: ... - '. m i I . m lags ASKAROS KASSIS THE COPT. A ROMANCE OF MODERN EGYPT. BY EDWIN DE LEON LATE U. S. CONSUL-GENERAL FOR EGYPT. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 1870. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., i the Clerk's Office of the District Dourt of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. LIPPINCOTT'S PRESS, PHILADELPHIA. TO MY FRIEND WILLIAM C. PRIME, OF NEW YORK, AUTHOR OF "BOAT LIFE IN EGYPT," AND "TENT LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND," WHO OF ALL AMERICAN WRITERS HAS MOST THOROUGHLY IMBUED HIMSELF WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE EAST; IN MEMORY OF THE MANY PLEASANT HOURS SPENT UNDER HIS TENT IN THE HOLY LAND, This Photograph of Eastern Life and Manners. 2052380 PREFACE. AS the East was the cradle of the human race the fountain whence modern civilization has drawn its life, its literature and its religion ; and as even to this day it furnishes the fictions that delight our childhood so, also, is it the only spot left on the earth's surface, where romance enters into the daily life of the people, and the dreams of the Poet ripen into realities. Haunted by the memories of that dreamy land, in which I was so long a sojourner, I cannot refrain from recording and relating some passages from an Eastern life the facts of which, even without the color- ing of romance, would seem stranger than fiction and weaving them into the threads of the tale now offered to the reader. If the incidents of this tale be not altogether true of particular persons, they yet have their foundations in fact; and many of the most startling revelations of Eastern life and Eastern habits are reproduced from the Vi PREFACE. memory of the writer, with the fidelity of the photo- graph. For he enjoyed peculiar facilities and exceptional ad- vantages for seeing and learning many things, which must ever be as a sealed book to the tourist, or the trader, in the East. His official position and long resi- dence as well as his knowledge of the language and private life of the people gave him opportunities of observation, of which the fruits are now displayed in this book. Although a perpetual stream of tourists pours into and through Egypt, each winter from the savant striving to decipher hieroglyphics, to the "Inquisitive traveller," as described by Sterne ; and although books without end have been, and continue to be, written on Egypt still as little is known now of the inner life and peculiar mental characteristics of the modern Egyptian, as of his mummied progenitors. For the Oriental is a type of human being as different from the Western, as it is possi- ble for the imagination to conceive. Mr. Lane's book on " The Modern Egyptians " proba- b'.y constitutes the sole exception, as to the prose : as ' Eothen" and W. C. Prime's charming sketches do of ;he poetry of that Eastern life. The Eastern man comes in contact, but never amalga- mates with the Western, for whom his nature has no real affinity but rather repulsion skilfully as he may adopt PREFACE. VI) at Stamboul, or Alexandria, the outward usages of Euro- pean civilization. He adopts these as he does its dress wears it in public, but casts it off in private with a sigh of relief re- suming his own more easy habits, which he has simply put by, not relinquished. The traveller and the stranger see him only in full dress. It is only long and intimate acquaintance that admits of his being seen in dishabille. Two things color the whole woof and web of Eastern society the fatalism of "Islam," which permeates and blends with every act of its daily life and the isolation of the Hareem, which establishes the social position of woman. The influences of both are depicted in this book. The fatalism which governs Islam, is already vaguely under- stood abroad; but the position of woman in the East and her actual life there, have never been compre- hended ; the hitherto impenetrable veil of the Hareem having shrouded its secrets. It was reserved for the hand of the poet first to raise that veil; and in the "Palm Leaves" of Richard Monckton Milnes, may be found the first true pictures of the inner life of the Orient ever given in the English tongue as Gcethe's " West- CEstlicher Divan " gave it in the German many years ago. Truly does the poet of the ' ' Palm Leaves ' ' sing of woman in the East ; who, viii PREFACE, like her sister in the West though in a different shape wields a power over the destiny of man : "Thus ever in the closed Hareem, As in the open Western home, Sheds womanhood her starry gleam, Over our being's busy foam ; Through latitudes of varying faith, Thus trace we still her mission sure To lighten life to sweeten death And all for others to endure." The realities of the East are stranger than the dreams of the West ; and yet, since the prose extravaganza of " Vathek" and the poetical rhapsodies of Lord Byron more than a quarter of a century ago that rich field has been neglected by poet and novelist alike. From that garden, then, let us cull a few flowers ; and let the reader taking a seat upon the magical carpet of the Persian Prince, of the " Thousand and One Nights 1 ' be transported to the world-famous city of Old Cairo, where our story opens. Inshallah! E. DE L. NEW YORK, December, 1869. PA81 CHAPTER I. GRAND CAIRO 13 CHAPTER II. ON THE EZBEKIEH 26 CHAPTER III. THE SERPENT CHARM 39 CHAPTER IV. A DINNER X LA TURQUE 49 CHAPTER V. AN EGYPTIAN VICEROY IN PUBLIC 64 CHAPTER VI. THE VICEROY IN PRIVATE 74 CHAPTER VII. HAWK AND DOVE 86 CHAPTER VIII. THE HAREEM OF THE PRINCESS NEZL . . . . . 99 ix x CONTENTS. PAG CHAPTER IX. UP THE NILE IN A DAHABIEH ..- CHAPTER X. I2C PERIL AND RESCUE . . CHAPTER XI. THE BULBUL AND THE ROSE ...... X 33 CHAPTER XII. NEW LOVE AT OLD LUXOR ....... X 49 CHAPTER XIII. A NEW FRIEND WITH AN OLD FACE ..... l6 CHAPTER XIV. THE COPT AND THE HEBREW ...... l6 7 CHAPTER XV. THE WILD DOGS ........ Z 77 CHAPTER XVI. THE TIGER TAMER ....... ' l8 9 CHAPTER XVII. WARNING AND FLIGHT ....... 2 4 CHAPTER XVIII THE OLD COPT'S SIESTA ....... 2I1 CHAPTER XIX. A RACE WITH THE KHAMSEEN WIND . . . 216 CHAPTER XX. THE MODERN FAUST ........ 22 % CHAPTER XXI. UNDER THE TENTS OF THE BENI-HASSAN .... 240 CONTENTS. XI PAGB CHAPTER XXII. THE BRIDE OF THE SEA 254 CHAPTER XXIII. MOUSSA-BEN-ISRAEL 265 CHAPTER XXIV. THE VICEROY PAYS THE SYRIAN 280 CHAPTER XXV. " THE OLD, OLD STORY " 289 CHAPTER XXVI. THE VULTURE SCENTS HIS PREY 295 CHAPTER XXVII. THE CEREMONY OF THE DOSEH 304 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE SEARCH THROUGH THE NIGHT 314 CHAPTER XXIX. DAOUD-BEN-YOUSSOUF 322 CHAPTER XXX. THE DOVE IN THE VULTURE'S NEST 336 CHAPTER XXXI. THE MAD-HOUSE OF THE MAURISTAN .... 350 CHAPTER XXXII. A STRANGE FRIEND IN A STRANGE PLACE .... 366 CHAPTER XXXIII. THE LOST MESSENGER 379 CHAPTER XXXIV. " A LITTLE MORE THAN KIN AND LESS THAN KIND . . 385 Xll CONTENTS. tttm CHAPTER XXXV. THE SWOOP OF THE VULTURE . . . . . . 394 CHAPTER XXXVI. ORZMUD AND AHRIMAN . . . 403 v CHAPTER XXXVII. EL WARDA'S SACRIFICE 412 CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE HAWK STRIKES THE VULTURE 423 CHAPTER XXXIX. THE DEAD MAN'S RIDE ... ... 