indignantly.

'And he asked what he thought sufficient in consideration of the
profits he felt sure of making in your service--a foreigner and a
young man of many wants.'

'I had told him that thou art of all men living the most generous!'
put in Rashid. My dismissal of that cook had long been rankling in his
mind. 'It is the custom of the country,' he subjoined, defiantly.

'It is a custom which I very heartily dislike,' I answered. 'It seems
to me that people here are always grasping. Look at the prices which
the merchants ask, the way they bargain. They fight for each para as
if it were their soul's salvation. They are mad for gain.'

'Again you are mistaken,' answered Suleyman. 'They do not ask too much
from avarice, but for the sake of pastime. Indeed, you will find
sometimes that the price they ask is less than the real value of the
object, and still they let the buyer beat it down--for mere amusement
of the argument and for the sake of seeing what devices he will use.
In addition, they will give the buyer a nice cup of coffee--sometimes
two cups of coffee if the argument is long--and as many glasses full
of sherbet as he cares to drink.'

'And if the buyer will not pay the price, though much reduced, the
merchant often will present the object to him, as happened to your
Honour in Aleppo only the other day,' put in Rashid.

'That was only a device to shame me into buying it.'

'No, by your Honour's leave!'

'Rashid may well be right,' said Suleyman, 'although I cannot judge of
the peculiar instance since I was not present.'

Just then we came around a shoulder of the hill, and saw some people,
men and women, harvesting the grapes in a much larger vineyard.

'Now you shall see!' exclaimed Rashid exultantly. He got down off his
horse and stooped over the nearest vines. The workers, seeing him, set
up a shout of 'Itfaddalu!' (perform a kindness), the usual form of
hospitable invitation. Since we refused to join them in the middle of
the vineyard a man came wading towards us, bearing on his head a
basket tray piled up with grapes. Suleyman picked out three monstrous
clusters, one for each of us, with blessings on the giver. To my offer
of payment the fellah opposed a serious refusal, saying: 'It would be
a shame for me.'

'You see now!' said Rashid, as we resumed our way. 'It is not robbery
for wayfarers to take refreshment.'

'And as for the custom of the merchants,' added Suleyman, 'in asking a
much