f making talk. Whereas the men,
being, as it were, the guardians of the woman, will be seized
with pride and jealousy. So that what with the woman's curiosity
and the men's watchfulness there will be great need for discretion."

"How would you define discretion?"

"In the case of the woman, insolence. In the case of the men, a
good humor--with perhaps some such physic for quarrelsomeness as
croton oil administered in their food on suitable occasion.
Whenever they get suspicious, sahib, drench their food!

"When the woman makes great eyes and shams complaints, tell her
what their cursed Prophet said of women. Never mind whether he
said it or not, sahib, for she will not know the truth of it,
never having read the book. Only speak evil of all women, and so
we shall come to Ali Higg's nest in good repute."

"All right. I'll try not to flirt with the lady. What next?"

"The sahib will be accused of being a Persian, and will be
insulted accordingly, for none loves a Persian in this land,
Islam having two chief sects, of which the Persians chose to
adopt the Shia faith, which is not in favor with the Sunni, who
are most numerous and most fanatic. The less the Sunni knows of
his religion the more he despises a Shia; and when these people
despise they steal, strike, abuse, and act otherwise unseemly."

"But I'm not supposed to be a Persian, am I?"

"No, for you could never act a Persian's part. But they will
accuse you of being a Persian because you are an Indian, as I
have heard a man called a dago because he was born somewhere
south of a certain line. When it has been established that you
are no Persian, but an Indian, it must be remembered that there
are only two kinds of Indians whom they do not despise, and they
are Sikhs and Pathans--Sikhs, because a Sikh can smite three
Arabs with one hand, and the Pathan for much the same reason.

"But I must not go as a Sikh because of the religious difficulty;
neither may you be a Pathan, because you in no way resemble one,
nor do you speak the Pushtu tongue. But I will be a Pathan,
because I can speak that language; therefore they will respect me
as a man prone to fight readily and well. And knowing that no
Pathan would demean himself by being servant to a man of no
account, they will more readily respect you, although you are
neither Sikh nor yet Pathan but are supposed to be a Punjabi
Mussulman. Therefore, sahib, you must take a middle course
between peace and pugnacity,