came the voices of the monks:

"O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with
gladness, and come before His presence with a song."

CHAPTER XXXIII. THE DARK INDENTURE

Nahoum had forgotten one very important thing: that what affected David
as a Christian in Egypt would tell equally against himself. If, in his
ill-health and dejection, Kaid drank deep of the cup of Mahomet, the
red eyes of fanaticism would be turned upon the Armenian, as upon the
European Christian. He had forgotten it for the moment, but when, coming
into Kaid's Palace, a little knot of loiterers spat upon the ground and
snarled, "Infidel--Nazarene!" with contempt and hatred, the significance
of the position came home to him. He made his way to a far quarter of
the Palace, thoughtfully weighing the circumstances, and was met by
Mizraim.

Mizraim salaamed. "The height of thy renown be as the cedar of Lebanon,
Excellency."

"May thy feet tread the corn of everlasting fortune, son of Mahomet."

They entered the room together. Nahoum looked at Mizraim curiously. He
was not satisfied with what he saw. Mizraim's impassive face had little
expression, but the eyes were furtively eager and sinister.

"Well, so it is, and if it is, what then?" asked Nahoum coolly.

"Ki di, so it is," answered Mizraim, and a ghastly smile came to his
lips. This infidel pasha, Nahoum, had a mind that pierced to the meaning
of words ere they were spoken. Mizraim's hand touched his forehead,
his breast, his lips, and, clasping and unclasping his long, snakelike
fingers, he began the story he had come to tell.

"The Inglesi, whom Allah confound, the Effendina hath blackened by a
look, his words have smitten him in the vital parts--"

"Mizraim, thou dove, speak to the purpose!" Mizraim showed a dark
pleasure at the interruption. Nahoum was impatient, anxious; that made
the tale better worth telling.

"Sharif and the discontented ones who dare not act, like the vultures,
they flee the living man, but swoop upon the corpse. The consuls of
those countries who love not England or Claridge Pasha, and the holy
men, and the Cadi, all scatter smouldering fires. There is a spirit in
the Palace and beyond which is blowing fast to a great flame."

"Then, so it is, great one, and what bodes it?"

"It may kill the Inglesi; but it will also sweep thee from the fields of
life where thou dost flourish."

"It is not against the foreigner, but against the Christi