A PRISONEE 169 '‘May I speak with my master?’ Zaki said. "If he says stay, I shall stay, though it might cost me my life ; if he says go, I must go.”

" You may speak to him,” Mahmud said. Zaki went round to Gregory’s tent and told him what Mahmud had said.

" Go; certainly, Zaki. You can do me no good by remaining here, and might even do me harm, for if you were killed I also might be murdered. Moreover, I wish to send the news of my capture and how it occurred. I do not think any save yourself noticed that I was missing, and when the fight was over, and they found that I was absent, they might suppose that I had been shot and had fallen overboard. I will write a note for you to carry. It is in all respects better that you should go. Were we to be seen talking together it might be supposed that we were planning some way of escape, and I should be more closely watched. As it is, I see that Mahmud will have difiiculty in protecting me. Were you to ride about with him, as he says, your presence would remind his followers that he has a white man a captive here; whereas if I remain almost in concealment near the harem, the fact that there is a white man here will pass out of the minds of those who know it, and will not become the common talk of the camp. Mahmud is running some risk in having spared my life, and I do not wish to make it harder for him. Go therefore and tell him that you will leave to-night. I cannot write now ; my pocket-book is soaked through. But I will tear out some leaves and dry them in the sun, and write what I have to say before you start. I shall speak highly of you in my letter and recommend you to Colonel Wingate, who will, I have no doubt, give you employment. I hope I shall see you again before long. I am very sorry that we must part, but it is best for us both.”

Very reluctantly Zaki returned to Mahmud. " My master says I must go, Emir, and I must obey his orders, though I would rather stay with him. To-night I will leave.”