Page:A Prisoner of the Khaleefa.djvu/221

Rh along. A man named Shwybo of the Fellati country (near Lake Chad), had driven a good trade in Omdurman by inducing people to give him large copper coins to be converted into silver dollars; he had offered his services to Wad Adlan, but as the Beitel-Mal had been mulcted in some thousands of dollars already by people like him, Adlan refused to entertain any of his propositions.

On the death of Adlan, Shwybo offered his services to the Khaleefa, and the Beit-el-Mal. The Kadi was instructed to inquire into his pretensions; Shwybo professed to have power over the jinns who converted copper into silver; a number of his dupes presented themselves to the Kadi, and complained that Shwybo's jinns had not only not converted the coins given them to work upon, but had stolen the coins into the bargain. Shwybo pleaded that the action of the jinns was in consequence of the want of faith of the complainants, and to their curiosity in trying to see the jinns at work; the jinns would never work in the presence of strangers; no one but himself might be in the place where the converting of the metals was in progress. Shwybo was given about a hundred dollars' worth of copper coins, and incense, drugs, spices, etc., to a further value of nearly two hundred dollars, which were taken from the Beit-el-Mal, and charged to the account of the Kadi. The incense, drugs, and spices were to propitiate the angry jinns; but to ensure their not being disturbed at work, the Kadi said Shwybo had better carry out his experiments in the Saier where Idris would see he was not interfered with.