re rather past
that kind of thing."

"Indeed," replied the Captain, colouring again after his fashion. "Well,
to tell you the truth, I feel a bit past it myself, and, so far as I
am concerned, I don't think we need take the fascinations of this black
lady into account."

"Don't brag, Captain. Please don't brag," said Sergeant Quick in a
hollow whisper. "Woman is just the one thing about which you can never
be sure. To-day she's poison, and to-morrow honey--God and the climate
alone know why. Please don't brag, or we may live to see you crawling
after this one on your knees, with the gent in the specs behind, and
Samuel Quick, who hates the whole tribe of them, bringing up the rear.
Tempt Providence, if you like, Captain, but don't tempt woman, lest she
should turn round and tempt you, as she has done before to-day."

"Will you be so good as to stop talking nonsense and call a cab," said
Captain Orme coldly. But Higgs began to laugh in his rude fashion, and
I, remembering the appearance of "Bud of the Rose" when she lifted
her veil of ceremony, and the soft earnestness of her voice, fell into
reflection. "Black lady" indeed! What, I wondered, would this young
gentleman think if ever he should live to set his eyes upon her sweet
and comely face?

It seemed to me that Sergeant Quick was not so foolish as his master
chose to imagine. Captain Orme undoubtedly was in every way qualified to
be a partner in our venture; still, I could have wished either that
he had been an older man, or that the lady to whom he was recently
affianced had not chosen this occasion to break her engagement. In
dealing with difficult and dangerous combinations, my experience has
been that it is always well to eliminate the possibility of a love
affair, especially in the East.

CHAPTER III

THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING

Of all our tremendous journey across the desert until we had passed the
forest and reached the plains which surrounded the mountains of Mur,
there are, I think, but few incidents with which the reader need be
troubled. The first of these was at Assouan, where a letter and various
telegrams overtook Captain Orme, which, as by this time we had become
intimate, he showed to me. They informed him that the clandestine infant
whom his uncle left behind him had suddenly sickened and died of some
childish ailment, so that he was once again heir to the large property
which he thought he had lost, since the widow only took a lif