Don't hit, sir; you'll only excite yourself.' He put one hand on the man's forearm and ran the other down the plump body beneath the coat.

'My goodness!' said he to Torpenhow, 'and this gray oaf dares to be a thief! I have seen an Esneh camel-driver have the black hide taken off his body in strips for stealing half a pound of wet dates, and he was as tough as whipcord.

This things' soft all over--like a woman.' There are few things more poignantly humiliating than being handled by a man who does not intend to strike.

The head of the syndicate began to breathe heavily.

Dick walked round him, pawing him, as a cat paws a soft hearth-rug.