would come; and the name they had for him was Kebir Bonaberdis, which
means, in their lingo, "The Sultan strikes fire." They were as much
afraid of him as they were of the Devil; so the Grand Turk, Asia, and
Africa resorted to magic, and sent against us a demon named Mody [the
Mahdi], who was supposed to have come down from heaven on a white horse.
This horse was incombustible to bullets, and so was the Mody, and the
two of 'em lived on weather and air. There are people who have seen 'em;
but I haven't any reason, myself, to say positively that the things told
about 'em were true. Anyhow, they were the great powers in Arabia; and
the Mamelukes wanted to make the Egyptian soldiers think that the Mody
could keep them from being killed in battle, and that he was an angel
sent down from heaven to fight Napoleon and get back Solomon's seal--a
part of their equipment which they pretended to believe our general had
stolen. But we made 'em laugh on the wrong side of their mouths, in
spite of their Mody!

They thought Napoleon could command the genii, and that he had power to
go from one place to another in an instant, like a bird; and, indeed,
it's a fact that he was everywhere. But how did they know that he had an
agreement with God? Was it natural that they should get such an idea as
that?

It so happened, finally, that he carried off one of their queens--a
woman beautiful as the sunshine. He tried, at first, to buy her, and
offered to give for her all his treasure, and a lot of diamonds as big
as pigeons' eggs; but although the Mameluke to whom she particularly
belonged had several others, he wouldn't agree to the bargain; so
Napoleon had to carry her off. Of course, when things came to such a
pass as that, they couldn't be settled without a lot of fighting; and if
there weren't blows enough to satisfy all, it wasn't anybody's fault. We