"'I believe. Captain, that you have no right to take any passengers on board this ship as far as Souakim, except my friends, myself, and our servants?'
"'Just so,' murmured the Captain, still half asleep.
"'Very well. Then you have broken through your agreement.'
"'Howso? I—'
"'You have on board four female passengers unknown to us.'
"After a useless attempt at denial, he was obliged to give me a full, true, and particular account of the whole business, which I epitomize for your benefit.
"The four mysterious creatures are dancers. You possibly suspected as much when I mentioned the celerity of their movements, and the suppleness of their limbs. The famous Almehs of Egypt are thus suddenly brought before you. You have been labouring under the impression that the Captain had given a free passage to some runaways from Cairo, who were making for Khartoum, the usual refuge for that destitute tide, which for some time past has been ebbing towards upper Egypt. Well, you are wrong. These women have no connection whatever with the Almehs. I do not wish to say a single word against these latter creatures, whom I hope to bring to your notice some day, but they are palpably inferior to my unknowns, both in reputation, beauty, and the science of dancing.
"'I thought,' you will say, 'that Egypt had no dancers but the
Almehs.'
"Quite so, but those of whom I speak are not natives of Egypt. They spring from India.
"'From India? Then, they are—'