ugh five-and-twenty years this man of our people has
stood over us to oppress us, and your servants have suffered and been
silent. In that time we have seen the seed of Israel hunted from the
houses of their fathers where they have lived since their birth. We have
seen them buffeted and smitten, without a resting-place for the soles
of their feet, and perishing in hunger and thirst and nakedness and
the want of all things. Is this to your honour, or your glory, or your
profit?'"

The people broke into loud cries of approval, and when they were once
more silent, the thick voice went on: "And not the seed of Israel
only, but the sons of Islam also, has this man plunged in the depths of
misery. Under a Sultan who desires liberty and a Kaid who loves justice,
in a land that breathes freedom and a city that is favoured of God,
our brethren the Muslimeen sink with us in deep mire where there is no
standing. Every day brings to both its burden of fresh sorrow. At
this moment a plague is upon us. The country is bare; the town is
overflowing; every man stumbles over his fellow our lives hang in doubt;
in the morning we say 'Would it were evening'; in the evening we say,
'Would it were morning'; stretch out your hand and help us!"

Again the crowd burst into shouts of assent, and the stridulous voice
continued: "Let us say to him 'Lord Basha, there is no way of help but
one. Pluck down this man that is set over us. He belongs to our own race
and nation; but give us a master of any other race and nation; any Moor,
any Arab, any Berber, any negro; only take back this man of our own
people, and your servants will bless you.'"

The old man's voice was drowned in great shouts of "Ben Aboo!" "To Ben
Aboo!" "Why wait for the judges?" "To the Kasbah!" "The Kasbah!"

But a second voice came piercing through the boom and clash of those
waves of sound, and it was thin and shrill as the cry of a pea-hen.
Naomi knew this voice also--it was the voice of Judah ben Lolo,
the elder of the synagogue, who would have been sitting among the
three-and-twenty-judges but that he was a usurer also.

"Why go to the Kaid?" said the voice like a peahen. "Does the Basha
love this Israel ben Oliel? Has he of late given many signs of such
affection? Bethink you, brothers, and act wisely! Would not Ben Aboo
be glad to have done with this servant who has been so long his master?
Then why trouble him with your grievance? Act for yourselves, and the
Kaid will