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‘DRINK,’ said Kisloch the Kourd to Calidas the Indian; ‘you forget, comrade, we are no longer Moslemin.’ |
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‘Wine, methinks, has a peculiarly pleasant flavour in a golden cup,’ said the Guebre. ‘I got this little trifle today in the Bazaar,’ he added, holding up a magnificent vase studded with gems. |
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‘I thought plunder was forbidden,’ grinned the Negro. |
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‘So it is,’ replied the Guebre; ‘but we may purchase what we please, upon credit.’ |
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‘Well, for my part, I am a moderate man,’ exclaimed Calidas the Indian, ‘and would not injure even these accursed dogs of Turks. I have not cut my host’s throat, but only turned him into my porter, and content myself with his harem, his baths, his fine horses, and other little trifles.’ |
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‘What quarters we are in! There is nothing like a true Messiah!’ exclaimed Kisloch, devoutly. |
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‘Nothing,’ said Calidas; ‘though to speak truth, I did not much believe in the efficacy of Solomon’s sceptre, till his Majesty clove the head of the valiant Seljuk with it.’ |
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‘But now there’s no doubt of it,’ said the Guebre. |
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‘We should indeed be infidels if we doubted now,’ replied the Indian. |
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‘How lucky,’ grinned the Negro, ‘as I had no religion before, that I have now fixed upon the right one!’ |
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‘Most fortunate!’ said the Guebre. ‘What shall we do to amuse ourselves to-night?’ |
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‘Let us go to the coffee-houses and make the Turks drink wine,’ said Calidas the Indian. |
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‘What say you to burning down a mosque?’ said Kisloch the Kourd. |
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‘I had great fun with some Dervishes this morning,’ said the Guebre. ‘I met one asking alms with a wire run through his cheek,58 so I caught another, bored his nose, and tied them both together!’ |
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‘Hah! hah! hah!’ burst the Negro. |