434 CHAPTER XL. EL WARDA'S VIGIL 444 CHAPTER XLI. THE SYRIAN'S REWARD ACI ASKAROS KASSIS. CHAPTER I. GRAND CAIRO. IT was evening at Grand Cairo, in the month of De- cember ; such an evening as the residents in colder climes may have fancied, but never felt. Breezes as soft and bland as those of spring whispered among the feathery foliage of the palm-trees. A soft, summery haze was settling down upon the distant range of the Mokattam hills, which alone broke the monotony of the view over the surrounding Desert. Clearly and sharply defined through the lucid air, in bold relief against the cloudless azure of the sky, rose the sharp cones of the Pyramids pointing like giant fingers to heaven, stately and sublime in their severe sim- plicity sole record left of the great Pharaohs, whose pride had constructed them as places of sepulture. Winding like a golden thread between the city and Great Desert fringed with its stately palms, and bor- dered by palaces whose latticed windows concealed many I 4 ASKAROS KASSIS. a fairy-like form glittered the waters of the Nile Father of Rivers not only the great fertilizer of the land of Egypt, but the object of the love and veneration of her imaginative people, who find saving virtues for soul and body in its yellow waters. The Desert, like a great sea with its ever-restless waves of shifting sand, stretched out its vast billows beyond the Pyramids to the far-distant horizon, as though repelled alone from whelming the city under a sand deluge by those mighty sentinels which, with the Sphinx, stand keeping watch and ward over the fair "City of the Faithful." Within Cairo rose, shrill and frequent, on the evening air, all those indescribable cries and sounds of man and beast which make Eastern so different from Western cities which cause Eastern life to appear so vivid and so varied, after the hushed repose of noonday, when, in those fervid climes, both man and nature seem steeped in profound sleep. "When the sun goes down all Africa dances," said an old traveller. He might have said, "All Africa awakens ; " for dancing is not considered there a mascu- line accomplishment, but rather regarded as an infamous employment. In the very heart of old Cairo stands a huge park, several hundred acres in area, planted with acacias and other shade trees, filled with flowering shrubs, and inter- sected by long avenues and winding footpaths. Rustic seats are scattered everywhere through it; and coffee- houses proffer their refreshment of nargileh, chibouque, coffee, sherbet, and lemonade to its many pleasure- seekers. This is "The Ezbekich," the public prome- nade of the citizens, native and foreign a people as ASKAROS KASSIS. 15 gay, after their own fashion, as the Parisians, and quite as much addicted to enjoyment in the open air. Around ' ' The Ezbekieh ' ' are grouped the houses of the European quarter, for most of the foreigners reside in its vicinity. Here, too, are the great hotels for the accommodation of tourists from Europe, and of passengers to and from India, who pass through Egypt to the number of several thousand each month, and make it a Babel of tongues and nationalities while the transit pours through. At one of the open windows of the " Hotel d 1 Orient" the best and largest of these hotels there stood on this particular evening a group of strangers, apparently watching with amused and curious interest the panoramic view of desert, sky, mountain, and pyramid in the dis- tance, and of the varied, many-hued, and pictorial cur- rent of life in the street below. The party consisted of a man of middle age, with portly figure and ruddy, open face, whose florid com- plexion, clear blue eyes, and square-built frame indicated Teutonic origin; though, in fact, he was an American citizen by birth as well as nationality. Cornelius Van Camp was a fine specimen of that species, now almost extinct in America, a genuine Knick- erbocker. His blood yet ran slowly and coolly through his veins not at that mad gallop with which it circulates through those of Young America, who eats fast, drinks fast, lives fast, and dies very fast, indeed. To look upon him, one might see he was a solid man in all respects ; in mind as in body a trifle obstinate, perhaps, yet thor- oughly reliable. Near him stood a young man and a young girl, in both of whom could be traced a strong family likeness to their portly progenitor, though sharpened into American 1 6 ASKAROS K ASS IS. angularity in the first instance, and softened into rare womanly loveliness in the second. A tall man, of aris- tocratic face and mien, whose costume and long yellow whiskers no less than the many straps that crossed and recrossed his chest, supporting spy-glass and all the other paraphernalia of a British tourist spoke him unmistakably an Englishman, lounged against the window-sill, appa- rently more occupied in gazing on the fair face near him than on the strange sights and scenes beneath. Another female figure completed the group; and it was one that contrasted strikingly with the fresh and youthful loveliness of the girl, whose arm was around her waist. For this lady was neither young nor lovely ; and there was little freshness and roundness in her face, or person. On the contrary, she was angular and bony, with high, severe features, and a sour expression of coun- tenance her prominent and beady black eyes concen- trating their rays to a focus through a pair of large round glasses set in steel frames. Those eyes seemed to look out scornfully and suspiciously on all external objects ; while the erect rigidity of the spare form and the pursed- up expression of the pinched lips indicated a protracted spinsterhood, which man delighted not nor woman nei- ther. She looked, as she was, the maiden aunt of the fair young girl professor of one of the sternest creeds and possessor of one of the stiffest spines in all unbend- ing New England. She was a strong-minded woman of the purest Boston school, which takes its metaphysics from Emerson, its morals from Theodore Parker, its manners from the Puritan Fathers ; and which finally considers there can be no salvation outside of New Eng- land ! Such was Miss Priscilla Primmins, who on this bright ASKAROS KASSIS. IJ evening stood, an unconscious foil, by the side of her blooming young relative, looking down with grim, de- fiant austerity on the lively scenes below. And yet it required a mind severely schooled, to avoid being interested and fascinated by the combination of the gorgeous and grotesque in the strange panorama defiling through the narrow streets beneath the window, and winding away among the alleys and avenues of the Ezbe- kieh. Nor were the sounds less varied than the sights ; from the deep, grunting bass of the complaining camel, to the resonant bray of the donkey; the hoarse, guttural imprecations of the Arab men, and the shrill, shrieking treble of the donkey boys; with the occasional passage of a marriage or funeral procession, followed by singing or wailing women. Ever and anon the advent of some Egyptian noble would be announced by the running sa't's, or groom, clearing the way in advance for his Arab steed, by loud cries of " Oa yer Ragl ! Oa yer Bint! ' ' (Get out of the way, O man ! Get out of the way, O woman !) . accompanied by sharp strokes of the stick he carried, if the warning were unheeded. Jostling each other on the narrow streets were the most incongruous medleys of humanity Dives and Lazarus : the haughty Egyptian Bey, or Pasha, on his fiery Arab, with housings of cloth of gold, and bridle gleaming with precious stones, side by side with the Fellah peasant, perched like a monkey on his small donkey ; or the Arab woman straddling the same useful but humble animal, man-fashion, her knees almost reaching her nose, her figure wrapped like a bundle in a black silk cloak only two glittering eyes visible through the impervious veil. Then would follow a long train of hideous, spectral-looking camels ; the tail of each tied to 2* B 18 ASKAROS KASSIS. the nose of his successor their soft, shapeless splay feet resembling huge sponges, and making no sound as they filed past, with their long, crooked necks and serpent- like heads swaying from side to side. Next in the midst of this swaying, surging tide might be seen the sturdy form of some British tourist, perched on a donkey, almost small enough to permit the rider's legs to drag on the ground, and followed by the yelling donkey-boy, clad in his scant blue shirt, and crying aloud in Arabic, to the infinite amusement of the natives: "Son of a jackass, ridden by the son of a jackass, go faster ! " Meanwhile the unconscious traveller is blandly trustful, and dreams of no insult from the small offender he imagines in terrible awe of him. The young girl turned her bright eyes, full of animated interest, upon the elder maiden, as she exclaimed : " Oh, aunt ! is not this wonderful ? Does it not look to you like a page torn from the Arabian Nights ? Why, these are the very people there described the one-eyed water-carrier, the veiled woman, the old story-teller under the tree, and the wicked black man from the Hareem ! " The rigid face of Miss Priscilla Primmins grew more rigid still as the young Edith thus appealed to her, and, in a voice which corresponded with her face, she coldly answered : " I think it a very improper spectacle to let a young lady's eyes rest upon, Edith ! And I only wonder that a man of your father's good sense