Yet he could not resist the desire to follow a portion of the way, anyhow. The escorted khat looked too enticing. Bismillah! There must be some one who would throw him a leaf on so festal an occasion, surely! By a slow and halting process therefore he came finally before the gate of the residence, into which already the camel had disappeared. Before it was the usual throng of those not so vastly better than himself who had come to rejoice for a purpose, and within, the sound of the tom-tom and voices singing. Over the gate and out of the windows were hung silken carpets and jasmine sprays, for old Bhori was by no means poor in this world’s goods. While recognizing a number who might have been tolerant of him, Ibn Abdullah also realized rather painfully that of the number of these who were most friendly, having known him too long as a public beggar, there were few. “What! Ne’er-do-well!” cried one who recognized him as having been publicly bastinadoed on one occasion here years before, when he had been younger and healthy enough to be a vendor of tobacco, for adulterating his tobacco. “Do you come here, too?” Then turning to another he called: “Look who comes here—Ibn, the rich man! A friend of the good Bhori, no doubt, mayhap a relative, or at least one of his invited guests!” “Ay-ee, a friend of the groom at least!” cried another. “Or a brother or cousin of the bride!” chaffed still a third. “A rich and disappointed seeker after her hand!” declared a fourth titteringly. “He brings rich presents, as one can see!” proclaimed a fifth. “But look now at his hands!” A chortle followed, joined in by many. “And would he be content with so little as a spray of khat in return?” queried a sixth. “By Allah, an honest tobacco-merchant! Bismillah! One whom the Cadi loves!” cried a seventh. For answer Ibn turned a solemn and craving eye upon them, thinking only of khat. “Inshallah! Peace be with thee, good citizens!” he returned. “Abuse not one who is very low in his state. Alms! Alms! A little khat, of all that will soon generously be bestowed upon thee! Alms!” “Away, old robber!” cried one of them. “If you had ever been honest you would not now be poor.” “What, old jackal, dost thou come here to beg? What brings thee from the steps of the mosque? Are the praying faithful so ungenerous? By Allah! Likely they know thee—not?” “Peace! Peace! And mayst thou never know want and distress such as mine! Food I have not had for three days. My bones yearn for so much as a leaf of khat. Be thou generous and of all that is within, when a portion is given thee give me but a leaf!” “The Cadi take thee!” “Dog!” “Beggar!” “Come not too near, thou bag of decay!” So they threatened him and he came no closer, removing rather to a safe distance and eyeing as might a lorn jackal a feast partaken of by lions.