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margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.pn { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + color: silver; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + border: solid black; + height: 5px; } + pre {font-size: small;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Oriental Encounters, by Marmaduke Pickthall</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Oriental Encounters</p> +<p> Palestine and Syria, 1894-6</p> +<p>Author: Marmaduke Pickthall</p> +<p>Release Date: September 25, 2006 [eBook #19378]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORIENTAL ENCOUNTERS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4 class="pg">E-text prepared by Jeannie Howse<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/">http://www.pgdp.net/</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive/Million Book Project<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/millionbooks">http://www.archive.org/details/millionbooks</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/Million Book Project. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/OrientalEncounters"> + http://www.archive.org/details/OrientalEncounters</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been +preserved. Inconsistent spellings of Arabic terms have been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin">A number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text. +For a complete list, please see the <a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<h1>ORIENTAL ENCOUNTERS</h1> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>ORIENTAL ENCOUNTERS</h1> + +<br /> + +<h2>PALESTINE AND SYRIA<br /> +(1894-5-6)</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5 style="margin-bottom: -1px;">BY</h5> +<h2 style="margin-top: -1px;">MARMADUKE PICKTHALL</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h5>LONDON: 48 PALL MALL<br /> +W. COLLINS SONS & CO. LTD.<br /> +GLASGOW MELBOURNE AUCKLAND</h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>Copyright 1918</h5> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr" width="10%"><span style="font-size: 90%;">CHAP.</span></td> + <td class="tdl" width="70%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%"><span style="font-size: 90%;">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></td> + <td class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">I.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">RASHÎD THE FAIR</a></td> + <td class="tdr">11</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">II.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">A MOUNTAIN GARRISON</a></td> + <td class="tdr">20</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">III.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">THE RHINOCEROS WHIP</a></td> + <td class="tdr">28</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IV.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">THE COURTEOUS JUDGE</a></td> + <td class="tdr">36</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">V.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">NAWÂDIR</a></td> + <td class="tdr">45</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VI.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">NAWÂDIR (<i>continued</i>)</a></td> + <td class="tdr">54</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE SACK WHICH CLANKED</a></td> + <td class="tdr">68</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VIII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">POLICE WORK</a></td> + <td class="tdr">77</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IX.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">MY COUNTRYMAN</a></td> + <td class="tdr">87</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">X.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">THE PARTING OF THE WAYS</a></td> + <td class="tdr">96</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XI.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">THE KNIGHT ERRANT</a></td> + <td class="tdr">106</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">THE FANATIC</a></td> + <td class="tdr">117</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XIII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">RASHÎD'S REVENGE</a></td> + <td class="tdr">125</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XIV.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">THE HANGING DOG</a></td> + <td class="tdr">134</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XV.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">TIGERS</a></td> + <td class="tdr">142</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVI.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">PRIDE AND A FALL</a></td> + <td class="tdr">151</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">TRAGEDY</a></td> + <td class="tdr">161</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVIII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">BASTIRMA</a></td> + <td class="tdr">171<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XIX.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">THE ARTIST-DRAGOMAN</a></td> + <td class="tdr">181</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XX.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">LOVE AND THE PATRIARCH</a></td> + <td class="tdr">188</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXI.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">THE UNPOPULAR LANDOWNER</a></td> + <td class="tdr">198</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">THE CAÏMMACÂM</a></td> + <td class="tdr">209</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXIII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CONCERNING BRIBES</a></td> + <td class="tdr">218</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXIV.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">THE BATTLEFIELD</a></td> + <td class="tdr">226</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXV.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">MURDERERS</a></td> + <td class="tdr">237</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXVI.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">THE TREES ON THE LAND</a></td> + <td class="tdr">245</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXVII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">BUYING A HOUSE</a></td> + <td class="tdr">255</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXVIII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">A DISAPPOINTMENT</a></td> + <td class="tdr">264</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXIX.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CONCERNING CRIME AND PUNISHMENT</a></td> + <td class="tdr">273</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXX.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">THE UNWALLED VINEYARD</a></td> + <td class="tdr">282</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXXI.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">THE ATHEIST</a></td> + <td class="tdr">291</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXXII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">THE SELLING OF OUR GUN</a></td> + <td class="tdr">302</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXXIII.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">MY BENEFACTOR</a></td> + <td class="tdr">311</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>INTRODUCTION<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>Early in the year 1894 I was a candidate for one of two vacancies in +the Consular Service for Turkey, Persia, and the Levant, but failed to +gain the necessary place in the competitive examination. I was in +despair. All my hopes for months had been turned towards sunny +countries and old civilisations, away from the drab monotone of London +fog, which seemed a nightmare when the prospect of escape eluded me. I +was eighteen years old, and, having failed in one or two adventures, I +thought myself an all-round failure, and was much depressed. I dreamed +of Eastern sunshine, palm trees, camels, desert sand, as of a Paradise +which I had lost by my shortcomings. What was my rapture when my +mother one fine day suggested that it might be good for me to travel +in the East, because my longing for it seemed to indicate a natural +instinct, with which she herself, possessing Eastern memories, was in +full sympathy!</p> + +<p>I fancy there was some idea at the time that if I learnt the languages +and studied life upon the spot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>I might eventually find some +backstairs way into the service of the Foreign Office; but that idea, +though cherished by my elders as some excuse for the expenses of my +expedition, had never, from the first, appealed to me; and from the +moment when I got to Egypt, my first destination, it lost whatever +lustre it had had at home. For then the European ceased to interest +me, appearing somehow inappropriate and false in those surroundings. +At first I tried to overcome this feeling or perception which, while I +lived with English people, seemed unlawful. All my education until +then had tended to impose on me the cult of the thing done habitually +upon a certain plane of our society. To seek to mix on an equality +with Orientals, of whatever breeding, was one of those things which +were never done, nor even contemplated, by the kind of person who had +always been my model.</p> + +<p>My sneaking wish to know the natives of the country intimately, like +other unconventional desires I had at times experienced, might have +remained a sneaking wish until this day, but for an accident which +freed me for a time from English supervision. My people had provided +me with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>introductions to several influential English residents in +Syria, among others to a family of good position in Jerusalem; and it +was understood that, on arrival in that country, I should go directly +to that family for information and advice. But, as it chanced, on +board the ship which took me to Port Said from Naples I met a man who +knew those people intimately—had been, indeed, for years an inmate of +their house—and he assumed the office of my mentor. I stayed in +Cairo, merely because he did, for some weeks, and went with him on the +same boat to Jaffa. He, for some unknown reason—I suspect +insanity—did not want me in Jerusalem just then; and, when we landed, +spun me a strange yarn of how the people I had thought to visit were +exceedingly eccentric and uncertain in their moods; and how it would +be best for me to stop in Jaffa until he sent me word that I was sure +of welcome. His story was entirely false, I found out later, a libel +on a very hospitable house. But I believed it at the time, as I did +all his statements, having no other means of information on the +subject.</p> + +<p>So I remained at Jaffa, in a little <i>gasthaus</i> in the German colony, +which had the charms of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>cleanliness and cheapness, and there I might +have stayed till now had I awaited the tidings promised by my +counsellor. There for the first two weeks I found life very dull. Then +Mr. Hanauer, the English chaplain, and a famous antiquarian, took pity +on my solitary state, walked me about, and taught me words of Arabic. +He was a native of Jerusalem, and loved the country. My sneaking wish +to fraternise with Orientals, when I avowed it after hesitations, +appeared good to him. And then I made acquaintance with a clever +dragoman and one of the most famous jokers in all Syria, who happened +to be lodging at my little hostelry, with nothing in the world to do +but stare about him. He helped me to throw off the European and plunge +into the native way of living. With him I rode about the plain of +Sharon, sojourning among the fellâhîn, and sitting in the coffee-shops +of Ramleh, Lydda, Gaza, meeting all sorts of people, and acquiring the +vernacular without an effort, in the manner of amusement. From dawn to +sunset we were in the saddle. We went on pilgrimage to Nebi Rubîn, the +mosque upon the edge of marshes by the sea, half-way to Gaza; we rode +up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>northward to the foot of Carmel; explored the gorges of the +mountains of Judæa; frequented Turkish baths; ate native meals and +slept in native houses—following the customs of the people of the +land in all respects. And I was amazed at the immense relief I found +in such a life. In all my previous years I had not seen happy people. +These were happy. Poor they might be, but they had no dream of wealth; +the very thought of competition was unknown to them, and rivalry was +still a matter of the horse and spear. Wages and rent were troubles +they had never heard of. Class distinctions, as we understand them, +were not. Everybody talked to everybody. With inequality they had a +true fraternity. People complained that they were badly governed, +which merely meant that they were left to their devices save on great +occasions. A Government which touches every individual and interferes +with him to some extent in daily life, though much esteemed by +Europeans, seems intolerable to the Oriental. I had a vision of the +tortured peoples of the earth impelled by their own misery to desolate +the happy peoples, a vision which grew clearer in the after years. +But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>in that easy-going Eastern life there is a power of resistance, +as everybody knows who tries to change it, which may yet defeat the +hosts of joyless drudgery.