Presently the chief’s wife entered.  She was unveiled, and her features were distinctly Hebrew; for Lois, wife of the Bedouin Musa, had been born a Jewess.  She was dressed in a flowing robe of black confined by a crimson girdle.  Strings of coins and of blue opaque beads hung upon her breast and were wound about her ankles, and she wore a black head-dress also profusely decorated with beads and bangles of silver.

On a platter she carried some cakes, still smoking hot.  These she placed on a low, circular table of copper.  A wooden platter of boiled mutton was next added, along with a caldron filled with wheat boiled in camel’s milk, and some cups of coffee.

Yusuf was placed at the table, and Musa, after sipping a little coffee, handed the cup to him; the chief then picked out the most savory bits of mutton, and, according to Arabian etiquette, handed them to his guest.

Several men gathered around to partake of the banquet.  They crouched or reclined on the ground, about the low table; yet, savage-looking though they were, not one of the Bedouins ventured an inquisitive question or bestowed a curious glance on the Persian.

Among them, however, was a little, inquisitive-looking man, whose quick, bird-like movements attracted Yusuf’s attention early in the evening.  His round black eyes darted into every place and upon every one with an insatiable curiosity, and he talked almost incessantly.  He was a Jewish peddler who traded small wares with the Arabs, and who was constantly somewhere on the road between Syria and Yemen, being liable to appear suddenly at the most mysterious times, and in the most unlikely places.

In his way, Abraham of Joppa was a character, and one may be pardoned for bestowing more than a passing glance upon him.  Though permitted to eat at the table with the rest, it was evident that the Arabs looked upon him with some contempt.  They enjoyed listening to his stories, and to his recital of the news which he picked up in his travels, but they despised his inquisitiveness, and resented the impertinence with which he coolly addressed himself even to the Sheikh, before whom all were more or less reserved.

The Persian was, for the present, the chief object of the little Jew’s curiosity, and as soon as the meal was over he hastened to form his acquaintance.

Sitting down before the priest, and poising his head on one side, he observed: 

“You are bound for the south, stranger?”

“Even so,” said Yusuf, gravely.

“Whither?”

“I seek for the city of the great temple.”

“Phut!  The Caaba!” exclaimed the Jew, with contempt.  “Right well I know it, and a fool’s game they make of it, with their running, and bowing, and kissing a bit of stone in the wall as though ’twere the dearest friend on earth!”

“But they worship—­”

“A statue of our father Abraham, and one of Ishmael, principally.  A precious set of idolaters they all are, to be sure!”