character shone forth.

At half past two we boarded the car for Cairo, bidding farewell to Ismailia and her people, and set out with God's blessings, guarded by the palace motorcycles flying small Lebanese flags, with the director of the Cairo police, the director of public security, and the students' delegation, while the members of the Lebanese colony accompanied us to the outskirts of Ismailia, where they bade us farewell and turned back after taking from us a promise to return.

We had scarcely left Ismailia behind when we saw crowds of villagers standing in rows on both sides of the road, cheering for the Torch of Lebanon and for Farouk. Although we were declining the invitations to stop and hear the poems the townsfolk had prepared for us, the inhabi-tants of one village, after planting themselves in front of our car, compelled us to rest and hear a splendid poem composed for the occasion of the birthday. After that our procession continued on its way toward Cairo amid cheers and blessings, until we reached the Prisons post, where its commander — after arranging for us a guard of honor a kilometer long and a mounted guard to escort our procession — asked us to take refreshments and rest from the fatigue of travel. But time did not permit us to grant his request, so we excused ourselves and continued on, the horsemen escorting us and the soldiers saluting on either side. We reached Ismailia Square in Cairo at six o'clock, and there we were received by the head of the Torches Committee, the Honorable Muhammad Husayn Pasha, and others of the palace officials and the welcoming party. Cheer upon cheer went up from the students — "Lebanon, brother of Egypt!" — and the delegation returned the greeting with a better one; then the cheers of the army and the people rose to cleave the very heart of the sky, all hailing Lebanon and its President, and Egypt and Farouk. At half past six the torches of the police and the University met the Lebanese torch, and their bearers stood

beside the bearer of the Lebanese torch. At seven o'clock exactly the procession of the three torches moved forward, preceded by a mounted detachment of the Egyptian army carrying torches, and followed by the notables and dignitaries, more than four thou-sand students carrying torches, four bands of music, and a vast throng of the masses, all bound for the stately Abdine Palace. Cairo in those moments — truth be told — was one blaze of fire, and the army's searchlights shone down on us like the sun in the heart of the sky. No sooner had we reached the forecourt of the palace and taken our stand before the balcony than His Majesty King Farouk appeared above us in his radiant presence, the men of the royal entourage around him. After the band had sounded the royal anthem, His Majesty expressed the wish to receive the delegation of the Torch of Lebanon, so we mounted the palace stairs, preceded by the Honorable our minister plenipotentiary, until we reached the royal balcony, where we had the honor of an audience with His Majesty. The moment we beheld His Majesty — God preserve him — his lips parted in a smile fresher than the spring of Lebanon and more radiant. Mr. Hikmat Khidr presented the torch to His Majesty, and Mr. Salim Salam presented the letter of His Excellency our President, which he accepted with a smile; he shook hands with us one by one, asking after the health of His Excellency our beloved President and after the noble Lebanese people. After that a photograph was taken of us in His Majesty's company, in deference to his gracious wish, and immediately thereafter His Majesty — God keep him — bestowed on each one of us the silver Medal of Merit. We then asked leave to withdraw and returned to the Continental Hotel, where rooms had been prepared for our stay, and we lodged as the guests of Egypt.

On the day after our arrival in Cairo there came to the hotel the mission's escort, Mr. al-Said Habib, one of the finest of Egypt's young men in culture, learning, and gentleness

of manner, who placed himself at our disposal for the whole length of our stay in Cairo. The first thing we did was to go to the stately Abdine Palace to inscribe our names in the protocol regis-ter. From there we went straight to the Lebanese Legation — the Kaaba of all Lebanese in the land of the Nile — and called on the Honorable minister plenipo-tentiary of Lebanon, Sheikh Sami al-Houri, who overwhelmed us with his kindness until each of us felt as if he were in his own home; and thence to the Lebanese Consulate.

In the afternoon we attended the ceremony of laying the founda-tion stone of Farouk University City, on a special invitation from His Majesty. It is worth mention-ing that His Majesty had scarcely taken his exalted place when he asked about us and whether we were there, and as soon as he learned of it he graciously turned his kindly gaze toward us as a sign that he knew of our presence — a gesture that made the deepest impression on our hearts. In the evening the Honorable Mustafa Fahmi Pasha, the man who had labored first and fore-most for the success of the idea of the torch, had invited us to a family evening; we accepted the invitation and became acquainted with still other faces of generous, hospitable Egypt.

On the following day, February 13, 1946, the Lebanese Legation gave a delightful tea party for us, to which it invited the Lebanese athletic mission then in Egypt, some Egyptian young men, and men of the press. After that we went to the general headquarters of the Young Men's Muslim Associations in answer to an invitation we had received from

the headquarters, and were given a brilliant reception. On the morning of the next day we made for the wax museum to see the sights; it was, truth be told, a masterpiece of immortal art and of monuments that the passing of the days cannot efface. Then we went to Studio Misr, where Husni Bey Naguib, the studio's artistic director, accompanied us and explained everything to us; then we took refreshments and coffee and returned to the hotel.