should permit you to witness such indecent exposures of person as these people make habitually ! It may all be very picturesque, but I know in Boston we should consider it highly indecent. Improper sights and bad smells seem to me the leading characteristics of Cairo." ASKAROS KASSIS. ig " But, my dear aunt ! " persisted the younger woman, who was determined not to share the fate of Cleopatra's pearl, and be dissolved in the vinegar of her acid rela- tive, "you must own that it is totally unlike any other place, or people, in the world : that it is a gay and glit- tering pageant, not entirely composed of the unpleasant things you mention. Oh ! look there, for instance ! See that group of Fellah men and women under the palm-tree, listening to the old story-teller. Is not that truly Oriental? And it's not the least improper ! " "Very Oriental, no doubt," grumbled the spinster. " Half-naked savages squatting in a circle, and smoking filthy pipes that poison the air! Sir Charles," ad- dressing the Englishman, "what do yoii think of these Arabs my niece so raves about ? ' ' "Rum lot of beggars!" growled the Englishman, languidly. Then, rousing himself by an effort, he added : ' ' Creatures that possess all the disagreeable qualities of the monkey, without the useful addition of being able to swing from a tree by the tail. I have served in India, and know the Blackies well. All the same everywhere. ' ' Now Miss Priscilla albeit a staunch republican in theory adored a live lord with that strange inconsist- ency common to our countrymen and women abroad. Still, she felt it incumbent upon her to repel the English- man's views upon the "man and brother" whom Boston delighted to honor so she made a feeble protest: "I fear, my lord, you are prejudiced against the African ! If you will but read "A thousand pardons!" hastily broke in his lord- ship; "I plead guilty, bow to the judgment of the court, and will admit that you have ' washed the Ethiop 2O ASKAROS KASSIS. white ! ' for really this climate is too hot for any mental effort." The ancient maiden smiled grimly, retired from the window, took up a volume of Orphic Sayings of Alcott, and abstracted herself from the contemplation of the improper external world. Sir Charles glided into the place she had left vacant, and, with a faint smile, said to Edith : " I thought the enemy would retire before my assault on the strong position ; but you must not imagine I am insensible to the influences of this place and hour, nor ' ' and his voice softened "to that of her who lends it its greatest charm by her presence. ' ' "Positively a compliment from Sir Charles the Cynic!" laughed Edith. "Wonder upon wonder ! I shall nearly begin to believe in Egyptian magic next ! ' ' "Say rather in American," replied her companion, adopting her own tone of banter. "But I must tear myself away, for I see your brother Harry is impatient to be off to the Bazaars. We pledged ourselves to a solemn old Arab merchant to repair at sunset to smoke pipes with him and select some trash. So, au revoir !" The two young men left the room together ; the elder Van Camp had thrown himself at full length on an otto- man in the corner, and was thinking accompanied by a running bass from his nostrils. The ancient spinster was absorbed with Orphic utterances, with her back to the girl. Edith remained alone at the window, her arms resting on the cushion that covered the sill, and her eyes sometimes fixed on the scene below, sometimes wandering over the distant prospect of palm-trees, pyra- mids, river, and desert. There was nothing sad or troubled in the reveries into which she plunged as the ASKAROS KASSIS. 21 sun set and the crowds on the street dwindled into an occasional passer-by ; for very fresh looked she in her young loveliness, evidently "in maiden meditation, fancy-free." The quick tramp of a horse on the street below her window, followed by the cry of a running sa'is, " Oa ! Oa/" startled her from her revery. Glancing down, she saw as gallant a cavalier as ever won bright glances from the eyes or sweet words from the lips of ladye faire in the good days of chivalry ; and once having looked, her gaze was attracted and riveted to its object. The cavalier was a man in the first bloom of youth, who sat his magnificent white Arab charger with an easy grace that spoke of perfect horsemanship. He was richly clad in the Eastern dress ; but the unshaven head over which, however, he wore the red Fez cap pro- claimed him to be no Mussulman. The rich housings of his Turkish saddle, and the precious stones that orna- mented the bridle and headstall, proved him to be a personage of rank and wealth ; a fact equally announced by the air of command stamped on his face and person. The sa'is, a Berberi, black as night, with his bare ebony legs lithe and sinewy as those of a greyhound clad in a white shirt, with a crimson sash tied round his waist, and a snowy turban on his head, waved in his hand a short staff, with which he struck out right and left to clear the way for his master. As the long, swinging stride of the Arab horse bore his rider under the window of the hotel, the latter chanced to look carelessly up, and as his glance fell on the bright countenance of the American girl so marked in such a place he revealed his own face, which was in perfect harmony with his graceful figure and rich cos- 22 ASKAROS K ASS IS. tume. For that face was one on which painter or sculp- tor would have gazed with rapture as a fitting model for the young Antinous, so perfect was the outline of the clear-cut delicate features, relieved by the resolute ex- pression of the mouth, and the calm serenity of the eye. Though young and beardless, save a slight silken moustache, the impress of passion, tempered by thought, was already stamped on the broad brow and the lines about the corners of the mouth. His complexion was darker than that of a European a rich, clear olive, through which the blood seemed to glow, like light through an alabaster lamp ; while the lips were as deli- cately chiselled and of as ripe a red as those of a woman. The gloved hand with which he restrained the fiery impatience of his steed, who chafed and fretted like a stag-hound preparing for a bound, seemed equally deli- cate and muscular. The proportions of his figure were concealed below the waist by the ample Turkish trow- sers, falling in heavy folds even to the shovel stirrup that concealed his foot ; but it was easy to see that the frame, at once slight and supple, was firmly knit and capable of great endurance. But the character of the face was given by the eye large, black, and lustrous, with slumbering depths of un- revealed passion lurking in it. Now liquid with tender- ness, now flashing with anger or mirth, the white pos- sessing that peculiar opaque hue, like porcelain, seen only in the eyes of Eastern men, and the iris contracting and dilating like that of the lion there seemed a hidden fascination in the glance of this stranger that sent a sud- den thrill through the fearless bosom of the young girl. Equally strong seemed the impression produced on the Oriental by this lovely apparition, so different from ASKAROS KASSIS. 