d from this
I shook into my palm a small stone like an opal. I turned it over once
or twice, put it back in the purse, and stowed string, purse, and all in
my breeches' pocket.

"I strolled down the verandah to our quarters in search of Aoodya, but
the room was empty; and after that I'm afraid I smoked and sulked for
the rest of the day, until nightfall. After playing the Hadji Hamid
through his meal I went out to our favourite seat on the edge of the dry
ditch, when she came to me out of nowhere across the withered grass of
the compound.

"'Have you the charm, O beloved?' she whispered.

"'Oh, it's a charm, is it?' said I, partly sulky yet.

"'Yes, and you must never lose it--never part with it--never, above all,
give it back to me. Promise me that, beloved; and I, who have wept
much, am happy again.'

"So I promised, and she snuggled close to me, and all was as before.
No more was said between us, and by next morning she seemed to have
clean forgotten the affair. But I thought of it at times, and it
puzzled me.

"Now, as I said, my master had taken a fancy to me quite apart from the
bombardon, and a token of it was his constantly taking me out as
companion on his walks. You may think it odd that he never troubled
about my being an unbeliever--for of course he held by the Prophet, and
so did all the islanders, Aoodya included. But in fact, though his
people called themselves Mahommedans, each man treated his religion much
as he chose, and Hamid talked to me as freely as if I had been his son.

"In this way I learned a deal of the island and its customs, and of the
terms by which Hamid and Hassan between them shared its rule. But that
any others laid claim to it I had no idea, until one day as we were
walking on the coast, and not far from the crater where he had found me
first, my master asked suddenly, 'Was I happy?'

"'Quite happy,' I answered.

"'You would not leave us if you could?' he went on, and began to laugh
quiet-like, behind his beard. 'Oho! Love, love! I that am old have
been merry in my day.' We walked for another mile, maybe, without
speaking, and came to the edge of a valley. 'Look down yonder,' said
he.

"Below us, and in the mouth of the valley, which grew broad and shallow
as it neared the sea, I saw a hill topped by a round wall and compound.
There might have been half a dozen houses within the compound, all
thatched, and above them stood up a flag painted in red and yellow
s