CLOSELY followed by my two poor little companions, I went straight to the house of Murad Nassyr, where I had been before. The door was opened to me by his long, thin steward Selim, who appeared surprised at the sight of my companions. His master was not at home, so I dispatched him to the coffee house Murad Nassyr most frequented, and went to the inner court to await his coming.

In less than half an hour Murad Nassyr pushed aside the curtain across the entrance, but stopped short when he saw the children.

"What does this mean?" he cried. "Have these Negroes come here with you? Why do you wish to see me?"

"It is a long story, Murad Nassyr," I replied. "If you will allow me I will tell you it."

The master of the house made up his mind to accept its invasion in so far as listening to my explanation, for, coming over, he seated himself beside me. I related to him as briefly as I could the story of my purloining the little slaves, to whom their master had no more right than I. He heard me with many groans of alarm and horror, and no signs of sympathy for the little victims. When I finished he broke forth into Turkish exclamations, and, becoming articulate, demanded if I did not fear so great a man as Abd el Barak. "You saw how respectfully he was treated," he said. "He has influence which may be very dangerous to us."

"I don't care how others treat him," I said. "The main

thing, to my mind, is the way I treated him, and no one could call that respectful. You have no reason to fear him, for you have done nothing to him."

"But you are my guest at this moment, and I am responsible for your acts," replied poor Murad Nassyr.

I rose up, as if to go, saying: "I can easily remove that difficulty by leaving. I am looking for a lodging, and only came for your advice."

"No, no; you will stay here. I should never consent to your leaving my house under the circumstances," he said.

"That is a generous speech, Murad Nassyr," I said, taking his hand. "To be frank with you, I hoped you would offer to shelter me and these children. You said to me the other day that you would like me to come to stay with you -- that I could do you a great service. Now, I need a refuge for these unfortunate little creatures until I can place them in safety; give me this, and I will try to do you the service you desire. Is it a bargain?"

"Yes," replied Murad Nassyr, after a moment's thought, and calling Selim, who struck me as being suspiciously prompt to reply to his summons, he committed the children to his charge, instructing him to give them food and sweetmeats.

When they had withdrawn, Murad Nassyr turned to me. "You are a Christian," he began; "and I know so little of your religion that I am ignorant of its teachings. Do you believe in heaven and hell?"

"Certainly."

"Do you think departed souls can return to earth as ghosts? Answer on your conscience.

"As spirits, I believe they can, but not as ghosts in my sense of the word ghost," I replied, surprised.

"You are mistaken; there are ghosts," he replied, positively.

"If you think so I will not argue the point, though I am not of your opinion."

"You will be of my opinion. By morning you will believe there are ghosts, for this house is haunted." He looked at me steadily as be spoke, expecting to see me shrink, but I remained unmoved, only saying, laughingly: "There may be what is considered a ghost in the house; I don't doubt your sincerity, but you have mistaken something, perhaps a shadow, for an apparition. 'Tell me about it."

"Shadows are dark; this ghost is white," he said, shaking his head. "It goes through closed doors, rattles chains, howls and shrieks like the wind, barks like a dog, brays like a donkey or camel."

"Have you seen it yourself?"

"Certainly, and so have my sister and her servants, the steward, and my two Negroes. It appears at a certain time, around midnight, remains an hour every time, and comes each day."

"Have you any idea whose ghost it is?"

"Yes; the ghost of the former owner of the house."

"Really! Haven't you a clear title deed?"

"I pray you, don't jest, Effendi," cried Murad Nassyr, earnestly. "I can't stay here if the house continues haunted. It is the cheapest rent in Cairo, for every one knows the house is haunted, and they can't get a tenant."

"On the whole, I should say the ghostly past owner was playing a low-down trick, thus spoiling the property for his successor; who owns it now?"

"His widow; she has the use of it till she dies; then the brotherhood of the Kadis can take it, or if she refuses to keep it, as she must if things go on in this way."

"The Kadis!" I exclaimed. "My friend Abd el Barak has other scamps among his associates! Don't you see that

some one is sent by them to play the ghost here that the house may be abandoned, and fall into their hands? Let me have the room where the ghost is usually seen, and I'll venture to say you'll have no more trouble with him after to-night."

"You seem to have no fear!" cried Murad Nassyr, admiringly. "The favor I longed to ask of you was that you would watch with us one night, though I feared you would not see him, for, being a Christian, he might account you unclean."

"I'll make him so unclean that he shall be a laughingstock to all Islam. Do you sleep in the dark?"

"No; we all burn lights for fear of the ghost."

"Yet nevertheless he comes?"

