ISKANDER EFFENDI. 59 



ment, of which I never heard until I now learned it from 

 my brother. It was that their children should be edu- 

 cated alternately in the faith of the father and the moth- 

 er. The first child was to be educated by the father, 

 and this was duly carried out with me. But when the 

 second child was born, the father caused the mother to 

 believe that it survived only a few hours, while he, in fact, 

 conveyed the babe to his friends in a distant city, where 

 he was brought up in ignorance of his parentage, and in 

 the Hebrew faith. 



" The guardian of the boy was abundantly supplied 

 with money, and was instructed to spare no expense in 

 his education. He finally brought him to Jerusalem, 

 where, in the midst of the impressive scenes that sur- 

 rounded him, and in the presence of his father, the story 

 of his birth was revealed. He was a boy of spirit, and 

 the history had not the effect that was anticipated. His 

 soul revolted at it. He disowned his father, ran away 

 from his guardian, and sought to escape the bitterness 

 of his own anger by leading the life of an adventurer in 

 the East. Chance threw him among the Druses, and he 

 became one of them. His education and skill soon en- 

 abled him to control the fiery race of the followers of 

 El-Hakim, and he became an Emir. Several years had 

 passed, and he was engaged in plots for the overthrow 

 of the Turkish power in the entire pashalic of Damas- 

 cus. He was the head of the conspiracy. Its branches 

 extended from Alexandria to Aleppo. Three years pre- 

 viously he had rescued from the hands of an attacking 

 party of Bedouins a little group of travelers. An old 

 man and his daughter were among them Americans 

 who were traveling, with two Englishmen in the party. 

 The fright rendered the old man helpless, and the Druse 



