but he had no care or curiosity with
regard to past or future; he was at ease for the present, and that was
all that he felt signified.

One day when he opened his eyes after a doze, expecting to see Fatima,
he found in her usual place a tall man, with a long white beard, and
shaggy white eyebrows, which contrasted curiously with his dark skin,
giving him something of an unearthly appearance.

"Oh, long-expected one," he said, when he saw that Harry noticed him,
"to whom Allah hath at length restored some degree of understanding,
know that you are welcome and among friends. This writing found upon
you tells me that you are he of whom the Sheikh Burrachee has often
spoken, the Feringhee destined to bring his benighted and hitherto
accursed race to the acceptance of the true faith. The sheikh is beyond
Om Delgal, far away up the Bahr el Abiad, amongst the heathen whom the
All-bountiful One has given to the True Believer for bondsmen. But he
will return when the Mahdi--his name be revered--shall need his
services. Then shall you join him with renewed health and strength. In
the meantime, I, a humble servant of Allah and his Prophet, and one
whose eyes have been opened to the divine mission of the Mahdi, which
the Turks--may their tongues swell--are slow to receive, even I will
expound to you the mysteries of the only True Faith, and from this day
forth consider my house, and what poor goods I may possess, as your
own."

Harry Forsyth quite followed this speech, and knew that the Sheikh
Burrachee alluded to was a relative whom he had seen at some time, and
was to rejoin. For anything recalled to him by words he remembered at
the time, though it passed from his brain the moment afterwards, neither
pleasing him nor distressing him. His mind was like a lake, and ideas
suggested in any way resembled clouds passing rapidly above it,
reflected for a minute on the surface, and then gone. It was rather a
curious thing that what Arabic he had picked up had not passed from him;
on the contrary, it sounded more familiar to him than it had done
before. Probably that was because of his surroundings at the time of
recovering consciousness, and of Arabic being the first sound which fell
on his ears.

He replied coherently enough to his fakir host, though his voice was
very feeble. He thanked him for his present hospitality, and for the
care he had taken of him during his illness, and he expressed the
pleasure it would give