Now, the leopard had clawed Ali ben Hossein's thigh grievously, and the subsequent neglect of the wound had been abominable, but the man had been a clean liver and his toughness was great. In ten days he could hobble, and in a fortnight announced his departure.
"I am a merchant without merchandise, Effendi, and must needs be back about my affairs. If I do not gather them into my hands again another will."
"I'd stand you tick to the extent of a dozen loads of goods if I had 'em," said Carter cordially, "but as you've seen for yourself, the factory's cleaned out. And Allah knows when the next steamer will drive in."
"May your tribe increase, Effendi. I have had too much at your hands already. But though no money may pass over what you have done, yet I ask you to accept a gift, that is a mere token."
It was a piece of gray stone which sprouted with rich brown crystals. It was shaped like a squat duck, some inch and a half long, and Ali ben Hossein wore it alongside the little leather parcel which held a verse of the Koran and hung by a thong from his neck.
"O Effendi, you are young, and that will bring you pleasure more than could be bought with ten quills of gold. Wear that, and your grief will fade."
"Poof!" said Carter, "I've no griefs."
Ali ben Hossein waved aside the statement with a long slim hand, the hand of the Haûsa swordsman for whose narrow grip Central African armorers make sword hilts that no grown Englishman can use. "O Effendi, my sickness was of the leg. Neither my eyes nor my ears were touched by the leopard, and since I lay here I have both seen and heard. There is a woman that I have watched, a woman with brown hair that has in it the glint of copper. She flaunts you now, as is the way of women with those they love; but she is the one you desire, and presently (having this charm) you will take her to wife. Indeed, she will come to your house without purchase and of free will."
"You mistake," said Carter with a sigh. "It is the black-haired one that I am contracted to marry."
Ben Hossein smiled. He was not to be turned from his idea by a small argument like that. "You may take her as the lesser wife, but I know who will rule your harem, Effendi."