"The will of Allah is above ours; and he does not permit us to work on
Djoumá. We sin enough for gain on common days, so on a holiday I do not
wish to buy coals with silver."[25]

[25] Go to the devil.

"But were you not at work just now, obstinate blockhead? Is not one
horse the same as another? Besides, mine is a real Mussulman--look at
the mark[26]--the blood of Karabákh."

[26] The Asiatics mark their horses by burning them on their
haunch with a hot iron. This peculiar mark, the [Greek: stigma]
or [Greek: kotpa] of the Greeks is called "távro."

"All horses are alike; but not so those who ride them: Ammalát Bek is my
aga (lord.)"

"That is, if you had taken it into your head to refuse him, he would
have had your ears cropped; but you will not work for me, in the hope
that I would not dare to do the same. Very well, my friend! I certainly
will not crop your ears, but be assured that I will warm that orthodox
back of yours with two hundred pretty stinging nogaikas (lashes with a
whip) if you won't leave off your nonsense--do you hear?"

"I hear--and I answer as I did before: I will not shoe the horse--for I
am a good Mussulman."

"And I will make you shoe him, because I am a good soldier. As you have
worked at the will of your Bek, you shall work for the need of a Russian
officer--without this I cannot proceed. Corporals, forward!"