ou about
the possible change in my position, and that I was shortly leaving for
England. You begged me to take you with me, and I told you that if you
decided to go, I would do so. I shall be put in orders, tomorrow, for
six months' leave. If I succeed in proving my claim to a title, which
is what you would call here an emirship, I shall not return. If I fail,
I shall be back again, in six months. Now, I want you to think it over
seriously, before you decide.

"Everything will be different there from what you are accustomed to.
You will have to dress differently, live differently, and be among
strangers. It is very cold there, in winter; and it is never what you
would call hot, in summer.

"It is not that I should not like to have you with me; we have been
together, now, for three years. You saved my life at Atbara, and have
always been faithfully devoted to me. It is for your sake, not my own,
that I now speak."

"I will go with you, Master, if you will take me. I hope never to leave
you, till I die."

"Very well, Zaki, I am more than willing to take you. If I remain in
England, you shall always be with me, if you choose to remain. But I
shall then be able to give you a sum that will enable you to buy much
land, and to hire men to work your sakies, to till your land, and to
make you what you would call a rich man here, should you wish to return
at the end of the six months. If I return, you will, of course, come
back with me."

On the following day, after having said goodbye to all his friends,
disposed of his horse and belongings, and drawn the arrears of his pay,
Gregory took his place in the train; for the railway had now been
carried to Khartoum.

Four days later, he arrived at Cairo. His first step was to order
European clothes for Zaki, and a warm and heavily-lined greatcoat; for
it was now the first week in December, and although delightful at
Cairo, it would be, to the native, bitterly cold in England.

Then he went to the bank, and Mr. Murray, on hearing the story, made an
affidavit at the British resident's; affirming that he had, for fifteen
years, known Mrs. Gregory Hilliard, and was aware that she was the
widow of Mr. Gregory Hilliard, who joined Hicks Pasha; and that Mr.
Gregory Hilliard, now claiming to be Mr. Gregory Hilliard Hartley, was
her son. Mr. Gregory Hilliard, senior, had kept an account at the bank
for eighteen months; and had, on leaving, given instructions for Mrs.
Hilliard's chequ