matter, I'll go back."

"Stop!" cried the Mahdi.

But Ali laughed so loudly that he did not hear. "I'll see to it yet," he
cried, turning on his heel. "Good night, Sidi! God bless you! My love to
my father! Farewell!"

And in another moment he was gone.




CHAPTER XXVII

THE FALL OF BEN ABOO


The roysterers in the Kasbah sat a long half-hour in ignorance of the
doom that was impending. Squatting on the floor in little circles,
around little tables covered with steaming dishes, wherein each plunged
his fingers, they began the feast with ceremonious wishes, pious
exclamations, cant phrases, and downcast eyes. First, "God lengthen your
age," "God cover you," and "God give you strength." Then a dish of dates,
served with abject apologies from Ben Aboo: "You would treat us better
in Fez, but Tetuan is poor; the means, Seedna, the means, not the will!"
Then fish in garlic, eaten with loud "Bismillah's." Then kesksoo covered
with powdered sugar and cinnamon, and meat on skewers, and browned
fowls, and fowls and olives, and flake pastry and sponge fritters, each
eaten in its turn amid a chorus of "La Ilah illa Allah's." Finally three