When a Moor entered the commander’s office he prostrated himself, as he would do usually only to his Sultan or some holy man of his creed; however, he was ordered to rise and go squat in a corner. An officer who spoke Arabic--and sometimes carried a riding-crop--drew up a chair, sat over him and put him through an inquisition; and if he showed the slightest insolence a blow or two across the head soon quelled his spirit. When the examination was over, however, and the Moor had been sufficiently humiliated, the French were lenient enough. The man’s name was recorded and he was then permitted to return to his home and to resume his trade in peace. He received sometimes a pass, and, if he could do so in the teeth of his watchful countrymen outside the barriers, he went back into the interior to fetch such of his women folk as were safe. But every idle Moor was taken from the streets and made to work as it is not in his belief that he should--though he was fed and paid a pittance for his labour. Medical attention was to be had, though the Mohammedan would not ordinarily avail himself of the Nazarene remedies. I should say the French were just, even kindly, to the Moors who surrendered without arms but to those taken in battle they showed no mercy. The French army returning from an engagement never brought in prisoners, and neither men nor officers kept the fact a secret that those they took they slaughtered. The French spread terror in the districts round about, and after they began to penetrate the country and leave in their wake a trail of death and desolation, the leaders of several tribes near to Casablanca came in to sue for peace. These were picturesque men with bushed black hair sticking out sometimes six inches in front of their ears. The older of them and those less poorly off came on mules, the youth on horses. They saw General Drude and the French consul, and went away again to discuss with the other tribesmen the terms that could be had: no arms within ten miles of Casablanca and protection of caravans bound hither. But soon it came to be known that the sorties of the French were limited to a zone apparently of fifteen kilomètres, and the spirit of the Arabs rose and they became again defiant. CHAPTER IV WITH THE FOREIGN LEGION