But Hassen Ah outargued him.

“Then they will land men from the ship, who will search our houses,” he asserted.  “Is there a majority in the council who would like to be searched by unbelievers?”

“Then bind them, and take them to their ship, and tell a tale of much drunkenness and wrong-doing.  Ask an indemnity, and show the proofs, which will be easy to arrange.”

“They, too, will tell their tale!” said Hassan Ah in perfect Arabic.

Unlike the more enlightened peoples of the West, Arabs do not encourage the mutilation of their mother-tongue; they teach it as carefully as they talk it, and this negro spoke like an Arab of the blood.

“There are certain damages they have received—­some bruises on the face and tears in the clothing that does not belong to them but their government,” he continued.  “They would lay all the blame on us, and would breathe in the face of an appointed man, in proof that they were not drunk.  And who could get other drink than coffee or water here?  And who would believe the rest of our story, having found that part to be a lie?  There would be a landing, and a search for proof, and much unpleasantness.  Besides—­”

If he had intended to add further arguments, the sheik saw fit to nip them in the bud; for there were some men in the council-room who did not know as much as Hassan Ah.  Any free man may speak in council in Arabia.

“What is thy way, then?” he asked.

The woolly headed pilot laughed aloud, taking care to make it evident that he was laughing at the prisoners; to laugh at a sheik or a sheik’s bewilderment would be too dangerous.

“I would send them to the ship well satisfied,” he answered.

“With money?” asked the sheik.

“With whose money?” asked Hassan Ah.

“With thine?” shot back the sheik.

“In the name of Allah, no!”

The black man laughed again, and rose to lean against the wall behind him, gathering the dog up in his arms.

“If it is the order of the council,” he asserted, “I will send them back satisfied, with a tale to tell that will bring about no landing.  Also, I will give the council much amusement.”

“But will other sailors land afterward, seeking similar amusement?” asked the sheik.

“No!  There will be an order that none land!”

The sheik took a vote on it.  Heads nodded solemnly all around the room as his eyes sought each half-veiled face in turn.  His own face was almost altogether shielded by the brown linen head-dress, for men of his race like to reach a judgment unobserved.  They were all nods that answered him, and he saw fit to keep his own opinion to himself.

“Thou seest?  These others are all with thee.  Have it thine own way, Hassan Ah.  Unlock thou the riddle and on thy head be the answer!  Thou hast our leave to go.”

So Hassan Ah set out undaunted for the jail, with a terrier in tow behind him and a huge smile on his broad-beamed face.  And behind him a murmur rose that: