The Shaykh saluted him, and returned, "The caravan will depart to-morrow at sunrise."
"Be it so. We are ready. I will designate our place in the movement. Thou art dismissed."
"O Prince! I have more to report."
"More?"
"A vessel came in to-day from Hormuz on the eastern shore, bringing a horde of beggars."
"Bismillah! It was well I hired of thee a herd of camels, and loaded them with food. I shall pay my fine to the poor early."
The Shaykh shook his head.
"That they are beggars is nothing," he said. "Allah is good to all his creatures. The jackals are his, and must be fed. For this perhaps the unfortunates were blown here by the angel that rides the yellow air. Four corpses were landed, and their clothes sold in the camp."
"Thou wouldst say," the Prince rejoined, "that the plague will go with us to the Kaaba. Content thee, Shaykh. Allah will have his way."
"But my men are afraid."