but I expected a larger escort than those half a
dozen men there. I would not go through this, my boy, if I thought
future history would not give me a glorious page."

"Oh, don't fear, sir, this will be something grand for you; at the gate
of the town you will be met by a regular guard of honour."

With the combined assistance of Jack and Harry, Mole was fully invested
with his Oriental robes, with which he stumped downstairs as gracefully
as a moving bundle of clothes.

His escort consisted of six spahis, most of them black, and headed by
the messenger of the day before.

"Jack, my dear boy," said Mole, "at last my time has arrived to become
a great man in the eyes of the world."

"Right you are, sir," replied Jack. "On you go, my noble pasha."

As soon as Mole was mounted, the chief spahi gave the word, and the
imposing cavalcade set off at a quick trot.

In two hours they had arrived at the primitive and sequestered town of
Alla-hissar.

CHAPTER LXXV.

THE GREAT MOLEY MOLE PASHA.

Such an important event as the arrival of a new governor naturally
caused a great deal of excitement among the worthy inhabitants of the
remote town.

They came out in crowds to greet him, headed by all the inferior
functionaries, and a military guard of honour conducted him to the old
castle, which had been fitted up as a sumptuous official residence.

Two things puzzled his new subjects; the fact of his arrival being two
days before the appointed time, and the circumstance of the new pasha,
who was apparently a Turk, returning their greetings through an
interpreter.

However, none had any doubt of the reality of his appointment, and the
production of the sultan's firman at once made the old cadi, or
magistrate, who had been temporarily put in command, give way to his
superior.

Briefly let us explain these circumstances.

It was another hoax, and a most daring and gigantic one, on the part of
Jack and his friends, upon their long-suffering tutor.

Having ascertained that the town of Alla-hissar was actually waiting
for its new governor, the real pasha, who was to arrive from
Constantinople in two days' time, Jack and the others hit upon the idea
of making the situation the basis of a grand practical joke.

The _firman_ was of course a forged document, written by the old
interpreter, who was in the plot, and the Turkish officer who had
presented it to Mole was no other than our friend the diver.

The waiter,