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58 Nevertheless, the masterly restraint of the band, the conception, skill and execution of the dancers, made up a triumph of technique.

As the dance swept to its climax, nothing so accentuated the admiration of the audience as their perfect stillness. From the outer courts came for a brief instant the clatter of servants and the screams of angry stallions. Threatening glances quickly hushed the slaves, nothing breaking the magnetism of the dance for long. The dance ended, it became the turn of others to rehearse their individual contributions, while those who were now free sat chatting with my host, eating sweets, smoking cigarettes, cigars, or affecting the long native pipe. Many, discarding their headdresses, lay upon their sitting mats, their eyes closed in momentary rest as their servants fanned them. His Highness apparently appreciated the familiarity with which they treated him. In the enjoyment and encouragement of their little jokes he squeezed their cheeks and pinched their arms, as he sat among them.

BOYS