h all his force, and set to work to regain
the mastery over the excited beast.

For the next five minutes the latter darted here and there, seeming to
grow more and more infuriated as it found its efforts vain, for it was
bitted with a powerful curb, the sharp use of which checked it again and
again, till finding its rider ready to meet it at every turn, it gave up
the struggle as quickly as it had begun, settled down at once into a
gentle amble in the extreme corner of the court, into which it had
dashed, scattering half a dozen camels and looking as if it intended to
attempt to leap a low tent and gain its liberty there.

The next minute Frank was riding quietly back, hot and flushed, but
mentally composed, listening to a loud outburst of admiration as he
passed group after group of the Emir's horsemen, men who had, to use a
common term, been almost born in the saddle.

As Frank reined up close to where the Sheikh and the Emir were standing,
he saw that the old man's face looked strangely mottled; but he had no
chance of giving him an encouraging look, for the Emir advanced
smilingly, and patted and made much of the Arab, turning directly to
speak to Ibrahim.

"Tell the Hakim's friend," he said, "that he is mounted upon a horse as
full of speed as the wind, and that he rides it as a brave man should."

The words were interpreted, and Frank replied to them with a calm
bending of his body, turning directly after to where his brother stood
holding the chief's horse, and finding that he could dare to look at him
without being attacked by that horrible sense of emotion.

The chief then gave a haughty command or two, and the horse was led
close up to Ibrahim's camel, where it stood as if it were some beautiful
piece of statuary, while its bit and bridle were removed and the present
quickly adjusted to its head, Harry Frere taking up a hole or two here
and there till a perfect adaptation was made, when as if proud of its
new finery the noble charger tossed up its head, making the scarlet
hanging plume float about in the glowing air, and then stood motionless
with head erect. Once more there was a loud outburst from the chief's
assembled followers, and he stood looking as proud as the horse. Then
he walked round it, giving it a caress or two, and finally signed to his
slave to lead it nearer to Frank, whose heart once more began to beat
hard as his brother obeyed, and the next minute stood so near that he
could have l