</p> + +<p>My Syrian friend—the Suleymân of the following sketches—introduced +me to the only Europeans who espoused that life—a French Alsatian +family, the Baldenspergers, renowned as pioneers of scientific +bee-keeping in Palestine, who hospitably took a share in my +initiation. They had innumerable hives in different parts of the +country—I have seen them near the Jaffa gardens and among the +mountains south of Hebron—which they transported in due season, on +the backs of camels, seeking a new growth of flowers. For a long while +the Government ignored their industry, until the rumour grew that it +was very profitable. Then a high tax was imposed. The Baldenspergers +would not pay it. They said the Government might take the hives if it +desired to do so. Soldiers were sent to carry out the seizure. But the +bee-keepers had taken out the bottom of each hive, and when the +soldiers lifted them, out swarmed the angry bees. The soldiers fled; +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>after that experience the Government agreed to compromise. I +remember well a long day's ride with Emile and Samuel Baldensperger, +round by Askelon and Ekron, and the luncheon which a village headman +had prepared for us, consisting of a whole sheep, roast and stuffed +with nuts and vegetables; and a day with Henri Baldensperger in the +Hebron region. The friendships of those days were made for life. +Hanauer, the Baldenspergers, Suleymân, and other natives of the +country—those of them who are alive—remain my friends to-day.</p> + +<p>In short, I ran completely wild for months, in a manner unbecoming to +an Englishman; and when at length, upon a pressing invitation, I +turned up in Jerusalem and used my introductions, it was in +semi-native garb and with a love for Arabs which, I was made to +understand, was hardly decent. My native friends were objects of +suspicion. I was told that they were undesirable, and, when I stood up +for them, was soon put down by the retort that I was very young. I +could not obviously claim as much experience as my mature advisers, +whose frequent warnings to me to distrust <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>the people of the country +thus acquired the force of moral precepts, which it is the secret joy +of youth to disobey.</p> + +<p>That is the reason why the respectable English residents in Syria +figure in these pages as censorious and hostile, with but few +exceptions. They were hostile to my point of view, which was not then +avowed, but not to me. Indeed, so many of them showed me +kindness—particularly in my times of illness—that I cannot think of +them without a glow of friendliness. But the attitude of most of them +was never mine, and the fact that at the time I still admired that +attitude as the correct one, and thought myself at intervals a sad +backslider, made it seem forbidding. In my Oriental life they really +were, as here depicted, a disapproving shadow in the background. With +one—referred to often in these tales—I was in full agreement. We +lived together for some months in a small mountain village, and our +friendship then established has remained unbroken. But he, though not +alone, was an exception.</p> + +<p>Owing to the general verdict on my Arab friends, I led what might be +called a double life during the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>months of my first sojourn in +Jerusalem; until Suleymân, the tourist season being ended, came with +promise of adventure, when I flung discretion to the winds. We hired +two horses and a muleteer, and rode away into the north together. A +fortnight later, at the foot of the Ladder of Tyre, Suleymân was +forced to leave me, being summoned to his village. I still rode on +towards the north, alone with one hired muleteer, a simple soul. A +notion of my subsequent adventures may, perhaps, be gathered from the +following pages, in which I have embodied fictionally some impressions +still remaining clear after the lapse of more than twenty years. A +record of small things, no doubt; yet it seems possible that something +human may be learnt from such a comic sketch-book of experience which +would never be derived from more imposing works.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span><br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>RASHÎD THE FAIR</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The brown plain, swimming in a haze of heat, stretched far away into +the distance, where a chain of mountains trenched upon the cloudless +sky. Six months of drought had withered all the herbage. Only +thistles, blue and yellow, and some thorny bushes had survived; but +after the torrential winter rains the whole expanse would blossom like +the rose. I traversed the plain afterwards in spring, when cornfields +waved for miles around its three mud villages, wild flowers in mad +profusion covered its waste places, and scarlet tulips flamed amid its +wheat.</p> + +<p>Now all was desert. After riding for four days in such a landscape, it +was sweet to think upon the journey's end, the city of perennial +waters, shady gardens, and the song of birds. I was picturing the +scene of our arrival—the shade and the repose, the long, cool drinks, +the friendly hum <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>of the bazaars—and wondering what letters I should +find awaiting me, all to the tune of 'Onward, Christian soldiers'—for +the clip-clap of a horse's hoofs invariably beats out in my brain some +tune, the most incongruous, against my will—when a sudden outcry +roused me. It came from my companion, a hired muleteer, and sounded +angry. The fellow had been riding on ahead. I now saw that he had +overtaken other travellers—two men astride of one donkey—and had +entered into conversation with them. One of the two, the hindmost, was +a Turkish soldier. Except the little group they made together, and a +vulture, a mere speck above them in the blue, no other living creature +was in sight. Something had happened, for the soldier seemed amused, +while my poor man was making gestures of despairing protest. He +repeated the loud cry which had disturbed my reverie, then turned his +mule and hurried back to meet me.</p> + +<p>'My knife!' he bellowed 'My knife!—that grand steel blade which was +my honour!—so finely tempered and inlaid!—an heirloom in the family! +That miscreant, may Allah cut his life!—I mean the soldier—stole it. +He asked to look at it a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>minute, seeming to admire. I gave it, like +the innocent I am. He stuck it in his belt, and asked to see the +passport which permitted me to carry weapons. Who ever heard of such a +thing in this wild region? He will not give it back, though I +entreated. I am your Honour's servant, speak for me and make him give +it back! It is an heirloom!' That grey-haired man was crying like a +baby.</p> + +<p>Now, I was very young, and his implicit trust in my authority +enthralled me. I valued his dependence on my manhood more than gold +and precious stones. Summoning all the courage I possessed, I clapped +spurs to my horse and galloped after the marauder.</p> + +<p>'Give back that knife!' I roared. 'O soldier! it is thou to whom I +speak.'</p> + +<p>The soldier turned a studiously guileless face—a handsome face, with +fair moustache and a week's beard. He had a roguish eye.</p> + +<p>'What knife? I do not understand,' he said indulgently.</p> + +<p>'The knife thou stolest from the muleteer here present.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>'Oh, that!' replied the soldier, with a deprecating laugh: 'That is a +thing unworthy of your Honour's notice. The rogue in question is a +well-known malefactor. He and I are old acquaintance.'</p> + +<p>'By the beard of the Prophet, by the August Coran, I never saw his +devil's face until this minute!' bawled the muleteer, who had come up +behind me.</p> + +<p>'Give back the knife,' I ordered for the second time.</p> + +<p>'By Allah, never!' was the cool reply.</p> + +<p>'Give it back, I say!'</p> + +<p>'No, it cannot be—not even to oblige your Honour, for whose pleasure, +Allah knows, I would do almost anything,' murmured the soldier, with a +charming smile. 'Demand it not. Be pleased to understand that if it +were your Honour's knife I would return it instantly. But that man, as +I tell thee, is a wretch. It grieves me to behold a person of +consideration in such an unbecoming temper upon his account—a dog, no +more.'</p> + +<p>'If he is a dog, he is my dog for the present; so give back the +knife!'</p> + +<p>'Alas, beloved, that is quite impossible.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>With a wave of the hand dismissing the whole subject the soldier +turned away. He plucked a cigarette out of his girdle and prepared to +light it. His companion on the donkey had not turned his head nor +shown the slightest interest in the discussion. This had lasted long +enough. I knew that in another minute I should have to laugh. If +anything remained for me to do it must be done immediately. Whipping +my revolver from the holster, I held it close against the rascal's +head, yelling: 'Give back the knife this minute, or I kill thee!'</p> + +<p>The man went limp. The knife came back as quick as lightning. I gave +it to the muleteer, who blubbered praise to Allah and made off with +it. Equally relieved, I was about to follow when the utterly forlorn +appearance of the soldier moved me to open the revolver, showing that +it was not loaded. Then my adversary was transfigured. His back +straightened, his mouth closed, his eyes regained their old +intelligence. He stared at me a moment, half incredulous, and then he +laughed. Ah, how that soldier laughed! The owner of the donkey turned +and shared his glee. They literally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>hugged each other, roaring with +delight, while the donkey underneath them both jogged dutifully on.</p> + +<p>Before a caravanserai in a small valley green with fruit-trees, beside +a slender stream whose banks were fringed with oleander, I was sitting +waiting for some luncheon when the donkey and its riders came again in +sight. The soldier tumbled off on spying me and ran into the inn like +one possessed. A minute later he brought out the food which I had +ordered and set the table for me in the shade of trees.</p> + +<p>'I would not let another serve thee,' he informed me, 'for the love of +that vile joke that thou didst put upon me. It was not loaded. After +all my fright!... It is a nice revolver. Let me look at it.'</p> + +<p>'Aye, look thy fill, thou shalt not touch it,' was my answer; at which +he laughed anew, pronouncing me the merriest of Adam's race.</p> + +<p>'But tell me, what wouldst thou have done had I refused? It was not +loaded. What wouldst thou have done?'</p> + +<p>His hand was resting at that moment on a stool. I rapped his knuckles +gently with the butt of the revolver to let him know its weight.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>'Wallahi!' he cried out in admiration. 'I believe thou wouldst have +smashed my head with it. All for the sake of a poor man of no account, +whom thou employest for a week, and after that wilt see no more. +Efendim, take me as thy servant always!' Of a sudden he spoke very +earnestly. 'Pay the money to release me from the army. It is a +largeish sum—five Turkish pounds. And Allah knows I will repay it to +thee by my service. For the love of righteousness accept me, for my +soul is thine.'</p> + +<p>I ridiculed the notion. He persisted. When the muleteer and I set +forth again, he rode beside us, mounted on another donkey this +time—'borrowed,' as he put it—which showed he was a person of +resource. 'By Allah, I can shoe a horse and cook a fowl; I can mend +garments with a thread and shoot a bird upon the wing,' he told me. 'I +would take care of the stable and the house. I would do everything +your Honour wanted. My nickname is Rashîd the Fair; my garrison is +Karameyn, just two days' journey from the city. Come in a day or two +and buy me out. No matter for the wages. Only try me!'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>At the khan, a pretty rough one, where we spent the night, he waited +on me deftly and enforced respect, making me really wish for such a +servant. On the morrow, after an hour's riding, our ways parted.</p> + +<p>'In sh'Allah, I shall see thee before many days,' he murmured. 