ently to
himself. 'He will trust his gold only to his own blood.'

The caravan wound about the plain, then crossed the stream at the
accustomed ford, and approached the amphitheatre.

The horsemen halted, some dismounted, the dromedaries knelt down, Baroni
assisted one of the riders from her seat; the great Sheikh advanced and
said, 'Welcome in the name of God! welcome with a thousand blessings!'

'I come in the name of God; I come with a thousand blessings,' replied
the lady.

'And with a thousand something else,' thought Amalek to himself; but
the Arabs are so polished that they never make unnecessary allusions to
business.

'Had I thought the Queen of Sheba was going to pay me a visit,' said the
great Sheikh, 'I would have brought the pavilion of Miriam. How is the
Rose of Sharon?' he continued, as he ushered Eva into his tent. 'How is
the son of my heart; how is Besso, more generous than a thousand kings?'

'Speak not of the son of thy heart,' said Eva, seating herself on the
divan. 'Speak not of Besso, the generous and the good, for his head is
strewn with ashes, and his mouth is full of sand.'

'What is this?' thought Amalek. 'Besso is not ill, or his daughter would
not be here. This arrow flies not straight. Does he want to scrape my
piastres? These sons of Israel that dwell in cities will mix their pens
with our spears. I will be obstinate as an Azafeer camel.'

Slaves now entered, bringing coffee and bread, the Sheikh asking
questions as they ate, as to the time Eva quitted Jerusalem, her
halting-places in the desert, whether she had met with any tribes; then
he offered to his granddaughter his own chibouque, which she took
with ceremony, and instantly returned, while they brought her aromatic
nargileh.

Eva scanned the imperturbable countenance of her grandfather: calm,
polite, benignant, she knew the great Sheikh too well to suppose for
a moment that its superficial expression was any indication of his
innermost purpose. Suddenly she said, in a somewhat careless tone, 'And
why is the Lord of the Syrian pastures in this wilderness, that has been
so long accursed?'

The great Sheikh took his pipe from his mouth, and then slowly sent
forth its smoke through his nostrils, a feat of which he was proud. Then
he placidly replied: 'For the same reason that the man named Baroni made
a visit to El Khuds.'

'The man named Baroni came to demand succour for his lord, who is your
prisoner.'

'And also to ob