54 I GO A -FISHING. 



" One day I was sitting on the front of my shop, in that 

 listless way that had now come over me, wrapped in the 

 consciousness of present enjoyment, and diligently keep- 

 ing out of my brain the bitter truth that I was dreaming 

 of a delight that was to end suddenly and forever when 

 Selim should return. I was as happy as man could be. 

 I had thoroughly adapted myself to the Oriental fatalism, 

 content with the present though the next moment should 

 bring destruction. 



"Thus indulging my fancy, I sat with my eyes half 

 closed, and Achmed Haraga, the money-changer, might 

 well have thought me sleeping. Nor, indeed, did I my- 

 self see the Bedouin, who, gliding by me, entered into a 

 conversation with the man of gold and silver, until sud- 

 denly my ear caught the name of Selim Bey. Then I 

 listened. 



" ' He will come by the well of Birreh. We will not 

 fail. The sons of Ibrahim never forget. But the arms 

 we must have.' 



'"You shall have them to-night at the Damascus gate. 

 But the bracelets must be here to-day.' 



" ' They are here.' 



" And the Arab produced a small package of heavy 

 gold bracelets, such as the Orientals are accustomed to 

 make rudely out of coin as a convenient means of invest- 

 ment. When they desire money for use, the bracelets 

 pass with the money-changers for their gold value. 



" Khalifah, the Bedouin, had been made the messenger 

 of his tribe to negotiate a purchase of arms; and, from the 

 circumstances, I could not doubt that they were to be 

 used in an attack on Selim, doubtless in revenge for the 

 ignominious overthrow of the Arab in the bazaar; for the 

 man was the same. 



