"I tell you, sir, what I am going to tell you now is a fact, and I am prepared to pass my oath on the Koran that it is true. This same Yibir came to my house last night and said, 'Let me tell you your luck!' I said, 'Good!' He told me to take a new loin cloth and four rupees from my box and accompany him to another house. I went with him, taking the articles, for I feared a trick. When we entered a house he said, 'Spread the cloth on the ground.' I spread it on the ground, and he said, 'Now put the four rupees on it.' I put them on. "He then took a thread from the cloth I was wearing and rolled it into a ball, which he kept in the palm of his hand. He said, 'If your luck is good this thread will turn into a lock of human hair. If it is bad it will turn into a human eye.' I watched him very closely, for I still feared a trick. He closed his hand, opened it quickly, and, 'Wallahi,' the thread had turned into human hair. Then he picked up the new cloth and the four rupees saying, 'As your luck is good this is my commission.' Now what do you think of that, sir?" "I think, Mahomed," said I, "that there are as indifferent rascals, and just as big fools, in Somaliland as any other part of the world." This morning I passed Gulaid Abokr's slim young wife, and noticed the baby she carried on her back was wearing a neat new "makran" on his arm. Said I to myself, "I wonder who pays the Yibir his fee for that makran--baby's father or I? I have my doubts." But baby's mother looked so happy, and smiled so sweetly, that I'll forgive Gulaid Abokr if he never pays me back. CHAPTER XIV THE ISLAND The trip to the island--Fishing--Frenchmen, Greeks and Chinamen--Sharks and bêche-de-mer--El Kori. "Is the boat ready, Buralli?" I ask the Somal sub-inspector of police. "Ha! Sahib, it is ready." "Who are coming with me?" "A sergeant of the water police, two boatmen, your orderly, your cook, your servant, and the Arab Syyed. I am sending the riding camels to El Kori to-night and they will await you there in the morning. You can cross from the island, where the Chinamen are, to the mainland near El Kori in half an hour." "Thank you, Buralli. Good-bye!" "Salaam, Sahib!"