was silent for a little while, during which he
puffed his pipe--when he observed:--

"Allah Kebur, God is most powerful! That man has suffered much--and what
has he to show for it?--a green turban--He is a Hadjy; I never thought
that we should have heard so good a story about a 'crust of bread.' His
description of the simoom parched up my entrails. What think you,
Mustapha, cannot a true believer go to heaven, without a visit to the
tomb of the prophet?"

"The holy Koran does not say otherwise, your highness, it inculcates
that all who can, should do so, as the path will be rendered easier. Min
Allah! God forbid! Has your highness ever had the time to go to Mecca,
and is not your highness to go to heaven?"

"Very true, Mustapha, I never had time. In my youth I was busy shaving
heads, after that, Wallah! I had enough to do, splitting them; and now
am not I fully occupied in taking them off? Is it not so, Mustapha; are
not these the words of truth?"

"Your highness is all wisdom. There is but one God, and Mahomet is his
prophet; and when the latter said, that a visit to the holy shrine would
be a passport to heaven, it was intended to employ those who were idle,
not to embarrass true believers who work hard in the name of the Most
High!"

"Min Allah! God forbid! the case is clear," replied the pacha, "why, if
every body were to go to Mecca, what then, Mustapha?"

"Your highness--it is the opinion of your slave, if such were to take
place, that all the fools would have left the country."

"Very true, Mustapha; but my mouth is parched up with the sand of that
simoom--Sherbet I cannot drink, Rakee I must not, the Hakim has forbid
it; what must it be then, Mustapha?"

"Hath the holy prophet forbidden wine to true believers in case of
sickness; is not your highness sick; was the wine of Shiraz given by
Allah to be thrown away? Allah Karim! God is most merciful; and the wine
was sent that true believers might, in this world, have a foretaste of
the pleasures awaiting them in the next."

"Mustapha," replied the pacha, taking his pipe out of his mouth, "by the
beard of the holy prophet, your words are those of wisdom. Is a pacha to
be fed on water-melons? Staffir Allah! do we believe the less, because
we drink the wine? Slave, bring the pitcher. There is but one God, and
Mahomet is his prophet."

"The words of the prophet, your highness, are plain: he says, 'True
believers drink no wine,' which means, that his follow