“But if sometimes the noble Hakim desires greatly to ride through the city and out into the country, if he will send word by the guard, the Emir will summon the horsemen and attend upon his friend and preserver as a guard of honour, and protect him from the crowds that would stop his way.”
“Oh, who wants to be paraded in a show?” said the doctor petulantly. “I would rather stop in prison than be led out like that, eh, Fred?”
“Certainly,” said the professor.
“Well, never mind,” said the doctor cheerfully, the next minute. “I will not complain. I have my part to play, and I mean to go on playing it contentedly while you and Frank play yours, and find out where poor old Hal is kept a prisoner. That done, we must begin to make our plans to escape either back to Cairo or to the nearest post of the Anglo-Egyptian army.”
“Or the river,” said Frank. “But I don’t like this, for us to be free and you a prisoner.”
“It is the penalty for being so great a man,” said the doctor merrily. “And really there is a large amount of common-sense in what our friend says. I should be regularly hunted through the streets, and I could not go in Eastern fashion and turn a deaf ear to the poor wretches who cast themselves at my feet.”
“But it seems so hard for you,” said Frank.
“And it takes all the satisfaction out of our perfect freedom,” said the professor.
“But your Excellencies are not to have perfect freedom,” said Ibrahim slowly.
“What do you mean?” cried Frank.