and gems. Each carries his
wealth on his person, and there are few who cannot show a hundred pieces
of gold, while many can exceed that by ten times. It is true that they
are the oppressors of the people, and that Egypt has been drained