me distance removed from the business street and the pier. On
two sides were the tents of the fruit peddlers and the vegetable
hucksters, negroes who came in from the country with their produce. The
other sides were taken up by the fabric and gewgaw venders, while in the
centre stood the platforms from which the auctioneers offered treasures
from the Occident. Through a break in the foothills, the chateau was
plainly discernible, the sea being obscured from view by the dense
forest that crowned the cliffs.

Chase made his way boldly to the nearest platform, exchanging bows with
the surprised Von Blitz and the saturnine Rasula, who stood quite near.
The men of Japat slowly drew close in as he mounted the platform, The
gleaming eyes that shone in the light of the torches did not create any
visible sign of uneasiness in the American, even though down in his
heart he trembled. He knew the double chance he was to take. From where
he stood looking out over those bronze faces, he could pick out the
scowling husbands who hated him because their wives hated them. He could
see Ben Ali, the master of two beauties from Teheran and the handsome
dancing girl from Cairo; there was Amriph, who basked erstwhile in the
sunshine of a bargain from Damascus and a seraph from Bagdad, but who
now groped about in the blackness of their contempt; and others, all of
whom felt in their bitter hearts that their misery was due to the
prowess of this gallant figure.

Afar off stood the group of women who had inspired this hatred and
distrust. Behind them, despised and uncountenanced by the Oriental
elect, were crowded the native women, who, down in their hearts, loathed
the usurpers. It was Chase's hope that the husbands of these simple
women would ultimately stand at his side in the fight for supremacy--and
they were vastly in the majority. If he could convince these men that
his dealings with them were honest, Von Blitz could "go hang."

He faced the crowd, knowing that all there were against him. "Von
Blitz!" he called suddenly. The German started and stepped back
involuntarily, as if he had been reprimanded.

"I've called this meeting in order to give you a chance to say to my
face some of the things you are saying behind my back. Thank God, all of
you men understand English. I want you to hear what Von Blitz has to say
in public, and then I want you to hear what I say to him. Incidentally,
you may have something to say for yourselves. In the