His mind was unstrung, as well it might be, for floating on the surface of the water were the dead bodies of all his wives.
Almost beside himself with grief, he refused to be consoled until he thought of his sister’s orphan child, the young Ibrahim, who was living in Teheran.
From that day the love of this merchant prince’s heart was centered on Ibrahim.
European teachers were engaged, and by the time the young Persian was seventeen years old he could speak English, German and French fluently, besides having a good knowledge of Persian, Arabic and other Oriental languages and dialects.
CHAPTER IX.
IBRAHIM AND MAX.
When Ibrahim was seventeen his uncle told him that he was about to make a pilgrimage.
It was his intention to visit the shrine of the prophet at Mecca, across the Red Sea, and after exploring the wonders of Luxor, Carnac, and ancient Thebes, go up the Nile, past Cairo, to Alexandria.
It was just the kind of pilgrimage to suit Ibrahim, and his heart beat so fast with expectancy that his uncle feared he might bring on a nervous fever. When Mecca was reached Sherif was so full of religious fervor that he began to see visions and dream dreams, much to the annoyance and yet amusement of Ibrahim.
Among other things, Sherif el Habib became convinced that he was to be the discoverer of the Mahdi, or Mohammedan Messiah. When Cairo was reached he said to Ibrahim that, instead of going to Alexandria, they would cross the Libyan desert in search of the Mahdi.
As the promised route was likely to be one of wild adventure, with plenty of excitement, Ibrahim fell in with his uncle’s ideas, and with but few murmurings agreed to leave civilization behind and go into the interior of that land of mystery—the great deserts of the Dark Continent.