re
seated, the Count of Monte-Cristo occupying the place of honor. The
colonist, at the urgent solicitation of those with whom he had so
strangely been brought in contact, was about to relate the story of his
life, when suddenly Monte-Cristo's quick ear caught a sound.

"What was that?" he said in a startled whisper, instantly springing to
his feet.

"I heard nothing," said Fanfar.

"It was, perhaps, the cry of some wild beast," suggested Captain
Joliette.

Monte-Cristo hastened to his son's apartment, followed by Fanfar,
Captain Joliette and Coucon, the Zouave.

The boy was still sleeping soundly, and the apartment was altogether
undisturbed.

Monte-Cristo uttered a sigh of relief; he bent over the beautiful child
and gently kissed him on the forehead.

The party returned to the adjoining room and resumed their seats.
Scarcely had they done so when a dark form, shrouded in a green
bournous, appeared stealthily at the open window of Esperance's
chamber, and, gazing furtively around, lightly sprang into the room.

"Dog of a Frenchman!" hissed the intruder in a low tone between his
teeth. "When you flung me over the battlements of Ouargla, you fancied
you had killed me; but Maldar bears a charmed life and will have a
bitter revenge!"

The intruder was indeed Maldar, the Sultan, who by some miracle had
escaped Monte-Cristo's vengeance.

As he spoke he shook his fist in the direction of the Count, who was
sitting at the table with the rest of Fanfar's guests, though his sombre
air and clouded brow told that, while preserving his outward calmness,
he yet suspected the presence of a deadly foe.

Maldar had removed his sandals, and his footsteps were noiseless. He
went to the bed and stood for an instant gloating over the slumbering
boy.

"I failed before, but I shall not fail again. Allah is great! I will
strike this giaour of a Frenchman in his tenderest spot--his heart! The
son shall pay the father's debt!"

Half-crouching and gathering his green bournous closely about him, he
crept cautiously back to the window and made the sign of the crescent in
the air. There was a slight flash, a pale phosphorescent glow, and in
the midst of it the emblem of Islam appeared for an instant like a
semi-circle of fire and then vanished.

Immediately a Khouan showed himself at the window; he leaped into the
apartment, followed by three others of his fanatical and pitiless tribe.
The new-comers instantly knelt at Maldar's