but a large clean drugget carpet, which stretched from end to end, covering nearly half the room. Here some tea and food was brought to us, and we were in several ways made to feel that, if we were not free to move about as and where we liked, our circumstances were, at any rate, much improved.

In the afternoon we were permitted to go out for a walk in the neighbourhood of the kasbah—a privilege of which we readily availed ourselves. We were, of course, escorted by some of the Khalifa's retainers, but there was no more of that everlasting 'zìt, zìt,' which had so often irritated us on the march.

After sunset, the Khalifa himself paid us a visit, and again impressed upon us that we were 'welcome' to his house. That is probably what the spider of the allegory said to the fly, and I was by no means certain that there was not some sinister meaning in the man's professions of hospitality. He brought with him a whistler to entertain us. He was a performer on a weird sort of reed instrument, which gave forth the most discordant and soul-harrowing sounds, but which seemed to be much admired by the Moors themselves. The Khalifa asked if any of us could play it, and Sabbah expressing confidence in being able to do so, the musician (!) was ordered to hand over his instrument to our interpreter. The thought of his treasured pipe being defiled by the lips of a Christian or a Jew was utterly revolting to his fanatical ideas, and while not daring openly to disobey the Khalifa's orders, he made a very wry face at the prospect. The Khalifa no doubt divined what was passing through the man's mind, but took great pleasure in exercising little petty tyrannies, and threatened him with punishment if he did not at once hand it over. The man hesitated no

longer. Incidentally, I may remark that I never wish to hear a Moorish reed-pipe again. The Khalifa, being in a sportive humour, next asked Sabbah to take off a seaman's jersey that he was wearing, that he might examine it more closely. Sabbah did so, and the Khalifa then ordered his tame flautist to put it on. The poor fellow's horror-struck expression was really comical to witness, but the Khalifa was obdurate, and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle of the man's mortification and disgust.

That concluded the entertainment, and we were then left to our own devices. A large blanket was brought us, sufficiently large to cover us all five, and with four of the kasbah hangers-on to act as guard, we made pillows of our coats, and stretched ourselves out to sleep.

CHAPTER XXV.

LIFE IN THE KASBAH.

Letter received from Consul Johnston-A parcel of good things -Moorish superstition-We manufacture djinns-The end of Ramadan-A gorging orgie-Ba-Hamed's policy-Description of the kasbah-Its internal economy-The prison and its occupants-Arab the slave-boy-Moorish etiquette in eating-Market-day at Eda Gilul-A courier arrives from the Sultan-A deluge of rain-A change of quarters.

THE Khalifa had said we should stay 'a day or two at the kasbah, but day after day went by without any signs of our moving, and we began to be impatient. The Khalifa came to see us no more, and our guards would not, or could not, tell us anything. Other people about the place that we asked, such as the taleb, or scribe, said after the holidays,' and that was all the satisfaction we could get. The holidays were the three days following the fast of Ramadan, but they were a week hence. On the afternoon of Sunday, the 20th, we were cheered by the receipt of a letter from Mr. Johnston, the British Consul at Mogador, accompanied by a parcel of clothing, and other articles of which we stood much in need, such as soap and towels, and some bottles of comfort for the inner man. The messenger, who had come on mule-back from Mogador, had arrived on the previous Thursday, but

it had taken the Khalifa three days to make up his mind whether he would let us have either the Consul's letter or his parcel. Finally he decided to do so, but sent his major-domo to tell us he was afraid he ought not to let us have anything from outside, and with instructions to see that the Consul's letter was given up to him after we had read it. We were, however, allowed to retain the newspapers which Mr. Johnston had thoughtfully included in his bag of good things, and never, I think, had any of us before read our morning journals so diligently as we did those treasured sheets at Eda Gilul. In them we read the first report of our capture, and were relieved to know that steps were being taken to secure our release. Then we devoured the other items of news, and finally fell back upon reading the advertisements, beginning with the 'Agony Column,' and ending with 'Situations Vacant.'

A curious thing happened in connection with these clothes. They were not delivered to us till late in the afternoon, and by the time we had scanned all the papers for news more directly concerning ourselves, the sun was on the point of setting. It being too dark to read any more, we were desirous of changing our clothes then and there, and having a thorough good wash. Clean clothes, soap and towels, were things with which we were anxious to renew acquaintance as soon as possible. We accordingly began preparations with a view to having an al-fresco bath; but the Moors, divining our object, protested with frantic vehemence. If we undressed and washed our bodies after sunset, they said, all the djinns in the neighbourhood would be attracted. The risk of becoming infested by evil spirits seemed to us worth running,

considering how infested we already were by evil things of a more tangible character; and right glad we were to have, at any rate, a preliminary scouring, and feel clean and wholesome, if only for a day or so. The Moors, brave as they are in the presence of physical danger, are utter cowards where the invisible or occult is concerned, and our guards were horribly scared.

They prophesied all sorts of terrible things as a consequence of our imprudence, and when we laughed at their fears, they said, 'It's all very well for you Christians you are in league with djinns, and suchlike, but we don't like them.' By the time they were ready to blow out the candle and go to sleep, they had worked themselves into a pretty tolerable state of nervous apprehension. In my pocket I found a few phosphorus matches, and an old schoolboy trick came back to my mind. When all was in darkness, I wetted the inside of one of my hands, and, drawing a weird face thereon with the match-head, soon had a djinn in good working order. The fraud was only detected after some time, when one of them suddenly and unexpectedly struck a match.

On Monday, the 21st, everyone was on the watch about sunset in the hope of observing the new moon, the appearance of which would mark the close of the great Mohammedan fast. The Khalifa went up on to the roof of one of the houses in the kasbah to get a better view; and the sun had scarcely descended behind the hills, when a succession of shots from his rifle betokened that the silver sickle of the moon was visible in the heavens, and the faithful need mortify the flesh no more for another year. We listened for the boom of the distant guns of Mogador to proclaim that the long and tedious fast was at an end, but they