ACHMED BEN HOUSSEIN. 205 



" ' It is well. The will of God and his prophets be 

 obeyed.' 



" ' What shall I do for you before you depart ? for it is 

 written, " Let him order his affairs before he die, lest his 

 children have trouble in their tents." ' 



" ' I have no children to be troubled, and nothing to 

 cause them trouble if I had. I give Houssein my spear, 

 and Khalifa my gun. The mare is yours, O my father ! 

 She will bear you well until you and I are together again. 

 Howadji, you are going to El-Khuds. I would have gone 

 with you to the Holy City myself, but since I can not, 

 here is my shawl; there is in the folds of it a sum of 

 money, and the shawl itself is worth ten thousand pias- 

 tres. Take the money to the priests that guard the tomb 

 of Isa Ben Mariam, and give the shawl to Mohammed 

 Dhunnouf, sheik of the Mesjid el-Aksa. Do this for me, 

 oh Howadji Yeyeh, and add to the money you give the 

 priests so much as you owe me for this journey, making 

 it as large an amount as your love for me will warrant. 

 I trust you fully, for you have been kind.' 



" ' Why divide the money and the cashmere, Sheik Ach- 

 med ? Were it not better to give both to the sheik of 

 the Dome of the Rock ?' 



" ' Not so. We Bedouins have little knowledge of re- 

 ligion, though we call our faith the faith of Islam. But I 

 know not whether, after all, there may not be some error 

 in all this, and some truth in your faith in Isa, the son of 

 Mary. My possessions are small. I am of the Beni-Is- 

 mahil ; but our father had no lands other than the desert, 

 and we had nothing from his father Ibrahim. That which 

 I have is the gift of God. I would give it back to him 

 directly. I know no better way than this. Deny me 

 not, O Effendi !' 



