Page:The Plutocrat (1927).pdf/451

 one; and the dog barked with a falsetto passion of shrillness in regular half-second intervals until even the ears and temper of some stoic Arab were impaired; the dog completed his staccato with a shriek that became faint in distance abruptly achieved. This was only a casual disturbance among the lower orders, however; but the second one, not long after the first, had a basis of human intent and calculation. Automobile engines racked the air before the principal doors of the hotel, just below Ogle's room; there was a thumping as of trunks upon the roof of a closed car; porters were noisy in argument; there were many outcries of Arabs and French together, and a tom-tom approached hurriedly, growing louder, accompanied by a stentorian negro voice incessantly bellowing "Hi! Hi! Hi!" There was then the sudden yelling of a crowd, as upon the consummation of some expected great appearance, and then the tinkling of many thrown coins and a wild laughter that astonished the agonized listener above. Were Arabs laughing? If they were, it was the first time he had heard them.

The automobile horns blatted insistently; the acute Arab yelling became impassioned; more and more coins tinkled. French voices cried, "Merci! Merci,