osity, however, had not been one whit
aroused; he took everything as a matter of course. Perhaps he was a
character in the "Arabian Nights," and not Harry Forsyth at all--who
could tell?--all seemed so strange and unreal.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

AN UNEXPECTED MEETING.

Gradually Harry Forsyth came back to real life, as it were. First of
all he had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong, but he wanted a
word or an event to strike the key-note of his memory. His uncle never
spoke of home matters; he was kind, and even affectionate, but was much
away. He would come out into the large courtyard in the early morning,
mount the horse which was held ready for him with an activity worthy of
a much younger man, and scour off at a gallop with a troop of his wild
retainers racing behind him. He might come back that evening, or not
for a week.

And when he was at home he was very busy, seeing different people, who
came and went in a great hurry, and writing despatches, which mounted
orderlies, or what answered for such, were always in waiting to carry.
And when they were together he talked of the wild life of the desert; of
the sport to be had further up in the Black Country, but never of
England.

He spoke Arabic always, even when they were alone, and never lapsed into
his native tongue. Yet his face and the tone of his voice disturbed
Harry, causing him to make an effort to get his mind clear.

At length, one morning he awoke with a distinct remembrance of his
mother and sister, and the knowledge that he was far away from them in a
foreign land, and had not had any communication with them for a long
time. And he felt a strong desire to relieve their anxiety, and let
them know he was alive, and also to have news of them. But he could not
remember what he had come to this part of the world for.

He knew that he had wanted to trace his uncle; but why? He had come out
to Egypt in the service of a firm of merchants, and the name of the head
of it was Williams; he was confident so far. But had he not returned
home since then? And why had he sought out his uncle? Surely not on
business connected with the firm, and certainly not because he had
turned Mohammedan and wanted to live like an ostrich.

A little longer, and his connection with Hicks Pasha's force, and the
disastrous termination of that expedition, came clearly back to him; and
with it the necessity of keeping silent about the matter, for he now
wanted