“That is just what Sir Modava told me,” added Scott.

But Sayad had opened his master’s valise, placed his toilet articles on the bureau, and brushed his coat, which he had taken off.  He arranged everything with good taste, and smiled expansively every time Louis looked at him.  The shoes of all four were polished in time; and they were ready to begin their explorations of the city, though it was rather late in the day.

“What time is dinner, Moro?” asked Scott.

“Seven o’clock, sahib,” replied the boy; and he was more of a boy than a man.

“What time are the other meals?”

“Meals?” queried Moro.

“What time is breakfast?”

“Bring sahib coffee at six in the morning; breakfast at nine; tiffin at one.”

“What’s that last one, Moro?”

“We had tiffin at Suez, and it means luncheon,” interposed Morris.

“I didn’t hear the word; but it is all right, and tiffin it is after this time.  Come; are you going down-stairs, fellows?”

“There is a public sitting-room down-stairs, and we will find that first.”

The four servants followed them when they went down-stairs.  None of the party had yet gone to the public room except Sir Modava, though Lord Tremlyn soon joined him.  Their attendants stopped outside the doors.

“We are going to the tailor’s now,” said the Hindu gentleman.  “As you are aware, we lost all our clothes except what we had on, and we must order a new supply.”

“May we go with you?” asked Louis.

“Certainly; if you desire to do so.  You may find something to amuse you on the way, as we shall walk; for we want to get our sea-legs off,” replied Sir Modava.  “It is only five o’clock here, and we have two hours before dinner-time.  Ah, here is Miss Blanche.”

She was followed by her servant, who was decidedly a nuisance to her, though he retreated from her room as soon as he had put things in order, and remained within call outside the door.  Louis invited her to take a walk with them, and she went up-stairs to consult her mother.  She returned in a few minutes, ready to go out; and she was as radiant as a fairy in her light costume.

They passed out of the hotel; and the first thing that attracted Louis’s attention was a palanquin.  It was not a new thing to the travellers, for they had seen such conveyances in Constantinople and elsewhere.

[Illustration:  “The young millionaire walked by the side of the vehicle.”  —­Page 155.]

“You must ride in that palanquin, Miss Blanche,” said Louis; and he told Sayad to have it brought up to the door.

It was a compartment like a box, about seven feet long, with a pair of sliding doors at the side.  It was balanced on a pole, with braces above and below it.  It appeared to be so poised, with the pole above the centre of gravity, that it could not be turned over.  The four bearers were coolies, with bare legs, cotton turbans on their heads, and not otherwise overloaded with clothing; but they were dressed like all the coolies about the streets and in the boats of the harbor.