h an oath the man sprang
at him. His eyes, however, were full of tears, his ears sung, and his
head buzzed, partly from the blow on the jaw, partly from the force with
which he had come in contact with the ground. Edward lightly sprung
aside and avoided the cut aimed at him, and then delivered a blow with
all his force just in front of the ear, and the man dropped again as if
shot. In a moment Edgar had wrenched the knife from his hand, then he
turned to the young Arab.

"That is enough," he said; "they have both got more than they wanted;
they are harmless now, we have their two knives."

The Arab, who was panting from his exertions, and who had evidently
restrained himself with difficulty from plunging his knife into his
fallen assailant, turned round towards him.

"Who are you, brother, whose blows fell men like strokes of lightning?"

"My name is Edgar Blagrove. I am the son of a merchant, whose place of
business is in the great square. Who are you, and how did this business
begin?"

"My name is Sidi Ben Ouafy. I am the son of a chief. My father's tribe
live in the oasis ten miles east of the old lake. I was riding from the
town when these two men, for whom there was, as you see, plenty of room
in the road, staggered suddenly against me, whether with evil intent or
merely to enjoy the pleasure of seeing me rolling in the dust, I know
not. They nearly unseated me from the suddenness of the attack, and as I
recovered I certainly struck at them with my whip. One seized me by the
foot and threw me off my horse, and then, as you saw, they fell upon me,
beat me, and were dragging me to the fountain to throw me in when you
came up. Had they not heard your horse coming along they would, I
believe, have killed me. Henceforth you are my brother; my horses and
all that I have are yours, and every sword of our tribe would leap from
its scabbard in your defence were it needed. To-morrow I will ride in
again, and my father himself will assuredly come with me. I cannot speak
of my gratitude now, my head is still dizzy with the blows they gave me;
even yet I cannot understand how it was that these two men have thus
fallen before you, and you with no weapon in your hands. Are they dead?"

"Not they," Edgar said scornfully; "they are wondering what has happened
to them, and fear to move, not knowing that their own knives might not
be driven into their hearts did they venture to rise. Well, good-bye,
Sidi; I will see you off fir