River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-07-18

ceding night. Ialla was more responsive than
before but wheE urged her to go with me to
France or marry me at once in Cairo she
would not listen. Finally she said "After you
have rescued my uncle will go with you any
where but not until then will 1 think of mar
riage.'
Nothing could move her from that decision
/ arranged to meet her the next night and the
one following, and several others, which sho
accomplished by the popular method of bribing
her attendants, but though it joy to her
to be told of my love, there was no way by
which she could be induced to yield to 1t until
her uncle free
went to Marseilles and, after looking over
several ships that were ior sale, bought
L'Hironde1le, coasting steamer of 500 tons.
At Suakin one of the great surprises of my
life awaited me- We had scarcely tied up
WIN the man from whom was to receive the
warriors came aboard with a letter from Re-
gal directing me to turn the ship over to him
and discharge the crew The agent could not
understand the change of plan any more than
/ could, and I could not even guess to the
cause, but he was there to obey orders, and
there was nothing else for me to do Feeling
sure there would be satisfactory explanation
waiting for me at Cairo / returned there, after
paying off the crew and sending them back to
Marseilles and London in charge of Leigh and
Wilson.
/ was still more mystifed when, on reaching
Cairo | was unable to find Regal, Ialla or any
one else connected with the undertaking, nor
could I get the slightest trace of them.
In the hope of seeing Ialla again, and deter
mined to secure some definite clue as to just
what had happened in my absence, waited
around for two weeks or more, until encoun
tered the old friend who, knew, was RESPONSE
BILE for my connection with the conspiracy.
did not dssemble as had before, but took him
to my room told him the riddle and asked him
the answer. did not expect him to admit
anything and was not disappointed. He said,
in substance:
"Of course l know nothing about the plot OF
which you have told me. If what you say Is
true, I should say that you have been making
something of fool of yourself over this Ialla
and that you have only yourself to blame fof
the abrupt ending which seems to have been
reached. These women are the greatest f1irts
in the world.
s'You thought Ialla was in love with you, but
but she only having good time with you
and she has taken lot of pride in telling her
friends about your meetings. at their after
noon gather 1gs for the exchange of gossip
She had no idea of marrying you, an unbeliev-
er, you can be sure 1t may be she thought she
was stimulating you to deeds of heroism, but
if she considered that at all, it was secondary
matter.
contempt of their race for all women. They
can not understand how any man become
so enamored of woman, no matter how beautt
full, as to let it interfere with his business
They would argue that no man who could
be relied on to carry out their plan would dis
play such lack Of judgment 1t is possible that
there may be some other reason for the stua-
ton in which you find yourself but doubt It.
The wisest course for you is to tell me how
you be reached, and leave Cairo, for you
can gain nothing by staying here. 1t is known
to many people that / know you, and if any
one should want to get in communication with
you will be able to tell him how to do it."
Possessing all the pride of a fulblooded
man, / resented the calm assertion that had
been ensnared by firt but, in looking back
at it now, l am willing to admit that probably
my friend was right about 1t.
Feeling that for once my destiny had played
it a bit low down me, crossed the Mediter-
ranean and took French liner for New YorF
Eleven years later Arab was pardoned and
returned to Egypt, but his influence among his
own people was gone; the fact that he had ac-
cepted pardon implied. to their astute minds,
secret agreement with their enemies and
caused him to be regarded as a tool Of the
British. But, the fires of freedom are still
burning, and now and again signal-smoke is
seen rising over India.