principle for the
innumerable guests, and the quarters, hidden from view by a belt of
palms, in which such servants as were necessary to the well-being of
the house cooked and worked and entertained such wayfarers as were of
their own station.

Many figures had seemingly sprung from nowhere at the sound of the
padded feet, which were only prevented from breaking into a swift trot
by the voice of the man who guided them.

These figures had salaamed deeply, and lifted up their hands to the
starry heavens as though to call down a blessing upon the heads of
those who passed, but they had not approached until the Arab suddenly
cried aloud a name, whereupon a figure, standing apart, had sped
quickly forward, salaamed, listened to his master's words, and had sped
away as silently as a panther, as swiftly as a deer.

"Your runner, O! woman, who, after your slave, is the swiftest in all
Asia and Africa. If ever you would speak with me, and I were perchance
afar off, bid that man to your presence, give him your message in
script or word of mouth, and say but, 'Thy master--Cairo,' or wherever
I might sojourn, and he will find me, over desert sands or mountain
range; he would die for me, and therefore he would die for you.

"We approach the grounds around your dwelling, may it find favour in
your eyes."

Gradually the grass had deepened and softened, until like a velvet
carpet it lay spread. Great groves of dates threw ink-black shadows,
slender palms with feathery heads swayed slightly in the dawn-coming
wind, when suddenly of their own accord the camels stopped.

To right and left as far as the dim light allowed, Jill saw what looked
to her like an impenetrable wall.

"This is the dividing line, a high wall with its nakedness covered in
creepers, which separates your dwelling from the land upon which common
feet may tread. No one can pass without the permission of Mustapha,
the blackest of all black negroes; no one can leave, not even my
guests, unless they are accompanied by some one of the servants of my
house. Thus will you be safe in the care of black Mustapha, even if I
should be called to a distance from which I cannot guard you from harm.
Enter, O! woman, and may the blessing of Allah fall upon you, even as
the petals of the purple flower will fall upon your head."

And they fell in showers from the purple bougainvillaea which trailed
its length over the wrought arch above the gate, of which one half
swung ba