ing feet. One heard above all the call, "It has
come! It has come!"

The Sultan looked up quickly.

"Toomuch," he said eagerly and anxiously, "quick, see
what it is. Hurry! hurry! Haste! Do not stay on ceremony.
Drink a cup of coffee, give me five cents--fifty cents,
anything--and take leave and see what it is."

But before Toomuch could reply, a turbaned attendant had
already burst in through the door unannounced and thrown
himself at Abdul's feet.

"Master! Master!" he cried. "It is here. It has come."
As he spoke he held out in one hand a huge envelope,
heavy with seals. I could detect in great letters stamped
across it the words, WASHINGTON and OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
OF STATE.

Abdul seized and opened the envelope with trembling hands.

"It is it!" he cried. "It is sent by Smith Pasha, Minister
under the Peace of Heaven of the United States. It is
the Intervention. I am saved."

Then there was silence among us, breathless and anxious.

Abdul glanced down the missive, reading it in silence to
himself.

"Oh noble," he murmured. "Oh generous! It is too much.
Too splendid a lot!"

"What does it say?"

"Look," said the Sultan. "The United States has used its
good offices. It has intervened! All is settled. My fate
is secure."

"Yes, yes," I said, "but what is it?"

"Is it believable?" exclaimed Abdul. "It appears that
none of the belligerents cared about _me_ at all. None
had designs upon me. The war was _not_ made, as we
understood, Toomuch, as an attempt to seize my person.
All they wanted was Constantinople. Not _me_ at all!"

"Powerful Allah!" murmured Toomuch. "Why was it not so
said?"

"For me," said the Sultan, still consulting the letter,
"great honours are prepared! I am to leave Constantinople
--that is the sole condition. It shall then belong to
whoever can get it. Nothing could be fairer. It always
has. I am to have a safe conduct--is it not noble?--to
the United States. No one is to attempt to poison me--is
it not generosity itself?--neither on land nor even--mark
this especially, Toomuch--on board ship. Nor is anyone
to throw me overboard or otherwise transport me to
paradise."

"It passes belief!" murmured Toomuch Koffi. "Allah is
indeed good."

"In the United States itself," went on Abdul, "or, I
should say, themselves, Toomuch, for are they not
innumerable? I am to have a position of the highest trust,
power and responsibility."

"Is it really possible?" I said, greatly