“My children, what next?
“It is a universal rule in commerce to follow your profits and cut your losses, and men of my profession have a sort of instinct which tells them how long the tide will be flowing with them and when it will turn. I decided that there was yet one more step for me to take.
“The arrest had taken place not far from the edge of the wood whence I had first perceived the city. There my horse, the evening before, had found good pasture. There had I loosened his saddle. There had he known an excellent place of repose. Thither did I wisely suppose my lost friend to have repaired. I sauntered therefore out of the city as though engaged upon no more than a stroll, and sure enough, a league away, under the trees which afforded a grateful shade, the noble beast was reclining, hampered only by his saddle.
“I loosened the girths. He was grateful, and our friendship was renewed. But though my affection was increased by such a recovery, I steeled my heart for what I purposed next to do.
“It is a maxim of all sound business that a thing should be sold as often as possible, and it was clear that I now had an opportunity of selling this charming creature for the third time. It was equally clear that, if I delayed, the opportunity would pass; for the story of my appearance in court would spread through the city, the officers would talk with their friends about the saddle and the description of the animal; I might even get into a difficult tangle with the authorities.
“But the whole of this propitious day was in the hand of Heaven. For, while yet the sun was high, there came upon me through the pasture a shepherd driving his sheep, and to him I told a tale that I had been sent by my master to sell the horse I was leading, and his saddle, to a certain dealer, who had already seen them and bargained for them. I had been given a writing with the name of the dealer in the neighbouring city, but I had lost the writing and could not remember the name or direction.
“The shepherd told me that he only went to that city from time to time, but he was well acquainted with it; the purchaser could be none other than Abd-ul-Eblis.
“The moment he pronounced this name I clapped my hands together and said: ‘Abd-ul-Eblis! That was the name!’ I thanked the shepherd for thus refreshing my memory, and I carefully walked by the beast’s side as should a mere servant by his master’s precious possession. I avoided the main gate (which I had now passed twice and where I might be too well known) and entered the city by a little postern. I found from inquiry of a blind man—which was the more prudent—the way to Abd-ul-Eblis’s stables.
“I made no plan of what I should do, for on those days when I am specially favoured by the Most High I leave His Power to guide me ... and to guide also those with whom I do business. I went no farther than to tell the groom that I had come to find a purchaser for the horse—not indeed in this city, where I had been told the market was poor, but in a place two days’ journey away, where the news of the famous beast’s coming had already been spread. I then wandered out into the streets to take the cool air of the evening. It was as I had expected. When I returned to see that my horse had been well fed, Abd-ul-Eblis was present in the stable and eager to deal.
“He pointed out to me the advantages he enjoyed for disposing of horses, the dangers of the distant journey of which I had spoken to the groom, the possibility of what is called in the language of that country ‘a proposition.’ He showed me what, in my innocence, I might have forgotten, that it was not as though the horse was my own. That I could only be a gainer. That my master would be none the wiser. That I might pretend any accident to have taken place (for indeed such an accident was likely if I went on farther). He also was at the pains of repeating what I might have forgotten, that I was free to retain for myself some portion of the price, assuring me that he would keep silent upon the matter. In the end I promised to hand him over the horse for sixty pieces of gold.