Page:Taylor - In the Dwellings of the Wilderness.djvu/21

 "Why are the men so noisy to-night?" Merritt wished to know.

"Ney pray for well-luck, saar," Ibraheem said, answering Merritt's Arabic with proud English, fluent and execrable, and an accent all his own. "Nis defunct citee is not good to be disturbed. Lord-God, He curse it in way back sometimes, and ne men are grief-ful and fearing of—um—ghos'. Ghos', yaas. Vurry ignorunt men."

"Oh, that's it, is it?" Merritt, losing interest, settled again to the ground. "Well, tell them they need not be afraid of ghosts. The last one died of old age a good thousand years ago."

"Vurry good, saar!" Ibraheem said, conceiving this the most correct and English response to make. Merritt and his