they are quite likely to conclude that he is too foolish and reckless to be trusted with such an important matter. They would argue that no man who could be relied on to carry out their plan would display such lack of judgment. It is possible that there may be some other reason for the situation in which you find yourself, but I doubt it. The wisest course for you is to tell me how you can be reached, and leave Cairo, for you can gain nothing by staying here. It is known to many persons that I know you and if any one should want to get in communication with you, I will be able to tell him how to do it.” Possessing all the pride of a full-blooded man, I resented the calm assertion that I had been ensnared by a flirt, and a somewhat acrimonious argument followed, but, in looking back at it now, I am willing to admit that probably my friend was right about it. Perhaps Ialla was not, after all, the perfect woman that, under the magic spell of her marvellous beauty, I imagined her to be, and possibly if I had not surrendered so suddenly to her charms Arabi Pasha might have been freed and Egypt might now be an Empire. Whether or not that is true, I have no regrets on the subject, except that I never saw Ialla again. My moonlight meetings with her were, at least, a diversion, and they gave me great enjoyment while they lasted. Though it went against the grain I was compelled to admit that my friend’s advice was the best I could get, and I reluctantly followed it. Feeling that for once my destiny had played it a bit low down on me I crossed the Mediterranean and took a French liner for New York. I had spent four months and much money in studying the Sphinx, but I did not count them as lost. Ialla’s loveliness was in my mind for a long time and while it remained I cherished the hope that I would be recalled to carry out the plan for the rescue of her uncle, but the summons never came. Eleven years later Arabi was pardoned and returned to Egypt, but his influence among his own people was gone; the fact that he had accepted a pardon implied, to their astute minds, a secret agreement with their enemies and caused him to be regarded as a tool of the British. But, as very recent events have demonstrated, the fires of freedom are still burning, and now and again signal smoke is seen rising over India. CHAPTER XIV RAPID-FIRE REVOLTS