"Your visit has brought happiness to my daughters and myself," observed the proprietor.
The sheik did not reply immediately, but presently remarked,—
"Your cows shall not die; no robbers shall enter your doors; illness shall not attack your family."
Mohammed approached.
"I too should like a ball," he remarked. "It might keep off my rheumatism. The Effendi's plasters do good, but they hurt. The ball would not cause me any pain. Give me one;" and my servant held out his hand to the sheik.
"Go away!" said the latter in rather strong tones. "Go to your own saints, and let them cure you."
Then, rising, the man left the room, closely followed by the two daughters of the proprietor.
These girls were neither of them good-looking, and dirty to an extent which no man who has not been in the East could imagine.
It is said that there are pretty women amidst the daughters of the worshippers of the devil; my personal observations do not lead me to place any credence in this statement.
I inquired of the proprietor if the sheik had brought the Melek Taoos (King Peacock) with him. This is a bird manufactured of bronze, which is occasionally carried about by the leading men amidst the Yezeeds, and which all devil-worshippers are bound to reverence.