' 'Thou liest!' rejoined the Khalif. 'How
so, O Commander of the Faithful?' asked the Amir. So he told him
the case and added, 'I charge thee to bring me back all the
stolen things.' 'O Commander of the Faithful', replied the Amir,
'the vinegar-worm is of and in the vinegar, and no stranger can
get at this place.'[FN#107] But the Khalif said, 'Except thou
bring me these things, I will put thee to death.' Quoth Khalid,
'Ere thou slay me, slay Ahmed Kemakim, for none should know the
robber and the traitor but the captain of the watch.' Then came
forward Ahmed Kemakim and said to the Khalif, 'Accept my
intercession for the Master of Police, and I will be responsible
to thee for the thief and will follow his track till I find him;
but give me two Cadis and two Assessors, for he who did this
thing feareth thee not, nor doth he fear the Chief of the Police
nor any other.' 'Thou shalt have what thou seekest,' answered the
Khalif; 'but let search be made first in my palace and then in
those of the Vizier and the Chief of the Sixty.' 'Thou sayst
well, O Commander of the Faithful,' rejoined Ahmed; 'most like
the thief is one who had been reared in thy household or that of
one of thy chief officers.' 'As my head liveth,' said Haroun,
'whosoever shall appear to have done the deed, I will put him to
death, be it my very own son!' Then Ahmed Kemakim received a
written warrant to enter and search the houses and taking in his
hand a [divining] rod made of equal parts of bronze, copper, iron
and steel, went forth, attended by the Cadis and Assessors and
the Chief of the Police.
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