"Nevertheless he comes," assented Murad Nassyr, with a shudder. "He comes through bolted doors, and wanders before our eyes up and down the lighted rooms; oh, it is horrible!"

"And where does Selim sleep, the brave steward, who declares he is the hero of his tribe and the world?"

"Behind the outside door, where his bed is made, and he has seen the ghost often."

"Well, it grows dark even now. If you will permit me, I will visit my small charges, and then prepare for the vigil," I said.

I found the children comfortably bestowed, and happy in their first good supper and freedom from abuse in the two years since they had been enslaved. I was grateful to the ghost I purposed capturing, for I knew well that Murad Nassyr would never have risked sheltering them from Abd el Barak had he not desired my help even more than he acknowledged. I, too, supped abundantly with my host, who then conducted me to the scene of my next adventure, pressed my hand as he said good night, and left me. I

heard the door of his apartment clang behind him, and the bolt drawn; I was alone to await my next visitor, who was supposed to come from another world.

I had provided myself with strong ropes, from one of which I made a lasso such as Sam Hawkins had so well taught me to use on the plains. With these, and my knife and pistol close at hand, I lay down on the couch placed for me, and drew up the blanket so that only my face showed.

I had not long to wait. I heard a rustle by the door leading to Murad Nassyr's apartment, which opened, and the ghost entered. By the light I saw a thin, pointed instrument in his hand, which he inserted in the hole to push back the bolt. I held my lids down, feigning sleep, but watched everything through my lashes. I felt ashamed for Murad Nassyr; this apparition had nothing ghostly about it. The fellow was wrapped in a white burnoose that fell to the ground, the hood drawn over his head, and a white cloth covered his face, in which two holes had been cut for the eyes. This was not a spirit, a ghost, but a man, and remarkably like the figure of Abd el Barak. He came over to my side and stood watching me for a few moments to assure himself I was really sleeping, though how I could be supposed to be I did not understand, for some companion ghosts were in the next room imitating the howling of dogs, and making a hubbub fit to waken the Seven Sleepers. Very softly my ghost bent over me, his right hand crept out of the burnoose, and I saw the flash of a knife blade. I did not spring up, for such a movement would have brought me directly in contact with the knife, but I threw myself at his feet, and tripped him up. The knife flew from his hand, and he fell flat across the couch. The next moment I was over him, choking him with the left hand, while with the right I dealt him a blow back of the ear. He made a feeble effort at resistance and then be-

came unconscious, whereupon I bound his arms and legs fast, and placed a nice, comfortable little gag between his jaws, that in case he regained consciousness he should not call for help. After that I pulled off the cloth covering his face, and saw, as I expected, the cruel countenance of Abd el Barak.

Without stopping to meditate on the fate that had delivered the children's oppressor into my hands while engaged in actions for which he would be punishable by law, I went in pursuit of his comrades. Taking my revolver, I crawled on my hands and knees, close to the dark wall, into the next room. There were two charming fellows here, who, to make themselves like the beasts they were imitating, were going about on all fours. Keeping myself as near the floor as I could, I crept up to them, my garments being too dark for me to be easily distinguished from the rugs. When I was within six or seven paces of the one nearest me, I sprang up and knocked him down with one good blow. He uttered a tremendous shriek, but lay still. The other, warned by this cry, arose. He saw me and started to run away, I after him, toward the basin of a fountain. A stone of the coping of this basin had gotten loose; I did not see it and tripped over it, thus delaying my flight just enough to let the fellow get sufficient start so that when I got into the garden I saw him escaping over the wall. I caught him by the foot and pulled him back. He came with such force that I fell under him; he drew his knife, but I was too quick for him, and made a swift turn, which brought the thrust between my arm and side. Then I gave him a blow on the nose, and tried to hold him by his knife hand. The pain of his cracked nose redoubled his strength; he wrenched himself free, made a dash for the wall, mounted it, dropped on the other side, and I heard him running away for dear life.

Well, it was a pity he had got off, but I was lucky to have escaped his knife. Consoling myself with this thought, I returned to the house. I found Ghost Number Two lying where my blow had stretched him. I disarmed him, and went to the main entrance of the house, where the brave Selim lay. As he heard me coming he began the Moslem pilgrim's prayer: "O Allah, protect me from the thrice stoned devil, deliver me from all evil spirits, and cover the depths of hell from mine eyes."

"Stop whimpering," I said, "and get up. It is I."

"You? And who are you?" came a voice from beneath the blanket in which he had muffled himself. "I know who you are. Go from me, for I am beloved of the Prophet, and you have no power over me."

"Nonsense! Don't you know my voice ? I am the stranger Effendi, who is your guest."