23 his own dusky countrywomen set, as it were, in the stone framework of the window. By an involuntary movement, his contracted arm curbed in his steed so suddenly and so sharply, that the powerful Turkish bit tore open his delicate mouth until blood flecked the foam he champed upon it as he recoiled upon his very haunches. The rider kept his seat, unmoved by the sudden and violent shock, but relaxed the rein to relieve the tortured mouth. Maddened by the pain and by the sudden check, the gallant horse, snorting with wrath till his dilated nostrils glowed to a bright red, bounded straight up into the air, and, by a succession of rapid, frantic plunges, sought to displace his rider. The struggle was violent but brief. Vain were all the efforts of the furious steed to unseat his tormentor, who inflicted punishment on flanks and sides with the sharp shovel stirrups, and wrenched his mouth with the terri- ble bit, till the desert-born, panting, trembling and ex- hausted, abandoned the unequal contest and stood quiv- ering in every limb, but perfectly still, his eye glaring with mingled rage and fear. Then the rider spoke a few soothing words in Arabic, and patted the arched neck of his favorite as though in reconciliation, and the noble beast seemed to recognize the friendly overture and acknowledge it. With the nearly human intelli- gence with which the pure-blooded Arab horse seems endowed, he turned his head toward his master in a mute response, then stood quiet and still, as if carved from stone. With the flush of exertion and excitement hardly dying from his face, and still lingering in his eye, the rider once more glanced up at the casement, and their eyes met; his, full of admiring wonder hers, full of an 24 ASKAROS KASSIS. interest and sympathy that brightened the usually calm face into a glory like that of one of Correggio's saints. That electric spark of sympathy, which can sometimes flash through the eye from one soul to another in a second's space, ineffaceable, enduring, eternal rapid and subtle as the lightning's flash, and sometimes as blasting passed now between these two existences, but a moment before utterly unknown to each other even now strangers. A look, a glance, a moment's vision how one of these may alter the whole current of a life, opening fountains of bright or bitter memories all sealed before ! For in every human experience can be found, the truth, that the great heart-quakes of our lives have been preceded by some such trivial incident, unregarded at the time, yet really the harbinger of the new soul- birth. From the large luminous eyes of the Oriental there flashed upon the maiden a glance full of fire and wonder of open, undisguised admiration, but still not disrespect- ful. Then, with one word to his steed, the impatient animal bounded forward like a deer, and both horse and rider were lost to the maiden's gaze, in the shadows of the fast-falling night. Edith Van Camp was not at all what is- called a roman- tic girl. She was not prone to indulge in foolish fancies, or idle dreams, for her organization, mental and physical, was too healthy, and her Dutch blood and American training had not been the nurses of sentimentalism. She piqued herself upon her common sense ; and had laughed off, hitherto, all attempts to awaken the poetic and dreamy element slumbering in her nature. She therefore felt annoyed and irritated at the strange fascination she had experienced from the momentary ASKAROS KASSIS. 25 presence and startling glance of the stranger; and still, as she strained her eyes after horse and rider under the dim shadows of the trees of the Ezbekieh, she murmured to herself half unconsciously : ' ' He is like my girlish dreams of Haroun al Raschid ! ' ' Just then from the high minaret of the mosque El Aksar, near the hotel, suddenly pealed out on the still- ness of the night the warning cry of the Muezzin, floating down through the quiet air like a prophetic voice from heaven: " Allah il Allah! Mohammed resoul Allah!" (There is no God but God ! and Mohammed is the messenger of God.) It startled the girl from her revery. Though con- scious no eye was upon her, with a bright blush she smiled faintly at her own fancies ; then frowned impatiently to herself as she muttered : " I do believe there is magic in this climate ! ' ' Passing within the chamber, she proceeded to rouse from his meditations her refreshed sire, whose nasal melodies were now on the trombone ; and her respected aunt, whom Orphic sayings had reduced to a perform- ance on a shriller but similar instrument. 3 CHAPTER II. ON THE EZBEKIEH. WHO" that has ever passed a night in Cairo can fail to recall the memories of the Ezbekieh, and the glimpses into fairy-land it gave him? Who can forget that enchanted spot, so thoroughly Oriental in all its features and surroundings so thoroughly steeped in the drowsy, sensual spirit of the East? The streets are silent and deserted ; the hum of labor has ceased ; the houses are all closed, and a few twink- ling lights from the lattices alone indicate that this vast hive of humanity, with its half million of inhabitants, is not a City of the Dead. For the shops are all closed, and the prowling wild dogs alone traverse the narrow, deserted streets, so thronged with eager, noisy life a few hours before. Occasionally a solitary wayfarer, bearing a paper lantern in his hand to light his way through the dark and crooked streets, may be seen hurrying home ; otherwise, they are empty. One spot alone is full of light and life, and that is the Ezbekieh. There all is gayety and animation. Innumer- able lamps, of varied colors, hang suspended from the trees and in front of the coffee-houses, which are driving a roaring trade in coffee, sherbet, lemonade, confection- 26 ASKAROS KASSIS. 2/ ery, and pipes. Crowds of people of every nationality are strolling up and down the leafy walks, or sitting on the chairs and benches in front of the chief coffee-houses, where small, round tables are placed for the refreshments ordered. The bubbling of the water-pipes, or nargilehs, makes a peculiar music ; the amber mouth-pieces of chibouques are pressed by bearded lips of Turk, Arab, and Christian ; while the foreign fair ones, who are out in full force, do not disdain to smoke cigarettes in the intervals of conversation and flirtation ; for the foreign element at Cairo though not so large at that time as at present numbered then some four or five thousand persons, chiefly Greeks and Italians, but intermixed with every continental nationality. All of these, as old resi- dents, had contracted many of the strange habitudes of the country. The Eastern man is the most tolerant of human beings, so that every individual there could indulge his own peculiarity of costume or manners, without remark ; and the mtlange on the Ezbekieh, therefore, was something most curious to contemplate. Independent of the Euro- pean residents, and the swarm of tourists, Egypt itself numbers no less than sixteen different races among its native and transplanted population. Each one of these is distinguished by some peculiarity of costume or of manner. There you saw men of all shades of color, different types of race and variety of costume, from the half-naked Fellah, or peasant, the stark-naked Santon, or Saint, the richly-clad Turk, and the straight-laced E^uro- pean, all blent, mingled, and fused together, under the leafy canopy, sipping coffee, smoking, and swallowing sherbets, as they lounged up and down, conversing to- gether in a perfect Babel of blended tongues of every known dialect of Eastern and Western language. 28 ASKAROS KASSIS. Here native jugglers were performing wonderful feats of sleight of hand, or strength, swallowing live snakes, and piercing themselves with sharp knives. A little farther on a blind old man was beating furiously on a drum of fish-skin, and a wild-eyed Arab girl twanged with her dusky fingers a darabuka, or rude guitar, droning a monot- onous chant to the accompaniment, while a dancing-girl exhibited graceful but most lascivious postures far out- stripping the modern ballet, over which hang enraptured now the fashionables both of Europe and America. Crouched on the ground is the old story-teller, re- hearsing for the thousandth time some rude version of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, to a circle of half- naked peasants, squatted on their hams around him moving them alternately to laughter and to tears. Sol- diers in the Egyptian uniform of tight white jacket and baggy breeches of the same color, with gaiters reaching to the knee, shuffle past ; and richly dressed Arnaouts, or Albanian soldiers, in the picturesque Greek costume gold-embroidered jacket, with white fustenelles, or plaited shirts, and sash girded round the wasp-like waist swagger by. Ruthless ruffians these last ; neither Turk nor Chris- tian, but a compound of the worst vices of both armed to the teeth always, with pistol-butts ostentatiously pro- truding from the sash on each side, and rows of brass capsules, containing cartridges, ornamenting their breasts, till they look like walking arsenals. On that part of the Ezbekieh fronting the Hotel d' Orient was an open space before the chief European coffee-house. In this were ranged the seats and tables already spoken of, and a European band, composed of refugee musicians, chiefly Italians, from time to time discoursed most excel- lent music. Around these, as a centre, were grouped ASKAROS KASSIS. 