this stealing is apt to lead to very unpleasant consequences
for the thief.
We reached Sidi Aroran about three in the afternoon.
It had been cold and cloudy all day. Shortly
after we had settled ourselves in the caravanserai a
perfect deluge of rain came down which lasted
nearly an hour.
As soon as the weather had cleared I took my
gun and went out into the oasis to try and shoot
some palm-doves. On my return to the caravanserai
I found that the sheykh of the village, having
heard of the arrival of a European in the oasis,
had sent up a messenger to invite him to dinner.
This was an unexpected and rather embarrassing
offer. I had partaken of the hospitality of Arab
sheykhs before, and, bad though it was, I infinitely
preferred Alssa’s cooking to the style of cuisine in
vogue among the natives of Algeria. To refuse,
however, would have been to offend, if not to insult,
the old gentleman, and these feasts, though very
indigestible, are often extremely entertaining. I
decided to go. The sheykh’s messenger departed
with my answer, promising to return when the time
arrived to show me the way to his master’s house.
He returned about seven o’clock, and we set out
together for the village. The rain of the afternoon
had reduced the clayey surface of the soil to an
indescribable greasiness, and it required all the nails
which my boots contained to keep me on my feet.
My guide, however, made no bones about the matter.
He kicked off his shoes, and with his bare feet
seemed to obtain a wonderful hold upon the slippery
ground, for he trotted along with the utmost confidence.
We passed through the narrow mud-built streets
of the village, which was one of the slummiest I
ever was in, splashing into puddles and tumbling
over mounds of refuse and dead dogs in the dark,
until, to my great relief—for I began to think that
I should end my days by breaking my neck in one
of these narrow alleys—we arrived at the house of
the sheykh.
My guide pounded vigorously at the rough palm-
wood door, and shouted for the inmates to open. A
sound of much scuffling immediately came from
within. One or two resounding thumps and a slight
feminine scream showed that the master of the
house was hustling his womenkind out of the way.
The next moment we were greeted by a furious
barking overhead. The house watchdog, stationed
as usual upon the flat roof, was expressing his desire
to taste the blood of an Englishman.
My conductor picked up a clod of earth and,
waiting until the dog showed his head above the
low parapet which surrounded the roof, hurled it
straight at him, causing him to retire with a yelp.
At the same moment the sheykh, with a candle in
his hand, opened the door and bade me enter.
His house was merely one of the ordinary mud-
built dwellings to be found in other parts of the
oasis. It was perhaps rather larger, but otherwise
it presented no special features.
We entered, through a passage some six feet
wide, into a courtyard. The passage, which was