ll things, for
eating and for drinking, also for prayers. There is, also, a season to
ask questions. Why is the brother of the Queen of the English in the
Syrian desert?'

'There is much to tell, and much to inquire,' said Tancred; 'but before
I speak of myself, let me know whether you can get me tidings of Eva,
the daughter of Besso.'

'Is she not living in rooms with many divans?' said Amalek.

'Alas!' said Tancred, 'she was a prisoner, and is now a fugitive.'

'What children of Gin have done this deed? Are there strange camels
drinking at my wells? Is it some accursed Kurd that has stolen her
sheep; or some Turkman, blacker than night, that has hankered after her
bracelets?'

'Nothing of all this, yet more than all this. All shall be told to you,
great Sheikh, yet before I speak, tell me again, can you get me tidings
of Eva, the daughter of Besso?'

'Can I fire an arrow that will hit its mark?' said Amalek; 'tell me the
city of Syria where Eva the daughter of Besso may be found, and I will
send her a messenger that would reach her even in the bath, were she
there.'

Tancred then gave the great Sheikh a rapid sketch of what had occurred
to Eva, and expressed his fear that she might have been intercepted
by the Turkish troops. Amalek decided that she must be at Aleppo, and,
instantly summoning one of his principal men, he gave instructions for
the departure of a trusty scout in that direction.

'Ere the tenth day shall have elapsed,' said the great Sheikh, 'we
shall have sure tidings. And now let me know, prince of England, by
what strange cause you could have found yourself in the regions of those
children of hell, the Ansarey, who, it is well known, worship Eblis in
every obscene form.'

'It is a long tale,' said Tancred, 'but I suppose it must be told; but
now that you have relieved my mind by sending to Aleppo, I can hardly
forget that I have ridden for more than three days, and with little
pause. I am not, alas! a true Arab, though I love Arabia and Arabian
thoughts; and, indeed, my dear friend, had we not met again, it is
impossible to say what might have been my lot, for I now feel that I
could not have much longer undergone the sleepless toil I have of late
encountered. If Eva be safe, I am content, or would wish to feel so;
but what is content, and what is life, and what is man? Indeed, great
Sheikh, the longer I live and the more I think----' and here the
chibouque dropped gently from Tancred's mo