THE FIRE 



fairly to bite into their bare shoulders as they teetered 

 along at their rapid, swaying, burdened gait. 



The moment they entered the square they were 

 seized upon from a dozen different sides. There was 

 no system at all. Every owner of property was out 

 for himself, and intended to get as much of the 

 precious water as he could. The poor carriers were 

 pulled about, jerked violently here and there, 

 besought, commanded to bring their loads to one 

 or the other of the threatened premises. Vocifera- 

 tions, accusations, commands arose to screams. 

 One old graybeard occupied himself by standing 

 on tiptoe and screeching, il Maji! majil majil" at 

 the top of his voice, as though that added anything 

 to the visible supply. The water-carrier of the 

 moment disappeared in a swirl of excited contestants. 

 He was attending strictly to business, looking 

 neither to right nor to left, pushing forward as 

 steadily as he could, gasping mechanically his cus- 

 tomary warning: "Semeelay! Semeelay!" Some- 

 how, eventually, he and his comrades must have got 

 somewhere; for after an interval he returned with 

 empty buckets. Then every blessed fool of a 

 property owner took a whack at his bare shoulders 

 as he passed, shrieking hysterically, "Hay a! hay a! 

 pesi! pesi!" and the like to men already doing their 

 best. It was a grand sight! 



107 



