ew."

Here Captain Orme burst out laughing, and remarked, "It is easy to see
why you are not altogether popular in the antiquarian world, Higgs. Your
methods of controversy are those of a savage with a stone axe."

"If you only open your mouth to show your ignorance, Oliver, you had
better keep it shut. The men who carried stone axes had advanced far
beyond the state of savagery. But I suggest that you had better
give Doctor Adams a chance of telling his story, after which you can
criticize."

"Perhaps Captain Orme does not wish to be bored with it," I said,
whereon he answered at once:

"On the contrary, I should like to hear it very much--that is, if you
are willing to confide in me as well as in Higgs."

I reflected a moment, since, to tell the truth, for sundry reasons, my
intention had been to trust no one except the Professor, whom I knew to
be as faithful as he is rough. Yet some instinct prompted me to make
an exception in favour of this Captain Orme. I liked the man; there was
something about those brown eyes of his that appealed to me. Also it
struck me as odd that he should happen to be present on this occasion,
for I have always held that there is nothing casual or accidental in the
world; that even the most trivial circumstances are either ordained,
or the result of the workings of some inexorable law whereof the end
is known by whatever power may direct our steps, though it be not yet
declared.

"Certainly I am willing," I answered; "your face and your friendship
with the Professor are passport enough for me. Only I must ask you
to give me your word of honour that without my leave you will repeat
nothing of what I am about to tell you."

"Of course," he answered, whereon Higgs broke in:

"There, that will do; you don't want us both to kiss the Book, do you?
Who sold you that ring, and where have you been for the last dozen
years, and whence do you come now?"

"I have been a prisoner of the Khalifa's among other things. I had five
years of that entertainment of which my back would give some evidence
if I were to strip. I think I am about the only man who never embraced
Islam whom they allowed to live, and that was because I am a doctor,
and, therefore, a useful person. The rest of the time I have spent
wandering about the North African deserts looking for my son, Roderick.
You remember the boy, or should, for you are his godfather, and I used
to send you photographs of him as a little chap."

"