at his friend beyond the
window had been impatient at his coming.

"Just like you to be late when there's something doing!" she called to
him with friendly impatience. "Get over to the dressing rooms on the
double-quick. It's the Victor people doing some Egyptian stuff--they'll
give you a costume. Hurry along!"

And he had lingered over a bowl of soggy crackers soaked, at the last,
chiefly in catsup! He hurried, with a swift word of thanks.

In the same dressing room where he had once been made up as a Broadway
pleasure seeker he now donned the flowing robe and burnoose of a
Bedouin, and by the same grumbling extra his face and hands were stained
the rich brown of children of the desert. A dozen other men of the paler
race had undergone the same treatment. A sheik of great stature and
noble mien smoked an idle cigarette in the doorway. He was accoutred
with musket and with pistols in his belt.

An assistant director presently herded the desert men down an alley
between two of the big stages and to the beginning of the oriental
street that Merton had noticed on his first day within the Holden walls.
It was now peopled picturesquely with other Bedouins. Banners hung from
the walls and veiled ladies peeped from the latticed balconies. A camel
was led excitingly through the crowded way, and donkeys and goats were
to be observed. It was a noisy street until a whistle sounded at the
farther end, then all was silence while the voice of Henshaw came
through the megaphone.

It appeared that long shots of the street were Henshaw's first need. Up
and down it Merton Gill strolled in a negligent manner, stopping perhaps
to haggle with the vendor who sold sweetmeats from a tray, or to chat
with a tribal brother fresh from the sandy wastes, or to purchase a
glass of milk from the man with the goats. He secured a rose from the
flower seller, and had the inspiration to toss it to one of the discreet
balconies above him, but as he stepped back to do this he was stopped by
the watchful assistant director who stood just inside a doorway. "Hey,
Bill, none of that! Keep your head down, and pay no attention to the
dames. It ain't done."

He strolled on with the rose in his hand. Later, and much nearer the
end of the street where the cameras were, he saw the sheik of noble mien
halt the flower seller, haggle for another rose, place this daintily
behind his left ear and stalk on, his musket held over one shoulder, his
other hand on a bel