“The market soon filled with buyers. They came in little groups, prodding the sheep, feeling the wool and sometimes looking into their mouths; and the flock which I had the honour of commanding was the most admired of all. I was asked by several if I would not sell singly; but estimating the eagerness of the buyers I shook my head and said I could not sell for less than a reserve sum of two thousand pieces of gold, nor could I break the flock. I added that it was a pity to do so as it was a pedigree flock, every single animal being descended from the famous ram which had spoken in a human voice to the Holy Hassan three hundred years ago by order of the Most High. I admitted that this origin made little difference to the mutton, but I pointed out its extraordinary effect upon the wool.
“With that the bidding began and I noticed with great pleasure one tall, dark, very thin man among the rest, slow of gesture, fixed of eye, who never took his looks from my face and who, just after each last bid, would raise it by fifty pieces of gold. He was not to be beaten. One competitor after another dropped out. At last when the magnificent sum of 2,832 pieces of gold had been bid by the mysterious stranger I clapped my hands together as the signal and used the formula ‘Heaven has decided.’ The stranger approached me, drawing from his girdle a reed and a small horn of ink. I thought we were about to sign the transfer—it seemed to me an odd formality, seeing that he had but to drive the beasts away and leave me the bag of gold. I was undeceived. He presented me no charter of transfer, no deed, but a strange piece of writing such as I had not seen before and asked me for its counterpart. I was startled and a little confused. ‘What counterpart?’ said I.
“ ‘Do you mean,’ said he in clear tones, so that the curious bystanders should overhear, ‘that you have no permit?’
“At this the audience tittered, and others, scenting amusement, crowded round to gaze and follow.
“ ‘Have you no permit?’ he repeated severely.
“I felt myself growing hot and confused under the laughter which followed; and even alarmed when I heard one buyer say contemptuously to his neighbour, ‘They’ve caught another of ’em!’
“I confessed that I had never even heard of such an instrument.
“ ‘Follow me,’ said the stranger grimly, and whether from curiosity or from a conviction growing in me that he had authority, I followed humbly enough, leaving my large flock bleating in its pen.
“The stranger (for he now showed that he had upon him the keys of the market) locked the gate of the pen, appointed (another proof of his authority) a slave to stand by and see that no one interfered with the property I had transferred to him, and motioned to others to fall in behind us. He then led me away, and I was more concerned than ever to notice the strange smiles of those who saw the little procession which we made, he going first with his great staff, I treading behind.
“He led me to where the Sheiks of the neighbourhood, the principal sheep owners and magistrates, sat in solemnity before the Mosque; an awe-inspiring company. Grand and splendid among them, in their very centre and clearly the most revered of them all, I perceived my late companion the shepherd, all dressed up in my own fine clothes, but having now added ornaments reserved for him, and looking for all the world like the king of the place.
“At our approach he turned an indignant glance upon me, rose to his feet, and addressing the stranger who had captured me, cried in a terrible voice:
“ ‘Officer! Do you bring me yet another of these evildoers? Whose sheep had he driven off? And is it a case of a forged permit or what?’
“I already saw how the land lay, and I quailed to think what was before me. The owners—I rightly guessed—had suffered from sheep stealing; had established permits, signed by them, in order to check fraudulent sales; had plotted to catch the thief culprits, and this perfidious man had disguised himself as a servant in order to catch such, and had caught me. The officer who had arrested me spoke:
“ ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘we have caught this ruffian’—pointing to me—‘selling your sheep without any permit at all! He must have driven them through the night. By the law which your council proclaimed last year, just after the Fast, his punishment lies in your hands. The owner has the determination of it.’
“To my astonishment and horror my former companion looked on me with a dreadful face of scorn and said: ‘Tell me all, that I may apportion the punishment due to him. I had had him in my employ for but a short time. I mistrusted him from the first. Tell me all!’
“ ‘I have so found him selling your lordship’s sheep. They fetched nearly 3,000 pieces of gold,’ answered the officer grimly. ‘He shall make an excellent example for, my lord, he is the first whom we have caught in this market trying to sell without a permit. There can be no doubt (I have witnesses to it) that he
