And toiling in the darkness over the barren plain and the belt of carrion that lies in front of the town, through the heat and fumes of the fetid place, and amid the furious barks of the scavenger dogs which prowl in the night around it, they came in the grey of morning to the city gate over the stream called the Father of Tortoises.

The gate was closed, and the night police that kept it were snoring in their rags under the arch of the wall within.
"Selam! M'barak! Abd el Kader! Abd el Kareem!" shouted the Shereef's black guard to the sleepy gate-keepers.

They had come thus far in Israel's honour, and would not return to Wazzan until they had seen him housed within.
From the other side of the gate, through the mist and the gloom, came yawns and broken snores and then snarls and curses.

"Burn your father! Pretty hubbub in the middle of the night!" "Selam!" shouted one of the black guard.

"You dog of dogs! Your father was bewitched by a hyena! I'll teach you to curse your betters.