as though in a dream; Abraham, with his under-jaw hanging loose, appeared to be fascinated by Nakier. I longed to plunge into this silence, so to speak, to expend in speech and questions the emotions which were keeping my heart fiercely beating; but I was held dumb by the notion that this stillness was a part of the solemnities which were to be employed for the protection of our lives.

Punmeamootty re-entered the cuddy holding a book. Nakier took it from him, and, coming round to us, said:

'Look, lady! look, sah! You see dis is de Koran'—I observed that he sometimes said de and sometimes the—'it is our religion. We swear upon it. Look, to make sure!'

I received the volume, and examined it. It was a manuscript, bound in leather, with a flap, and very elegantly ornamented on the sides and back with some sort of devices in gold and colour. The writing was in red, and every page was margined with a finely ruled red line. What tongue it was written in I could not, of course, tell. I have since supposed it was in Arabic; but for us it might as well have been the Talmud as the Koran. I returned the book to Nakier.

'It is allee right, you see, sah,' he exclaimed, showing his wonderfully white teeth in a smile of gentle, respectful congratulation that put a deeper glow into his eyes and gave a new beauty to his handsome features.

'It may be the Koran,' said I. 'I cannot tell. I will take your word.'

He turned to the men, and, with a passionate gesticulation, addressed them; on which they shouted out all as one man:

'Yaas! yaas! Al-Koran! Al-Koran!'—nodding and pointing and writhing and working with excess of Asiatic contortion.

'We are quite content,' said I.

Nakier withdrew to his end of the table, carrying the book with him. He stood erect, blending the grace of a reposing dancer with an air of reserved eagerness and enthusiasm.

'Lady and you, sah!' he exclaimed, while every dusky eye along the table was fixed intently upon him, 'you sabbee why we kill de Capt'n and Misser Jones? Them two bad men—them two wicked, shocking men. They would make we poor Mussulmans sin, and would send we to hell. And why? Dey not care at heart our soul for to save. We came here for work: we gib dem dis for dere money'—he elevated his clenched hands, and then gesticulated as though he pulled and hauled—'not dis, which 

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