'My +nickname is Rashîd the Fair, forget not. I shall tell our captain thou +art coming with the money.'</p> + +<p>I said that I might think about it possibly.</p> + +<p>'Come,' he entreated. 'Thou wouldst never shame a man who puts his +trust in thee. I say that I shall tell our captain thou art coming. +Ah, shame me not before the Commandant and all my comrades! Thou +thinkest me a thief, a lawbreaker, because I took that fellow's +knife?' he asked, with an indulgent smile. 'Let me tell thee, O my +lord, that I was in my right and duty as a soldier of the Sultan in +this province. It is that muleteer who, truly speaking, breaks the law +by carrying the knife without a permit. And thou, hast thou a passport +for that fine revolver? At the place where we had luncheon yesterday +were other soldiers. By merely calling on them to support me I could +have had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>his knife and thy revolver with ease and honesty in strict +accordance with the law. Why did I not do so? Because I love thee! Say +thou wilt come to Karameyn and buy me out.'</p> + +<p>I watched him jogging on his donkey towards a gulley of the hills +along which lay the bridle-path to Karameyn. On all the evidence he +was a rogue, and yet my intimate conviction was that he was honest. +All the Europeans in the land would lift up hands of horror and +exclaim: 'Beware!' on hearing such a story. Yet, as I rode across the +parched brown land towards the city of green trees and rushing waters, +I knew that I should go to Karameyn.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>A MOUNTAIN GARRISON</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The long day's ride was uneventful, but not so the night. I spent it +in a village of the mountains at a very curious hostelry, kept by a +fat native Christian, named Elias, who laid claim, upon the signboard, +to furnish food and lodging 'alafranga'—that is, in the modern +European manner. There was one large guest-room, and an adjoining +bedroom of the same dimensions, for some thirty travellers. I had to +find a stable for my horse elsewhere. A dining-table was provided, and +we sat on chairs around it; but the food was no wise European, and the +cooking was degraded Greek. A knife, fork, and spoon were laid for +every guest but several cast these on the floor and used their +fingers. In the long bedroom were a dozen beds on bedsteads. By +offering a trifle extra I secured one to myself. In others there were +two, three, even four together. An elderly Armenian gentleman <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>who had +a wife with him, stood guard with pistols over her all night. He was +so foolish as to threaten loudly anyone who dared approach her. After +he had done so several times a man arose from the bed next to mine and +strolling to him seized him by the throat.</p> + +<p>'O man,' he chided. 'Art thou mad or what, thus to arouse our passions +by thy talk of women? Be silent, or we honest men here present will +wring thy neck and take thy woman from thee. Dost thou understand?' He +shook that jealous husband as a terrier would shake a rat. 'Be silent, +hearest thou? Men wish to sleep.'</p> + +<p>'Said I not well, O brother?' said the monitor to me, as he got back +to bed.</p> + +<p>'By Allah, well,' was my reply. The jealous one was silent after that. +But there were other noises. Some men still lingered in the guest-room +playing cards. The host, devoted to things European, had a +musical-box—it was happily before the day of gramophones—which the +card-players kept going all night long. I had a touch of fever. There +were insects. Sleep was hopeless. I rose while it was yet night, went +out without paying, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>since the host was nowhere to be seen, and, in +some danger from the fierce attacks of pariah dogs, found out the +vault in which my horse was stabled. Ten minutes later I was clear of +the village, riding along a mountain side but dimly visible beneath +the stars. The path descended to a deep ravine, and rose again, up, +up, interminably. At length, upon the summit of a ridge, I felt the +dawn. The mountain tops were whitened like the crests of waves, while +all the clefts and hollows remained full of night. Behind me, in the +east, there was a long white streak making the mountain outlines bleak +and keen. The stars looked strange; a fresh breeze fanned my cheek and +rustled in the grass and shrubs. Before me, on an isolated bluff, +appeared my destination, a large village, square-built like a +fortress. Its buildings presently took on a wild-rose blush, which +deepened to the red of fire—a splendid sight against a dark blue sky, +still full of stars. A window flashed up there. The sun had risen.</p> + +<p>Some English people, when informed of my intention to buy a man out of +the Turkish Army had pronounced it madness. I did not know the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>people +of the land as they did. I should be pillaged, brought to destitution, +perhaps murdered. They, who had lived in the country twenty, thirty +years, were better qualified to judge than I was. For peace and quiet +I pretended acquiescence, and my purpose thus acquired a taste of +stealth. It was with the feelings of a kind of truant that I had set +out at length without a word to anyone, and with the same adventurous +feelings that I now drew near to Karameyn. Two soldiers, basking in +the sunshine on a dust-heap, sprang up at my approach. One was the man +I sought, the rogue Rashîd. They led me to their captain's house—a +modest dwelling, consisting of a single room, with hardly any +furniture. A score of soldiers followed after us.</p> + +<p>The Captain—Hasan Agha—an old man, with face scarred and heavy white +moustache, was in full uniform, and, as I entered, was engaged in +putting on a pair of cotton gloves. He was one of the old 'alaïli,' +Turkish officers—those whose whole knowledge of their business was +derived from service in a regiment or 'alaï,' instead of from +instruction at a military school; and his manner towards the men <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>had +nothing of the martinet. He addressed them as 'my children,' with +affection; and they, though quite respectful, conversed freely in his +presence. Hasan Agha paid me many compliments, and repeatedly inquired +after my health. He would not hear about my business till I had had +breakfast. Luncheon had been arranged for me, he said, but that could +not be ready for some hours. Would I be so kind as to excuse a +makeshift? Even as he spoke, a soldier entered with a tray on which +were slabs of Arab bread, a pitcher of sour milk, and heaps of grapes. +Another soldier began pounding coffee, while yet another blew upon the +charcoal in a brazier. I refused to eat unless my host ate with me, +which he did only after much polite resistance. After the meal, we sat +and talked, the soldiers joining in the conversation. They told me of +old wars and deeds of valour. Hasan Agha was, it seemed, a famous +fighter; and the men did all they could to make him tell me of his +battles. They brought an old man in out of the town to see me because +he had fought in the Crimean war, and knew the English. Before it grew +too hot, they took me out to see the barracks and a ramshackle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>old +fieldpiece which they seemed to idolise. Then followed luncheon with +its long array of Arab dishes, of which the soldiers had their share +eventually. Rashîd assured me afterwards that all the food on this +occasion had been 'borrowed.' That was in Abdul Hamid's golden days. +After luncheon, there was coffee with more compliments; and then at +last we got to business.</p> + +<p>A public writer was brought in. He wrote out a receipt for me, and +also the discharge Rashîd required. Hasan Agha stamped both documents +with an official seal, and handed them to me, who gave him in exchange +the money.</p> + +<p>'Bismillah!' he exclaimed. 'I call all here to witness that Rashîd, +the son of Ali, called the Fair, is free henceforth to go what way he +chooses.'</p> + +<p>To me he said: 'Rashîd is a good lad, and you will find him useful. +The chief fault I have found in him is this: that, when obeying +orders, he is apt to think, and so invent a method of his own, not +always good. Also, he is too susceptible to female charms, a failing +which has placed him in some strange positions.'</p> + +<p>The last remark evoked much laughter, relating, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>evidently to some +standing joke unknown to me. Rashîd looked rather sheepish. Hasan Agha +turned to him, and said:</p> + +<p>'My son, praise Allah for thy great good fortune in finding favour in +the sight of one so noble and benevolent as our beloved guest, who is +henceforth thy master. Remember, he is not as I am—one who has been +what thou art, and so knows the tricks. Serve him freely with thy mind +and soul and conscience, not waiting for commands as in the Army. Come +hither, O my son, grasp hands with me. I say, may God be with thee now +and always! Forget not all the good instruction of thy soldier days. +Be sure that we shall pray for thy good master and for thee.'</p> + +<p>The old man's eyes were wet, so were Rashîd's, so were the eyes of all +the soldiers squatting round.</p> + +<p>Rashîd, dismissed, went off to change his uniform for an old suit of +mine which I had brought for him, while Hasan Agha, talking of him as +a father might, explained to me his character and little failings.</p> + +<p>At last I took my leave. Rashîd was waiting in my cast-off clothes, a +new fez of civilian shape upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>his head. He held my stirrup, and then +jumped on to a raw-boned beast which had been 'borrowed' for him by +his friends, so he informed me. It might be worth my while to buy it +for him, he suggested later—the price was only eight pounds Turk, the +merest trifle. The whole garrison escorted us to the last houses, +where they stood a long while, waving their farewells. Two hours +later, on the mountain-ridge, beyond the wady, we turned to look our +last on Karameyn. It stood amid the flames of sunset like a castle of +the clouds.</p> + +<p>We returned, then, to the 'alafranga' hostelry; but Rashîd, having +heard the story of my sleepless night, would not allow me to put up +there. I paid my debt to the proprietor, and then he found for me an +empty house to which he brought a mattress and a coverlet, a lot of +cushions, a brazier, and the things required for making coffee, also a +tray of supper—all of them borrowed from the neighbouring houses. I +might be pillaged, brought to destitution, and eventually murdered by +him, as my friends had warned me. At least, the operation promised to +be comfortable.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE RHINOCEROS WHIP</h4> +<br /> + +<p>'Where is the whip?' Rashîd cried, suddenly, turning upon me in the +gateway of the khan where we had just arrived.</p> + +<p>'Merciful Allah! It is not with me. I must have left it in the +carriage.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd threw down the saddlebags, our customary luggage, which he had +been carrying, and started running for his life. The carriage had got +half-way down the narrow street half-roofed with awnings. At Rashîd's +fierce shout of 'Wait, O my uncle! We have left our whip!' the driver +turned and glanced behind him, but, instead of stopping, lashed his +horses to a gallop. Rashîd ran even faster than before. The chase, +receding rapidly, soon vanished from my sight. Twilight was coming on. +Above the low, flat roofs to westward, the crescent moon hung in the +green of sunset behind the minarets of the great mosque. I then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>took +up the saddle-bags and delicately picked my way through couchant +camels, tethered mules and horses in the courtyard to the khan itself, +which was a kind of cloister. I was making my arrangements with the +landlord, when Rashîd returned, the picture of despair. He flung up +both his hands, announcing failure, and then sank down upon the ground +and moaned. The host, a burly man, inquired what ailed him. I told +him, when he uttered just reflections upon cabmen and the vanity of +worldly wealth. Rashîd, as I could see, was 'zi'lân'—a prey to that +strange mixture of mad rage and sorrow and despair, which is a real +disease for children of the Arabs. An English servant would not thus +have cared about the loss of a small item of his master's property, +not by his fault but through that master's oversight. But my +possessions were Rashîd's delight, his claim to honour. He boasted of +them to all comers. In particular did he revere my gun, my Service +revolver, and this whip—a tough thong of rhinoceros hide, rather +nicely mounted with silver, which had been presented to me by an aged +Arab in return for some imagined favour. I had found it useful +against <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>pariah dogs when these rushed out in packs to bite one's +horse's legs, but had never viewed it as a badge of honour till Rashîd +came to me. To him it was the best of our possessions, marking us as +of rank above the common. He thrust it on me even when I went out +walking; and he it was who, when we started from our mountain home at +noon that day, had laid it reverently down upon the seat beside me +before he climbed upon the box beside the driver. And now the whip was +lost through my neglectfulness. Rashîd's dejection made me feel a +worm.