sh, in a lower tone, and looking very
inquiringly.

'I do,' said Baroni.

'And what do you mean by one?' said Darkush.

'That is exactly the secret which I never could penetrate.'

'I cannot give a pass to the mountains,' said Darkush, 'but the sympathy
of friends is a river flowing in a fair garden. If this prince, whose
words and thoughts are dark, should indeed be one---- Could I see him,
Effendi?'

'It is a subject on which I dare not speak to him,' said Baroni. 'I
hinted at his coming here: his brow was the brow of Eblis, his eye
flashed like the red lightning of the Kamsin: it is impossible! What
cannot be done, cannot be done. He must return to the land of his
fathers, unseen by your Queen, of whom he is perhaps a brother; he will
live, hating alike Moslem and Christian, but he will banish me for ever
to islands of many demons.'

'The Queen shall know of these strange things,' said Darkush, 'and we
will wait for her words.'

'Wait for the Mecca caravan!' exclaimed Baroni. 'You know not the child
of storms, who is my master, and that is ever a reason why I think
he must be one of you. For had he been softened by Christianity or
civilised by the Koran----'

'Unripe figs for your Christianity and your Koran!' exclaimed Darkush.
'Do you know what we think of your Christianity and your Koran?'

'No,' said Baroni, quietly. 'Tell me.'

'You will learn in our mountains,' said Darkush.

'Then you mean to let me go there?'

'If the Queen permit you,' said Darkush.

'It is three hundred miles to your country, if it be an hour's journey,'
said Baroni. 'What with sending the message and receiving the answer, to
say nothing of the delays which must occur with a woman and a queen in
the case, the fountains of Esh Sham will have run dry before we hear
that our advance is forbidden.'

Darkush shook his head, and yet smiled.

'By the sunset of to-morrow, Effendi, I could say, ay or nay. Tell me
what scammony you want, and it shall be done.'

'Write down in your tablets how much you can let me have,' said Baroni,
'and I will pay you for it to-morrow. As for the goods themselves, you
may keep them for me, until I ask you for them; perhaps the next time I
travel with a capitani who is one of yourselves.'

Darkush threw aside the tube of his nargileh, and, putting his hand very
gently into the breast of his robe, he drew out a pigeon, dove-coloured,
but with large bright black eyes. The pigeon seemed very knowing