er with
their guards. Already I had learnt that crime in Eastern countries is
not regarded altogether as it is with us; that Orientals do not know
that shrinking from contamination which marks the Englishman's
behaviour towards a breaker of his country's law. But I was unprepared
for this indulgence towards a gang of murderers. It interested me;
and, seeing that Rashid was talking with them in a friendly way, I
gathered there was nothing to be feared from their proximity, and
myself drew near when I had finished eating, and gave them cigarettes.
They thanked me loudly. The smile of pleasure on each face expressed a
childlike innocence. One only sat apart in gloom, conforming in some
measure to my preconceived idea of what a murderer upon his way to
prison ought to look like. I noticed with surprise that this one wore
no chain. I went and touched him on the shoulder. It was only then
that he looked up and saw that I was wishing him to take a cigarette.
He did so quickly, and saluted me without a word.

One of the others said in tender tones:

'Blame him not, O my lord, for he is mad with sorrow. He is more
luckless than the rest of us--may Allah help him! He killed the person
he loved best on earth--his only brother.'

'Then it is true that you are murderers?' I asked, still
half-incredulous.

'By Allah, it is true, alas! and we are paying for it by a year's
enslavement.'

'A year! No more than that,' I cried, 'for killing men?'

'And is it not enough, O lord of kindness? It is not as if we had
killed men from malice or desire of gain. We killed in sudden anger,
or, in the case of three among us, in a faction-fight. It is from
Allah; and we ask forgiveness.'

'How did that man kill?' I questioned, pointing to the apathetic
figure of the fratricide, which attracted my imagination by its
loneliness.

'He suffered persecutions from a rich man of his village, who was his
rival for the favour of a certain girl--so it is said. Those
persecutions maddened him at times. One day when he was mad like
that, his brother came to him and spoke some word of blame upon
another matter. He killed him, as he might have killed his wife and
children or himself, being in that state of mind devoid of reason.
When he awoke and saw what he had done, he wished to kill himself.'

'It is from Allah! His remorse is punishment,' exclaimed Rashid. 'Why
should he go to prison? He has had enough.'

'Nobody of this country would have though