me is a compact with England, and it shall be kept, if thou art an
honest man. Thou mayst find thousands in Egypt who will serve thee at
any price, and bear thee in any mood. I have but one price. It is well
known to thee. I will not be the target for thy black temper. This is
not the middle ages; I am an Englishman, not a helot. The bond must
be kept; thou shalt not play fast and loose. Money must be found; the
expedition must go. But if thy purpose is now Harrik's purpose, then
Europe should know, and Egypt also should know. I have been thy right
hand, Effendina; I will not be thy old shoe, to be cast aside at thy
will."

In all the days of his life David had never flamed out as he did now.
Passionate as his words were, his manner was strangely quiet, but his
white and glistening face and his burning eyes showed how deep was his
anger.

As he spoke, Kaid sank upon the divan. Never had he been challenged so.
With his own people he had ever been used to cringing and abasement, and
he had played the tyrant, and struck hard and cruelly, and he had
been feared; but here, behind David's courteous attitude, there was a
scathing arraignment of his conduct which took no count of consequence.
In other circumstances his vanity would have shrunk under this whip of
words, but his native reason and his quick humour would have justified
David. In this black distemper possessing him, however, only outraged
egotism prevailed. His hands clenched and unclenched, his lips were
drawn back on his teeth in rage.

When David had finished, Kaid suddenly got to his feet and took a step
forward with a malediction, but a faintness seized him and he staggered
back. When he raised his head again David was gone.

CHAPTER XXX. LACEY MOVES

If there was one glistening bead of sweat on the bald pate of Lacey of
Chicago there were a thousand; and the smile on his face was not less
shining and unlimited. He burst into the rooms of the palace where David
had residence, calling: "Oyez! Oyez! Saadat! Oh, Pasha of the Thousand
Tails! Oyez! Oyez!"

Getting no answer, he began to perform a dance round the room, which in
modern days is known as the negro cake-walk. It was not dignified, but
it would have been less dignified still performed by any other living
man of forty-five with a bald head and a waist-band ten inches too
large. Round the room three times he went, and then he dropped on a
divan. He gasped, and mopped his face and forehead, lea