Shafts frone an Iiasterin Quiver.

I.—THIE DIAMONDS

By CHoarLEs T, l. FFANCY that Hassan has been drawing on his nnaom ati1on again, old fellow,’ said my companion, I'rank Denviers, ] i 3 'l |1|'| as we sat con- . | wmemmM“f

evening at the ‘(uwmum ““)’})JW mwwm%

versing dnm our tenl “ Perhaps so,’

one

| responded,

]

pulng away at a hookah ; i ““he has his faults, like the : rest of these Arabs. To appropriate cvery - j

thing that he can his bro“ N Paws on is, to him, a car dinal virtue ; still, he hasn't told us anything un- truc so far; why sh()uld he do so now ?

'You have far too much taith in that nigger, replied [Frank ; ““he pitches yvarns to us that no onc could possibly belicve., We certainly cxpected him to steal, and, so far, he has comz well up to the standard we measured him by. I own that his knowledge of the various ruins to which he has led us 1s de- cidedly good ; no doubt this wonderful city that we arc bound for docs exist, but, as to the diamonds—don't you wish vou may get them ! And he shouted to H: wssan, who was a little distance off reclining under the shade of a palm tree—

• Coffee, and hurry about it too ! for

the Arab was accustomed to take his time when disturbed from his siesta, although usually he was agile L110110}1

Our Arab servant, ‘nigeer ' as my COMpanion sometimes t( rmed hnn had been

OI° Maxsrorp, BUA,

SHOMAR'S QUEEN,

letter carrier, until tnol\ him into our ser- vice on the recommendation of an Arab sheitk, Ifrank Denviers and I, Harold Derwent, had been for some time wander- ing in Arabia,and already had been to most of the famous cities visited by Europeans. Previous to sctting out on our present strange quest we had disguised ourselves

cngaged as a runner o 1t dmnCul that we

I

Sev RO 2 [}"‘I 1/"1'-:‘!“‘, Ty )

N

il

I T T i ey 7 e DY SN B

CaseaN”

as sheiks and sceretly visited Mecca just as the Zaj, or annual p1101 Image, was COmmenc- ing. For the whole time through which the fair lasted we found thousands of pil- grims who pourced into Mecca from Persia, ~\mb1a Egyvpt, and Syria well worthy or ObbCl\&thl] as they came to be blessed at the birthplacc of Mahomet.

Hassan had been of great service to us in the sacred city, and his desire to con- tinue with us pr obably induced him to tell n= the legend of the * Diamonds of Sho-