to halt once or twice and mop my face with my
handkerchief. Yet without fatigue, without the slightest apparent effort,
and still feeling cool, Omar walked on, smiling at the manner in which
the unusual heat affected me, saying:

"Ah! It is not hot here. You might grumble at the heat if the sun were as
powerful as it is in my country."

When we descended to the beach and threw ourselves down under the shadow
of the high white cliffs to rest, I saw there was no one about and
suggested a swim. It was against old Trigger's orders, nevertheless the
calm, cool water as it lazily lapped the sand proved too tempting, and
very shortly we had plunged in and were enjoying ourselves. Omar left the
water first, and presently I saw while he was dressing the figure of a
tallish, muscular man attired in black and wearing a silk hat approaching
him. As I watched, wondering what business the stranger could have with
my companion, I saw that when they met Omar greeted him in native fashion
by snapping fingers, as he had often done playfully to me. Whoever he
might be, the stranger was unexpected, and judging from the manner in
which he had been received, a welcome visitor. I was not near enough to
distinguish the features of the newcomer, but remembering that I had been
in the water long enough, I struck out for the shore, and presently
walked up the beach towards them.

Omar had dressed, and was in earnest conversation with a gigantic negro
of even darker complexion than Mr. Makhana. Unconscious of my approach,
for my feet fell noiselessly upon the sand, he was speaking rapidly in
his own language, while the man who had approached him stood listening in
meek, submissive attitude. Then, for the first time, I noticed that my
friend held in his hand a grotesquely carved stick that had apparently
been presented by the new-comer as his credential, together with a scrap
of parchment whereon some curious signs, something like Arabic, were
written. While Omar addressed him he bowed low from time to time,
murmuring some strange words that I could not catch, but which were
evidently intended to assure my friend that he was his humble servant.

In spare moments Omar had taught me a good deal of his language. Indeed,
such a ready pupil had I been that frequently when we did not desire the
other fellows to understand our conversation we spoke in his tongue. But
of what he was saying to this stranger, I could only understand one or
two words and