But Butheita is a strange child! When a
handsome suitor comes, and I beg her to follow him to his tent, she
shakes her head, rejects his gifts, and laughs at his sweet words.
'You are ugly!' says she, laughing. 'I will love only the handsomest
of men, and him only will I follow to his tent.' That is what
Butheita says, sarechsme!"
"And that is what she should say," replied Mohammed, smiling. "Bear
a greeting to Butheita from me, when you return home, sheik, and
tell her she is right in waiting until he comes whom she will gladly
follow to his tent, and who may kiss her. Tell her to wait
patiently, for Allah will surely send her the man she can love.
Greet Butheita for me."
He mounts his horse, and gallops off to where the Mameluke beys are
awaiting him in order to begin their march to Cairo.
The Mameluke beys and Mohammed Ali enter Cairo in triumph. Taher
Pacha's Armenians have joined him, and, together with his Albanians,
they form a magnificent corps. The delighted people of Cairo cry out
to Mohammed: "Oh, give us peace, brave sarechsme! Let the day of
peace at last dawn over unhappy Cairo!"
Mohammed had conferred with the leaders of the Armenians, and, with
their consent, the citadel was tendered the Mameluke beys as a
residence. They joyfully accepted it, and proudly took up their
abode in the fortress.
Mohammed Ali, however, returned to his own house, and when he had
reached the retirement of his apartment, and no one could see, he
raised his arm threateningly in the direction of the citadel.
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