The King's Jackal

The private terrace of the Hotel Grand Bretagne at Tangier was shaded by a great awning of red and green and yellow and strewn with colored mats and plants in pots and wicker chairs. It reached out from the Kings apartments into the Garden of Palms and was hidden by them on two sides and showed from the third the blue waters of the Mediterranean and the great shadow of Gibraltar in the distance. The Sultan of Morocco had given orders from Fez that the King of Messina in spite of his incognito should be treated during his stay in Tangier with the conside-ration due to his rank so one-half of the Hotel Grand Bretagne had been set aside for him and his suite and two soldiers of the Bashaw's Guard sat outside of his door with drawn swords. They were answerable with their heads for the life and safety of the Sultan's guest and as they could speak no language but their own they made a visit to his Majesty more a matter of adventure than of etiquette.