perceptible signs. At last he came to the narrow lane
behind the huge pile, feeling that he had at last reached the end of his
five hours' tramp.

There stood the carriage, all dusty with the night's driving, looking
dilapidated and forlorn; the tired horses drooped their heads in the
flaccid and empty canvas nose-bags. The extinguished lamps were black
with the smoke from the last flare of their sputtering wicks. The
coachman lay inside, snoring,--a mere heap of cloth and brass buttons
surmounted by a shapeless fez. On the stone steps leading down to the
church sat the kavass; his head had fallen on the low parapet behind
him, and his half-shaved scalp was bare. His face was deadly pale, and
his mouth was wide open as he slept, breathing heavily; his left hand
rested on the hilt of his scimiter; his right was extended, palm
upwards, on the stone step on which he sat, the very picture of
exhaustion.

At any other time Paul would have laughed at the scene. But he was very
far from mirth now, as he bent down and laid his hand upon the sleeping
kavass's shoulder.

III.

At ten o'clock on that morning, Paul and the kavass went on board the
steam launch at Beschik Tasch, the landing most convenient for persons
coming from the upper part of Pera. They had done everything possible,
and it was manifestly Paul's duty to inform his chief of the occurrences
of the night. The authorities had been put in possession of the details
of Alexander's disappearance, and the scanty machinery of the Stamboul
police had been set in motion; notice had been given at every hotel and
circulated to every place of resort, and it was impossible that if
Alexander showed himself in Pera he should escape observation, even if
he desired to do so. But Stamboul was not Pera, and as Paul gave the
order to steam to Buyukdere he resolutely turned his back on the eastern
shore of the Golden Horn, unable to bear the sight of the buildings so
intimately associated with his night's search. He was convinced that his
brother was in Stamboul, and he knew that the search in Pera was a mere
formality. He knew, also, that to find any one in Stamboul was only
possible provided the person were free, or at least able to give some
sign of his presence; and he began to believe that Alexander had fallen
a victim to some rash prank. He had, perhaps, repeated his folly of the
previous afternoon,--had wandered into the streets, had foolishly
ventured to look too