12, his superb lordship Faruskiar.

He seems rather stiff, does this Oriental.
Ah! There is a name I must know as soon as possible, that of the mandarin returning to China in the form of a mortuary parcel.

With a little ingenuity Popof may manage to ascertain it from one of the Persians in charge of his Excellency.

If it would only be that of some grand functionary, the Pao-Wang, or the Ko-Wang, or the viceroy of the two Kiangs, the Prince King in person! For an hour the train is running through the oasis.

We shall soon be in the open desert.