Consulting Belbeis upon the matter that evening, he received the good fellow's opinion and advice.
"You do not know what to do?" replied the Arab, with a look of unusual surprise on his impassive face. "How can that be? You have not yet seen the master; he loves you, and you have done that which he wished for most, you have conveyed his papers to the General. Go to him, he will tell you that which you should do."
"That is all very well, Belbeis," said George, simply, "but I did it for my own benefit as well, and, besides, I owe him more than I can repay already."
Belbeis only smiled in answer, and, after a moment's pause, went on—
"We shall see, there is yet time for thought of the future. Allah will provide!"
After that, he left the citadel, and George was left to the companionship of his own thoughts. They were not very pleasant, and he put them from him and went out in search of his friend, Charlie Osterberg. He had not the least notion of where to find him. He knew the Engineers had arrived, but he was not aware of where they were quartered. However, a soldier whom he met told him they were outside the western gate of the city.
With this information he made his way through the slums until he came to the Governmental portion of the town. This he passed through, and at length reached the west gate. On making inquiries there, he was directed to the camp he sought, and with some difficulty discovered that Osterberg was with the troops. At last he found him in a tent with two or three other civilians attached to the force in a similar capacity to himself.
Charlie greeted his old friend and companion with open arms.
"Thank goodness, you are all right, George," he exclaimed, the moment our hero appeared in the doorway. "I was wondering when I should find you. I have only just been relieved from duty, or I should have been in search of you now."
"It's a good thing that it happened so," replied George, "or we should have both been searching in different directions, and so missed each other. Now tell me of all that has happened to you, we only had such a short time to talk when I saw you on the way to Tel-el-Kebir, that there must be still much to talk about."