And when all the inhabitants stood gaping in their doorways:
“Come forth,” he cried, “beyond the houses. Let all see and hear alike. This place is too narrow.”
Then, having lured them out into the open, Ali there addressed them at great length; bidding them be good ever more, and sin never again, for that they were now ennobled above all their fathers, having beheld the kings of Jebel Câf, the very Gate of Heaven, who come once in a thousand years. Their crops would increase thenceforth; all provisions in their houses would abound miraculously. In the end, he besought Hassan to bless them, and then rode off, leaving them perfectly bewildered.
Scarcely were they out of sight of those simpletons, when they espied Shibli and the Thief seated under a rock beside the path, holding their steeds by the headropes.
“It was the work of a minute,” cried Shibli, much excited. “We have many useful things, but alas! no money. Nesìb has ten fowls which he caught and bagged before I could have laid hand on one of them. Also, he changed some things from house to house, so that those fellahìn may suspect one another of the theft. He is a devil, this Thief. I had been naught without him.”
Hassan looked hard at the speaker. “The praise to Allah,” he said, “we have now two thieves instead of one.”
The boy’s eyes flashed with anger, and his lips parted to make answer. The next minute his eyes swam in tears, and he hung his head, silenced. For long he spoke no word to anyone, but rode apart in dudgeon or despondency.
They came to a wady trending eastward athwart their road. A fairly defined goat path ran along its hither bank. Saying they had gone far enough in a straight line from the city, Hassan led the way upon that narrow track, the rest following him in single file.
They had not proceeded far in the new direction ere their leader reined up. The track was gone. But the sharp eyes of Nesìb made out a village in the distance where they could be sure of learning the way. Hassan resigned the post of leader to the Thief, himself riding second in the file. He could thus converse with Nesìb without fear of being overheard.
“We have no money,” he said savagely. “Look to it that we obtain some before evening. How can we enter the Tower, how fee the soldiers, without money? I myself will help thee, if thou fearest a bold stroke.”