or fancied it, or was thinking of
that word which expresses the taste given to wine by the skin in which
it is stored in some places. And he tried to drive it from his head.
But that night he was for guard, and while doing his tour of sentry it
flashed upon him in a second.

Burrachee, the Sheikh Burrachee; that was the name of the Mohammedan
uncle of Harry Forsyth, who lived amongst the Arabs of the Soudan, and
to whom Harry meant to have recourse in finding the portentous will, the
absence of which was the cause that he, Reginald Kavanagh, was tramping
up and down a narrow path under the stars, with a chance of being shot
or sprung upon every minute, instead of being snugly tucked up between
the sheets, snoring to the nightingales.

His mind was easier for having remembered the association with the name,
but his curiosity was excited to know whether there was any connection
between that and the same word used by the Arab, and he took an early
opportunity on the march next day to ask Sergeant Barton to get him the
loan of the interpreter for a bit. For the interpreter was a person of
consequence, in his own estimation at least, and not to be lightly
appropriated by privates.

But tact can do a great deal, and by approaching the question in a
judicious manner, his services were secured, and he blandly expressed
his readiness to put any questions to the ex-prisoner which Kavanagh
might desire, and to translate the answers.

This was the result in one language. To give the Arabic and then the
English would involve mere repetition, so I am sure that you will excuse
that. Besides I could not do it.

_Question_. "Do you know the Sheikh Burrachee?"

_Answer_. "Yes, everybody knows the Sheikh Burrachee."

_Question_. "Is he not a foreigner to the Soudan?"

_Answer_. "It is said so. He is rich, wise, learned, and he is a True
Believer. But his features are not those of the Turk or of the Arab."

_Question_. "Do you know whether a man of his race, much younger, has
joined him lately?"

_Answer_. "Truly, yes, I have heard something of such an event. Some
say his son, others a man made by magic by the sheikh, who is a great
magician, and can make ghosts come and go as he commands."

_Question_. "Did you ever hear of any--(Kavanagh was regularly bothered
to know how to ask after a legal document like a will, and the
interpreter could not help him; at last he hit on the word Firman) of
any Firman the young