eggs were
never yet paid for. Hadst thou not given them to him they would have
become two chickens. These would each have laid hundreds. Those
hundreds, when hatched, would have laid their thousands. In seven
years, think to what amount Abd el Hakk is indebted to thee. Sue him.'

"Widow Zaidah listened. What is more, she acted. Abd el Hakk failed to
appear to rebut the claim. He was worth no more.

"'Why is the defendant not here?' asked the judge.

"'My lord,' said his attorney, 'he is gone to sow boiled beans.'

"'Boiled beans!'

"'Boiled beans, my lord.'

"'Is he mad?'

"'He is very wise, my lord.'

"'Thou mockest.'

"'My lord, if boiled eggs can be hatched, sure boiled beans will
grow!'

"'Dismissed with costs!'

"The tree that bends with every wind that blows will seldom stand
upright."

* * * * *

A round of applause greeted the clever tale, of which the speaker's
gestures had told even more than his words. But the merriment of
the company only began there, for forthwith a babel of tongues was
occupied in the discussion of all the points of the case, in imagining
every impossible or humorous alternative, and laughter resounded on
every side, as the glasses were quickly refilled with an innocent
drink.

XX

THE MEDICINE-MAN

"Wine is a key to all evil."

_Moorish Proverb._

Under the glare of an African sun, its rays, however, tempered by a
fresh Atlantic breeze; no roof to his consulting-room save the sky, no
walls surrounding him to keep off idle starers like ourselves; by the
roadside sits a native doctor of repute. His costume is that of half
the crowd around, outwardly consisting of a well-worn brown woollen
cloak with a hood pulled over his head, from beneath the skirts of
which protrude his muddy feet. By his side lies the basket containing
his supplies and less delicate instruments; the finer ones we see him
draw from a capacious wallet of leather beneath his cloak.

Though personally somewhat gaunt, he is nevertheless a jolly-looking
character, totally free from that would-be professional air assumed
by some of our medical students to hide lack of experience; for he,
empiric though he be, has no idea of any of his own shortcomings, and
greets us with an easy smile. He is seated on the ground, hugging his
knees till his attention is drawn to us, when, observing our gaze at
his lancets on the ground, he picks one up to show it. Both are