my mule,
and I ride very quietly into Biskra to take coffee with my friends."

"That is half-an-hour's exercise?"

"About half-an-hour. After taking coffee with my friends we play at
dominoes. It is forbidden for the Arabs to play at cards in Biskra. I
remain in the cafe at the corner--"

"I know--by the Garden of the Gazelles!" "--till eleven o'clock, at
which time I again mount upon my mule, and return quietly to my home.
When I reach there I eat with my wife and children sour milk, bread, and
dates from my palm-trees which I have kept from the autumn. At twelve we
all go to bed together in a black room."

"A black room?"

"We fear the flies."

"I see."

"Till four in the afternoon I, my wife, and my children sleep in the
black room. At that hour I rise once more, and go quietly to the Cafe
Maure in old Biskra, near my house. I play cards there for five coffees
till seven o'clock. At seven the mosquitoes arrive, and prevent us from
playing any more."

"How intrusive! Always at seven?"

"Always at seven. I then walk very quietly with my friends to the end of
the oasis."

"To the Tombuctou road?"

"Yes, Sidi; to get the air. We come back by the same road quietly, and
I go to my house, and eat a cold kous-kous with my wife and children.
After this I return to the cafe and play ronda till one o'clock."

"One o'clock at night?"

"Yes. At one o'clock I go with my friends very quietly to bathe in
the stream beneath the wall near the mosque. We stay in the water for,
perhaps, an hour, and when we come out we drink lagmi."

"What's lagmi?"

"Palm wine. Then at three o'clock I go to my home, mount upon the roof
quietly with my wife and children, and sleep till dawn."

"And you do this for five months?"

"For five months, Sidi."

"And--and your wife, Safti?"

I felt that I was very indiscreet; but Safti is good-natured, and has
bought quite a number of palm-trees out of his savings when with me.

"My wife, Sidi?"

"What does she do all the time?"

"She remains quietly in my house."

"She never goes out?"

"Never, except upon the roof to take a little air."

"Doesn't she get rather bor----"

The one eye began to look remarkably vague.

"And you find five months of this life a sufficient rest in the course
of the year?"

Safti smiled at me with resignation.

"I cannot take more, Sidi; I am not a rich Englishman."

"Well, Safti, you must make the best of your fate. It is the will of
Allah