aining between Tartars
and gipsies and Greeks. It meant much less than a quarter of the
ultimate sum the Tartar was willing to pay. Would Stan ever have offered
that for her? No, surely not. She looked at the Tartar and felt the
passion that radiated from him. How lukewarm Stan was! And here was a
man. Stopped the boat midstream and bargained for her, fought to possess
her. Endangered his life for her. For it was a dangerous thing to do
what he did and facing her father. Yet--she will have to marry Stan
because her father bids it.

"I don't mean to offend you," the boatman spoke again, "but you are very
slow in deciding whether you accept my bargain or not. Night is closing
upon us."

Marcu did not answer immediately. The boat was carried downstream very
rapidly. They were at least two miles too far down by now. Mehmet looked
at Fanutza and found such lively interest in her eyes that he was
encouraged to offer another five gold pieces for her.

It was a proud moment for the girl. So men were willing to pay so much
for her! But her heart almost sank when her father pulled out his purse
from his pocket and said:

"Mehmet Ali, who is my best friend, has been so good to me these twenty
years that I have thought to give him twenty gold pieces that he might
buy himself a wife to keep his hut warm during the long winter. What say
he to my friendship?"

"That is wonderful! Only now, he is not concerned about that, but about
the fairness of his friend who does not want to sell wives to the men
whose women he buys. I offer five more gold pieces which makes
thirty-five in all. And I do that not for Marcu but for his daughter
that she may know that I will not harm her and will for ever keep her
well fed and buy her silks and jewels."

"Silks!" It occurred to the gipsy chief to look at his daughter at that
moment. She turned her head away from his and looked at the Tartar, from
under her brows. How had he known?

"A bargain is a bargain only when two men agree on something, says the
Koran," the gipsy chief reminded the Tartar boatman. "I don't want to
sell her."

"So we will travel downstream for a while," answered Mehmet Ali and
crossed his arms.

After a while the gipsy chief who had reckoned that they must be fully
five miles away from his home across the water made a new offer.

"A woman, Mehmet Ali, is a woman. They are all alike after you have
known them. So I offer you thirty-five pieces of gold with which you ca