56 I GO A-FISHING. 



we paused, and as the day was breaking we met my ex- 

 pected allies ten swarthy sons of Ishmael, mounted on 

 mares of pure blood, ready for any service that I might 

 require of man or beast. I waited here, trusting to inter- 

 cept my friend, who would come from Nablous by this 

 route. How many men he might have with him I could 

 not guess ; but Edith thought it improbable that he would 

 bring more than one attendant. 



" As the day came up, and I waited by the side of the 

 way, I confess to you that for the first time a terrible 

 thought came to me. What was this half Druse, half 

 American, to me, that I should risk my life for his ? Were 

 he out of the way, might not Edith the beautiful be mine ? 

 I never heard her name him with the tone that one uses 

 in speaking of an absent lover. Did she love him so 

 much, after all ? Who then was the Greek priest ? what 

 was this mystery ? I had scarcely asked myself the ques- 

 tion before. I had been listless, stupid, Oriental in my 

 ways of thinking. Edith was after all as likely to be 

 mine as to be his or the Greek priest's. 



" Hours glided along, and we waited under the olive- 

 trees, and I thought thus a hundred wild thoughts. The 

 tempter was with me, and might have triumphed but for 

 a sudden interruption. 



" A volley of fire-arms sounded in the valley below. 

 We sprang to the saddle, and dashed down the road at 

 a furious gallop. The scene at the foot of the hill ex- 

 plained itself. The attack that was planned for the well 

 of Birreh had been for some reason changed to the Har- 

 amieh fountain, and, as we reached the foot of the hill, 

 we found Selim standing with his back to the bank at 

 the side of the horse-path, beset by full a score of Arabs, 

 whose volley had killed his two companions. 



