console herself; and as for me, I will forget her, I will never give
her another thought."

He said this defiantly to himself, and looked again at the men of
Praousta, who were still standing irresolute and murmuring near the
mosque, not daring to approach the three armed men. "He certainly
would not have come alone, he would not dare to remain standing
there, if his comrades were not concealed somewhere up there in the
mountain."

"Yes, they are standing there listening, and, if we should charge
upon them, they would fire at us, and we should all be lost. No, we
will be cautious; but this is certain, we will not pay the tax; the
sheik has commanded it, and the ulemas have decided; therefore we
will not pay."

"No, we will not pay," repeated all the other men. No longer loud
and defiant, but in low voices one to another, and their eyes turned
suspiciously toward the three figures, and then up the mountain-
path, toward the rocks behind which they believed the sharp-shooters
were concealed.

Mohammed looked also toward the mountain-path, and, seeing that the
prisoners and their guard had reached the top of the mountain, he
turned toward the fishermen

"Ismail, Marut, Berutti," he cried, "do you not recognize me, you
know Mohammed Ali, son of Ibrahim?"

"Yes, we know you, and we would not have believed that the son of