29 most of the European residents of Cairo, as well as the visitors ; and among the latter were the party of travellers to whom the reader has already been introduced. Miss Priscilla Primmins had preferred remaining at the hotel, through the double fear of contracting a cold in the open air, and the secret dread she entertained of every half-naked Arab, in whom she saw a fanatical ruffian, who believed paradise his reward for assassinat- ing a Christian. "I have never yet passed an evening on Boston Com- mon," she replied to Mr. Van Camp's invitation; "and it is a far nicer place than this barbarous grove : so I do not see why I should disgust myself by mixing with those dirty savages over yonder. I have a sweet poem of Whittier's here, which will amuse me until your return." So the party went without Miss Priscilla, to the great delight of the young men, who looked upon the spinster much as Coleridge's wedding-guest regarded the Ancient Mariner. Sitting under the acacias, listening to the music and chatting pleasantly over all the strange sights and sounds around them, under the silvery brightness of a Cairene moon, which gave light enough to read by, our new friends were enjoying themselves thoroughly. Sir Charles was talking to Edith, who rattled away in response right merrily, when suddenly she stopped in the midst of a sentence, and colored so violently, that neck, brow, and bosom grew crimson, while her eyes wandered back and forth from one particular acacia-tree. A man was leaning against it, in the full light of the lamps in front of the coffee-house. Her blush and confusion were not noticed by the Eng- lishman, who was not a quick or accurate observer; but 30 ASKAROS KASSIS. his glance, following hers, also rested on the face and form of the lounger under the acacia. "By Jove ! " he exclaimed, "what a handsome fellow that Turk is ! He is a perfect stunner ! Never saw a finer fellow to make a beauty man in a crack corps, if he only had an inch more, and wore uniform instead of bags. Miss Van Camp, there is a model Oriental for you!" Edith only murmured something in reply. Her eye had already caught the form and features so strangely and so indelibly impressed upon her memory by a single glance. But after a moment she rallied, and replied rather indifferently : "Oh, yes ! Good-looking enough, doubtless, but very probably like most Egyptian views good to look at only from a distance. The difference between the various classes in the East, they tell me, consists chiefly in dress, and the pipe-bearer and the pasha are equally ignorant and brutal." "Well, perhaps so," responded the Englishman, "but that is really a fine animal, nevertheless. Reminds one of a Bengal tiger ; very agreeable to look at, quite beau- tiful and gentle in appearance, but a terribly sharp claw concealed under the velvet paw. I know a man when I see him, and depend upon it, that fellow yonder is on&^ "Really, Sir Charles," laughed Edith, in her old manner, "I shall begin to believe you have contracted an unfortunate attachment for this I cannot say 'fair' unknown, for he is very dark. But I fear he observes he is the subject of our remark." As she spoke, the person whom they were discussing prepared to move on, throwing, as he did so, a rapid glance at the young girl, in which she thought there was ASKAROS KASSIS. 3! a gleam of recognition. Just at the moment, Harry Van Camp, who had been smoking a chibouque at a little distance, sauntered up to where his sister sat. ''Look at that Turk, yonder," Sir Charles said to him. "He comes up to my ideal of what an Eastern prince ought to be. Is n't he a crusher? " But Harry did not answer, and only stared hard at the stranger with a puzzled expression of countenance. "Surely that face is familiar to me," he muttered to himself. "Where can I have seen it often before? It is not a common one." And after a moment, a sudden recollection flashed over his face, as he cried: "By jingo ! it must be my old chum at Eton, Askaros Kassis ! We used to call him the Egyptian prince over there. He and a batch of other young highnesses were sent over to be educated by old Mehemet Ali, and I always heard he was a great swell in his own country. I '11 try if it isn't he, at all events." So, as the Egyptian sauntered slowly off, the younger Van Camp, making a detour, passed in front of him, looking full and inquiringly at him as their eyes met. Over the dark features of the Egyptian passed the same shadow of doubt and half-recognition that had flitted across the American's a moment before; but his face lit up with a sunny smile as Van Camp advanced with out- stretched hand, and cried : "Why, Askaros, is it you, old fellow? And have you forgotten your old friend, Harry Van Camp?" "No, indeed," replied the Egyptian, in perfect Eng- lish, but with a slight foreign intonation. ' ' One does not forget old friends so readily at least in the East," he added, laughing. " But I had not the faintest idea you had recrossed the Atlantic since we parted at Eton, 32 ASKAROS K ASS IS. you for America, I for Egypt. But as you are here now, you must let me try and do the honors of my country for you." Then the young men plunged into a long talk about old schoolmates, interspersed with reminiscences shared together, of the past happy college days, when the younger Van Camp was finishing his education in England. Their colloquy ended by the Egyptian's promising to call on the ensuing morning at the hotel, that he might be presented to his friend's family, and constitute himself their cicerone while in Cairo, for, on looking around to find his party, after his long talk, Harry found his father and sister had left the Ezbekieh, and as the hour was very late, had probably retired for the night. Next morning at breakfast, while he was relating to his sister his discovery the night before, and giving a glow- ing panegyric on the high qualities of head and heart of the Egyptian, the latter's name was announced, and Askaros entered the room. He advanced with easy grace to greet his friend ; but a new light came into his eye and a deeper glow tinged his dark cheek, when he found that the sister was the same lady by whom he had been so impressed the evening before. She also seemed slightly confused, although prepared by her brother's revela- tion, and sustained by that superior tact which seems a natural gift to women she suffered no sign of it to appear ; greeting her brother's friend cordially, but with apparent unconsciousness of ever having seen him before. Mr. Van Camp, senior, was very cordial in his recep- tion of Askaros ; but Miss Primmins was so astonished at witnessing the deportment of this "native" who, as she afterward expressed it, "actually acted and spoke like a civilized Christian ! and even understood English !" A SKA R OS KASSIS. 33 that her usual volubility forsook her, and she sat star- ing at the young man with eyes and mouth wide open, as though he were some new and strange specimen of nat- ural history. After an animated colloquy, chiefly relating to the objects of most interest in and around Cairo, the young man rose to leave. "From what you tell me," he said to Mr. Van Camp, "your party have already seen the ordinary sights of- Cairo, such as dragomen usually show to strangers. You have seen the Citadel, the Mosque of Mehemet Ali, Joseph's Well, and the Bazaars. You have spent an evening on the Ezbekieh; but there are many peculiar things in this country not on public exhibition, and for some of these you must permit me to be your cicerone. Have you yet dined in Turkish fashion? Ah, you have not? Then honor me by dining with me to-morrow, and I will show you a specimen of that performance. Of course I include the ladies ; and we will only dine thus to gratify your curiosity. As your son has doubtless told you, I am a Copt and a Christian, and my habits, as well as my faith, are fashioned after your models." So saying, with the graceful salutation of the East touching Avith his right hand his brow, lips, and heart, with a gesture full of ease and dignity he bowed low and left the apartment. There was a brief pause after his departure. It was broken by the amazed Primmins, whose spell seemed broken as he left the room ; and whose tongue