on, whatever happened; and when Iskender ventured
to remonstrate, told him angrily to hold his tongue. Was it likely he
was going to turn back now, having come so far? He drank some whisky
neat, and then felt strong enough to mount his horse.

They went forward miserably in the chill, wet morning. The sky was
nowhere seen; damp mists obscured every feature of the landscape. The
muleteer, with head wrapped up in a shawl, intoned a kind of dirge,
pausing sometimes to ask Allah to improve his plight. The Emir's teeth
chattered and he cursed at intervals. But most hapless of all three
was Iskender, who now knew that his lord was bent on finding the gold,
and valued the pleasant days already spent, their adventures by the
way, their friendly converse, solely as conducing to that end.

About the fourth hour the sun made itself felt; the mists began to
disperse, and depths of blue appeared. The afternoon was fine and, in
the sunshine, the Emir recovered cheerfulness. He apologised for his
ill temper of the morning to Iskender, who strove to regard the stern
resolve he had expressed to see the Valley of the Kings as likewise
part of the attack of fever; but his mind misgave him.

That evening, after supper, the Emir remarked that they had come an
eight days' journey at the lowest estimate, so, by the guide's own
showing, must be near the place. He spread out his map between them,
and asked Iskender to point out its exact position. Forced to decide
that instant, or arouse his friend's distrust, the poor youth breathed
a heart-felt prayer to Allah for direction and, after some show of
examining the chart, laid finger firmly on a certain spot. The Emir
then marked the place in pencil with a tiny cross, and reckoned up the
distance by the scale provided.

"It is quite near," he cried. "We ought to be there to-morrow before
midday."

He talked of nothing else till sleeptime. Iskender listened with an
anxiety that was physical pain. He wished to Allah that Elias had been
there to assure him that the place had real existence. Lying on the
ground, wrapped in his coverlet, he spent the night in prayer. Allah
is all-powerful; at His mercy all things are and are not; even if the
valley lay not where Iskender had placed it, Allah could convey it
thither in the twinkling of an eye; even if no such place existed in
the world, Allah could create it as easily as a man can yawn. By
dwelling thus in imagination on that Bou