"Yes."

"And then?"

"The vultures and the jackals have their rights."

"True, O Emir, but listen. The caravan left El Katif three thousand
strong. Three hundred and more were struck with the plague, and left to
die; of those, over one hundred were brought in by the Indian. They say
it was for this he preferred to march in the rear. He himself teaches a
saying of the _Hadis_, that Allah leaves his choicest blessings to
be gathered from amidst the poor and the dying."

"If he thou describest be not a Prince of India as he claims, he is a"--

"A _Mashaikh_." [Footnote: Holier than a Dervish.]

"Ay, by the Most Merciful! But how did he save the castaways?"

"By a specific known only to kings and lords in his country. Can he but
reach the plague-struck before death, a drop on the tongue will work a
cure. Thou heardst what he did at Medina?"

"No."

"The Masjid El Nabawi [Footnote: Tomb of the Prophet.] as thou knowest,
O Emir, hath many poor who somehow live in its holy shade."

"I know it," said the Emir, with a laugh. "I went in the house rich, and
come out of it poorer than the poorest of the many who fell upon me at