The party--after my arrival--being all present, and correct, and Haji Abdi Kheiri having put away his gun (much to my relief) festivities commenced. I sat at the head of a table where tea was served. The whole town had been ransacked for table-covers, the colours of which gave me a pain in the head. I opened the ball by drinking a bottle of ginger pop. My glass was at once replenished with lemonade. Fruit--out of tins--was served, and this partaken of Hayoun arose from his chair and made a speech, saying how rejoiced the whole community were the great British nation had emerged so successfully from the fiery ordeal of the greatest war in the history of the world, and pointing out that at that table sat men of five different creeds--Hindu, Parsee, Mahomedan, Jewish, and Christian--who were entirely in agreement with the sentiments he had expressed. Then Haji Abdi went for his gun again. "God knows," said I to myself, "whether, or not, he is going to rectify the matter according to his lights, and make the party all one religion--his--by disposing of the other four. In any case it is time I took a hand." "Haji Abdi Kheiri," said I, "put that gun down, sir, or you'll be shooting someone before we break up." "But Djibouti is firing salutes, and we must also fire," said Hayoun the Jew. "I have especially arranged with Haji that he should do this in honour of the signing of peace. Will not your honour grant permission?" As we listened we heard the Djibouti gun booming away, and what else was to be done but to allow the salute to be fired. It could not be heard as many hundreds of yards away as the French gun could be heard miles. But at last I insisted on Haji putting away his firearm for keeps, and thanked the party for the nice things their spokesman had said about our nation. I told them how proud I was to find men of five creeds, as far apart as five equal points of the circle, able to meet under one flag, in friendship and unity, and to pay it such a tribute. After that a long silence, during which I drank another bottle of ginger pop and ate more fruit. Clearly I'd had as much as was good for me, so, jumping to my feet, I prepared to say "Good-bye." But there were other things to be done. All the town's children had collected under the walls of the house, and Hayoun sent for ten rupees worth of pice, making a grand total of six hundred and forty coins to be distributed as largesse. Had I any suggestions to make? Yes, I had. It was a clear case for a scramble. The coins were tossed from the roof, and you never saw such a confusion of legs and arms as that which followed. Little girls, little boys, all mixed up like fruit in a salad, and, with the usual luck that attends cats, drunken men and little children, no one was seriously hurt.