"When is he to be tried?"

"Well, that is hardly the way to put it. When he can squeeze the Khedive
into a corner he'll be free, but it takes time. We have to go carefully,
for it isn't the slave-master alone, it's those twenty slaves of his,
including the six you freed. Their heads are worth a good deal to the
Khedive, he thinks."

She was dumfounded. "I don't understand," she said helplessly.

"Well, the Khedive put your six and fourteen others in prison for treason
or something--it doesn't matter much here what it is. His game is to
squeeze Kingsley's gold orange dry, if he can."

A light broke over her face. "Ah, now I see," she said, and her face
flushed deeply with anger and indignation. "And you--Donovan Pasha, you
who are supposed to have influence with the Khedive, who are supposed to
be an English influence over him, you can speak of this quietly,
patiently, as a matter possible to your understanding. This barbarous,
hideous black mail! This cruel, dreadful tyranny! You, an Englishman,
remain in the service of the man who is guilty of such a crime!" Her
breath came hard.

"Well, it seems the wisest thing to do as yet. You have lived a long
time in Egypt, you should know what Oriental rule is. Question: Is one
bite of a cherry better than no bite of a cherry? Egypt is like a
circus, but there are wild horses in the ring, and you can't ride them
just as you like. If you keep them inside the barriers, that's
something. Of course, Kingsley made a mistake in a way. He didn't
start his desert-city and his slavery without the consent of the Khedive;