t exorbitant prices, dirty donkey boys with their wretched "mokes"
looking even more starved and miserable than their owners. The
dresses were of many kinds, and in a great variety of colours, from
a dingy white to a bright scarlet. Close-fitting gowns and tunics,
long, highly-coloured flowing robes, turbans, or semi-European
clothing, with the usual Turkish fez, were scattered about in great
profusion, and Helmar was glad to jostle his way through them to
rest his eyes from the dazzling mixture. The many different tongues
that caught his ear, as he made his way through the crowd, confused
him terribly. Greek, Italian, French, English, Arabic, Turkish, and
Persian, all shouting at once, as it seemed to him, jarred on his
nerves, and he wondered if this pandemonium went on all over the
town.

Making his way from the docks, he wandered about from place to place
in search of quarters.

Failing to find what he wanted, he looked about for some
likely-looking Europeans to whom he could appeal for guidance. He
was chary of his countrymen abroad, and it was some time before he
came across the man he desired.

He was recommended to a certain Greek's house, and, after what
seemed an interminable day, he found to his satisfaction that here
he could make himself more or less comfortable.

The next morning he set about finding work of some sort. He wandered
about from street to street, gradually becoming more and more keenly
interested in all he saw. First the inhabitants, then the buildings,
attracted his attention. He watched the movements of the picturesque
Egyptians, and was so taken with what he saw that, unconsciously, he
found himself following them. This brought him again into the lower
quarters of the town. The streets in this neighbourhood, whatever
their redeeming charm, were certainly not to be recommended from any
hygienic point of view, the smell being so bad that he quickly lost
his interest in the wily native and hurriedly retraced his steps.
Reaching the great square, the "Place des Consuls," with its
masterful statue in the centre, he realized that the day was wearing
on, and, instead of looking for work, he had been "doing" the city
as a sightseer.

"This will not do," he thought. "I cannot spend the whole day
without result, my cash will soon give out. Cairo seems to my mind
to be the place I want, this is too near the sea. Ah, yes, Cairo,
Cairo!" he went on aloud, "that surely would suit my purpose
bette