Page:Marion Crawford - Khaled.djvu/241

 but wheat in it, and it was white and good; but there was nothing else, not so much as a few small coins'

Then there was the sound of a blow, and the man who was speaking was struck on the mouth, so that his speech was interrupted.

'Peace and be silent!' said a voice. 'They who speak lies will receive no share with the rest when the time comes.'

But the man who had been struck was the strongest of all his tribe, though he who had struck him did not know it. And the man caught his assailant by the waist in the dark, and wrestled with him violently, being very angry, and broke his forearm and his collar-bone and several of his ribs, and when he had done with him, he threw him over his shoulder so that he fell fainting and moaning three paces away.

'O you who strike honest men on the mouth in the dark, you have been over-rash!' he cried. 'Go home and hide yourself lest I recognise you and break such bones as you have still whole!'

'This is well done,' said one of the bystanders in a loud voice. 'For the story of the camels laden secretly with treasure is a lie. I also was with the drivers and ate of the wheat. Nor do I believe that Khaled is a robber and a Persian.'

'We do not believe it!' cried a score of Bedouins