"Could you not poison this lion, O Jew?" said he.
"Doubtless, O Sheik!" said Demon-eye: "but there are three others."
"What will kill one will kill four," said Ali.
"And that is true, O my lord," said Demon-eye, "but then there are the panthers! O Sheik, look at these stripes upon my back. If one lion died, would here be still any skin remaining? If more lions died, how long would the Jew be alive? My head is not so beautiful as that of Rachel's daughter, but it is as useful to me; and, Inshallah, I mean to keep it. Besides, O Sheik!" and here his brutal face softened, "I love my lions, and Nasser is a king of lions, and he knows me. You Arabs love your horses."
A chord in the Arab's bosom vibrated in unison to the feeling in the breast of the Jew, and called up reminiscences, as it were the flash of light upon a picture; he was for a moment absent, and then his eyes beamed mildly on the degraded Jew, on whom he had previously looked with disgust. "God is great!" said Ali. "But where is this to take place, for I must find other means?"
"There is an old fondak," said Demon-eye, "about three hundred yards from the Rahamna gate; it is now seldom used, except when a cafila of black slaves comes in."
The Arab's face brightened. "It has a gate studded with iron, half open," said Ali hastily; "there is a mulberry-tree in the open space in front, and you can just see the top of the Kitibea above the houses. There is a water fountain under the mulberry-tree."
"You know it, O Sheik!" said Ain ed Djin. "But I hope the Rabbi's daughter will not be obstinate; better be a Moslem than eaten by a lion. I have seen these things before, but it never came to blood, for none can look on the face of a lion, with his eyes fixed on them, and no bars between, and not tremble and submit. I will delay to the last, to-morrow afternoon."
Ali had been ruminating, and heard little more than the end of this speech.