“The Emir Prince says that he is aggrieved because you make so few demands for yourself and your people, for he desires that you should treat his home as yours, and have all that you desire.”
“Then he gives us our liberty to go where we please?” said the doctor eagerly, and Frank and the professor gave vent to sighs of satisfaction which made the Sheikh’s brow wrinkle.
“The Emir desires me to say that your servants are at liberty to go where they please in the city or out into the country round; and that as he has noticed that the great Hakim has beautiful camels but no horses, he has only to speak and horses will be brought for his servants’ use.”
“I shall keep to my camel, Ibrahim,” said the doctor. “I think it will seem best, more in character. What do you think?”
The old man was silent.
“What does this mean?” said Frank, for he was first to notice the Sheikh’s troubled look.
“The Emir Prince bade me say to his Excellency that he could not allow the great Hakim to go about among the people, for his life would be made a burden to him—he could not go a step without having a crowd of sufferers following him and throwing themselves beneath his camel’s feet.”
The doctor frowned.
“He said that the great Hakim’s health and comfort were dear to him, and he felt that it would be better that so great a man should live as retired a life as the Khalifa himself.”
“Then I am to be kept regularly as a prisoner?” said the doctor, in dismay.