By this time the saint had got into the boat, and sat forward; he was an ill-favoured, low, sick-like man, and seemed to be almost blind.
You should not make rash promises, said I to the cadi, for this one you made you never can perform; I am not going to Girgé. Ali Bey, whose slave you are, gave me this boat, but told me, I was not to ship either saints or cadies. There is my boat, go a-board if you dare; and you, Hagi Hassan, let me see you lift an oar, or loose a sail, either for the cadi or the saint, if I am not with them.
I went to my tent, and the Rais followed me. "Hagi Hassan, said I, there is a proverb in my country, It is better to flatter fools than to fight them: Cannot you go to the fool, and give him half-a-crown? will he take it, do you think, and abandon his journey to Girgé? afterwards leave me to settle with the cadi for his voyage thither."
"He will take it with all his heart, he will kiss your hand for half-a-crown, says Hassan."
"Let him have half-a-crown from me, said I, and desire him to go about his business, and intimate that I give him it in charity, at same time expect compliance with the condition."
In the interim, a Christian Copht came into the tent: "Sir, said he, you don't know what you are doing; the cadi is a great man, give him his present, and have done with him."
"When
