wrence eagerly.

"When you have been lying up for a month," replied Mr Burne gruffly.
"You are too weak, and going back too much to venture out any more."

"Till you have had a good breakfast," said the professor, laughing as he
saw the lad's look of keen disappointment; and they sat down at once to
a capital meal.

For they had been a week in Ansina, and were comfortably lodged in the
house of a Turk whom Yussuf had recommended, and who, in a grave way,
attended carefully to their wants. The luggage sent on by steamer had
arrived safely, and, with the exception of the few things lost in the
felucca, they were very little the worse for their mishap.

So far they had been delayed by the difficulty of obtaining horses, but
now the opportunity had come for obtaining what was necessary, walking
being out of the question, and the only means of traversing the rugged
country, that was to be the scene of their ramblings, was by the help of
a sure-footed horse.

Lawrence forgot all about his weakness as soon as breakfast was over,
and started off with his companions to see the animals that were for
sale.

They were at an outlying place a couple of miles away from their
lodgings, and the walk in the delicious autumn air was most enjoyable.
In the distance was the mysterious soft blue range of mountains that
they were to penetrate for some six weeks, before the season grew too
advanced, and to Lawrence it was a perfect wonderland that was to prove
full of sights that would astound, adventures that would thrill; and,
could he have had his way, he would have set off at once, and without
all the tedious preparations that Yussuf deemed necessary.

The first mile of their way was uninteresting. Then they entered a
little valley with precipitous sides, their path running by the side of
a beautiful little stream, which they had to cross again and again; but
their progress was not rapid, for Mr Burne always stopped to examine
the pools and talk about how fond he had been of fishing when he was a
boy.

Farther on they kept coming to little houses pleasantly situated in
gardens, very much as might be seen in the suburbs of an English town,
for these were the country houses of the wealthy Turks of the place, who
came and dwelt here in the hot times of the summer.

There was a great similarity about these places. Houses and walls were
built of fine, large, well-squared blocks of stone and marble, with
every here and there a trac