Any free man may speak in
council in Arabia.
"What is thy way, then?" he asked.
The woolly headed pilot laughed aloud, taking care to make it evident
that he was laughing at the prisoners; to laugh at a sheik or a sheik's
bewilderment would be too dangerous.
"I would send them to the ship well satisfied," he answered.
"With money?" asked the sheik.
"With whose money?" asked Hassan Ah.
"With thine?" shot back the sheik.
"In the name of Allah, no!"
The black man laughed again, and rose to lean against the wall behind
him, gathering the dog up in his arms.
"If it is the order of the council," he asserted, "I will send them
back satisfied, with a tale to tell that will bring about no landing.
Also, I will give the council much amusement."
"But will other sailors land afterward, seeking similar amusement?"
asked the sheik.
"No! There will be an order that none land!"
The sheik took a vote on it. Heads nodded solemnly all around the
room as his eyes sought each half-veiled face in turn. His own face
was almost altogether shielded by the brown linen head-dress, for
men of his race like to reach a judgment unobserved.
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