THE WISE MULE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11854, 4 January 1902, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE WISE MULE.

While surveying the country around Ncgrin, at the entrance of the great-, desert, south of Tunis, I had one of the funniest experiences of my life. The Arabs, as everybody, knows, are ; the shrewdest* thieves on earth, and the Bey of Tunis, to prevent me from being robbed and possibly killed, gave me an: escort of i"goums," or independent cavalry, from the tribe of the OuledNails. This escort, composed of twenty well-mounted men,' was : commended by !an old sheikh, Si Mohamed-El-Moktar, .: who thought it more convenient to ride: a mule. :It was the .only.; animal .of that species !in camp, - and to my great surprise I discovered that the t Arabs always \ kept at a: respectful . distance fro mtheir chief and his long-eared steed. -JT; found -also that Si Mohamed took particular care of 'his ; mule. ! ::; ~; One day a, box :of ■ instruments and a gold watch 'disappeared,- from my tent. X We ; were in camp, many miles from; an v oasis, - and . there -was" no doubt that ; I had been robbed by a man from the escort. -'I complained to the sheikh, who at once called all the Arabs around his . tent " and told ■ them of the theft, requesting the, culprit jto return the stolen property- within an hour. I could'do nothing without my instruments, • and as I had little confidence in the , sheikh, who did:riot appear to be very much concerned about my loss, I wanted to search the tents. "■'•■ The sheikh, however,' objected, ; saying: ; "You wait one hour, and if the box: and watch are -not returned, my mule will find the thief." - As I expected, one hour elapsed, and neither : box nor watch were;• in sight. Dur- ! ing that time the sheikh had led his mule inside of his tent, where he remained apparently holding 'a secret conference. All tho men saw the performance and began to be nervous. > When-'• the sheikh left the tent at! the end of the hour he called again the escort around him, and asked for the thief to produce the box of instruments and The watch'. Nobody answered, notwithstanding the threats of a sound flogging. "• " Very well,'", said the' sheikh,,addressing the men. I'll have to refer this matter-to my.mule. Each one of you will go inside of my tent and pull the mule's tail; if ho has stolen the Round's v property he will be kicked so high that he will remember, the occurrence all his life." ... - , _ ,'; ;' ;When I heard that astonishing speech I began to beliove that the chief of my escort was having some fun at my 1 expense. But what could Ido ? The men went to the tent one by one as directed,, but from our position we could not see the pulling done, the door of the tent being closed after the entrance of each Arab.7: As a matter of course,, tho mulo kicked no one, and I was ready to search the camp instead of waiting any longer, when the sheikh- ordered the men to face him in a single line. -Passing slowly in front of this line, ho examined closely the hands of each man until lie readied an Arab whom he called " Bclkassem." "You are tho thief," he said to Belkas-se-n; "what have you done with the box and the ;watch 1" _ The accused vehemently denied the accusa- ! tion, but to no avail. The sheikh ordered him. to be ; at once flogged until he would tell where , tho stolen property was. In a I few minutes Belkassom confessed, and my ] instruments, as well as tho watch, were found buried in the sand outside of the camp. '..■:'■■.:■ ' ; r ■:':' . ' I was dumbfounded.: I did not believe for a minute in the supernatural power of the .mule, but I wanted an expSanation. " Easy enough," told me th© Si El-Moktar confidentially, "but do not give the secret away. AH the men ,of my tribe believe that my mule posseses the gift of divination. I knew that the thief would not pull the mule's tail for fear of a kicking. So what did I do? I simply put some perfume on the tail, and in examining the hands I could tell by the smell that Balkassem was the thief because he had not touched tho mule's tail; he was afraid to be kicked." I must add that the old sheikh had the reputation, which he justly deserved, of being a very wise man. —Karl Melite, in " Akbar" (SoukArros, Algeria). . ': . :