all
your Bashador said, still knowing in his heart that this country is not as
the land of the Nazarenes, and could not be made like it in haste. His
wazeers feared change, the Ulema[30] opposed it so far as they dared, and
that you know is very far, and nothing could be done rapidly after the
fashion of the West. My Lord understood this well.

"Then that King of the Age and Prince of True Believers fulfilled his
destiny and died, and my Lord el Hasan, who was in the South, reigned in
his stead.[31] And the troubles that now cover the land began to grow and
spread."

He sipped his tea with grave pleasure. Two female slaves were peering at
the Infidel through the branches of a lemon tree, just beyond the patio,
but when their master dropped his voice the heads disappeared suddenly, as
though his words had kept them in place. In the depths of the garden
close, Oom el Hasan, the nightingale, awoke and trilled softly. We
listened awhile to hear the notes "ring like a golden jewel down a golden
stair."

[Illustration: A HOUSE INTERIOR, MARRAKESH]

"My Lord el Hasan," continued the Hadj, "was ever on horseback; with him
the powder was always speaking. First Fez rejected him, and he carried
fire and sword to that rebellious city. Then Er-Riff refused to pay
tribute and he enforced it--Allah make his kingdom eternal. Then this
ungrateful city rebelled against his rule and the army came south and fed
the spikes of the city gate with the heads of the unfaithful. Before he
had rested, Fez was insolent once again, and on the road north our Master,
the Ever Victorious, was (so to say, as the irreligious see it) defeated
by the Illegitimate men from Ghaita, rebels against Allah, all, and his
house[32] was carried away. There were more campaigns in the North and in
the South, and the Shareefian army ate up the land, so that there was a
famine more fatal than war. After that came more fighting, and again more
fighting. My lord sought soldiers from your people and from the French,
and he went south to the Sus and smote the rebellious kaids from Tarudant
to High. So it fell out that my Lord was never at peace with his servants,
but the country went on as before, with fighting in the north and the
south and the east and the west. The devil ships of the Nazarene nations
came again and again to the bay of Tanjah to see if the Prince of the
Faithful were indeed dead, as rumour so often stated. But he was strong,
my Lord el Hasan, and not