But it
devolves upon you, ye men, to obey the higher law that dwells in us.
Will you, ye men of Praousta, allow your best and noblest men to be
murdered for the sake of a paltry sum of money. Do you wish that
your children and grandchildren should one day point at you and say:
--Look at them, they are murderers! They slaughtered them that they
might keep their money, that they might keep that which they held
dearest!"
"No, Masa, it is not on account of the money!" cried the men. "It is
a question of our honor, of law, and of justice. And therefore the
sheik has commanded us not to pay. A double tax was imposed on us;
that was unjust. The sheik and the ulemas say that, if we pay this
double tax, they will the next time demand a treble, and the third
time a quadruple tax. In this way they would consume our substance,
and our fate would be poverty and the beggar's staff. Thus spoke the
sheik and the ulemas as late as yesterday evening, and therefore
must we remain firm, and, therefore, oh, forgive us, we should not
dare to pay even if we could."
"But we cannot even do it," cried one of the men. "No, Masa, you may
believe us, it is not in our power. The tobacco-crop has turned out
badly, and the storms have destroyed our nets, and let the fish
escape. Really, we could not pay even if we would. It was with the
greatest difficulty that we got the simple tax together, and now the
tschorbadji sends us word, by his collectors, that we must pay as
much more.
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