“‘I cannot’ (he frankly added) ‘give you as good a price even as I could have given a day or two ago; the old Queen’s idea of free dates has swamped everything. But I will pay a good quarter of the customary price—which is far more than you now could obtain elsewhere. I am very wealthy. You are a stranger and, as it were, our guest in this town. A good deed is never thrown away. Perhaps some day I shall be glad of your aid also. I have seen you a few hours only, but I think we know each other’s hearts already. Moreover, I do not conceal it from you, I may save much of the loss. I have special correspondents in distant towns, and opportunities of sale which others do not possess.... Come! I’ll do it! I will offer you this price of one-third. It is but a poor price,’ said he, sighing yet again most heavily, ‘but it is far, far better than no price at all.’
“My relief was beyond words. I had seen myself leaving my merchandise unsold or sacrificing it at a ruinous nothing. That which Yusouff offered me was the difference between despair and a shred of hope, and though the loss was severe it left me at least with some capital for a further venture.
“Great men have a sort of simplicity in their dealings. Hardly had Yusouff discovered my gratitude and my immediate acceptance of his gift (for I could call it by no other name), than the princely fellow clapped his hands, sent for his treasurer, and had counted to me upon the spot a hundred pieces of gold. I gave him my writing of delivery, which he handed to another slave with a few words in a low voice. Then he continued to talk to me, for he was determined to detain me far into the night. Indeed it was near dawn before he whom I will now call my friend, and to whom I felt bound for life by the greatest ties of grateful affection, allowed me to pass his gates and to return to my hostelry.
“There I found that my panniers had already been removed and their contents conveyed to the purchaser’s warehouse. I admired the promptitude in business which so often accompanies a generous heart.
* * * * *
“With the early hours of the next day, before the sun had yet acquired too great power, I strolled through the bazaar, not so much cast down at the thought of my loss as cheered by the recollection that I possessed, after all, one hundred good pieces of solid gold.
“With a malicious pleasure I approached the stall of a fruit-seller. Putting down a small copper coin I begged him for a handful of dates.
“‘I need not full measure,’ said I, ‘only a handful to munch as I go along.’ For I knew that in the state of the market my penny might have purchased a gallon. I desired to show a neglect for small sums.
To my surprise the fruit-seller stared at me and said: