"Don't you see that horse there, by the ruins ready saddled and bridled?"
"But it does not belong to us; it is this man's property."
"Quite so, and I am going to take it from him."
"Take a horse from an Arab? Don't you believe it, sir! You may take his wife or his children, but his horse, never!"
"Ask him for how much he will sell it to me."
"It is a very handsome, well-bred horse, and he would not part with it at any price."
"Never mind! Ask him."
As Ali had foreseen, the Bedouin declined to deprive himself of his steed.
"Then," said M. de Morin to the interpreter, "I order you to translate to him exactly what I am going to say, word for word, and at the same time with me."
"I will obey you."