d, "and that without
the slightest risk to myself." Then changing the subject, he went on, "I
thought that you would wish to come."

"Certainly I should," she said. "My place is by his side. And is Sidi
well also? And you--Ali said that you also were wounded?"

"Mine was a trifling business," he said, "and Sidi's not much worse. We
both suffered from loss of blood, which perhaps is a good thing, as we
have had no fever, and though our wounds are somewhat sore, we have
almost ceased to think of them. There, I can see by the light that the
fire is burning up inside. Now we will go in. Keep a little way behind
me; it would startle him were you to go in suddenly."

He walked into the tomb.

"Sheik," he said, "here is a friend come to see you."

"A friend!" the sheik repeated in surprise. "Who is it?"

"She has ridden all the way from the oasis, sheik. I was sure she would
come. She is your wife!" and Ayala ran forward and threw herself upon
her knees by the side of the sheik. Edgar went out with Hassan, and left
them and Sidi together.

Ayala now took the entire charge of the sheik. Edgar went down
frequently to one or other of the villages on the river bank, partly for
change and exercise, partly to learn what he was doing at Cairo. He
heard that, under the direction of French engineers, the greater portion
of the population of Cairo were employed in building forts on elevated
positions round the town, where the guns would completely dominate the
city, that it was said that the Sultan had declared war with France, and
that an army from Syria had advanced and had established itself at a
fort in the desert half-way between the frontier of Syria and Egypt.

"I made sure," he said, after talking the news over with the shiek and
Sidi, "that the Sultan would be driven to declare war against the
French. It would have been impossible for him to have allowed the French
permanently to establish themselves as masters of his province of Egypt.
Even if he himself had been willing to suffer it, the whole Moslem
population would have risen against him. No doubt the news of the
destruction of the French fleet decided him to take this step. Now that
no more reinforcements can reach them here, he may well consider that
his army is capable of annihilating them. The Turks are good
soldiers--that is to say, they have always shown themselves capable of
fighting desperately when well led.

"Unfortunately, that is not likely to be the c