t!" he said to himself. "_Insha Allah_, she
will regret last night's work, even though it may benefit the Effendi!"

"You will be lonely, Effendi," he said. "But without the honourable
_Sitt_ your work will progress. Women are a hindrance to men's minds,
an anxiety."

"I am well pleased, Abdul. We were not lonely before Madam came."

"_Aiwah_, Effendi, there was the prospect of the meeting with the
honourable _Sitt_. Now there is desolation."

"I did not seek the meeting, Abdul. All is well."

"_Insha Allah_, things will progress more favourably."

Abdul left his master. He had learned all that he wanted to know. The
Effendi did not love the harlot. He knew now that the woman had
followed Michael, and that she had got wind of the hidden treasure.

When he was alone, he gazed at the shrunken encampment. The white tent
was there no longer; the place was rid of the woman and her luxuries.
Had she decamped with two ends in view--to get away from the infected
spot and to anticipate the Effendi in his search?

"_Gehenna!_" he said again. "I did not tell the honourable Effendi
that the linen sheets in which the saint slept last night belonged to
the _Sitt_--that they are packed with her clothes which she will wear
again! She has made her own bed--let her sleep in it. Hassan will see
to that."

The distance of the flat desert had obliterated Millicent's cavalcade.
Was it journeying towards civilization, hurrying from the plague-spot
in the desert, or was it going to the hills behind Akhnaton's city?

When Michael had hurried to the saint the night before and had shown
himself totally fearless and unmindful of his own welfare, the saint
had implored him to leave him. He knew the danger and the awfulness of
smallpox; he knew the risk the Englishman was running.

When Michael made him understand that he had no intention of leaving
him, that he was going to wait for him until he was better, the sick
man was overwhelmed with gratitude. He told Michael that he would show
him, if Allah permitted, the place in the hills where the hidden
treasure lay. But in case it should please the Giver of Death to allow
His servant to look upon the beauty of His face (which was the sick
man's way of saying in case he should die), he would beg of the Effendi
to listen to what he had to tell him.

"While my memory is clear, while the All-Merciful permits me to speak
to the Effendi, I will instruct him, the treasure shall b