" So I went on before them, crying out, "Alas, my
master!" and they after me, bareheaded, crying out, "Alas! Alas
for the man!" And there was not a man nor a woman nor a boy nor
an old woman in the quarter but followed us, buffeting their
faces and weeping sore. On this wise, I traversed the city with
them, and the folk asked what was the matter, whereupon they told
them what they had heard from me, and they exclaimed, "There is
no power and no virtue but in God!" Then said one of them, "He
was a man of consideration; so let us go to the chief of the
police and tell him what has happened." So they repaired to the
magistrate and told him, whereupon he mounted and taking with him
workmen with spades and baskets, set out for the scene of the
accident, following my track, with all the people after him. I
ran on before them, buffeting my face and throwing dust on my
head and crying out, followed by my mistress and her children,
shrieking aloud. But I outran them and reached the garden before
them, and when my master saw me in this state and heard me crying
out, "Alas, my mistress! Alas! Alas! Who is left to take pity on
me, now that my mistress is dead? Would God I had died instead of
her!" he was confounded and his colour paled. Then said he to me,
"What ails thee, O Kafour? What is the matter?" "O my lord,"
replied I, "When thou sentest me to the house, I found that the
wall of the saloon had given way and the whole of it had fallen
in upon my mistress and her children.
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