"Well," he exclaims, "it's no use going on with him to-day. Put him in the gaol now, and I'll come and see him have the rest to-morrow."
"God bless thee, but surely he has had enough!" exclaims the lieutenant-governor, in sympathetic tones.
"Enough? He deserves double! The consul[page 239] has only ordered a thousand, and I am here to see that he has every one. We'll teach these villains to rob our houses!"
"There is neither force nor power save in God, the High, the Mighty! As thou sayest; it is written," and the powerless official turns away disgusted. "God burn these Nazarenes, their wives and families, and all their ancestors! They were never fit for aught but hell!" he may be heard muttering as he enters his house, and well may he feel as he does.
The policemen carry the victim off to the gaol hard by, depositing him on the ground, after once more restoring him with cold water.
"God burn their fathers and their grandfathers, and the whole cursed race of them!" they murmur, for their thoughts still run upon the consul and the clerk.
Leaving him sorrowfully, they return to the yard, where we still wait to obtain some information as to the cause of such treatment.
"Why, that dog of a Nazarene, the Greek consul, says that his house was robbed a month ago, though we don't believe him, for it wasn't worth it. The sinner says that a thousand dollars were stolen, and he has sent in a claim for it to the Sultan. The minister's now at court for the money, the Satan! God rid our country of them all!"
"But how does this poor fellow come in for it?"
"He! He never touched the money! Only he had some quarrel with the clerk, so they accused him of the theft, as he was the native living nearest to the house, just over the fence. He's nothing but a poor donkey-man, and an honest one at that.[page 240] The consul sent his clerk up here to say he was the thief, and that he must receive a thousand lashes. The governor refused till the man should be tried and convicted, but the Greek wouldn't hear of it, and said that if he wasn't punished at once he would send a courier to his minister at Marrákesh, and have a complaint made to the Sultan. The governor knew that if he escaped it would most likely cost him his post to fight the consul, so he gave instructions for the order to be carried out, and went indoors so as not to be present."