less in the hot air.

Suddenly in the crowd beyond the gates there was a commotion. From one
of the streets six colossal Nubians advanced with shouts of--

"Oak! Oak! Warda! Way! Make way!"

They were armed with great staves, grasped in their two hands, and with
these they broke a path through that motley press, hurling men to right
and left and earning a shower of curses in return.

"Balak! Make way! Way for the Lord Asad-ed-Din, the exalted of Allah!
Way!"

The crowd, pressing back, went down upon its knees and grovelled as
Asad-ed-Din on a milk-white mule rode forward, escorted by Tsamanni his
wazeer and a cloud of black-robed janissaries with flashing scimitars.

The curses that had greeted the violence of his negroes were suddenly
silenced; instead, blessings as fervent filled the air.

"May Allah increase thy might! May Allah lengthen thy days! The
blessings of our Lord Mahomet upon thee! Allah send thee more
victories!" were the benedictions that showered upon him on every hand.
He returned them as became a man who was supremely pious and devout.

"The peace of Allah upon the Faithful of the Prophet's House," he would
murmur in response from time to time, until at last he had reached
the gates. There he bade Tsamanni fling a purse to the crouching
beggars--for is it not written in the Most Perspicuous Book that of alms
ye shall bestow what ye can spare, for such as are saved from their own
greed shall prosper, and whatever ye give in alms, as seeking the face
of Allah shall be doubled unto you?

Submissive to the laws as the meanest of his subjects, Asad dismounted
and passed on foot into the sok. He came to a halt by the well, and,
facing the curtained penthouse, he blessed the kneeling crowd and
commanded all to rise.

He beckoned Sakr-el-Bahr's officer Ali--who was in charge of the slaves
of the corsair's latest raid and announced his will to inspect the
captives. At a sign from Ali, the negroes flung aside the camel-hair
curtains and let the fierce sunlight beat in upon those pent-up
wretches; they were not only the captives taken by Sakr-el-Bahr, but
some others who were the result of one or two lesser raids by Biskaine.

Asad beheld a huddle of men and women--though the proportion of women
was very small--of all ages, races, and conditions; there were pale
fair-haired men from France or the North, olive-skinned Italians and
swarthy Spaniards, negroes and half-castes; there were old men, young
m