But Mohammed saw them. His eye would glitter when he passed
their hiding-places, and a contemptuous smile play about his lips.
"The hawks fear the eagle," he would murmur to himself, "but the
eagle will some day pluck out their feathers and show them that he
is master."
Striving to earn money to procure little luxuries for his mother, he
would more rarely absent himself from home for longer periods than
formerly. When the storm raged, and, the boldest fishermen feared to
venture over to Imbro where their nets were laid, Mohammed would
offer to go for them, provided they gave him double wages; and the
fishermen, fearing that the wild waves might bear away their nets
filled with the rare fish that only came up from the deep during the
storm, would willingly accede to his demands. One day when the sea
was roaring and foaming wildly, one of the fishermen stood upon the
shore imploring Allah to save the nets he had taken to Imbro the day
before, and which, assuredly filled with the rarest fish, bad
perhaps already become a prey to the waves.
"Why not go after them?" said a mocking voice behind him. "Go over
and get your nets."
The fisherman regarded the intrepid boy Mohammed, who now stood at
his side, with severity. "No one would venture out in such a storm.
Moreover, this is Thursday, the evil day on which the ghins, who
draw men into the deep, are abroad.
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