ack the sheik.

"In the name of Allah, no!"

The black man laughed again, and rose to lean against the wall behind
him, gathering the dog up in his arms.

"If it is the order of the council," he asserted, "I will send them back
satisfied, with a tale to tell that will bring about no landing. Also, I
will give the council much amusement."

"But will other sailors land afterward, seeking similar amusement?"
asked the sheik.

"No! There will be an order that none land!"

The sheik took a vote on it. Heads nodded solemnly all around the room
as his eyes sought each half-veiled face in turn. His own face was
almost altogether shielded by the brown linen head-dress, for men of
his race like to reach a judgment unobserved. They were all nods that
answered him, and he saw fit to keep his own opinion to himself.

"Thou seest? These others are all with thee. Have it thine own way,
Hassan Ah. Unlock thou the riddle and on thy head be the answer! Thou
hast our leave to go."

So Hassan Ah set out undaunted for the jail, with a terrier in tow
behind him and a huge smile on his broad-beamed face. And behind him a
murmur rose that:

"It was well. He brought the warship in, instead of leaving it outside
or--as any wise man would have done--wrecking it on the outer reef,
where it could have been plundered at discretion. Let him send the
sailors back again and bear the consequences!"

And within a minute of the pilot's arrival at the window of the jail
(through which he peered for two minutes before speaking) the whole
of Adra's council, followed by the city's children in a noisy horde,
proceeded in a cluster after him and took up position, each as he saw
fit, at different vantage points.

Then Hassan Ah shook a loose bar of the window until it rattled, and so
called attention to himself. Crothers and Joe Byng raced for the window
neck and neck, and reached it simultaneously.

"You two men want you-ah dog?" asked Hassan Ah, and the chained dog
leaped up at the window as both men swore at once.

"You pass him in here! Come on, you black-faced cornerman! There'll be
a cutter's crew ashore pretty soon to rescue us, and if you don't hand
that dog over before they get here you'll get the worst whipping you
ever had in all your black life!"

"They'll feed you to the dog when they're through with you!" vowed Byng.

"Come on, MacHassan!" ordered Crothers. "Get the key and pass the
dog in. That'll settle your account. T hen you'