ady to work. You see
de bit ob wall dat's damaged dere? Well, dey're goin' to repair dat.
We'll go look at 'em by-an'-by."

As the incident which Peter narrated might prove tedious if given in his
own language, we take the liberty of relating it for him.

One fine morning during the previous summer the Dey of Algiers mounted
his horse--a fiery little Arab--and, attended by several of his
courtiers, cantered away in the direction of the suburb which is now
known by the name of Mustapha Superieur. When drawing near to the
residence of Ben-Ahmed the Dey's horse became unmanageable and ran away.
Being the best horse of the party, the courtiers were soon left far
behind. It chanced that Ben-Ahmed and his man, Peter the Great, were
walking together towards the city that day. On turning a sharp bend in
the road where a high bank had shut out their view they saw a horseman
approaching at a furious gallop.

"It is the Dey!" exclaimed Ben-Ahmed.

"So it am!" responded Peter.

"He can't make the turn of the road and live!" cried the Moor, all his
dignified self-possession vanishing as he prepared for action.

"I will check the horse," he added, in a quick, low voice. "You break
his fall, Peter. He'll come off on the left side."

"Das so, massa," said Peter, as he sprang to the other side of the
narrow road.

He had barely done so, when the Dey came thundering towards them.

"Stand aside!" he shouted as he came on, for he was a fearless horseman
and quite collected, though in such peril.

But Ben-Ahmed would not stand aside. Although an old man, he was still
active and powerful. He seized the reins of the horse as it was
passing, and, bringing his whole weight and strength to bear, checked it
so far that it made a false step and stumbled. This had the effect of
sending the Dey out of the saddle like a bomb from a mortar, and of
hurling Ben-Ahmed to the ground. Ill would it have fared with the Dey
at that moment if Peter the Great had not possessed a mechanical turn of
mind, and a big, powerful body, as well as a keen, quick eye for
possibilities. Correcting his distance in a moment by jumping back a
couple of paces, he opened his arms and received the chief of Algiers
into his broad black bosom!

The shock was tremendous, for the Dey was by no means a light weight,
and Peter the Great went down before it in the dust, while the great man
arose, shaken indeed, and confused, but unhurt by the accident.

Ben-