"'If Allah wills it so, Kismet,' answered my Master.
"'Have you a fast Camel?' asked the young Sahib.
"'This is Moti,' replied my Master, putting his hand on my hump, 'and when he paces, the wind remains behind.'
"Then the young Sahib promised my Master many rupees and much work for the other Unts, so be it he might ride me to Sibi for a Doctor.
"By a meal of brown paper such as one picks up in a bazaar, I swear that I understood more of what that meant to my Master than many a Camel would have known, for had I not seen it all, this that I am about to tell? You know, Comrades, that the Burra-Sahib was a Man of a dry temper, and it so happened that one day Dera Khan had displeased him, which I just say was a way my Master had often. That was a full moon before the coming of the Black Sickness. Oh, Friends, but I had seen it all; it made me tremble, knowing of the readiness with which Dera Khan argued with his knife, like unto the manner of Pathans.
"The Big Sahib would have struck my Master but for this same young Sahib who had now come with his offer of many rupees—this Sahib who had been there at that time. So, Comrades, there was good hate for the sick man in Dera's heart.
"'Will you send the Camel?' said the young Sahib; and Dera, drawing himself up straight, even as I do under a heavy load, held out his hand and said, 'Allah! thou art a Man. My goods are your goods, but for the other, the one who is your friend and my enemy, the wrath of Allah upon him.'
"The Sahib was on my back in a little.