rtainly not, sheik. He is prepared and ready to go, and he is looking
forward to his stay with you with so much pleasure that even did I wish
it I could not now deprive him of the enjoyment of it. Still, I am
heartily glad that the two fellows have been expelled the town, for I
should never have felt easy as to Edgar's safety so long as they were
here."

A few minutes later the party set out. Edgar's valise was fastened to
the saddle of one of the sheik's followers. The road ran along the sandy
dunes that divided the low country, formerly covered by Lake Mareotis,
from the sea, and as soon as they were well out from the town the horses
were broke into a gallop. While in point of actual speed even the best
Arab horses cannot hold their own against a moderate English race-horse,
whose greater height and longer stride gives him an advantage, they are
greatly superior in last, and possess extraordinary endurance and
stamina. Brought up as if belonging to the family of their owners, their
intelligence has been cultivated as has that of dogs. They are
exceedingly docile and affectionate. Their pace is a very easy one, and
Edgar was delighted indeed at the manner in which his new acquisition
flew along without any apparent exertion, continuing the pace without a
check until they reached the Arab encampment in an hour and twenty
minutes from leaving Alexandria.

Here they leapt from their horses in front of a group of black tents.
The oasis was of small extent, extending but two hundred yards across.
In the centre was a group of thirty or forty palm-trees. Near these the
herbage was thick, gradually dwindling away until it became lost in the
sand. In the centre, near the tents, was a well, an irregularly-shaped
pit some five-and-twenty feet deep, with a rough path down to it by
which the women went to get water both for their own use and for that of
the horses. A score of these were tethered on the grass.

"You are welcome to our tents," the sheik said; "may your visit be a
fortunate one! Mulick," he called to one of the Arab boys, "take Beauty;
but first," he went on to Edgar, "it were best that you talked to him a
little, and gave him some sweets. He will soon get to love you, and it
is well that he should hear your voice as often as possible."

"I will lead him out myself," Edgar replied, "and then Mulick can tether
him. I shall know another time how to do it myself."

Then he patted the Arab's glossy neck, rubbed its ea