</p> + +<p>'Allah! Allah!' he made moan, 'What can I do? The driver was a chance +encounter. I do not know his dwelling, which may God destroy!'</p> + +<p>The host remarked in comfortable tones that flesh is grass, all +treasure perishable, and that it behoves a man to fix desire on higher +things. Whereat Rashîd sprang up, as one past patience, and departed, +darting through the cattle in the yard with almost supernatural +agility. 'Let him eat his rage alone!' the host advised me, with a +shrug.</p> + +<p>Having ordered supper for the third hour of the night, I, too, went +out to stretch my limbs, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>were stiff and bruised from four +hours' jolting in a springless carriage, always on the point of +overturning. We should have done better to have come on horseback in +the usual way; but Rashîd, having chanced upon the carriage, a great +rarity, had decided on that way of going as more fashionable, +forgetful of the fact that there was not a road.</p> + +<p>The stars were out. In the few shops which still kept open lanterns +hung, throwing streaks of yellow light on the uneven causeway, a gleam +into the eyes of wayfarers and prowling dogs. Many of the people in +the streets, too, carried lanterns whose swing made objects in their +circle seem to leap and fall. I came at length into an open place +where there was concourse—a kind of square which might be called the +centre of the city.</p> + +<p>The crowd there, as I noticed with surprise, was stationary, with all +its faces turned in one direction. I heard a man's voice weeping and +declaiming wildly.</p> + +<p>'What is it?' I inquired, among the outskirts.</p> + +<p>'A great misfortune!' someone answered. 'A poor servant has lost a +whip worth fifty Turkish pounds, his master's property. It was stolen +from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>him by a miscreant—a wicked cabman. His lord will kill him if +he fails to find it.'</p> + +<p>Seized with interest, I shouldered my way forward. There was Rashîd +against the wall of a large mosque, beating himself against that wall +with a most fearful outcry. A group of high-fezzed soldiers, the +policemen of the city, hung round him in compassion, questioning. +Happily, I wore a fez, and so was inconspicuous.</p> + +<p>'Fifty Turkish pounds!' he yelled. 'A hundred would not buy its +brother! My master, the tremendous Count of all the English—their +chief prince, by Allah!—loves it as his soul. He will pluck out and +devour my heart and liver. O High Protector! O Almighty Lord!'</p> + +<p>'What like was this said cabman?' asked a sergeant of the watch.</p> + +<p>Rashîd, with sobs and many pious interjections, described the cabman +rather neatly as 'a one-eyed man, full-bearded, of a form as if +inflated in the lower half. His name, he told me, was Habîb; but Allah +knows!'</p> + +<p>'The man is known!' exclaimed the sergeant, eagerly. 'His dwelling is +close by. Come, O thou <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>poor, ill-used one. We will take the whip from +him.'</p> + +<p>At that Rashîd's grief ceased as if by magic. He took the sergeant's +hand and fondled it, as they went off together. I followed with the +crowd as far as to the cabman's door, a filthy entry in a narrow lane, +where, wishing to avoid discovery, I broke away and walked back +quickly to the khan.</p> + +<p>I had been there in my private alcove some few minutes, when Rashîd +arrived with a triumphant air, holding on high the famous whip. The +sergeant came across the court with him. A score of soldiers waited in +the gateway as I could see by the light of the great lantern hanging +from the arch.</p> + +<p>'Praise be to Allah, I have found it!' cried Rashîd.</p> + +<p>'Praise be to Allah, we have been enabled to do a little service for +your Highness,' cried the sergeant. Therewith he pounced upon my hand +and kissed it. I made them both sit down and called for coffee. +Between the two of them, I heard the story. The sergeant praised +Rashîd's intelligence in going out and crying in a public place <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>until +the city and its whole police force had a share in his distress. +Rashîd, on his side, said that all that would have been in vain but +for the sergeant's knowledge of the cabman's house. The sergeant, with +a chuckle, owned that that same knowledge would have been of no effect +had not Rashîd once more displayed his keen intelligence. They had +poured into the house—a single room, illumined only by a saucer lamp +upon the ground—and searched it thoroughly, the cabman all the while +protesting his great innocence, and swearing he had never in this +world beheld a whip like that described. The soldiers, finding no +whip, were beginning to believe his word when Rashîd, who had remained +aloof, observing that the cabman's wife stood very still beneath her +veils, assailed her with a mighty push, which sent her staggering +across the room. The whip was then discovered. It had been hidden +underneath her petticoats. They had given the delinquent a good +beating then and there. Would that be punishment enough in my opinion? +asked the sergeant.</p> + +<p>We decided that the beating was enough. I gave the sergeant a small +present when he left. Rashîd <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>went with him, after carefully +concealing the now famous whip. I suppose they went off to some tavern +to discuss the wonderful adventure more at length; for I supped alone, +and had been some time stretched upon my mattress on the floor before +Rashîd came in and spread his bed beside me.</p> + +<p>'Art thou awake, O my dear lord?' he whispered. 'By Allah, thou didst +wrong to give that sergeant any money. I had made thy name so great +that but to look on thee was fee sufficient for a poor, lean dog like +him.'</p> + +<p>He then was silent for so long a while that I imagined he had gone to +sleep. But, suddenly, he whispered once again:</p> + +<p>'O my dear lord, forgive me the disturbance, but hast thou our +revolver safe?'</p> + +<p>'By Allah, yes! Here, ready to my hand.'</p> + +<p>'Good. But it would be better for the future that I should bear our +whip and our revolver. I have made thy name so great that thou +shouldst carry nothing.'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE COURTEOUS JUDGE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>We were giving a dinner-party on that day to half a dozen Turkish +officers, and, when he brought me in my cup of tea at seven-thirty +a.m., Rashîd informed me that our cook had been arrested. The said +cook was a decent Muslim, but hot-tempered, and something of a blood +in private life. At six a.m., as he stood basking in the sunlight in +our doorway, his eyes had fallen on some Christian youths upon their +way to college, in European clothes, with new kid gloves and +silver-headed canes. Maddened with a sense of outrage by that horrid +sight, he had attacked the said youths furiously with a wooden ladle, +putting them to flight, and chasing them all down the long acacia +avenue, through two suburbs into the heart of the city, where their +miserable cries for help brought the police upon him. Rashîd, pursuing +in vain attempts to calm the holy warrior, had seen him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>taken into +custody still flourishing the ladle; but could tell me nothing of his +after fate, having at that point deemed it prudent to retire, lest he, +too, might be put in prison by mistake.</p> + +<p>It was sad. As soon as I was up and dressed, I wrote to Hamdi Bey, the +chief of our intended visitors, informing him of the mishap which +would prevent our giving him and his comrades a dinner at all worthy +of their merit. By the time that I had finished dressing, Rashîd had +found a messenger to whom the note was given with an order to make +haste. He must have run the whole way there and back, for, after +little more than half an hour, he stood before me, breathless and with +streaming brow, his bare legs dusty to the knee. Rashîd had then gone +out to do some marketing. The runner handed me a note. It said:</p> + +<p>'Why mention such a trifling detail? We shall, of course, be charmed +with anything you set before us. It is for friendship, not for food, +we come!'</p> + +<p>There was a postscript:—</p> + +<p>'Why not go and see the judge?'</p> + +<p>Suleymân was in the room. He was an old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>acquaintance, a man of decent +birth, but poor, by trade a dragoman, who had acquired a reputation +for unusual wisdom. When he had nothing else to do, he came to me +unfailingly, wherever I might chance to be established or encamped. He +was sitting cross-legged in a corner, smoking his narghîleh, +capriciously illumined by thin slants of light, alive with motes, from +the Venetian blinds. He seized upon the postscript, crying:—</p> + +<p>'It is good advice. Why not, indeed? Let us approach the judge.'</p> + +<p>Therewith he coiled the tube of his narghîleh carefully around the +bowl thereof, and, rising with the same deliberation, threw upon his +shoulders a white dust-cloak, then looked at me, and questioned: 'Are +you ready?'</p> + +<p>'But I do not know the judge.'</p> + +<p>'No more do I. But that, my dear, is a disease which can be remedied.'</p> + +<p>Without much trouble we found out the judge's house. A servant told us +that his Honour had already started for the court. We took a carriage +and pursued his Honour. At the court we made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>inquiry of the crowd of +witnesses—false witnesses for hire—who thronged the entrance. The +judge, we heard, had not yet taken his seat. We should be sure to find +his Honour in the coffee-shop across the road. One of the false +witnesses conducted us to the said coffee-shop and pointed out our +man. Together with his clerk and certain advocates, one of whom read +aloud the morning news, the judge sat underneath a vine arbour in +pleasant shade. He smiled. His hands were clasped upon a fair round +belly.</p> + +<p>Suleymân, his dust-cloak billowing, strolled forward coolly, and +presented me as 'one of the chief people of the Franks.' The company +arose and made us welcome, placing stools for our convenience.</p> + +<p>'His Highness comes to thee for justice, O most righteous judge. He +has been wronged,' observed Suleymân, dispassionately.</p> + +<p>The judge looked much concerned. 'What is the case?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Our cook is snatched from us,' was the reply, 'and to-night we have +invited friends to dinner.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>'Is he a good cook?' asked the judge, with feeling.</p> + +<p>'If your Excellency will restore him to us, and then join us at the +meal——'</p> + +<p>'How can I be of service in this matter?'</p> + +<p>I motioned to Suleymân to tell the story, which he did so well that +all the company were soon in fits of laughter.</p> + +<p>The judge looked through the cause list till he found the case, +putting a mark against it on the paper.</p> + +<p>'How can we dine to-night without a cook?' I sighed, despairingly.</p> + +<p>'Fear nothing,' said the judge. 'He shall be with you in an hour. +Come, O my friends, we must to business! It grows late.'</p> + +<p>The judge took leave of me with much politeness.</p> + +<p>'Now,' said Suleymân, when they were gone, 'let us go into the court +and watch the course of justice.'</p> + +<p>We crossed the narrow street to an imposing portal. Suleymân whispered +to a soldier there on guard, who smiled and bade us enter, with a +gracious gesture.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>The hall inside was crowded. Only after much exertion could we see the +dais. There sat the judge, and there stood our lamented cook, the +picture of dejection. A soldier at his side displayed the wooden +ladle. The Christian dandies whom he had assaulted were giving their +account of the adventure volubly, until his Honour, with a heavy +frown, bade them be silent. Then they cowered.</p> + +<p>'Be careful what you say,' the judge enjoined. 