belly ache, if that is where you keep your brains! It was I who bought
the tickets. The fool gave me sufficient money for three first-class
fares all the way to Damascus, and I have the change. He forgot that
when he dismissed me."

"Then you won't need to beg board and lodging in Haifa?"

"Oh, yes. I need my money for another matter. It is high time I
married, and a fellow without money has to put up with any toothless

that nobody else will take."

"So you hope to find a wife in Damascus?"

"Inshallah," Jeremy answered piously.

"Well, I will find you a good-looking girl for wife, provided you first
prove that you will make a good son-in-law. I take men as I find them,
not as they represent themselves. He who wishes for the fire must first
chop wood. You understand me?"

"Wallah! I can chop wood like an axe with two heads. Is the woman your
daughter?"

"That is as may be. Let us talk business. I reward my friends, but woe
betide the fool who betrays my confidence!" said Yussuf Dakmar darkly.

"I see you are a man after my own heart," answered Jeremy; "a thorough
fellow who stops at nothing! Good! Allah must have brought us two
together for an evil purpose, being doubtless weary of the League of