Ayoub was a small, neat figure, with a pair of formidable moustaches, a pointed beard, but no whiskers; he had formerly lived in Marocco, taking service under the Sultan, there he had been obliged to adopt the caftan and turban, but had very soon returned to the independence of the Desert; this, however, had given him more neatness in his dress, and an affectation of knowledge bordering on conceit. He was a great talker, which was facilitated, as his comrades jokingly assured him, by the absence of several teeth, lost in some fray; he was well knit, though short, and when laughed at for his size, he was always ready with a proverb, as "Iron is sold by the quintal, steel by the ounce." The only peculiarity about him in other respects, was that he carried a brace of small pocket pistols in his belt, this joined to his being a good rifle-shot, had acquired him the surname "Er Rami, the Marksman."
"My name," said he in answer to Yusuf's inquiry, "your lord's name (may peace attend it!) is Ayoub Ibn Aisa Ibn Yarib Sebaïe, they choose to call me Er Rami, to laugh at my beard, because I carry these children of the gun; but when they have seen them bite, young as they are, they do not laugh at them in the hand of an enemy. Then they open the mouth of astonishment. A Christian gave them to me, may the Prophet enlighten him before his death! They are good men, the Christians, men of trust, they would not break their word to save a ship. The Moors are not worthy to be their grooms; but give me your ear," said he, leaning from his saddle towards Yusuf, apparently to whisper his secret, when he shouted out, "they eat pig!"
"Oh, abominable!" exclaimed the equally scandalized Jew; and all the Christians' merits were wrecked on the reef of prejudice.
Yusuf, however, nothing loth to relieve the monotony of the journey, by encouraging the loquaciousness of his companion, asked him where he had met with Christians, and if he had been to Suerah.
Ayoub, only too glad to find a listener, brightened up as he slung his long bridle round his neck, and let his horse follow his own pace, that his hands might be free to accompany his tongue. "Gently, child," this was to his horse, who knew as well as his master, that he had work before him, and had no intention of fretting. "Inshallah, I have seen things, as you say. El Suerah! Yes, I have seen El Suerah. The Nazarenes call it Mogadore, after the sanctuary of the Saint Sidi Mogdul (his peace be on us!). Well, before I went to the merchant's house, I said to my head, 'If Ayoub does not dress himself like a Kaïd, or a Taleb, the infidel will despise him, and I shall appear small in their eyes:' so I put on a turban of white muslin, as big as that," holding his hands a foot and a half from each side of his head, "then I put on a green caftan and a hayk, perfumed with sandal-wood, and followed by a boy with a present of dates and oranges, I went to the merchant's house. As I was going to enter, out comes a black soldier, who was sitting in the gate.
"'Where are you going in peace?' said he, he did not see whom he was speaking to, for his eyes were one half closed with fat, and the other half with importance.
"'Going,' said I, 'to see the merchant,' and I advanced.
"'Tell me who you are,' said he, 'and I will inquire if you can be admitted.'
"This set me laughing. 'Did I come to see the Sultan?' said I; 'when I do, I don't expect to find such a gate-keeper, so take your head from whence you brought it, and find a place to pray in.' And I pushed him out of my path. But my slipper-counter barred the doorway again.
"'You are not in the woods,' says he, quite furious, 'people's houses are not to be entered by force here, as you will find when you eat the stick, for all your turban is as big as a Cuscusoo dish.'