seemed suddenly loosened, like the famous frozen horn of the Baron Munchausen. "Well ! " she said, with a gasping sigh, " if I write this to Beacon Street, they never will believe it ! I scarcely C 34 ASKAROS KASSIS. can trust the evidence of my own eyes and ears. Why, this Egyptian Turk, with his baggy what was I going to say ! I mean dress except that his face is a little yellow, acts and talks just like any one of the young men you meet on the Milldam, a fine afternoon, in sleighing- time ! But I don't believe one word about his being a Christian, although he said he was. That is all nonsense, of course." "Why, aunt, did you not hear him say he was a Copt, not a Turk or Arab ? ' ' cried Edith ; ' ' and do you not know the Copts claim to be the earliest Christians, and look down with contempt on the Greek and Latin Catho- lic Churches as only upstarts of yesterday?" "Well, my child, if you only had read that blessed Theodore Parker's works, you would know that all these old forms are nothing but superstitions and priestly con- trivances ; and that the only pure religion on earth is to be found, not in the East, where it was born, but in our Down-East, where it has become national and universal. But your father gets angry when I talk philosophically, and has old-fashioned notions, so I will say no more. But I must believe a Turk is a Turk, though he can speak English and act like a Christian ! ' ' As Miss Priscilla Primmins, with all her philosophy and philanthropy, got rapidly red in the face and loud of voice whenever contradicted glaring fiercely through the glass bow-windows on her Roman nose her niece thought it prudent to drop the subject. But the Englishman, who had been an amused listener, here interposed. "I am sorry to disagree with Miss Van Camp," he said gravely. " But you are right, Miss Primmins. How can men expect salvation, or claim to be Christians, who ASKAROS KASSIS. 35 live, dress, eat, and sleep in such outlandish fashion as the Egyptians ? Why, they say their prayers in the streets, five times a day, instead of going to church once a week in black dress-coats ; and their religion is made up of precepts of high morality, which the silly fellows actually practise as well as preach including universal toleration : and finally, they have never heard even of the Puritan Fathers ! ' ' The ancient spinster bridled up with delight at such commendation from such a source. "Do you hear that, Edith?" she cried, triumphantly. "Oh, yes ! aunt, I am listening," answered the younger woman, half amused, half provoked at the cool irony of Sir Charles. He saw it, and chose a less serious theme. "Do you propose accepting this invitation to an East- ern dinner, Miss Primmins?" he asked. "Oh, yes, indeed! I am really curious to see how and what the creatures eat, ' ' answered the lady addressed. "Has it not occurred to you there may be some risk in the experiment?" "Risk! how, or what?" A look of vague alarm gleamed through the spinster's spectacles. Sir Charles drew nearer, looked fearfully around, lowered his head, and in a deep whisper hissed the one word: "Poison! " "Good gracious! how shocking! what put such a horrible idea into your head?" screamed Miss Priscilla, her face becoming ashy pale, while her lips quivered piteously. "Queer beggars these hate all Christians fond of poisoning 'em put it in the coffee. Have you never heard how common it is in the East? Books of travel full of it. Why, they think it a passport to paradise to poison an unbeliever don't think women have any 36 ASKAROS KASSIS. souls, so less scrupulous about them even than men ! Hope I have n't alarmed you. Thought it only right to give you the warning. I have an antidote myself; always carry it in my vest-pocket. Good day." 1 ' But Sir Charles ! Stop a moment ! ' ' gasped the spinster, strong-minded no longer under this dreadful idea. "This gentleman Egyptian is a friend of Harry's. He says he is a Christian. He would do us no harm. ' ' ' ' Very true. Had n' t thought of that. But, ' ' he add- ed, mysteriously, "who can vouch for his cook? He is no friend of ours. Apoplexie foudroyante they call it here. Very common, I assure you. Do not be alarmed ; my suspicions may be groundless. At least, I hope so. Good day." And with this parting arrow, serious and solemn as ever, the Englishman sauntered out of the room, leaving the chaste bosom of Miss Priscilla a prey to mingled emotions of terror and curiosity. But the latter part of this conversation had not been heard by Edith, for Sir Charles never ventured to quiz her aunt so outrageously in her presence. The young girl had returned to the window, and, with her head resting on her hand, seemed to be gazing out upon the street, while she was in reality indulging in one of those sweet day-dreams that never survive the period of early youth. For the cold, harsh realities of the world soon dispel them, as the morning mists are chased by the day-god from the mountain's brow, never to return until the evening shadows set in dim and gray on the threshold of coming night. What she was meditating upon would be difficult to tell perhaps clearly to describe would have been im- possible even to herself; for the strange and unaccustomed images of men and scenery around her, as well as the ASKAROS KASSIS. 37 intoxicating influences of the climate, were developing the latent romance of her nature, and a confused throng of strange thoughts and new fancies were flitting through her brain. Prominent in all these phantasmagoric visions were the face and form of the young Egyptian. The music of his low, sweet voice still lingered in her ear, as she leaned from the casement, and the soft wind fanned her cheek and stirred gently the waves of her brown hair. Edith's life hitherto had been without care and with- out much thought. She had seen little of society, having just completed her "finishing" at a fashionable New York boarding-school; and had merely rushed at tourist's race through Europe. Her mind and her heart, there- fore, were both as pure, and had had as few characters impressed upon them, as a virgin page. What hand should trace those characters, and whether they were to be poetic or prosaic, depended much on chance if, in the government of this world, there be such a thing as chance under the mysterious ordinations of Providence: if what we blind mortals call by that name be not a link of that unseen chain which binds every creature to the footstool of its Creator. The mother of Edith had died while she was yet an infant, and the girl had never known the softening in- fluences even of an adopted mother's kindness and care. The rigid Priscilla Primmins had made an attempt to take charge of her brother-in-law's household after the death of her sister who was unlike her in every re- spect but, finding she could not live out of Boston, had soon abandoned the effort. Edith had no other near female relative, so all the wealth of her affectionate heart had been lavished upon her father and brother, who re- 4 38 ASKAROS KASSIS. paid it with full measure. But this absence of a mother's watchful care had given the young girl an independence of thought and feeling, and a decision of character, rare for one so young. She gave rather than took advice from her placid, easy-going father and rather fast brother, who was an incarnation of young New York in its sport- ing and fashionable phase tempered slightly by his early English training and was not particularly clever nor possessed of marked ability of any kind. Abandoning herself to that dreamy indolence of mind and body, that perfect rest which the Easterns call " keff," and for which we have no distinctive word, because life with us is a fret, a hurry, a race, a conflict Edith let an hour slip by, when the clatter of horse's feet suddenly awakened her. Looking toward the sound, she again saw the young Copt, on his milk-white Arab, slowly passing the Ezbekieh. Askaros looked up and bowed as he passed, with a sunny smile that disclosed under his silky moustache a row of teeth glittering white. . As she returned the salutation, Edith blushed, she scarce knew why, and hastily withdrew, in some confusion, from what her own heart now whispered her had been a romantic watch for the Eastern cavalier, who now began to fill a dangerous