to his companion as much of this as
he deemed it right for him to know, several of the sorrowing relations
of the dead man came forward and carried the body away. Little notice
was taken of the incident, which, from beginning to end, scarcely
interrupted the general flow of business.

At the Bab-Azoun gate, which occupied a position not many yards distant
from the spot on which now stands the principal theatre of Algiers, Ali
left Ted Flaggan for a few minutes, begging him to wait until he had
transacted a piece of business in the market held just outside the gate.

"Tell me before ye go, Ally, what may be the use of them three big hooks
close to the gate," said Flaggan, pointing upwards.

"Them's for throwin' down teeves an' murderers on to.--You stay here; me
not be wery long come back."

Rais Ali hurried away, leaving the sailor to observe and moralise on all
that passed around him. And there was a good deal to induce thought in
one who had been accustomed to comparatively humane laws and merciful
dispensations in his native land, for, besides the scene which he had
just witnessed, and the huge hooks whose uses had just been explained to
him, he now noticed that several conspicuous places near him were
garnished with the heads of malefactors who had been recently executed.
He observed, also, that the innumerable donkeys which were being
constantly driven past him, overladen with market produce, were covered
with open sores, and that these sores appeared to be selected for
special flagellation when the brutal drivers wished to urge the wretched
creatures on.

He stood thus for some time watching with interest the throng of Turks,
Jews, Moors, negroes, and others that continually streamed to and fro,
some on foot, some on horseback, and others, especially the men with
marketable commodities, on mules and donkeys. It was not difficult for
him to distinguish between the races, for Rais Ali had already told him
that none but Turks were permitted to wear the turban, not even the sons
of Turks by Algerine mothers, and that the Jews were by law commanded to
dress in sombre black.

Suddenly he observed a body of men advancing towards the gate, carrying
something in their arms, and followed by an orderly crowd at a
respectful distance. With the curiosity of an idler he approached, and
found that they bore a man, who was firmly bound hand and foot. The man
was a Moor, and the anxious look of his pale face showed that