“‘Venerable old man,’ he said, ‘the French have come to bring Egypt justice and liberty.’
“‘I knew they would come,’ replied the dervish.
“‘How did you come to know it?’
“‘Through an eclipse of the sun.’
“‘How can an eclipse of the sun have informed you as to the movement of our armies?’
“‘Eclipses are brought about by the angel Gabriel, who places himself before the sun in order to announce to the faithful the misfortunes which threaten them.’
“‘Venerable old man, you are ignorant of the true cause of eclipses; I shall impart the knowledge of it to you.’
“Thereupon, taking a stump of pencil and a scrap of paper, he traced some figures:
“‘Let A be the sun, B, the moon, C, the earth,’ and so forth...
“And when he had come to the end of his demonstration,