"No," said the professor slowly; "Sheikh Ibrahim has always been a man in whom my soul could trust, in the shadow of whose tent I have always lain down and slept in peace, for I have felt that his young men were ready with their spears to protect me, and that their father looked upon me as his sacred charge." "Hah!" said the Sheikh, with calm, grave dignity. "They are the words of truth. His Excellency trusts me as he has always done. Will he come, then, into the desert once again? If he says yes, Ibrahim will go away to-night with gladsome heart to the village close by, and there will be joy in the hearts of his two young men, who are waiting sorrowfully there." "You know the desert well, Ibrahim," said the professor slowly. "It is my home, Excellency. My eyes opened upon it first, and when the time comes they will look upon it for the last time, and I shall sleep beneath its sands." "Yes, as a patriarchal Sheikh should," said the professor. "But you and your young men are quite free from engagements?" "Ready to be thy servants, to do thy bidding, for no one wants us now; go where you will choose, and work and dig, and find as they have found before." "It is good," said the professor gravely. "Of course I shall pay you well." "His Excellency always did pay us well," said the Arab, bending low. "And my two friends will add to the payment." The Arab smiled. "You will keep our departure quite private, Ibrahim--no one is to know." The man shook his head. "And I should want you to lead us wherever I chose to go." "You always did, Excellency." "But suppose I wanted you to go where some of your people--I mean men of your race--would consider it dangerous?" "There are Arabs of some tribes, Excellency, who are of low breed--men who are not of the pure blood, who would say the way was dangerous: the men of my tribe, the Dhur, do not know that word. If they said they would take the English learned one, they would take him. They have their spears and their guns and swords, and their camels are swift. Is not that enough, O Excellency?" "Quite," said the professor; "but there would be danger, perhaps, for the Mahdi's followers range far." "True, my lord, and they are many. Mine are but as a handful of sand. His Excellency would not go to fight the Khalifa? It would be mad." "A wise man can fight with cunning, and do more than a strong man with his sword and spear." The Sheikh was silent, and stood in the semi-darkness with his eyes reflecting the lights of the hotel strangely, as he glanced from one to the other as if trying to read their faces. "I shall have to tell him all, Frank," said the professor slowly, in Latin. "The risk is too great," replied Frank hurriedly. "We should be putting ourselves in his power, and if he is not true he would destroy all our hopes." "We can go no further without his help, Frank," said the professor gravely. "_Tace_."