'You have not hesitated +to impute the anger of this cook to religious fanaticism. The +Nazarenes are much too ready to bring such a charge against the +Muslims, forgetful that there may be other causes of annoyance. Nay, +many of the charges brought have proved upon investigation to be +altogether groundless. You Nazarenes are often insolent in your +demeanour. Confiding in the favour of the foreign consuls, foreign +missionaries, you occasionally taunt and irritate, even revile, the +Muslims. Now, even supposing your account of this affair to be +correct—which I much doubt, for, on the one hand, I behold a wooden +ladle of no weight; while, on the other, there are two fine +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>walking-sticks with silver heads'—one of the Christian youths let +fall his stick in trepidation—'and you are two, while this poor cook +is one. Even supposing what you say is true, are you certain that +nothing in your appearance, conversation, or behaviour gave him cause +for anger? I incline to conjecture that you must have flouted him, or +uttered, it may be, some insult to his creed.'</p> + +<p>'He beat us for no reason, and most grievously,' moaned one of the +assailed. Such language from a Muslim judge in a court filled with +Muslims made the two Christians tremble in their shoes.</p> + +<p>'We did not even see him till he started beating us. By Allah, my poor +head is sore, my back is broken with that awful beating. He was like a +madman!' The speaker and his fellow-plaintiff wept aloud.</p> + +<p>'Didst thou beat these youths, as he describes?' inquired the judge, +turning towards the cook with like severity.</p> + +<p>'No, O Excellency!' came the bitter cry. 'I am an ill-used man, much +slandered. I never set eyes upon those men until this minute.' He also +began weeping bitterly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>'Both parties tell me lies!' exclaimed the judge, with anger. 'For +thou, O cook, didst beat these youths. The fact is known, for thou +wast taken in the act of beating them. And you, O Nazarenes, are not +much injured, for everyone beholds you in most perfect health, with +clothes unspoilt. The more shame to you, for it is evident that you +bring the charge against this Muslim from religious hatred.'</p> + +<p>'By Allah, no, O Excellency. We wish that man no harm. We did but +state what happened.'</p> + +<p>'You are a pack of rogues together,' roared the judge. 'Let each side +pay one whole mejîdi<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> to the court; let the parties now, this +minute, here before me, swear peace and lifelong friendship for the +future, and never let me hear of them again!'</p> + +<p>The Christian youths embraced the cook, the cook embraced the +Christian youths repeatedly, all weeping in a transport of delight at +their escape from punishment. I paid the money for our man, who then +went home with us; Suleymân, upon the way, delivering a lecture of +such high morality, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>such heavenly language, that the poor, simple +fellow wept anew, and called on Allah for forgiveness.</p> + +<p>'Repentance is thy duty,' said Suleymân approvingly. 'But towards this +world also thou canst make amends. Put forth thy utmost skill in +cookery this evening, for the judge is coming.'</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> About four shillings.</p></div> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>NAWÂDIR<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h4> +<br /> + +<p>We had arrived in a village of the mountains late one afternoon, and +were sauntering about the place, when some rude children shouted: 'Hi, +O my uncle, you have come in two!'</p> + +<p>It was the common joke at sight of European trousers, which were rare +in those days. But Suleymân was much offended upon my account. He +turned about and read those children a tremendous lecture, rebuking +them severely for thus presuming to insult a stranger and a guest. His +condemnation was supported on such lofty principles as no man who +possessed a particle of religion or good feeling could withstand; and +his eloquence was so commanding yet persuasive that, when at length he +moved away, not children only but many also of the grown-up people +followed him.</p> + +<p>The village was high up beneath the summit of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>ridge, and from a +group of rocks within a stone's throw of it could be seen the sea, a +great blue wall extending north and south. We perched among those +rocks to watch the sunset. The village people settled within earshot, +some below and some above us. Presently an old man said:</p> + +<p>'Thou speakest well, O sage! It is a sin for them to cry such things +behind a guest of quality. Their misbehaviour calls for strong +correction. But I truly think that no child who has heard your +Honour's sayings will ever be so impudent again.'</p> + +<p>'Amân!'<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> cried one of the delinquents. 'Allah knows that our +intention was not very evil.'</p> + +<p>I hastened to declare that the offence was nothing. But Suleymân would +not allow me to decry it.</p> + +<p>'Your Honour is as yet too young,' he said severely, 'to understand +the mystic value of men's acts and words. A word may be well meant and +innocent, and yet the cause of much disaster, possessing in itself +some special virtue of malignity. You all know how the jânn<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> attend +on careless words; how if I call a goat, a dog, or cat by its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>generic +name without pointing to the very animal intended, a jinni will as +like as not attach himself to me, since many of the jânn are called by +names of animals. You all know also that to praise the beauty of a +child, without the offer of that child to Allah as a sacrifice, is +fatal; because there is unseen a jealous listener who hates and would +deform the progeny of Eve. Such facts as those are known to every +ignoramus, and their cause is plain. But there exists another and more +subtle danger in the careless use of words, particularly with regard +to personal remarks, like that of these same children when they cried +to our good master: 'Thou hast come in two,' directing the attention +to a living body. I have a rare thing in my memory which perhaps may +lead you to perceive my meaning darkly.</p> + +<p>'A certain husbandman (fellâh) was troubled with a foolish wife. +Having to go out one day, he gave her full instructions what to do +about the place, and particularly bade her fix her mind upon their +cow, because he was afraid the cow might stray, as she had done +before, and cause ill-feeling with the neighbours. He never thought +that such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>a charge to such a person, tending to concentrate the +woman's mind upon a certain object, was disastrous. The man meant +well; the woman, too, meant well. She gave her whole mind to obey his +parting words. Having completed every task within the house, she sat +down under an olive tree which grew before the door, and fixed her +whole intelligence in all its force upon the black-and-white cow, the +only living thing in sight, which was browsing in the space allowed by +a short tether. So great did the responsibility appear to her that she +grew anxious, and by dint of earnest gazing at the cow came to believe +that there was something wrong with it. In truth the poor beast had +exhausted all the grass within its reach, and it had not entered her +ideas to move the picket.</p> + +<p>'At length a neighbour passed that way. She begged him, of his +well-known kindness, to inspect the cow and tell her what the matter +really was. This neighbour was a wag, and knew the woman's species; he +also knew the cow as an annoyance, for ever dragging out its peg and +straying into planted fields. After long and serious examination he +declared: "The tail is hurting her and ought to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>removed. See how +she swishes it from side to side. If the tail is not cut off +immediately, the cow will die one day."</p> + +<p>'"Merciful Allah!" cried the woman. "Please remove it for me. I am all +alone, and helpless."</p> + +<p>'The man lifted up an axe which he was carrying and cut off the cow's +tail near the rump. He gave it to the woman and she thanked him +heartily. He went his way, while she resumed her watch upon the cow. +And still she fancied that its health was not as usual.</p> + +<p>'Another neighbour came along. She told him of her fears, and how the +Sheykh Mukarram, of his well-known kindness, had befriended her by +cutting off the damaged tail.</p> + +<p>'"Of course," cried the newcomer, "that accounts for it! The animal is +now ill-balanced. It is always a mistake to take from one end without +removing something also from the other. If thou wouldst see that cow +in health again, the horns must go."</p> + +<p>'"Oh, help me; I am all alone! Perform the operation for me," said the +woman.</p> + +<p>'Her friend sawed off the horns and gave them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>to her. She exhausted +thanks. But still, when he was gone, the cow appeared no better. She +grew desperate.</p> + +<p>'By then the news of her anxiety about the cow had spread through all +the village, and every able body came to help her or look on. They cut +the udder and the ears, and then the legs, and gave them to her, and +she thanked them all with tears of gratitude. At last there was no cow +at all to worry over. Seeing the diminished carcase lying motionless, +the woman smiled and murmured: "Praise to Allah, she is cured at last; +she is at rest! Now I am free to go into the house and get things +ready for my lord's return."</p> + +<p>'Her lord returned at dusk. She told him: "I have been obedient. I +watched the cow and tended her for hours. She was extremely ill, but +all the neighbours helped to doctor her, performing many operations, +and we were able to relieve her of all pain, the praise to Allah! Here +are the various parts which they removed. They gave them to me, very +kindly, since the cow is ours."</p> + +<p>'Without a word the man went out to view the remnant of the cow. When +he returned he seized <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>the woman by the shoulders, and, gazing +straight into her eyes, said grimly: "Allah keep thee! I am going to +walk this world until I find one filthier than thou art. And if I fail +to find one filthier than thou art, I shall go on walking—I have +sworn it—to the end."'</p> + +<p>Suleymân broke off there suddenly, to the surprise of all.</p> + +<p>'I fail to see how that rare thing applies to my case,' I observed, as +soon as I felt sure that he had finished speaking.</p> + +<p>'It does not apply to your case, but it does to others,' he replied on +brief reflection. 'It is dangerous to put ideas in people's heads or +rouse self-consciousness, for who can tell what demons lurk in +people's brains.... But wait and I will find a rare thing suited to +the present instance.'</p> + +<p>'Say, O Sea of Wisdom, did he find one filthier than she was?'</p> + +<p>'Of course he did.'</p> + +<p>'Relate the sequel, I beseech thee.'</p> + +<p>But Suleymân was searching in his memory for some event more clearly +illustrating the grave risks <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>of chance suggestion. At length he gave +a sigh of satisfaction, and then spoke as follows:</p> + +<p>'There was once a Turkish pasha of the greatest, a benevolent old man, +whom I have often seen. He had a long white beard, of which he was +extremely proud, until one day a man, who was a wag, came up to him +and said:</p> + +<p>'"Excellency, we have been wondering: When you go to bed, do you put +your beard inside the coverings or out?"</p> + +<p>'The Pasha thought a moment, but he could not tell, for it had never +come into his head to notice such a matter. He promised to inform his +questioner upon the morrow. But when he went to bed that night he +tried the beard beneath the bedclothes and above without success. +Neither way could he get comfort, nor could he, for the life of him, +remember how the beard was wont to go. He got no sleep on that night +or the next night either, for thinking on the problem thus presented +to his mind. On the third day, in a rage, he called a barber and had +the beard cut off. Accustomed as he was to such a mass of hair upon +his neck, for lack of it he caught a cold and died.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>'That story fits the case before us to a nicety,' said Suleymân in +conclusion, with an air of triumph.</p> + +<p>'What is the moral of it, deign to tell us, master!' the cry arose +from all sides in the growing twilight.</p> + +<p>'I suppose,' I hazarded, 'that, having had attention called to the +peculiar clothing of my legs, I shall eventually have them amputated +or wear Turkish trousers?'</p> + +<p>'I say not what will happen; God alone knows that. But the mere chance +that such catastrophes, as I have shown, may happen is enough to make +wise people shun that kind of speech.'</p> + +<p>I cannot to this day distinguish how much of his long harangue was +jest and how much earnest. But the fellâhîn devoured it as pure +wisdom.