AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERT 860 should I fail in proving my claim, I shall gladly avail myself of your offer at the end of the six months.”

“ JTow, Zaki,” he said, on returning to the hut, of which he had again taken possession, “ we must have one more talk. I have told you about the possible change in my position, and that I was shortly leaving for England. You begged me to take you with me, and I told you that if you decided to go, I would do so. I shall be put in orders to-morrow for six months’ leave. If I succeed in proving my claim to a title, which is what you would call here an emirship, I shall not return; if I fail, I shall be back again in six months. Now I want you to think it over seriously before you decide. Everything will be different there from what you are accustomed to. You will have to dress differently, live differently, and be among strangers. It is very cold there in winter, and it is never what you would call hot in summer. It is not that I should not like to have you with me ; we have been together now for three years. You saved my life at tbara, and have always been faithfully devoted to me. It is for your sake, not my own, that I now speak.”

I will go with you, master, if you will take me. I hope never to leave you till I die.”

Very well, Zaki, I am more than willing to take you. If I remain in England you shall always be with me, if you choose to remain. But I shall then be able to give you a sum that will enable you to buy much land and to hire men to work your sakies, to till your land, and to make you what you would call a rich man here, should you wish to return at the end of the six months. If I return, you will, of course, come back with me.”

On the following day, after having said good-bye to all his friends, disposed of his horse and belongings, and drawn the arrears of his pay, Gregory took his place in the train, for the railway had now been carried to Khartoum.

Four days later he arrived at Cairo. His first step was to order European clothes for Zaki, and a warm and heavily