share of her maiden meditations. "Askaros Kassis ! " she murmured. " It is a strange, odd name, but surely a very pretty one." CHAPTER III. THE SERPENT-CHARM. TWO hours after noon on the ensuing day the party from the Hotel d' Orient set out to visit the house of Askaros, and to partake of the Eastern dinner he had caused to be prepared for them. Their young host himself had called for them, and with thoughtful care had caused his sa'is to bring, for the use of Edith and her aunt, two of those remarkably fine white don- keys which are more prized in Egypt than ordinary horses. These, both in size, spirit, and pace, are very different animals from the wretched little creatures which alone are seen in Europe. Standing as high as a small horse, full of life and spirit, carrying themselves with proud, erect head and arched neck and with gait so easy you may carry a glass of water without spilling it, as they amble along they are the best animals imagin- able for ladies' use ; the European side-saddle being substituted for the native one when strangers ride them. The narrowness of the Cairene streets forbids the use of carriages, except in particular quarters of the city, and, even in these, is accompanied with inconvenience and even danger : so, as the house of Askaros was in the 39 40 ASKAROS KASSIS. narrow and confined Copt quarter, it could only be reached on horseback or on foot. It was with great difficulty that Miss Primmins could be induced to mount the odd and wicked-looking don- key which was assigned to her ; and it was only on the solemn pledge of Sir Charles that he would walk beside her all the way that she finally consented. The men of the party were all on foot, for the distance was not great ; and, after passing through the Mooskie, or street of European shops, and winding through many narrow by-ways whose houses jutted over their heads, with each successive story protruding farther forward until only a narrow strip of sky could be seen between them at the roof they reached a garden gate set in a high stone wall. This gate Askaros opened with a clumsy wooden key, that turned a wooden bolt within, and the party entered a cool and spacious garden, where the palm, the orange, and the citron grew amid rich exotic flowers and shrubs that filled the air with a rich, dense perfume. The tall, slender stems of the palms rising to the height of thirty feet without a branch like Ionic columns, gave the place the look of a cathedral an effect heightened by the odor, as if of incense from per- fumed censers that rose on every side. The illusion, too, was aided by the solemn silence that reigned in this retreat, after passing suddenly out of the noisy streets of the city, where the clamor of man and beast is perpetual, and the harsh Arabic gutturals rise in a chorus of discordant sounds around the pedestrian. Inspired by the resemblance just noted, and deeply impressed by the sudden silence and solemnity of the palm-grove, Edith murmured half aloud : ASKAROS KASSIS. . 4! " 'The groves were God's first temples ! ' ' The quick ear of the Englishman caught the quota- tion, and he answered, "Very true, Miss Van Camp. The quotation is true as poetical ; and this grove does look deucedly like a cathedral. But the groves have been the devil's temples, too as witness the Druids not to mention the witch-burnings on your side of the water. I verily believe your respected aunt now be- lieves the long-eared fiend she is riding to be Sathanas in disguise, leading her into this his domain. We only need his original snakeship here to make the impression perfect. ' ' As he spoke this laughingly, walking a few paces be- hind the young lady's donkey, Sir Charles was surprised at receiving no other response than a blow from the sudden recoil of her donkey, so sudden and violent as to throw him out of the pathway. At the same moment a stifled shriek broke from the lips of Edith, who had been thrown to the ground, and had just risen to her feet. She stood immovable, as though from terror, trembling in every limb, her lips parted, and her blue eyes a strange mixture of fascina- tion and horror in their staring orbs fixed upon a point in the shrubbery just before her. At the sound of her shriek, Askaros, who was a few steps in advance, leading the way, turned suddenly round ; and his gaze, following hers, was instantly riveted on the same object, with somewhat the same fascination. From the midst of a thick clump of shrubs, at the foot of a huge palm, gleamed forth what seemed two living coals! and beneath it coiled in a huge bulk like the cordage of some mighty ship fold above fold, sinuous, 4* 42 ASKAROS KASSIS. undulating, writhed the knotted convolutions of a slimy serpent ! The eye of Askaros bent upon the burning spots, that made a gleam in the dusky shade of the shrubs, till he could distinguish the erect head of the monster its forked tongue moving rapidly backward and forward in its poisonous jaws while from the greenish eyes, full of evil fire, sparks seemed to scin- tillate. Then, glancing from the grim terror to the maiden, the heart of the young Egyptian stood still, the hair bristled on his head, and the blood in his veins seemed to freeze; for that wondrous influence which the ser- pent eye exercises over man, bird, or beast commonly known as fascination, which science may deride, but ex- perience has confirmed by testimony of many men in many lands had wrought its strange spell over her gentle spirit. Her first impulse of terror and flight had not only been arrested, but changed into apparently far different sentiments ; and repulsion and horror had been succeeded by what seemed attraction even pleasure ! Her sudden flight was checked, changed to an attitude of eager expectation her body bent forward her lips apart her hand placed to her ear a yearning interest manifested in each strained feature of her speaking face. Still her large blue eyes, the pupils unnaturally dilated, strained into the copse ; and she stood there, under the sombre shadow of the palm, the living embodiment of that exquisite creation of the chisel that has made its sculptor's fame the listening Nydia of Pompeii. Her parted lips moved slightly, and her hand raised itself with a languid motion. "Hush ! " she murmured, as one speaking in a dream. ASKAROS KASSIS. 43 "Do not break that heavenly music. It sounds like the song of the angels ! ' ' Then, on the second, a hoarse, hissing whisper grated through the clenched teeth of the Egyptian, who stirred not hand or foot, but with a single glance warned back the astonish d group, who were about pressing forward: "Stir not. Speak not if you love her! It is the cobra-di-capello ! They only strike when angered movement will be death ! ' ' A chill struck to the heart of his listeners as they heard that dreaded name. They shuddered and obeyed. Motionless as the rest, but with every muscle braced as if ready to spring between the girl and the serpent to interpose his own body as her shield, if necessary and with his eye riveted upon the monster, the Egyptian watched its every movement, as the crest rose and fell, and the scales of the sinuous bulk writhed and twisted in its dark-brown coils. Large drops of sweat rolled from his contracted brow, his breast heaved like that of an athlete after a deadly strain, and blood dripped on his white silk vest from the lips his sharp white teeth tore in his agitation. Anxiety strained to agony was stamped on every feature, but, with marvellous self-control, he stood still as if hewn out of stone ! Moments, that seemed hours, passed. Twice the cobra raised his flattened head, projected the ominous cowl over his red eyes, braced his stiffening coils, and seemed preparing for his arrowy spring. Then twice the Copt, bracing every muscle, seemed ready to launch himself between the monster and its prey. But twice the serpent lowered his head and relaxed his coil; and twice a deep gasp from the overburdened 44 ASKAROS KASSIS. breast of the man proved one peril past one strain over. The rest of the group stupefied by the peril, and sure that the Egyptian knew best what the fearful situa- tion required implicitly obeyed his warning. Suddenly, while all remained in this horrible suspense, there sounded from the other side of the wall the low, wailing