ed on being sternly told to "be gone."

Meanwhile Rais Ali led his friend safely through the Bab-el-Oued gate,
and, turning his face in the right direction said--

"Now, you git 'ome, fast. Keep 'er steady--a point morer to the
westward--so, yoo can't go wrong."

Instead of obeying orders, Ted Flaggan turned, and, with an amused
smile, watched the retreating figure of the interpreter. Then, after
sauntering on some distance in a reverie, he stopped and gazed long and
earnestly at the pirate city, whose white-washed domes and minarets
gleamed in the sunshine like marble, contrasting beautifully with the
bright green of the Sahel hills behind, and the intense blue of the sky
and sea.

"A whited sepulchre!" muttered the seaman, with a frown, as he turned
away and pushed forward at a rapid pace towards the residence of the
British consul.

CHAPTER NINE.

DESCRIBES A MOORISH BRIDE, A WEDDING, AND A METAMORPHOSIS, BESIDES
INDICATING A PLOT.

On the following morning Mrs Langley set out on horseback for the
palace of the cadi, to attend the wedding of his daughter with Sidi
Omar, and, true to her promise, turned aside on the way to pay a visit
to the imprisoned bride of Rais Ali.

She was accompanied, of course, by the remarkable bridegroom himself,
and also by her husband's janissary, Sidi Hassan, as well as by her
daughter Agnes, who rode a spirited Arab pony.

Immediately on entering the gate of the city, Rais and the ladies
dismounted, and leaving their horses in charge of a groom, ascended on
foot one of the narrow streets of the town. So steep was this street
that it consisted of a flight of broad steps, which led ultimately to
the casba, or citadel, at the upper part of the town. But before they
had ascended it very far, the interpreter diverged into a cross street,
which was much narrower. It terminated in a _cul-de-sac_, at the bottom
of which stood the door of Rais Ali's town residence.

And a remarkable door it was, made of thick oaken planks, studded with
enormous nails, the heads of which were as large as a half-crown. Just
above it there was a square hole grated with thick iron bars, which
served to enlighten the gloomy passage within.

Applying the key before mentioned to this door, Rais threw it open and
bade the visitors enter.

Having carefully shut and re-locked the door, the interpreter led them
through a narrow passage, which terminated in the usual square court of
Moorish houses.