at Saleh
could slide down onto it.

"'Wife,' the Arab said, when this was done, 'by the will of Allah, who
sent this stranger to my aid, I have returned alive. His name is Mudil.
I cannot tell you, now, what he has done for me. This house is his. He
is more than guest, he is master. He has promised to remain with me,
till I die, or am given back to life again. Do as he bids you, in all
things.'

"Abdullah would have assisted to carry the bed in, but I told him that
it might hurt his arm, and I and the woman could do it.

"'You had better go off, at once, to your own people, Abdullah. There
must be many here who understand the treatment of wounds. You had
better get one, at once, to attend to your arm."

"'I will come again, this evening,' the man replied. 'I consider that I
also owe my life to you; and when you have stayed a while here, you
must come to me. My wives and children will desire to thank you, when I
tell them how you brought me in here.'

"'Is there any place where I can put my horse?' I asked.

"'Yes,' the woman replied; 'take it to that door in the wall. I will go
and unfasten it.'

"There was a shed in the garden. Into this I put my horse, and then
entered the house.

"Most of the Arab women know something of the dressing of wounds.
Saleh's wife sent out the slave, to buy various drugs. Then she got a
melon from the garden, cut off the rind, and, mincing the fruit in
small pieces, squeezed out the juice and gave it to her husband to
drink. When she had done this, she set before me a plate of pounded
maize, which was boiling over a little fire of sticks, when we went in.

"'It is your breakfast,' I said.

"She waved her hand.

"'I can cook more,' she said. 'It matters not if we do not eat till
sunset.'

"I sat down at once, for indeed, I was famishing. The food had all been
exhausted, at the end of the first day's fighting. I had been more than
two days without eating a morsel. I have no doubt I ate ravenously, for
the woman, without a word, emptied the contents of the pot into my
bowl, and then went out and cut another melon for me.

"When the slave woman returned, she boiled some of the herbs, made a
sort of poultice of them, and placed it on the wound. Saleh had fallen
asleep, the moment he had drunk the melon juice, and did not move while
the poultice was being applied.

"The house contained three rooms--the one which served as kitchen and
living room; one leading from it on the righ