to keep my blood in circulation by
better, purer means.' And he took me thereupon by the shoulders,
looked into my face, then pushed me away, laughing the laugh of the
hasheesh-smokers.

"Indeed, Im-Hanna was right. Khalid had become too odd, too queer to
be sane. Needless to say, I was not prone to follow his example at
that time. Nor am I now. _Mashallah!_ Lacking the power and madness to
set fire to the whole world, it were folly, indeed, to begin with
one's self. I believe I had as much right to exaggerate in peddling as
I had in writing verse. My license to heighten the facts holds good in
either case. And to some extent, every one, a poet be he or a cobbler,
enjoys such a license. I told Khalid that the logical and most
effective course to pursue, in view of his rigorous morality, would be
to pour a gallon of kerosene over his own head and fire himself out of
existence. For the instruments of deception and debasement are not in
the peddling-box, but rather in his heart. No; I did not think
peddling was as bad as other trades. Here at least, the means of
deception were reduced to a minimum. And of a truth, if everybody were
to judge themselves as strictly as Khalid, who would escape burning?
So I turned from him that day fully convinced that my little stock of
holy goods was innocent, and my balance at the banker's was as pure as
my rich neighbour's. And he turned from me fully convinced, I believe,
that I was an unregenerate rogue. Ay, and when I was knocking at the
door of one of my customers, he was walking away briskly, his hands
clasped behind his back, and his eyes, as usual, scouring the
horizon."

And on that horizon are the gilded domes and smoking chimneys of the
seething city. Leaving his last friend and his last burden behind, he
will give civilised life another trial. Loafer and tramp that he is!
For even the comforts of the grand cable-railway he spurns, and foots
it from the Bronx down to his cellar near Battery Park, thus cutting
the city in half and giving one portion to Izraeil and the other to
Iblis. But not being quite ready himself for either of these winged
Furies, he keeps to his cellar. He would tarry here a while, if but to
carry out a resolution he has made. True, Khalid very seldom resolves
upon anything; but when he does make a resolution, he is even willing
to be carried off by the effort to carry it out. And now, he would
solve this problem of earning a living in the great city by h