u settest store by deeds, not words. Tell me, then, is it the
deed of a True-Believer to waste substance upon infidel slaves, to
purchase them that he may set them free?"

Asad moved on in silence. That erstwhile habit of Sakr-el-Bahr's was one
not easy to condone. It had occasioned him his moments of uneasiness,
and more than once had he taxed his lieutenant with the practice ever to
receive the same answer, the answer which he now made to Fenzileh. "For
every slave that he so manumitted, he brought a dozen into bondage."

"Perforce, else would he be called to account. 'Twas so much dust
he flung into the face of true Muslimeen. Those manumissions prove a
lingering fondness for the infidel country whence he springs. Is there
room for that in the heart of a true member of the Prophet's immortal
House? Hast ever known me languish for the Sicilian shore from which in
thy might thou wrested me, or have I ever besought of thee the life of
a single Sicilian infidel in all these years that I have lived to serve
thee? Such longings are betrayed, I say, by such a practice, and such
longings could have no place in one who had uprooted infidelity from his
heart. And now this voyage of his beyond the seas--risking a vessel that
he captured from the arch-enemy of Islam, which is not his to risk but
thine in whose name he captured it; and together with it he imperils the
lives of two hundred True-Believers. To what end? To bear him overseas,
perchance that he may look again upon the unhallowed land that gave him
birth. So Biskaine reported. And what if he should founder on the way?"

"Thou at least wouldst be content, thou fount of malice," growled Asad.

"Call me harsh names, O sun that warms me! Am I not thine to use and
abuse at thy sweet pleasure? Pour salt upon the heart thou woundest;
since it is thy hand I'll never murmur a complaint. But heed me--heed my
words; or since words are of no account with thee, then heed his deeds
which I am drawing to thy tardy notice. Heed them, I say, as my love
bids me even though thou shouldst give me to be whipped or slain for my
temerity."

"Woman, thy tongue is like the clapper of a bell with the devil swinging
from the rope. What else dost thou impute?"

"Naught else, since thou dost but mock me, withdrawing thy love from thy
fond slave."

"The praise to Allah, then," said he. "Come, it is the hour of prayer!"

But he praised Allah too soon. Woman-like, though she protested she had