bewitched me,
For Death itself is in fear of them:
And thine eyebrows, like two logs of wood,
Have battered me each in its turn.
So if thou sayest die, I'll die;
And for God shall my sacrifice be!

"I have neither yet died nor abandoned hope,
Though slumber at night I ne'er know.
With the staff of deliverance still afar off,
So that all the world knows of my woe.
And if thou sayest die, I'll die,
But for God shall my sacrifice be!"

While the singing was proceeding Said and Drees had been indulging in
a game of draughts, and as it ceased their voices could be heard in
eager play. "Call thyself a Mallem (master). There, thy father was
bewitched by a hyena; there, and there again!" shouted Said, as he
swept a first, a second and a third of his opponent's pieces from the
board.

But Drees was equal with him in another move.

"So, verily, thou art my master! Let us, then, praise God for thy
wisdom: thou art like indeed unto him who verily shot the fox, but who
killed his own cow with the second shot! See, thus I teach thee to
boast before thy betters: ha, I laugh at thee, I ride the donkey on
thy head. I shave that beard of thine!" he ejaculated, taking one
piece after another from his adversary, as the result of an incautious
move. The board had the appearance of a well-kicked footstool, and the
"men"--called "dogs" in Barbary--were more like baseless chess pawns.
The play was as unlike that of Europeans as possible; the moves from
"room" to "room" were of lightning swiftness, and accompanied by a
running fire of slang ejaculations, chiefly sarcastic, but, on the
whole, enlivened with a vein of playful humour not to be Englished
politely. Just as the onlookers would become interested in the
progress of one or the other, a too rapid advance by either would
result in an incomprehensible wholesale clearing of the board by his
opponent's sleeve. Yet without a stop the pieces would be replaced
in order, and a new game commenced, the vanquished too proud to
acknowledge that he did not quite see how the victor had won.

Then Fattah, whose _forte_ was mimicry, attracted the attention of the
company by a representation of a fat wazeer at prayers. Amid roars of
laughter he succeeded in rising to his feet with the help of those
beside him, who had still to lend occasional support, as his knees
threatened to give way under his apparently ponderous carcase. Before
and behind, his shirt wa