Israel had refused.

"It is not just," he had said.
Other expedients for enlarging his revenue Ben Aboo had suggested, but Israel had steadfastly resisted all of them.

Sometimes the Governor had pretended that he had received an order from the Sultan to impose a gross and wicked tax, but Israel's answer had been the same.

"There is no evil in the world but injustice," he had said.

"Do justice, and you do all that God can ask or man expect." For such opposition to the will of the Basha any other person would have been cast into a damp dungeon at night, and chained in the hot sun by day.