But before the words were fairly out of his mouth the congregation cried out with one voice, "_We_ know, good Khoja! We know!" "Oh, if you _know_--" said the Khoja sarcastically, and shrugging his shoulders, and lifting his eyebrows, he left the place as one who feels that he can be of no further use. "This is worse than before," said the Muslims in despair. But after a while they took counsel, and said, "Let him come once more, and we will not lose our sermon this time. If he asks the same question we will reply that some of us know, but that some of us do not know." So when the Khoja next appeared before the congregation, and after he had cried as before, "O Brethren! do ye know what I am about to say?" they answered, "Some of us know, but some of us do not know." "How nice!" said the Khoja, smiling benevolently upon the crowd beneath him, as he prepared to take his departure. "Then those of you who know can explain it all to those who do not know." _Tale_ 28.--The Khoja and the Horsemen. One day when Khoja Effendi was crossing a certain desert plain a troop of horsemen suddenly appeared riding towards him. "No doubt these are Bedawee robbers," thought the Khoja, "who will kill me without remorse for the sake of the Cadi's ferejeh which I wear." And in much alarm he hastened towards a cemetery which he had perceived to be near. Here he quickly stripped off his clothes, and, having hidden them, crept naked into an empty tomb and lay down. But the horsemen pursued after him, and by and by they came into the cemetery, and one of them peeped into the tomb and saw the Khoja. "Here is the man we saw!" cried the horseman; and he said to the Khoja, "What are you lying there for, and where are your clothes?" "The dead have no possessions, O Bedawee!" replied the Khoja. "I am buried here. If you saw me on the plain as I used to appear in life, without doubt you are one of those who can see ghosts and apparitions." _Tale_ 29.--The Ox Trespassing. One day Khoja Effendi, repairing to a piece of ground which belonged to him, found that a strange ox had got into the enclosure. The Khoja took a thick stick to beat it with, but the beast, seeing him coming, ran away and escaped. Next week the Khoja met a Turk driving the ox, which was harnessed to a waggon. Thereupon the Khoja took a stick in his hand, and, running after the ox, belaboured it soundly. "O man!" cried the Turk, "what are you beating my beast for?" "Hold your tongue, you fool," said the Khoja, "and don't meddle with what doesn't concern you. _The ox knows well enough._" _Tale_ 30.--The Khoja's Camel. The next time Khoja Effendi was obliged to take a journey he resolved to accompany a caravan for protection. Now the Khoja had lately become possessed of a valuable camel, and he said to himself, "I will ride my camel instead of going on foot; the journey will then be a pleasure, and I shall not be fatigued." So he mounted the camel and set forth.