notes of the Egyptian reed-flute, followed by a peculiar call. As the Copt caught the sound, his face brightened, and he breathed the deep sigh of relief, for he recognized the call of the serpent-charmer, so well- known in the East. The cobra seemed to hear it, too. Through his vast and sinuous bulk there seemed to run a shuddering thrill. His uplifted crest sank; his huge folds sullenly and reluctantly unwound; and, turning his head in the direction of the sound, he stretched his full length over the intervening sward. A second and shriller blast of the flute, followed by a louder call, broke through the dead stillness ; and then the serpent slowly twisted round its gross body, and, with a gliding motion, dragged it off in the opposite direction its course indicated by the waving of the shrubbery as its slimy folds worked through it with a rustling sound. When the cobra first turned his head, and released the maiden from the spell of his glittering eye, a slight shudder shook her frame, and she leaned eagerly forward, as though to follow his movements. The next moment her eyes contracted, the lids closed wearily, her trem- bling limbs refused to support her, and she would have fallen heavily forward, had not Askaros rushed up and sustained her fainting form on his sinewy arm. Then the whole group advanced at once ; and even the acid spinster softened into demonstrative affection by ASKAROS KASSIS. 45 the fearful peril past and hideous doom so late averted took the inanimate form in her arms, and bestowed all a woman's care and tenderness upon it. The father's heart was too full for words. Tears rose to his eyes, a red flush conquered the ashy pallor that had covered his ruddy face the moment before ; he seized the hand of the young Egyptian and wrung it hard in silence. But the old man's eye spoke his thanks more eloquently than any words. Harry Van Camp was more demonstrative. He poured out his thanks and praises on Askaros vehemently and incoherently, swearing he never could forget that to his coolness and self-command his sister owed her life. The Englishman to whom danger was familiar in the tented field and deadly Indian jungles, where he had the renown of a great tiger-slayer had blenched under this new peril, in which his experience and his manhood availed nothing. Undemonstrative, like all his country- men, he neither by word nor gesture to any of the party indicated his admiration of the Copt's conduct; but he muttered to himself under his brown beard: ' ' By Jove ! I said he was a man at first sight, and he has proved himself one. Any fool could have rushed in, as I thought of doing ; but it required nerve and will to do the thing neatly as he did it ! The fellow 's a regular trump, by Jove ! ' ' Slowly Edith's eyes unclosed. Languidly she raised her drooping head from the supporting arm of her aunt, and said wearily : ' ' Why, what has happened to me ? I never fainted before. The last thing I remember was the sound of such sweet music ! It seemed to come from aerial harps, touched by the fingers of angels. Oh, such beau- 46 ASKAROS KASSIS. tiful sights ! processions of fairies and beautiful beings, that beckoned me to come ; but I seemed spell-bound, and could not move. I never felt such strange sensa- tions before; and now I feel weak and weary, and so drowsy." And the fair young head sank passively back once more, and the eyes closed in quiet slumber. "Bear her quietly in," said the Copt, pityingly, "and let her repose an hour. Then she will be per- fectly well again. We Egyptians understand this ser- pent-fascination, which you Western people deride as visionary and unreal ; though I have heard, in America, also, it is not unknown. But wait a moment, and I will arrange this matter better." Turning to one of the Arab sa'ts, who had charge of the donkeys, he gave some hurried orders in Arabic. Both of them started off at a round trot, and soon returned with a rude litter, on which they placed the sleeping girl, and trotted off again up a broad avenue that led to the house ; Miss Priscilla resuming her don- key, and accompanying them. The men walked slowly after; and Askaros, turning to Mr. Van Camp, said : "I owe you, sir, an explanation and an apology an assurance that I never dreamed of the possibility of such peril to your daughter in these gardens. They are too carefully overlooked to permit the presence of such venomous things without our knowledge. This cobra had evidently escaped from one of the snake-charmers, whose note of recall doubtless saved a sad catastrophe. The sound that attracted him, you, of'course, heard, and he is by this time in safe custody again." " Snake-charmers ! " said Mr. Van Camp ; " who and ASKAROS KASSIS. 47 what are they ? And are there really men who venture to keep terribly poisonous snakes like that as familiars?" "Yes; we have a class who claim and do possess the power of attracting these venomous reptiles," re- plied the Copt. " They enjoy a perfect immunity from the poison of serpents. I have, myself, seen them on the desert, charming a cobra from his hole, and handling him with perfect unconcern. But what their secret, their spell, or their antidote may be, is known only 'to themselves." ' ' But how do they ' charm ' them ? In what way ? ' ' "By music and a peculiar cry, both of which you heard practised with success on the truant who appeared, and really was, so menacing to us. This is a strange land of ours, and there are many strange things in it which we ourselves would vainly attempt to explain. But we cannot shut our eyes to things we see around us, although they are opposed to probability, or are in defi- ance to natural laws and to established principles." "Is the cobra, then, a very venomous snake?" in- quired Harry. "Most venomous: to any than those possessing the spell or secret of which I speak, his bite is certain and speedy death," was the answer. Mr. Van Camp shuddered at the idea of the peril his darling had so narrowly escaped, and felt yet more grateful to her preserver. For he believed, truly, that nothing but the coolness and self-possession of the young Egyptian had averted the danger ; and he further be- lieved that he had been prepared to risk his own life for hers, had the cobra made his spring. Askaros divined what was passing in the old man's mind, and changed the topic, as well as the current of his thoughts. 48 AS A' A If OS KASSIS. " Come, let us not dwell on such a disagreeable theme," he said. "The Eastern philosophy is to live in and enjoy the present, and leave past and future in the hands of Allah, our God, as well as theirs. l Kis- met,' or fatalism, is their buckler and sword against all the ills of life, and submission to it their religion. Let us borrow this philosophy; and you, my friends, for- getting the unwelcome and uninvited guest now disposed of, turn your thoughts to the novelties I am about to show you in the way of an Eastern house and an Eastern entertainment. For, see, here we have safely arrived at my own threshold at last. Enter, and consider the house and all it contains your own ! ' ' CHAPTER IV. A DINNER A LA TURQUE. THE dwelling of the Copt, which stood in the midst of this garden, had, in fact, formerly been a favorite palace of Ibrahim Pasha, the warrior son of Mehemet Ali. This prince had swept like a conquering flame over Syria, returned to Egypt, acted as regent dur- ing the madness which darkened the last days of Me- hemet Ali, and died before him Abbas assuming the regency until the death of his grandfather. The estate of Ibrahim Pasha had been divided among his heirs, and, as usual, his palaces had been sold. This one was pur- chased by the father of Askaros, who, in addition to his hereditary wealth, had accumulated a large fortune by bold and successful speculations, having figured in the rdle of Eastern merchant and- banker on a large scale, and as one of the millionnaires of Cairo. The external appearance of this vast pile built of granite stripped from the larger Pyramids, as are many of the more solid buildings of Cairo was more imposing than pleasing. It was in the old Saracenic style, with massive walls rising sheer up, with no door or windows below to relieve the frowning exterior only broken higher up by a kind of covered balcony, with lattice-work 5 D 49 5