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 Almasta running by his side. But as he walked fast, the two beggars although apparently lame increased their speed with his, and their clatter also.

'Does a sound man need a horse to escape from cripples?' asked Abdullah. And he turned quickly into a narrow lane.

'It will be wiser to scatter a few coins to them,' said Almasta. 'They will then stop and search for them in the dark. For these men are very importunate and will certainly hinder us.'

But Abdullah was confident in his legs as a strong man and only walked the faster, so that Almasta could with great difficulty keep beside him. Then they heard the beggars running after them in the dark and calling upon them.

'O Abdullah!' they cried. 'The light of your charitable countenance goes before us like a lantern, and illuminates the whole street! Be merciful and give us a small coin, and Allah will reward you!'

Then Abdullah stopped in the darkest part of the narrow lane, seeing that they had recognised him, and conceiving that it would be a reproach for a sheikh of pure blood to run from beggars; and he feared also that it would be remembered against him on the morrow. He therefore made a pretence of being diverted, and laughed.

'Surely,' he said, 'the lame men of Riad could