act as they did. Their hardness of heart came not
from God, but the Prophet. They were only carrying out the edicts of
their "priests of a bloody faith."

In vain did the old man-o'-war's-man cry out "belay" and "avast". In
vain did he "shiver his timbers", and appeal against their scurvy
treatment by looks, words, and gesture.

These seemed only to augment the mirth and spitefulness of his
tormentors.

In this scene of cruelty there was one woman conspicuous among the rest.
By her companions she was called Fatima. The old sailor, ignorant of
Arabic feminine names, thought it a "misnomer", for of all his
she-persecutors she was the leanest and scraggiest. Notwithstanding the
poetical notions which the readers of Oriental romance might associate
with her name, there was not much poetry about the personage who so
assiduously assaulted Sailor Bill, pulling his whiskers, slapping his
cheeks, and every now and then spitting in his face.

She was something more than middle-aged, short squat, and meagre, with
the eye-teeth projecting on both sides so as to hold up the upper lip
and exhibit all the others in their ivory whiteness, with an expression
resembling that of the hyena. This is considered beauty, a fashion in
full vogue among her country-women who cultivate it with great care,
though to the eyes of the old sailor it rendered the hag all the more
hideous.

But the skinning of the eye-teeth was not the only attempt at ornament
made by this belle of the desert. Strings of black beads hung over her
wrinkled bosom, circlets of white bone were set in her hair, armlets and
bangles adorned her wrists and ankles, and altogether did her costume
and behaviour betoken one distinguished among the crowd of his
persecutors, in short, their sultana or queen.

And such did she prove; for on the black sheik appropriating the old
sailor as a stake fairly won in the game, and rescuing his newly
acquired property from the danger of being damaged, Fatima followed him
to his tent with such demonstrations as showed her to be if not the
"favourite", certainly the head of the harem.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

STARTING ON THE TRACK.

As already said, the mirth of the three midshipmen was brought to a
quick termination. It ended on the instant of Sailor Bill's
disappearance behind the spur of the sand-hills. At the same instant
all three came to a stop, and stood regarding one another with looks of
uneasiness and apprehensi