stood
before the tent.

"Who is there?" asked Pan Tarkowski.

"Camel drivers," answered one of the arrivals.

"Ah, Idris and Gebhr? What do you want?"

"We come to ask whether you will need us to-morrow."

"No. To-morrow and the day after are great holidays, during which it is
not proper to make excursions. Come on the morning of the third day."

"Thank you, effendi."

"Have you good camels?" asked Mr. Rawlinson.

"Bismillah!" answered Idris; "real saddle-horses with fat humps and as
gentle as ha'-ga (lambs). Otherwise Cook would not have employed us."
"Do they jolt much?"

"Gentlemen, you can place a handful of kidney-beans on their backs and
not a grain will fall during the fullest speed."

"If one is to exaggerate, then exaggerate after the Arabian fashion,"
said Pan Tarkowski, laughing.

"Or after the Sudanese," added Mr. Rawlinson.

In the meantime Idris and Gebhr continued to stand like two white
columns, gazing attentively at Stas and Nell. The moon illumined their
very dark faces, and in its luster they looked as if cast of bronze.
The whites of their eyes glittered greenishly from under the turbans.

"Good night to you," said Mr. Rawlinson.

"May Allah watch over you, effendi, in night and in day."

Saying this, they bowed and went away. They were accompanied by a
hollow growl, similar to distant thunder, from Saba, whom the two
Sudanese apparently did not please.

V

During the following days there were no excursions. Instead, on
Christmas Eve, when the first star appeared in heaven, a little tree in
Mr. Rawlinson's tent, intended for Nell, was illuminated with hundreds
of candles. To serve as a Christmas tree there had been taken an arbor
vitae, cut in one of the gardens in Medinet; nevertheless, among its
branchlets Nell found a profusion of dainties and a splendid doll,
which her father had brought from Cairo for her, and Stas, his much
desired English short rifle. In addition he received from his father
packages containing various hunters' supplies, and a saddle for
horseback riding. Nell could not contain herself for joy, while Stas,
although he thought that whoever owned a genuine short rifle ought to
possess a corresponding dignity, could not restrain himself, and
selecting the time when no one was about, walked around the tent on his
hands. This knack, taught to him at the Port Said school, he possessed
to a surprising degree and with it often amused Nell, who, besides,
s