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Rare things.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Equivalent to 'Pax.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Genii.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>NAWÂDIR <i>(continued)</i></h4> +<br /> + +<p>'What happened to the man who went to seek one filthier than she was? +How could he ever find one filthier?' inquired Rashîd, reverting to +Suleymân's unfinished story of the foolish woman and her husband and +the hapless cow, when we lay down to sleep that evening in the village +guest-room. I also asked to hear the rest of that instructive tale. +Suleymân, sufficiently besought, raised himself upon an elbow and +resumed the narrative. Rashîd and I lay quiet in our wrappings.</p> + +<p>'We had reached that point, my masters, where the injured husband, +having seen the remnant of the cow, said to his wife: "Now, I am going +to walk this world until I find one filthier than thou art; and if I +fail to find one filthier than thou art I shall go on walking till I +die." Well, he walked and he walked—for months, some people say, and +others years—until he reached a village in Mount <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>Lebanon—a village +of the Maronites renowned for foolishness. It was the reputation of +their imbecility which made him go there.'</p> + +<p>'What was his name?' inquired Rashîd, who liked to have things clear.</p> + +<p>'His name?' said Suleymân reflectively, 'was Sâlih.'</p> + +<p>'He was a Muslim?'</p> + +<p>'Aye, a Muslim, I suppose—though, Allah knows, he may perhaps have +been an Ismaîli or a Druze. Any more questions? Then I will proceed.</p> + +<p>'He came into this village of the Maronites, and, being thirsty, +looked in at a doorway. He saw the village priest and all his family +engaged in stuffing a fat sheep with mulberry leaves. The sheep was +tethered half-way up the steps which led on to the housetop. The +priest and his wife, together with their eldest girl, sat on the +ground below, amid a heap of mulberry boughs; and all the other +children sat, one on every step, passing up the leaves, when ready, to +the second daughter, whose business was to force the sheep to go on +eating. This they would do until the sheep, too full to stand, fell +over on its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>side, when they would slaughter it for their supply of +fat throughout the coming year.</p> + +<p>'So busy were they in this occupation that they did not see the +stranger in the doorway until he shouted: "Peace upon this house," and +asked them for a drink of water kindly. Even then the priest did not +disturb himself, but, saying "Itfaddal!" pointed to a pitcher standing +by the wall. The guest looked into it and found it dry.</p> + +<p>'"No water here," he said.</p> + +<p>'"Oh," sighed the priest, "to-day we are so thirsty with this work +that we have emptied it, and so busy that the children have forgotten +to refill it. Rise, O Nesîbeh, take the pitcher on thy head, and +hasten to the spring and bring back water for our guest."</p> + +<p>'The girl Nesîbeh, who was fourteen years of age, rose up obediently, +shaking off the mulberry leaves and caterpillars from her clothing. +Taking up the pitcher, she went out through the village to the spring, +which gushed out of the rock beneath a spreading pear tree.</p> + +<p>'There were so many people getting water at the moment that she could +not push her way among <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>them, so sat down to wait her turn, choosing a +shady spot. She was a thoughtful girl, and, as she sat there waiting, +she was saying in her soul:</p> + +<p>'"O soul, I am a big girl now. A year or two and mother will unite me +to a proper husband. The next year I shall have a little son. Again a +year or two, he will be big enough to run about; and his father will +make for him a pair of small red shoes, and he will come down to this +pleasant spring, as children do, to splash the water. Being a bold +lad, he will climb that tree."</p> + +<p>'And then, as she beheld one great bough overhanging like a +stretched-out arm, and realised how dangerous it was for climbing +children, she thought:</p> + +<p>'"He will fall down and break his neck."</p> + +<p>'At once she burst out weeping inconsolably, making so great a din +that all the people who had come for water flocked around her, asking: +"O Nesîbeh, what has hurt thee?" And between her sobs, she told them:</p> + +<p>'"I'm a big girl, now."</p> + +<p>'"That is so, O beloved!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>'"A year or two, and mother will provide me with a husband."</p> + +<p>'"It is likely."</p> + +<p>'"Another year, and I shall have a little son."</p> + +<p>'"If God wills!" sighed the multitude, with pious fervour.</p> + +<p>'"Again a year or two, he will be big enough to run about, and his +father will make for him a pair of small red shoes. And he will come +down to the spring with other children, and will climb the tree. +And—oh!—you see that big bough overhanging. There he will slip and +fall and break his neck! Ah, woe!"</p> + +<p>'At that the people cried: "O cruel fate!" and many of them rent their +clothes. They all sank down upon the ground around Nesîbeh, rocking +themselves to and fro and wailing:</p> + +<p>'"Ah, my little neighbour. My poor, dear little neighbour! Ah, would +that thou had lived to bury me, my little neighbour!"<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>'Meanwhile the stranger waiting for the water grew impatient, and he +once more ventured to interrupt the work of sheep-stuffing with a +remark <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>that the young girl was long returning with her pitcher. The +priest said: "That is true," and sent his second daughter to expedite +the first. This girl went running to the spring, and found the +population of the village sitting weeping on the ground around her +sister. She asked the matter. They replied: "A great calamity! Thy +sister—poor distracted mother!—will inform thee of its nature." She +ran up to Nesîbeh, who moaned out: "I am a big girl now. A year or +two, our mother will provide me with a husband. The next year I shall +have a little son. Again a year or two he will be old enough to run +about. His father will make for him a pair of small red shoes. He +comes down to the spring to play in childish wise. He climbs that +tree, and from that overhanging branch he falls and breaks his neck."</p> + +<p>'At this sad news the second girl forgot her errand. She threw her +skirt over her head and started shrieking: "Alas, my little nephew! My +poor, dear little nephew! Would God that thou had lived to bury me, my +little nephew!" And she too sat down upon the ground to hug her sorrow +with the rest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>'The priest said: "That one too is long in coming; I will send another +child; but thou must take her place upon the steps, O stranger, or +else the work of stuffing will be much delayed."</p> + +<p>'The stranger did as he was asked, while child after child was sent, +till he alone was left to do the work of carrying the fresh leaves up +from the ground and stuffing them into the sheep. Still none returned.</p> + +<p>'The priest's wife went herself, remarking that her husband and the +stranger were able by themselves to carry on the work. They did so a +long while, yet no one came.</p> + +<p>'At last the priest rose, saying: "I myself will go and beat them for +this long delay. Do thou, O stranger, feed the sheep meanwhile. Cease +not to carry up the leaves and stuff him with them, lest all the good +work done be lost through negligence."</p> + +<p>'In anger the priest strode out through the village to the spring. But +all his wrath was changed into amazement when he saw the crowd of +people sitting on the ground, convulsed with grief, around the members +of his family.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>'He went up to his wife and asked the matter.</p> + +<p>'She moaned: "I cannot speak of it. Ask poor Nesîbeh!"</p> + +<p>'He then turned to his eldest daughter, who, half-choked by sobs, +explained:</p> + +<p>'"I am a big girl now."</p> + +<p>'"That is so, O my daughter."</p> + +<p>'"A year or two, and you and mother will provide me with a husband."</p> + +<p>'"That is possible."</p> + +<p>'"Another year, and I shall have a little son!"</p> + +<p>'"In sh' Allah!" said her father piously.</p> + +<p>'"Again a year or two, and my son runs about. His father makes for him +a pair of small red shoes. He came down to the spring to play with +other children, and from that overhanging bough—how shall I tell +it?—he fell and broke his darling little neck!" Nesîbeh hid her face +again and wailed aloud.</p> + +<p>'The priest, cut to the heart by the appalling news, tore his cassock +up from foot to waist, and threw the ends over his face, vociferating:</p> + +<p>'"Woe, my little grandson! My darling little grandson! Oh, would that +thou had lived to bury <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>me, my little grandson!" And he too sank upon +the ground, immersed in grief.</p> + +<p>'At last the stranger wearied of the work of stripping off the +mulberry leaves and carrying them up the staircase to the tethered +sheep. He found his thirst increased by such exertions.'</p> + +<p>'Did he in truth do that, with no one looking?' said Rashîd. 'He must +have been as big a fool as all the others.'</p> + +<p>'He was, but in a different way,' said Suleymân.</p> + +<p>'He walked down to the spring, and saw the congregation seated +underneath the pear tree, shrieking like sinners at the Judgment Day. +Among them sat the priest, with features hidden in his torn black +petticoat. He ventured to approach the man and put a question. The +priest unveiled his face a moment and was going to speak, but +recollection of his sorrow overcame him. Hiding his face again, he +wailed:</p> + +<p>'"Alas, my little grandson! My pretty little grandson! Ah, would that +thou hadst lived to bury me, my little grandson!"</p> + +<p>'A woman sitting near plucked at the stranger's sleeve and said:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>'"You see that girl. She will be soon full-grown. A year or two, and +she will certainly be married. Another year, and she will have a +little son. Her little son grows big enough to run about. His father +made for him a pair of small red shoes. He came down to the spring to +play with other children. You see that pear tree? On a day like +this—a pleasant afternoon—he clambered up it, and from that bough, +which overhangs the fountain, he fell and broke his little neck upon +those stones. Alas, our little neighbour! Oh, would that thou had +lived to bury us, our little neighbour!" And everyone began to rock +and wail anew.</p> + +<p>'The stranger stood and looked upon them for a moment, then he +shouted: "Tfû 'aleykum!"<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> and spat upon the ground. No other word +did he vouchsafe to them, but walked away; and he continued walking +till he reached his native home. There, sitting in his ancient seat, +he told his wife:</p> + +<p>'"Take comfort, O beloved! I have found one filthier."'</p> + +<p>Suleymân declared the story finished.</p> + +<p>'Is there a moral to it?' asked Rashîd.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>'The moral is self-evident,' replied the story-teller. 'It is this: +however bad the woman whom one happens to possess may be, be certain +it is always possible to find a worse.'</p> + +<p>'It is also possible to find a better,' I suggested.</p> + +<p>'Be not so sure of that!' said Suleymân. 'There are three several +kinds of women in the world, who all make claim to be descended from +our father Noah. But the truth is this: Our father Noah had one +daughter only, and three men desired her; so not to disappoint the +other two, he turned his donkey and his dog into two girls, whom he +presented to them, and that accounts for the three kinds of women now +to be observed. The true descendants of our father Noah are very +rare.'</p> + +<p>'How may one know them from the others?' I inquired.</p> + +<p>'By one thing only. They will keep your secret. The second sort of +woman will reveal your secret to a friend; the third will make of it a +tale against you. And this they do instinctively, as dogs will bark or +asses bray, without malevolence or any kind of forethought.</p> + +<p>'That same priest of the Maronites of whom I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>told just now, in the +first days of his married life was plagued by his companion to reveal +to her the secrets people told him in confession. He refused, +declaring that she would divulge them.</p> + +<p>'"Nay, I can keep a secret if I swear to do so. Only try me!" she +replied.</p> + +<p>'"Well, we shall see," the priest made answer, in a teasing manner.