ld not tell what would happen after his catalogue was
done. He therefore visited the regions of every-day commercial life;
the carpet bazaars decorated with their Oriental manufactures of all
colours; the Khan Khalili, wherein the Persian, Spanish, Jewish, and
Turkish merchants offer for sale their stock of jewels, silks,
brass-work, etc.; the silver bazaar, where the finest filigree work
is pressed upon prospective buyers. He brushed shoulders with
shoe-sellers, the pistachio-sellers, and the water-carriers, who
assure all who choose to listen that theirs is "Water sweet as
honey! Water from the spring!" and in a commanding voice invite you
to "Drink, O faithful! The wind is hot, and the way long!" but not
without the necessary piastres first.

During these few days George saw and learnt a good deal of Cairo,
but he had not learnt quite sufficient of its manners and streets.

The day came when the catalogue business was finished, and his
employer promised to find him some other occupation on the morrow.
George was quite pleased with himself, and started off for another
of his rambles.

For a while he was quite heedless of the direction he was taking,
busily building castles in the air as fast as his thoughts would
allow him; but he was brought to earth with a run as the fact dawned
upon him suddenly that for the first time he had lost his way. He
was in the densest part of the native quarter.

The evening was rapidly closing in, and he looked about for some one
to direct him. Not a European face could he see anywhere. The street
in which he found himself was filled with a chattering mob of
natives, the houses formed one continuous line of small, poky
stalls, where evil-looking Egyptians, Turks, and Arabs were offering
their worthless stock for sale.

Hurrying along, he wandered through a labyrinth of streets, all more
or less similar, until he became so confused that in despair he
appealed to one of the native vendors.

His efforts to discover his whereabouts from this man were futile.
The Egyptian was unable to understand him, and the fellow's jargon
was quite unintelligible to Helmar. In desperation he continued his
way; the prospect of spending the night in wandering through the
city being anything but pleasant to him. Night was fast closing in,
and he was apparently a long distance from his destination.

Suddenly, as he turned into an almost deserted street, he saw ahead
of him a man dressed in European co