stapha, "you are not required by the
pacha to hold your tongue. You are required to do the very contrary,
which is, to speak."

"And do you know why I received the bowstring?" screamed the old hag.
"I'll tell you--because I would not speak; and I do not intend so to do
now, since I find that you wish that I should."

"Then it appears," said the pacha, taking the pipe out of his mouth,
"that the bastinado was as ill-managed as the bowstring. We do these
things better at Cairo. Hear me, old mother of Shitan! I wish to know
what you mean by that expression which is ever in your mouth--'time has
been.'"

"It means a great deal pacha, for it refers to my life--you want the
story."

"Exactly," replied Mustapha, "so begin."

"You must pay me for it--it is worth twenty pieces of gold."

"Do you presume to make conditions with his sublime highness the
pacha?" exclaimed Mustapha. "Why, thou mother of Afrits and Ghouls, if
thou commencest not immediately, thy carcass shall be thrown over the
walls for the wild dogs to smell at, and turn away from in disgust."

"Vizier, I have lived long enough to trust nobody. My price is twenty
pieces of gold counted out in this shrivelled hand before I begin; and
without they are paid down--not _one word_." And the old beldam folded
her arms, and looked the pacha boldly in the face.

"God is great!" exclaimed the pacha. "We shall see." At his well-known
signal the executioner made his appearance, and holding up the few
scattered gray hairs which still remained upon her head, he raised his
scimitar, awaiting the nod which was to be succeeded by the fatal blow.

"Strike, pacha, strike!" cried the old woman, scornfully. "I shall only
lose a life of which I have long been weary; but you will lose a story
of wonder, which you are so anxious to obtain. Strike--for the last
time, I say, 'Time has been'--before time shall be no more!"

"That is true, Mustapha," observed the pacha. "I forgot the story. What
an obstinate old devil; but I must hear the story."

"If it appears good to your absolute wisdom," said Mustapha, in a low
voice, "would it not be better to count down to this avaricious old hag
the twenty pieces of gold which she demands? When her story is ended, it
will be easy to take them from her, and her head from her shoulders.
Thus will be satisfied the demands of the old woman, and the demands of
justice."

"Wallah Thaib! it is well said, by Allah! Your words are as pearls.
Cou