</p> + +<p>'One day, as he reclined upon the sofa in their house, that priest +began to moan and writhe as if in agony. His wife, in great alarm, +inquired what ailed him.</p> + +<p>'"It is a secret," he replied, "which I dare not confide to thee, for +with it is bound up my earthly welfare and my soul's salvation."</p> + +<p>'"I swear by Allah I will hide it. Tell me!" she implored.</p> + +<p>'"Well," he replied, as if in torment, "I will risk my life and trust +thee. Know thou art in the presence of the greatest miracle. I, though +not a woman, am far gone with child—a thing which never happened on +the earth till now—and in this hour it is decreed that I produce my +first-born."</p> + +<p>'Then, with a terrific cry, he thrust his hand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>beneath his petticoat, +and showed his wife a little bird which he had kept there hidden. He +let it fly away out through the window. Having watched it disappear, +he said devoutly:</p> + +<p>'"Praise be to Allah! That is over! Thou hast seen my child. This is a +sacred and an awful mystery. Preserve the secret, or we all are dead!"</p> + +<p>'"I swear I will preserve it," she replied, with fervour.</p> + +<p>'But the miracle which she had witnessed burned her spirit. She knew +that she must speak of it or die; and so she called upon a friend +whose prudence she could trust, and binding her by vows, told her the +story.</p> + +<p>'This woman also had a trusted friend, to whom she told the story, +under vows of secrecy, and so on, with the consequence that that same +evening the priest received a deputation of the village elders, who +requested, in the name of the community, to be allowed to kiss the +feet of his mysterious son—that little, rainbow-coloured bird, which +had a horn upon its head and played the flute.</p> + +<p>'The priest said nothing to his wife. He did not beat her. He gave her +but one look. And yet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>from that day forward, she never plagued him +any more, but was submissive.'</p> + +<p>'The priest was wise on that occasion, yet so foolish in the other +story!' I objected.</p> + +<p>'The way of the majority of men!' said Suleymân. 'But women are more +uniformly wise or foolish. A happy night!' said Suleymân conclusively, +settling himself to sleep.</p> + +<p>The usual night-light of the Syrian peasants—a wick afloat upon a +saucerful of oil and water—burned upon the ground between us, making +great shadows dance upon the walls and vaulting. The last I heard +before I fell asleep was Rashîd's voice, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>'He is a famous liar, is our wise man yonder; yet he speaks the +truth!'</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> 'Yâ takbar jârak, yâ jâri!'—a very common cry of grief +in Syria.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Something like 'Pooh-pooh to you!' but more insulting.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE SACK WHICH CLANKED</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The sand which had been a rich ochre turned to creamy white, the sea +from blue became a livid green, the grass upon the sand-hills +blackened and bowed down beneath a sudden gust of wind. The change was +instantaneous, as it seemed to me. I had observed that clouds were +gathering upon the mountain peaks inland, but I had been riding in hot +sunlight, only a little less intense than it had been at noon, when +suddenly the chill and shadow struck me. Then I saw the sky completely +overcast with a huge purple cloud which bellied down upon the land and +sea. The waves which had been lisping all day long gave forth an +ominous dull roar. White horses reared and plunged. A wind sang +through the grass and thistles of the dunes, driving the sand into my +face.</p> + +<p>Rashîd, who had been riding far behind, in conversation with our +muleteer, came tearing up, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>I could hear the shouts of the mukâri +urging his two beasts to hurry.</p> + +<p>'There is a village on the headland over there—a village of +Circassian settlers,' cried my servant, breathless. 'It has a bad +name, and I had not thought to spend the night there. But any roof is +good in such a storm. Ride fast! We may arrive before the downpour.'</p> + +<p>My horse had broken to a canter of his own accord. I urged him to a +gallop. We flew round the bay. The village on the headland took shape +rapidly—a few cube-shaped, whitewashed houses perched amid what +seemed at first to be great rocks, but on a close approach revealed +themselves as blocks of masonry, the ruins of some city of antiquity. +From time to time a jet of spray shot up above them, white as lilies +in the gloom. The sea was rising. I discerned an ancient gateway +opening on the beach, and set my horse towards it, while the rain came +down in sheets. I saw no more until the ruins loomed up close before +me, a blind wall.</p> + +<p>'Your right hand!' called Rashîd; and, bearing to the right, I found +the gateway. We waited <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>underneath its vault until the muleteer, a +dripping object, shrouded in a sack, came up with his two mules; and +then we once more plunged into the deluge. The path, a very rough one, +wavered up and down and in and out among the ruins. There were, +perhaps, a dozen scattered houses without gardens or any sign of +cultivation round them. Only one of them possessed an upper storey, +and towards that, supposing it to be the guest-room, we now picked our +way. It stood alone right out upon the promontory, topped by clouds of +spray.</p> + +<p>A little courtyard gave us partial shelter while Rashîd ran up some +rough stone steps and hammered at a door, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>'Peace be on this house! My master craves for food and shelter, and +we, his servants, ask the same boon of thy goodness. O master of the +house, God will reward thy hospitality!'</p> + +<p>The door was opened and a man appeared, bidding us all come in, in +Allah's name. He was of middle height and thick-set, with a heavy grey +moustache. An old-fashioned, low-crowned fez, with large blue tassel, +was bound about his brow with an embroidered turban. A blue zouave +jacket, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>crimson vest and baggy trousers of a darker blue completed +his apparel, for his feet were bare. In his girdle were a pair of +pistols and a scimitar.</p> + +<p>He bade us welcome in bad Arabic, showing us into a good-sized +room—the upper chamber we had seen from far. Its windows, innocent of +glass, were closed by wooden shutters, roughly bolted, which creaked +and rattled in the gale. A very fine-looking old man rose from the +divan to greet us.</p> + +<p>'What countryman art thou? A Turk, or one of us?' he asked, as I +removed my head-shawl. 'An Englishman, sayest thou?' He seized my +hand, and pressed it. 'An Englishman—any Englishman—is good, and his +word is sure. But the English Government is very bad. Three Englishmen +in Kars behaved like warrior-angels, fought like devils. And while +they fought for us their Government betrayed our country. What? Thou +hast heard about it? Praise to Allah! At last I meet with one who can +confirm the story. My son here thinks that I invented it.'</p> + +<p>I happened to have read of the defence of Kars under the leadership of +three heroic Englishmen—General Williams, Captain Teesdale, and +Doctor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>Sandwith—and of the betrayal of the Circassian rising under +Shamyl at the time of the Crimean war.</p> + +<p>The old man was delighted. 'Listen, O my son!' he called out to the +person who had let us in. 'It is true what I have often told to thee. +This Englishman knows all about it. So does all the world, except such +blockheads as thyself and thy companions.'</p> + +<p>His son begged to be excused a minute while he put his crops into the +barn. Therewith he dragged a sack out of the room. What crops he may +have grown I do not know; but this I know—the contents of that sack +clanked as he dragged it out.</p> + +<p>When he returned, he brought a bowl of eggs cooked in clarified +butter, two slabs of bread, and a great jug of water, apologising for +the coarseness of the fare. We all supped together, the old man +babbling of the days of old with great excitement. His son stared at +me with unblinking eyes. At last he said:</p> + +<p>'I like thee, O khawâjah. I had once a son about thy age. Say, O my +father, is there not a strong resemblance?'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>Thereafter he talked quite as much as the old man, giving me the +history of their emigration from the Caucasus to escape the yoke of +the accursed Muscovite, and enumerating all the troubles which +attended their first coming into Syria.</p> + +<p>'We are not subjects of the Government,' he told me, 'but allies; and +we have special privileges. But the dishonoured dogs round here forget +old compacts, and want us to pay taxes like mere fellâhîn.'</p> + +<p>We sat up talking far into the night, while the storm raged without, +and the rain and the sea-spray pounded on the shutters; and never have +I met with kinder treatment. It was the custom for chance comers to +have food at evening only and leave betimes next morning. But our +host, when I awoke in splendid sunlight, had breakfast ready—sour +milk and Arab bread and fragrant coffee—and when I went out to my +horse he followed me, and thrust two roasted fowls into my +saddle-bags, exclaiming 'Zâd!'—which means 'food for the road.' And +much to my abashment he and the old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>man fell upon my neck and kissed +me on both cheeks.</p> + +<p>'Good people! The very best of people! They would take no money. God +reward them,' chanted Rashîd, as we rode out of the ruins inland +through a garden of wild flowers. The storm had passed completely. Not +a cloud remained.</p> + +<p>After an hour we came in sight of a large khan outside a mud-built +village on the shore. Before it was a crowd, including several +soldiers. As we drew near, Rashîd inquired the meaning of the throng.</p> + +<p>'A great calamity,' he was informed. 'A man, a foreigner, is dying, +killed by highwaymen. One of his companions, a poor servant, is +already dead.'</p> + +<p>We both dismounted, and Rashîd pushed in to learn more of the matter. +Presently a soldier came to me.</p> + +<p>'Your Honour is an Englishman?' he questioned. 'Praise be to Allah! I +am much relieved. This other also is an Englishman, they tell me. He +is severely wounded, at the gate of death.'</p> + +<p>I went with him at once to see the sufferer, who seemed relieved to +hear me speak, but could not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>answer. Rashîd and I did what we could +to make him comfortable, giving the soldiers orders to keep out the +crowd. We decided to ride on and send a doctor, and then report the +matter to a British consul.</p> + +<p>'He was going down to start some kind of business in the city over +there,' the leader of the soldiers told me, nodding towards the south. +'He had a largeish company, with several camels. But near the village +of —— he was attacked by the Circassians, and was so foolish as to +make resistance. They took everything he had of worth—his arms, his +money—and killed a camel-driver, besides wounding him. It happened +yesterday before the storm. They say I should take vengeance for him. +What am I—a corporal with six men—to strive with Huseyn Agha and his +cavalry! It needs a regiment.'</p> + +<p>He went grumbling off. Rashîd and I were staring hard at one another; +for the village named was that where we had spent the night, and +Huseyn Agha's roasted fowls were in our saddle-bags.</p> + +<p>Rashîd, as I could see, was troubled upon my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>account. He kept silence +a good while. At last he said:</p> + +<p>'It is like this, my lord. Each man must see with his own eyes and not +another's. People are as one finds them, good or bad. They change with +each man's vision, yet remain the same. For us those highway robbers +are good people; we must bless them; having cause to do so. This other +man is free to curse them, if he will. Good to their friends, bad to +their enemies. What creature of the sons of Adam can condemn them +quite?'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>POLICE WORK</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Having to dress for dinner on a certain evening, I took off my +money-belt, and quite forgot to put it on again. It happened to +contain twelve English pounds. I left it lying on the table in the +hotel bedroom. When I came back in the small hours of the morning it +was gone. Rashîd—who slept out at a khan in charge of our two +horses—came in at eight o'clock to rouse me. Hearing of my loss, he +gave me the worst scolding I have ever had, and then went out to blow +up the hotel proprietor.