“I’m glad,” said the girl. “But it is growing dark. Let’s return to the hotel right away. I do not fancy being out in the streets of Cairo after dark.” They descended the hill and found the donkeys and the boy drivers waiting for them. Two of the boys were asleep, their hands pillowed on the bodies of their reclining donkeys. “Poor little fellows!” murmured Nadia, sympathetically. “They should be home now. It’s a shame to keep them out so late.” The boys woke up promptly on hearing the voices of their companions. Our friends mounted, and away they went, through the dim streets of the queer, old city, the boys running after the trotting donkeys and giving an occasional twist at the tails of the little beasts. Both Dick and Brad kept a sharp lookout for possible trouble, but the return to the hotel was made without incident. Brad lingered to talk with Dunbar and Nadia, in Budthorne’s room. Not that the pleasures of a chat with Budthorne attracted him so much, but there was again a complete understanding between himself and Nadia. Dick sought Professor Gunn, but failed to discover the old man. He then descended to look for him below. On the way down, the sound of laughter coming from a suite of rooms, the outer door of which was slightly ajar, attracted his attention. He had heard Zenas laugh that way before, and he knew the old pedagogue was in there. Dick stepped to the door, lifting his hand to knock. He paused, his hand uplifted. “He! he! he!” again sounded that well-known laugh. “A harem containing a dozen pretty girls! My! my! But you must have been a gay boy in those days, colonel.” “Well, suh,” said a mellow, yet somewhat husky voice, “yo’ see, suh, a man had to have some enjoyment in this infernal country. I was young, suh, and it was just after the Civil War in America. Scores of officers from the South entered the Egyptian service. Some swore nevah again to set foot on American soil. We felt that we were exiles. But we made the khedive’s army spruce up wonderfully. The pay was good, and all that; but the cursed heat, the monotony, the homesickness, made us all reckless, and set us to longing fo’ diversion. I’ll guarantee, suh, that the most of us found our only diversions in gathering wives fo’ our harems. Those boys were connoisseurs in female beauty, and the wives of many of them would have created a sensation, suh, in New York, London or Paris.” “He! he! he!” again laughed Zenas. “Oh, you rascal! Oh, you sly dog! But it must have been pleasant. What did you do with your harem when you got tired and decided to leave the Egyptian service and the country?” “Why, I sold it, of course.” “Sold it? Sold your wives, colonel?”