him. The Kaid was the King. "Yes, I will go back to the King," he said.
Then he looked down at his tattered kaftan, which was mired with dirt,
and tried to brush it clean, to button it, and to tie up the ragged
threads of it. At last he cried, as if servants were about him and he
were a master still, "Bring me robes--clean robes--white robes; I am
going back to the King!"



CHAPTER XXIV

THE ENTRY OF THE SULTAN


Meantime Tetuan was looking for the visit of His Shereefian Majesty,
the Sultan Abd er-Rahman. He had been heard of about four hours away,
encamped with his Ministers, a portion of his hareem, and a detachment
of his army, somewhere by the foot of Beni Hosmar. His entry was fixed
for eight o'clock next morning, and preparations for his coming were
everywhere afoot. All other occupations were at a standstill, and
nothing was to be heard but the noise and clamour of the cleansing of
the streets, and the hanging of flags and of carpets.

Early on the following morning a street-crier came, beating a drum,
and crying in a hoarse voice, "Awake! Awake! Come and greet your Lord!
Awake! Awake!"

In a little while the streets were alive with motley and noisy crowds.
The sun was up, if still red and hazy, and sunlight came like a tunnel
of gold down the swampy valley and from over the sea; the orange