n in fact, though in
the distance black as the tents of Kedar? And, finally, with what
jests and laughter, and pulls altogether, the united following of
the sheik stretched the canvas from pillar to pillar, driving the
stakes and fastening the cords as they went! And when the walls
of open reed matting were put in place--the finishing-touch to
the building after the style of the Desert--with what hush of
anxiety they waited the good man's judgment! When he walked in
and out, looking at the house in connection with the sun, the trees,
and the lake, and said, rubbing his hands with might of heartiness,
"Well done! Make the dowar now as ye well know, and to-night we will
sweeten the bread with arrack, and the milk with honey, and at every
fire there shall be a kid. God with ye! Want of sweet water there
shall not be, for the lake is our well; neither shall the bearers
of burden hunger, or the least of the flock, for here is green
pasture also. God with you all, my children! Go."

And, shouting, the many happy went their ways then to pitch their
own habitations. A few remained to arrange the interior for the
sheik; and of these the men-servants hung a curtain to the central
row of pillars, making two apartments; the one on the right sacred
to Ilderim himself, the other sacred to his horses--his jewels
of Solomon--which they led in, and with kisses and love-taps
set at liberty. Against the middle pillar they then erected
the arms-rack, and filled it with javelins and spears, and bows,
arrows, and shields; outside of them hanging the master's sword,
modelled after the new moon; and the glitter of its blade rivalled
the glitter of the jewels bedded in its grip. Upon one end of
the rack they hung the housings of the horses, gay some of them
as the livery of a king's servant, while on the other end they
displayed the great man's wearing apparel--his robes woollen and
robes linen, his tunics and trousers, and many colored kerchiefs
for the head. Nor did they give over the work until he pronounced
it well.

Meantime the women drew out and set up the divan, more indispensable
to him than the beard down-flowing over his breast, white as Aaron's.
They put a frame together in shape of three sides of a square,
the opening to the door, and covered it with cushions and base
curtains, and the cushions with a changeable spread striped brown
and yellow; at the corners they placed pillows and bolsters sacked
in cloth blue and crimson; th