"
"How can they ridicule you, my beloved son? " murmured Khadra,
regarding him tenderly; "are you not handsomer and stronger than all
of these pale, weak boys? Can you not steer a boat and use a gun
better than they? Are you not a man among these boys?"
"Not yet, Mother Khadra; but I shall become one," said he, rising
from his knees and lifting his head proudly. "Yes, I will become a
man among these boys, and they shall all be my subjects. We had laid
a wager, and that wager had to be won; and won for you, Mother
Khadra," he added with a glad smile.
"For me?" she asked, wonderingly. "How can your victory over these
boys be of use to me, except that I rejoice in your greater
strength?"
"There is something else, mother," he replied, joyously. "They must
pay a tribute, and the finest dates and peaches, and the most
beautiful flowers in their gardens, are mine, two days in the week,
and for three months--this was the wager. Now you have fruits and
flowers. Do you remember how you complained, while we were sitting
on the rock looking at the sea, that we had only this poor little
hut, and no garden and no field? I said to myself, 'I'll get them
for her.' And, mother, you shall have all the rest besides. Now you
have fruits and flowers, but, if Allah is gracious, you shall soon
have your own garden and your own house, handsomer than all the
houses of Cavalla.
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