"No, you are not. You have assumed his voice to deceive. But the hands of the holy caliphs are outspread to protect me, and in paradise a million lips move in prayer for my delivery. O Allah, Allah, Allah, let my sins be so small before Thee that Thou canst not see them, and help me to overcome the evil spirit whose claws tear at my back."

The man who had boasted himself the greatest hero in the universe was fairly quivering with terror, till I pulled him out of his blanket, and he saw it was indeed I, in my own flesh, when he changed his tone. "Effendi!" he cried, "what a risk you ran! Fortunately, I recognized your voice instantly. Had I mistaken you for the ghost, your soul would have gone out of your body like smoke, for I am terrible in my wrath."

"It's a lucky thing you feel thus," I answered, "for you can help me with the ghost I have captured in my room."

"Effendi, you are jesting. Who could capture a ghost?"

"I am not jesting; he lies yonder; we'll bring him in here."

"Deliver us, O Lord, and bless us with Thy blessing!" he cried, stretching out his hands as if to ward off danger. "No order from the khedive, no law and no command could make me go into that place where the evil spirit lies."

"It isn't a ghost; it's a man."

"Then tell me his name, the name of his father, and his father's father, and where his tribe abides, or I cannot believe him a man."

"This is sheer nonsense; I knocked him down, and bound him, and in the next room lies a second man in the same condition," I said impatiently.

"Then you are lost; they have let themselves appear conquered, only to destroy you, body and soul, and throw the pieces to the wind."

"Go back to your bed and hide under the blanket. But never say again you are the most famous hero of your tribe."

So saying I left him in disgust to return to my prisoners, while he, as I learned later, went to call his master and tell him how he, Selim, single-handed and alone, had fought and conquered the two men who were playing ghosts.

I went over to Ghost Number Two and felt his head; it was swollen, but not broken; his heart beat evenly. I laid my hand on him none too gently, saying: "He who plays the dead should be dead. Take care I do not put an end to you. You have escaped this time, but ghosts receive very little mercy at my hands."

Selim opportunely thrust his head around the door at this moment, and I beckoned him to me. "You must stay with my other prisoner while I speak with Murad Nassyr," I said. "I hope I can trust him to you?"

"With full confidence, Effendi," he replied, vauntingly.

"You may rest assured that he is safe. A glance from my eagle eye will be enough to fill him with terror. But let me get my weapons."

"That is not necessary, for he is bound."

"I know that well, Effendi, but weapons double a man's value, and give his orders the force they require."

Plainly he was afraid to be left alone with these helpless men, so I consented to his dragging in his entire arsenal, and went to find Murad Nassyr. We agreed in our opinion of the best course to take, and returned together to Abd el Barak, sending Selim away, that he might not know what was done with the prisoner. I went over to Abd el Barak and unfastened his bonds. Then showing him my revolver, I said: "I'll make you a ghost in truth if you move without my permission. Listen to me."

He gave me a glance full of the bitterest hatred, folded his arms and said: "I hear you."

"First of all, you shall renounce all right to the Negro children I rescued."

"I renounce it," he said, with a movement of the hand as if it were of no interest to him.

"You will do so in writing, that there shall be no question about it."

"Very well, I will."

"You shall also give me a letter of credit recommending me to the protection of all the brethren of your society, the Kadis."

"I will write it." He answered as promptly as before; so promptly that I mistrusted him.

"And, finally, you shall confess in writing the part you have played here, and acknowledge how you were captured. We will draw this up, and you shall sign it."

"By the life of the Prophet, I never will," he cried.

"Swear not by Mohamed; you cannot keep your oath."

"I will keep it. What would you do with this paper?"

"If you do nothing to injure us, we will show it to no one, but if you should prove treacherous, we will know how to use it. It shall be published abroad, and your piety shall be known in its true aspect."

I had played my highest trump and waited its effect on Abd el Barak. He asked permission to rise, and paced the floor for several minutes. At last he paused before me, and asked: "If I do this thing shall we leave here unharmed?"

"Yes."

"And the writing never be shown till you know I have done you an injury?"

"Never."

"By my soul, and the souls of my fathers, you are a man to be feared! The day of your birth was an evil day for me. Write, and I will sign."

Seating myself at a table, I drew up the confession, and then beckoned Abd el Barak to come and sign it. He signed, and handed it back to me with a heavy sigh. "So then we are through. Unbind this man and let us go"

We freed Ghost Number Two, and conducted them to the door, where Selim stood ready to draw the bolt. As Abd el Barak set his foot over the threshold he turned back to us, and, addressing me, said in a derisive tone: "God protect you, God deliver you; I hope to see you again in a short time."

Then with his companion ghost he disappeared.

Contents

Introduction