"I was, and there we first met, and now we meet again. I regret, Osman Bey, that we meet as enemies." Osman Bey Bardissi shook his head slowly. "We were enemies, Mohammed Ali; yet, if Allah permits me to live, you shall soon learn that you have found a friend. I well know that I owe you my life, and I shall be grateful while life lasts." He ceased speaking, and again lost consciousness. Mohammed beckoned to one of the soldiers to approach. "Carry this man to my cabin, and let no one dare to touch him with a rude hand. He is my prisoner." CHAPTER VII RESTITUTION. "Our Mamelukes have been treacherously slaughtered, murdered! They have been lured out upon the water near Aboukir in their boats, and then fired upon by murderous huntsmen as though they were a flock of pigeons. If you are an honest and brave man, general, proved by mercifully espousing the cause of those who were lured to destruction in your name--yes, in your name, General Hutchinson-- yes, it devolves upon you, and your honor requires that you compel them, to yield up the wounded and the dead." Thus lamented Sitta Nefysseh as she knelt before General Hutchinson, her arms extended in wild entreaty. She had come over to Alexandria from Aboukir, and she it was who first brought the intelligence of the fearful event that had occurred, who first announced to the English general that the beys had fallen victims to infamous treachery. The general, incensed at this shameful abuse of confidence, immediately dispatched two of his adjutants to the capitan pacha, to demand an explanation and call him to account for the outrage. The pacha was, however, not to be found. "They did not know where he had gone;" was the reply; "but Lord Hutchinson's message should be conveyed to him as soon as possible, and he would certainly send some one to the general who would give satisfactory explanations of the affair." Soon afterward a boat came to shore, and the boulouk bashi, Mohammed Ali, demanded, in the name of the capitan pacha, to be conducted to the presence of the English general. With an air of profound deference and humility, he delivered the message of the capitan pacha, and expressed his own regret of the fearful event that had occurred.