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Rh Nebbi Khiddr would report it, and the Khaleefa, as he was full of grace, would soon order the chains to be removed again. All the principal prisoners, with the exception of myself, were then marched to the anvil, and had their chains hammered on. I was spared, as, after the first lecture, I had, on Abou Jinn's advice, sent word to the Saier to take fifteen of my dollars for his "starving children." We prisoners held a conference, and it was decided to present more moneys. It took us two days to scrape together the requisite sum — about fifty dollars — to which I added seventeen of mine. This had the happy result of not only removing the extra chains of the prisoners, but Hasseena's also. The Saier called us together, gave us a homily on repentance and good behaviour, and told us to continue in the same path, as it was evidently looked upon with approval by the Nebbi Khiddr.

But this Nebbi Khiddr was never satisfied for long with our conduct. Every month he had something to report to the "Khaleefa," and just as regularly we were given extra chains, until a few dollars, entrusted to Idris for the poor, had sent him to the Khaleefa with a favourable report. All these ill-gotten moneys, as I have said, went to soothsayers, fortune-tellers, and talisman writers, in whose absolute power the