flunky and so I ought to know."

"'Stephens' will do," said Colonel Glinka, thwacking him smartly with
the Malacca cane. "Lead on. And you may dispense with the gutter
American dialect. I am not American, and besides I speak Arabic
fluently."

"But I not so well," Abdul said, "for I was raised in the Kuwait
oil-fields."

"By whom? A camel breeder?"

"Socony Vacuum," Abdul said.

They toiled up the face of the cliff. At once, half a dozen of the
white-robed gallery fell in behind them. When Colonel Glinka stopped and
looked back, they stopped. When he continued upon his way, they
continued.

"Have they no homes to which to go?" he complained. "Have they nothing
to do?"

"They are a very backward people, who live in the open," Abdul said.
"They do not work."

"How, then, do the wretches live? Wall Street charity, I presume."

"Oh, no, when they are not able to forage, the Sidi Doctor Stephens
feeds them."

"The reactionary old fool! But you may be sure that they knew how to
work in the old days, before he came."

"I do not think so."

"And why, in your ageless wisdom, not?"

"Because the Sidi Doctor made them," Abdul Hakkim ben Salazar said.

* * * * *

Colonel Glinka did not reply, for they had reached the summit of the
path by this time and were looking down upon a small, white villa that
nestled in a green microcosm between the naked chines of the dark,
interior hills. A miniature Eden indeed, thought Colonel Glinka, of figs
and cinnamons, of date palms and patchouli, all enclosed within a high
wire fence.

They descended, and Abdul Hakkim ben Salazar, with a flourish, produced
a great bronze key and unlocked the iron gate. "The Sidi Doctor," he
said, "will doubtless be in his conservatory, making flowers."

"A godlike pastime," said Colonel Glinka with heavy irony. "And where
may this hotbed of new life be found?"

"Over there," Abdul said, pointing toward a narrow, screened,
quonsetlike annex which protruded from the rear of the villa. "Come with
me and I will show you."

"You will not," Colonel Glinka said, smiting him upon the thigh once
again with the heavy cane. "You will remain here and keep silent."

"Ouchdammit!" Abdul exclaimed. "You be careful with that thing, Joe,
okay?"

"_You_ be careful, my boy," Colonel Glinka said and marched swiftly
around the corner of the house, opened the screen door of the
conservatory, and entered.

Here, amid long, t