"No."
"And you'll allow this man Ishmael and his visionary followers to come into Cairo if they've a mind to?"
The Consul-General bent his head.
"Good!" said the Sirdar. "At all events that will shut the mouths of the fine birds who must be getting ready to crow."
But a look of alarm came into the Grand Cadi's eyes, such as comes into the eyes of a hawk when an eagle is about to pounce upon it.
"Surely," he said, "his Excellency does not intend to allow this horde of fifty thousand fanatics to pour themselves into the capital?"
Whereupon the Sirdar turned sharply upon the man and answered—
"That is exactly what his Excellency does intend to do."
"But what is to become of me?" asked the Cadi. "This is exactly the errand I came upon. Already the people are threatening me, and I came to ask for protection. I am suspected of giving information to his Excellency. Will his Excellency desert me ... leave me to the mercy of this man Ishmael, this corrupter and destroyer of the faith?"
Then the Consul-General, who had sat with head down, the picture of despair, rose to his full height and faced the Grand Cadi.