------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, at last a vessel took me off, and I wasn't sorry for it, for raw rats are not very good eating. I went home again, and I hadn't been on shore more than two hours, when who should I see but my first wife, Bet, with a robin-redbreast in tow. "That's he!" says she. I gave fight, but was nabbed and put into limbo, to be tried for what they call _biggery_, or having a wife too much. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "How does he mean? desire him to explain," said the pacha, after Mustapha had conveyed the intelligence. Mustapha obeyed. "In our country one wife is considered a man's allowance; and he is not to take more, that every Jack may have his Jill, I had spliced two; so they tried me, and sent me to Botany Bay for life." This explanation puzzled the pacha. "How--what sort of a country must it be, when a man cannot have two wives? Inshallah! please the Lord, we may have hundreds in our harem! Does he not laugh at our beards with lies? Is this not all _bosh_, nothing?" "It is even so, as the Frank speaketh," replied Mustapha. "The king of the country can take but one wife. Be chesm, on my eyes be it, if it is not the truth." "Well," rejoined the pacha, "what are they but infidels? They deserve to have no more. Houris are for the faithful. May their fathers' graves be defiled. Let the Giaour proceed." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, I was started for the other side of the water, and got there safe enough, as I hope one day to get to Heaven, wind and weather permitting: but I had no idea of working without pay, so one fine morning, I slipt away into the woods, where I remained with three or four more for six months. We lived upon kangaroos, and another odd little animal, and got on pretty well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "What may the dish of kangaroos be composed of?" inquired Mustapha, in obedience to the pacha. "'Posed of! why a dish of kangaroos be made of kangaroos, to be sure." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ But I'll be dished if I talked about any thing but the animal, which we had some trouble to kill; for it stands on its big tail, and fights with all four feet. Moreover, it be otherwise a strange beast; for its young ones pop out of its stomach, and then pop in again, having a place there on purpose, just like the great hole in the bow of a timber ship; and as for the other little animal, it swims in the ponds, lays eggs, and has a duck's bill, yet still it be covered all over with hair like a beast. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The vizier interrupted. "By the Prophet, but he laughs at our beards!" exclaimed the pacha, angrily. "These are foolish lies."