t their mercy and were about to try the temper of their knives
on my throat. He potted them both one after the other. On the second
occasion he rescued me from a tiger in the jungle, who was desirous of
dining _a la Russe_. I have not made a favourite of Cleon without having
my reasons for so doing."

"He seems to me a shrewd fellow, and one who understands his business."

"Cleon is not destitute of ability. When I settled at Bon Repos I made
him major-domo of my small establishment, but he still retains his old
position as my body-servant. I offered long ago to release him; but he
will not allow any third person to come between himself and me, and I
should not feel comfortable under the attentions of anyone else."

Platzoff opened the door as he ceased speaking and led the way to the
smoking room.

As you lifted the curtain and went in, it was like passing at one step
from Europe to the East--from the banks of Windermere to the shores of
the Bosphorus. It was a circular apartment with a low cushioned divan
running completely round it, except where broken by the two doorways,
curtained with hangings of dark brown. The floor was an arabesque of
different-coloured tiles, covered here and there with a tiny square of
bright-hued Persian carpet. The walls were panelled with stamped leather
to the height of six feet from the ground; above the panelling they were
painted of a delicate cream colour with here and there a maxim or
apophthegm from the Koran, in the Arabic character, picked out in
different colours. From the ceiling a silver lamp swung on chains of
silver. In the centre of the room was a marble table on which were pipes
and hookahs, cigars and tobaccos of various kinds. Smaller tables were
placed here and there close to the divan for the convenience of smokers.

Platzoff having asked Ducie to excuse him for five minutes, passed
through the second doorway, and left the Captain to an undisturbed
survey of the room. He came back in a few minutes, but so transformed in
outward appearance that Ducie scarcely knew him. He had left the room in
the full evening costume of an English gentleman: he came back in the
turban and flowing robes of a follower of the Prophet. But however
comfortable his Eastern habit might be, M. Platzoff lacked the quiet
dignity and grave repose of your genuine Turkish gentleman.

"I am going to smoke one of these hookahs; let me recommend you to try
another," said Platzoff as he squatted him