Jack Hildreth on the Nile | Page 5

no
signs of sympathy for the little victims. When I finished he broke forth
into Turkish exclamations, and, becoming articulate, demanded if I did
not fear so great a man as Abd el Barak. "You saw how respectfully he
was treated," he said. "He has influence which may be very dangerous
to us."
"I don't care how others treat him," I said. "The main thing, to my mind,
is the way I treated him, and no one could call that respectful. You have
no reason to fear him, for you have done nothing to him."
"But you are my guest at this moment, and I am responsible for your
acts," replied poor Murad Nassyr.
I rose up, as if to go, saying: "I can easily remove that difficulty by
leaving. I am looking for a lodging, and only came for your advice."
"No, no; you will stay here. I should never consent to your leaving my
house under the circumstances," he said.
"That is a generous speech, Murad Nassyr," I said, taking his hand. "To
be frank with you, I hoped you would offer to shelter me and these
children. You said to me the other day that you would like me to come
to stay with you -- that I could do you a great service. Now, I need a
refuge for these unfortunate little creatures until I can place them in
safety; give me this, and I will try to do you the service you desire. Is it
a bargain?"
"Yes," replied Murad Nassyr, after a moment's thought, and calling
Selim, who struck me as being suspiciously prompt to reply to his
summons, he committed the children to his charge, instructing him to

give them food and sweetmeats.
When they had withdrawn, Murad Nassyr turned to me. "You are a
Christian," he began; "and I know so little of your religion that I am
ignorant of its teachings. Do you believe in heaven and hell?"
"Certainly."
"Do you think departed souls can return to earth as ghosts? Answer on
your conscience.
"As spirits, I believe they can, but not as ghosts in my sense of the
word ghost," I replied, surprised.
"You are mistaken; there are ghosts," he replied, positively.
"If you think so I will not argue the point, though I am not of your
opinion."
"You will be of my opinion. By morning you will believe there are
ghosts, for this house is haunted." He looked at me steadily as be spoke,
expecting to see me shrink, but I remained unmoved, only saying,
laughingly: "There may be what is considered a ghost in the house; I
don't doubt your sincerity, but you have mistaken something, perhaps a
shadow, for an apparition. 'Tell me about it."
"Shadows are dark; this ghost is white," he said, shaking his head. "It
goes through closed doors, rattles chains, howls and shrieks like the
wind, barks like a dog, brays like a donkey or camel."
"Have you seen it yourself?"
"Certainly, and so have my sister and her servants, the steward, and my
two Negroes. It appears at a certain time, around midnight, remains an
hour every time, and comes each day."
"Have you any idea whose ghost it is?"
"Yes; the ghost of the former owner of the house."

"Really! Haven't you a clear title deed?"
"I pray you, don't jest, Effendi," cried Murad Nassyr, earnestly. "I can't
stay here if the house continues haunted. It is the cheapest rent in Cairo,
for every one knows the house is haunted, and they can't get a tenant."
"On the whole, I should say the ghostly past owner was playing a
low-down trick, thus spoiling the property for his successor; who owns
it now?"
"His widow; she has the use of it till she dies; then the brotherhood of
the Kadis can take it, or if she refuses to keep it, as she must if things
go on in this way."
"The Kadis!" I exclaimed. "My friend Abd el Barak has other scamps
among his associates! Don't you see that some one is sent by them to
play the ghost here that the house may be abandoned, and fall into their
hands? Let me have the room where the ghost is usually seen, and I'll
venture to say you'll have no more trouble with him after to-night."
"You seem to have no fear!" cried Murad Nassyr, admiringly. "The
favor I longed to ask of you was that you would watch with us one
night, though I feared you would not see him, for, being a Christian, he
might account you unclean."
"I'll make him so unclean that he shall be a laughingstock to all Islam.
Do you sleep in the dark?"
"No; we all burn lights for fear of the ghost."
"Yet nevertheless he