tion
which made the Sheikh's brow wrinkle.

"The Emir desires me to say that your servants are at liberty to go
where they please in the city or out into the country round; and that as
he has noticed that the great Hakim has beautiful camels but no horses,
he has only to speak and horses will be brought for his servants' use."

"I shall keep to my camel, Ibrahim," said the doctor. "I think it will
seem best, more in character. What do you think?"

The old man was silent.

"What does this mean?" said Frank, for he was first to notice the
Sheikh's troubled look.

"The Emir Prince bade me say to his Excellency that he could not allow
the great Hakim to go about among the people, for his life would be made
a burden to him--he could not go a step without having a crowd of
sufferers following him and throwing themselves beneath his camel's
feet."

The doctor frowned.

"He said that the great Hakim's health and comfort were dear to him, and
he felt that it would be better that so great a man should live as
retired a life as the Khalifa himself."

"Then I am to be kept regularly as a prisoner?" said the doctor, in
dismay.

"But if sometimes the noble Hakim desires greatly to ride through the
city and out into the country, if he will send word by the guard, the
Emir will summon the horsemen and attend upon his friend and preserver
as a guard of honour, and protect him from the crowds that would stop
his way."

"Oh, who wants to be paraded in a show?" said the doctor petulantly. "I
would rather stop in prison than be led out like that, eh, Fred?"

"Certainly," said the professor.

"Well, never mind," said the doctor cheerfully, the next minute. "I
will not complain. I have my part to play, and I mean to go on playing
it contentedly while you and Frank play yours, and find out where poor
old Hal is kept a prisoner. That done, we must begin to make our plans
to escape either back to Cairo or to the nearest post of the
Anglo-Egyptian army."

"Or the river," said Frank. "But I don't like this, for us to be free
and you a prisoner."

"It is the penalty for being so great a man," said the doctor merrily.
"And really there is a large amount of common-sense in what our friend
says. I should be regularly hunted through the streets, and I could not
go in Eastern fashion and turn a deaf ear to the poor wretches who cast
themselves at my feet."

"But it seems so hard for you," said Frank.

"And it takes all the