Gilbert Parker

“ Shall a man forget his native land?"
The Khedive yawned, lighted a cigarette, and murmured through the smoke: "Inshallah! It might be pleasant—sometimes."
"I have your Highness' leave to go?" asked Dicky, as the secretary came in again with the plans of the palace in his hand.
"May God preserve your head from harm!" answered Ismail in farewell salutation, and taking a ring from his finger set with a large emerald, he gave it to Dicky. "Gold is scarce in Egypt," he went on, "but there are jewels still in the palace—and the Khedive's promises-to-pay with every money-barber of Europe!" ”

“ He saw that Sadik half suspected something, he saw that Dicky's three companions suspected, and his mind was made up on the instant—things should take their course: he would not interfere. He looked Dicky squarely in the face, and Dicky knew that the Khedive's glance said as plainly as words:
"Fool of an Englishman, go on! I will not kill you, but I will not save you. The game is in your hands alone. You can only avert suspicion by letting the Sheikh of the Dôsah make a bridge of your back. Mecca is a jest you must pay for." ”

“ For four months the Khedive was never told the truth save by European financiers, when truths were obvious facts: for four months he had never seen a fearless or an honest eye in his own household. Not that it mattered in one sense; but Ismail was a man of ideas, a sportsman of a sort, an Iniquity with his points; a man who chose the broad way because it was easier, not because he was remorseless. ”

“ Dicky expected the hind hoofs to crush down on his back or neck, and drew in his breath; but the horse, excited by the cries of the people, sprang clear of him, and the hind hoofs fell with a sickening thud on the back and neck of the dervish who had been the cause of the disaster. ”

“ Whatever it was to be, his fate would soon come, and in any case he had done what only one European before him had done: he had penetrated to the tomb of Mahomet in Mecca. Whatever should come, he had crowded into his short life a thousand unusual and interesting things. His inveterate curiosity had served him well, and he had paid fairly for the candles of his game. He was ready.
Low moans came to his ears. He could hear the treading hoofs of the Sheikh's horse. Nearer and nearer the frightened animal came ”

“ Also the Khedive told Sadik the Mouffetish that if any harm came to Dicky there would come harm to him. The Khedive loved to play one man off against another, and the death of Sadik or the death of Dicky would have given him no pain, if either seemed necessary. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1932, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 91 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”