brass for my food; likewise, a bed for myself, and a bed of lesser value
for my companion. Hast thou these things, Leh Shin?"

Leh Shin went into his back premises and returned with the bowls and the
prayer-mat.

"The bed for thyself, O Haj, and the bed of lesser value for thy friend,
I shall make shift to procure. Presently I will send my assistant, the
eyes of my encroaching age, to bring what you need."

"It is well," said Shiraz, who was seated on a low stool near the door,
and who looked with contemplative eyes into the shop.

Leh Shin huddled himself on to the string couch again, and the slow
process of bargain-driving began. Pice by pice they argued the question,
and at last Shiraz produced a handful of small coin, which passed from
him to the Chinaman.

"I had already heard of thee," said Leh Shin, scratching his loose
sleeves with his long, claw-like fingers. "But thy friend, the Burman,
who spoke beforehand of thy coming, and who still recalls the mixture of
his opium pipe, I cannot remember." He hunched his shoulders. "Yet even
that is not strange. My house by the river is a house of many faces,
yet all who dream wear the same face in the end," his voice crooned
monotonously. "All in the end, from living in the world of visions,
become the same."

Shiraz bowed his head with grave courtesy.

"It was also told to me that you served a rich master and have stored up
wealth."

"The way of honesty is never the path to wealth," responded Shiraz, in
tones of reproof. "So it is written in the Koran."

Leh Shin accepted the ambiguous reply with an unmoved face.

"Thy friend is under the hand of devils?"

He put the remark as an idle question.

"He is tormented," replied Shiraz, pulling at his beard. "He is much
driven by thoughts of evil, committed, such is his dream, by another
than himself; and yet the _Sirkar_ hath said that the crime was his own.
The ways of Allah are veiled, and Mah Myo is without doubt no longer
reasonable; yet he is my friend, and doth greatly profit thereby."

"Ah, ah," said the Chinaman, placing a hubble-bubble before his guest,
who condescended to shut the mouthpiece in under his long moustache,
while he sat silently for nearly half an hour.

"Dost thou sell beautiful things, Leh Shin?" he asked. "I have a gift to
bestow, and my mind troubles me. The Lady Sahib of my late master
suffered misfortune. She was robbed by some unknown son of a jackal, and
thereby lost jewels, th