A Change of Masters 95 



country where life on earth is held, in reality, 

 to be merely one stage of existence, may well 

 have regarded such interference as unpardon- 

 able ; but they expressed no opinion, and 

 wandered on in the hope of witnessing other 

 soul-stirring incidents whose recital would while 

 away the long evenings in the distant village. 



Along the lines of tethered elephants a man 

 came sauntering, inspecting the animals with a 

 well assumed air of indifference. He was slight 

 and thin, with legs widely bowed, and was clad 

 in white cotton, with an embroidered cap on his 

 well-combed hair. His dress, his short, curly 

 beard, and his speech as he passed the time of 

 day with the attendants on the animals exposed 

 for sale, proclaimed him to be a Mussulman 

 from the north. He glanced shrewdly at our 

 elephant, but continued without halting on his 

 way, and it was not until an hour or so later 

 that he returned, greeted the owner and accepted 

 the long snake-like tube of the hookah when 

 handed to him. 



Kareem was the descendant of a long line of 

 " Mahouts," men who, in the service of the state 