</p> + +<p>It was, for once, a real hotel with table d'hôte, hall-porter, and a +palm-lounge—everything, in fact, excepting drains. The owner was a +fat, brown individual, whom I had generally seen recumbent on a sofa +in his office, while someone of his many sons did all the work. But +that he could show energy upon occasion I now learnt. Hearing from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>Rashîd that I, a guest in his hotel, had suffered robbery, he sprang +on to his feet and danced with rage.</p> + +<p>When I arrived upon the scene, which was the palm-lounge—an open +courtyard shaded by an awning—he was flourishing a monstrous whip, +with dreadful imprecations, literally foaming at the mouth. I begged +him to do nothing rash, but he seemed not to hear me. With the squeal +of a fighting stallion, he rushed off to the servants' quarters, +whence presently there came heartrending shrieks and cries for mercy. +His sons, in fear of murder, followed him, and added their +remonstrance to the general din. The women of his house appeared in +doorways, weeping and wringing their hands.</p> + +<p>Rashîd seemed gratified by this confusion, regarded as a tribute to +our greatness, his and mine.</p> + +<p>'Be good enough to go away,' he told me. 'The scene is quite unworthy +of your dignity. I will take care that all is done to raise your +honour.'</p> + +<p>I remained, however. Presently, the host returned, perspiring freely, +mopping his brown face <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>with a crimson handkerchief. He smiled as one +who has had healthy exercise.</p> + +<p>'It is no use,' he told me, with a shrug. 'I beat them well, and every +one of them confessed that he alone, and not another, was the thief. +Each, as his turn came, wished to stay my hand at any cost.'</p> + +<p>He sank down on a sofa which was in the court. 'What further is your +Honour's will?' he asked. 'I will beat anyone. The story is so bad for +the hotel. I should be ruined if it reached the ears of Cook or +Baedeker.'</p> + +<p>The cries of those unhappy servants having shamed me, I told him that +I was content to count the money lost rather than that harmless folk +should suffer for my carelessness. Rashîd protested, saying twelve +pounds was no trifle, although I might, in youthful folly, so regard +it. He, as my servant, had to guard my wealth.</p> + +<p>'The gold is lost. It is the will of Allah. Let it be,' I answered +irritably.</p> + +<p>'Thou wilt not tell the English consul?' cried the host, with sudden +eagerness. 'Thou wilt refrain from saying any word to Cook or Baedeker +to bring ill-fame and ruin on the place? Our Lord <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>augment thy wealth +and guard thee always! May thy progeny increase in honour till it +rules the world!'</p> + +<p>'But something must be done,' Rashîd remonstrated. 'A crime has been +committed. We must find the culprit.'</p> + +<p>'True,' said the host, 'and I will help with all my strength. The +consul would not help at all. He would but frighten the police, with +the result that they would torture—perhaps hang—a man or two, but +not the man who stole your belt of money. Our police, when not +alarmed, are clever. Go to them and give a little money. They will +find the thief.'</p> + +<p>'I go this minute,' said Rashîd.</p> + +<p>I bade him wait. Knowing his way of magnifying me and my possessions, +I thought it better to be present at the interview, lest he should +frighten the police no less than would the intervention of a consul.</p> + +<p>We went together through the shady markets, crossing here and there an +open space of blinding sunlight, asking our way at intervals, until at +last <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>we entered a large whitewashed room where soldiers loitered and +a frock-coated, be-fezzed official sat writing at a desk. This +personage was very sympathetic.</p> + +<p>'Twelve pounds!' he cried. 'It is a serious sum. The first thing to be +done is to survey the scene of crime. Wait, I will send with you a +knowing man.'</p> + +<p>He called one of the soldiers, who stepped forward and saluted, and +gave him charge of the affair.</p> + +<p>'You can place confidence in him. He knows his business,' he assured +me, bowing with extreme politeness, as we took our leave.</p> + +<p>With the soldier who had been assigned to us we sauntered back to the +hotel. The man abounded in compassion for me. He said it was the worst +case he had ever heard of—to rob a man so manifestly good and amiable +of so great a sum. Alas! the badness of some people. It put out the +sun!</p> + +<p>At the hotel he spent a long while in my room, searching, as he said, +for 'traces.' Rashîd, the host and all his family, and nearly all the +servants, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>thronged the doorway. After looking into every drawer, and +crawling underneath the bed, which he unmade completely, he spent some +minutes in debating whether the thief had entered by the window or the +door. Having at last decided for the door, he turned to me and asked +if there was anybody I suspected. When I answered 'no,' I saw him +throw a side-glance at Rashîd, as if he thought him fortunate in +having so obtuse a master. As he was departing, Rashîd, at my command, +gave him a silver coin, for which he kissed my hand and, having done +so, said:</p> + +<p>'I know a clever man, none like him for such business. I will send him +to your presence in an hour.'</p> + +<p>Three hours passed. I had finished luncheon, and was sipping coffee in +the lounge, when a sleek personage in gorgeous robes was brought to +me. He had a trick of looking down his nose at his moustache, the +while he stroked it, with a gentle smirk.</p> + +<p>'Your Excellency has been robbed,' he murmured in a secret tone, 'and +you would know the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>robber? There is nothing simpler. I have +discovered many thieves. I think it likely that I know the very man. I +will disguise myself as an old woman or a begging dervish. There are +many ways. But, first, your Honour must bestow on me an English pound. +That is my fee. It is but little for such services.'</p> + +<p>I answered languidly that the affair had ceased to thrill me; I wished +to hear no more about the money or the thief. He stayed a long while, +wheedling and remonstrating, depicting his own subtlety in glowing +terms; but in the end departed with despairing shrugs and backward +glances, hoping that I might relent.</p> + +<p>Rashîd, who had been out to tend the horses, came presently and asked +if I had seen the great detective. When I described our interview, he +nearly wept.</p> + +<p>'The people here think me the thief,' he told me. 'They say nothing, +but I feel it in their bearing towards me. And now you give up seeking +for the culprit! Am I to bear this shame for evermore?'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>Here was a new dilemma! No way out of it appeared to me, for even if +we did employ the great detective, our chance of finding the +delinquent seemed exceeding small. I was thinking what could possibly +be done to clear Rashîd, when a familiar figure came into the court +and strolled towards us. It was Suleymân! I had imagined him three +hundred miles away, at Gaza, in the south of Palestine. Loud were our +exclamations, but his calm rebuked us. I never knew him show +excitement or surprise.</p> + +<p>He heard our story with deliberation, and shook his head at the police +and the detective.</p> + +<p>'No use at all,' he scoffed. 'The one man for your purpose is the +Chief of the Thieves. I know him intimately.'</p> + +<p>'Ma sh'Allah! Is there then a guild of thieves?'</p> + +<p>'There is.'</p> + +<p>'The Sheykh of the Thieves must be the greatest rogue. I do not care +to have to do with him.'</p> + +<p>'You err,' remarked Suleymân, with dignity. 'Your error has its root +in the conviction that a thief is evil. He may be evil as an +individual; all men are apt to be who strive for gain; but as a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>member of a corporation he has pride and honour. With Europeans, it is +just the opposite. They individually are more honourable than their +governments and corporations. The Sheykh of the Thieves, I can assure +you, is the soul of honour. I go at once to see him. He can clear +Rashîd.'</p> + +<p>'If he does that, he is the best of men!' exclaimed my servant.</p> + +<p>An hour later one of the hotel men, much excited, came to tell me that +some soldiers were approaching, who had caught the thief. The host and +all his family ran out into the hall. Rashîd and all the servants came +from kitchen purlieus. Four soldiers entered with triumphant +exclamations, dragging and pushing forward—Suleymân!</p> + +<p>The prisoner's demeanour had its usual calm.</p> + +<p>'I have regained the belt,' he called to me. 'These men were watching +near the house, and found it on me. They would not hear reason. The +man who stole the belt—a Greek—has left the city. He gave the Sheykh +the belt, but kept the money.'</p> + +<p>The soldiers, disappointed, let him go.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>'How dost thou know all that?' inquired their leader.</p> + +<p>'The Headman of the Thieves informed me of it.'</p> + +<p>'Ah, then, it is the truth,' the soldier nodded. 'He is a man of +honour. He would not deceive thee.'</p> + +<p>I do not claim to understand these things. I but relate them.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>MY COUNTRYMAN</h4> +<br /> + +<p>One summer, in the south of Syria, amid that tumbled wilderness of +cliff and chasm, shale and boulder, which surges all around the Sea of +Lot, we had been riding since the dawn without encountering a human +being, and with relief at last espied a village, having some trace of +cultivated land about it, and a tree.</p> + +<p>Rashîd was on ahead. Suleymân had been beside me, but had dropped +behind in order to perform some operation on his horse's hoof. As I +came down the last incline on to the village level I heard angry +shouts, and saw a crowd of fellâhîn on foot mobbing Rashîd. Urging my +horse, I shouted to him to know what was happening. At once a number +of the villagers forsook him and surrounded me, waving their arms +about and talking volubly.</p> + +<p>I had gathered, from their iteration of the one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>word 'moyeh,' that +water was the matter in dispute, even before Rashîd succeeded in +rejoining me.</p> + +<p>He said: 'I rode up to the spring which flows beneath that arch, and +was letting my horse drink from the stone trough of water, when these +maniacs rushed up and dragged my horse away, and made this noise. They +say the water in the spring is theirs, and no one else has any right +to touch it. I offered to make payment, but they would not hear me. I +threatened them with vengeance, but they showed no fear. Is it your +Honour's will that I should beat a few of them?'</p> + +<p>Seeing their numbers, I considered it the wiser plan for us to let +them be till their excitement had cooled down, and till Suleymân +arrived to help us with advice. Accordingly, I smiled and nodded to +the villagers, and rode back up the path a little way, Rashîd obeying +my example with reluctance, muttering curses on their faith and +ancestry. Then we dismounted and lay down in the shadow of some rocks. +It wanted still two hours before the sun would set.</p> + +<p>Suleymân came on us, and dismounted at a call from me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>'What is the noise down there?' he questioned, looking at the village +with that coolness, like indifference, habitual to his face when +meeting problems of importance.</p> + +<p>'They will not let us touch the water—curse their fathers!' growled +Rashîd. 'Heard anyone the like of such inhospitality? It would but +serve them right if we destroyed their houses.'</p> + +<p>Suleymân screwed up his eyes, the better to survey the crowd of +villagers below, who now sat guard around the spring, and murmured +carelessly:</p> + +<p>'It is evident that thou hast angered them, O son of rashness. We +shall do well to wait before approaching them again with our polite +request.'</p> + +<p>Therewith he stretched his length upon the ground, with a luxurious +sigh, and would, I think, have gone to sleep, had not Rashîd, +conceiving himself blamed, thought necessary to relate in full the +whole adventure.</p> + +<p>'What else could man have done?' he asked defiantly. 'Say in what +respect, however trifling, did I act unwisely?'</p> + +<p>'By Allah, thou didst nothing wrong, and yet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>thou mightest have done +better, since thy efforts led to failure,' said the sage, benignly. +'Thou art a soldier yet in thought, and thy one method is to threaten. +If that avails not, thou art helpless. There are other ways.'</p> + +<p>'I offered money,' cried Rashîd indignantly. 'Could man do more?'</p> + +<p>'What are those other ways? Instruct us, O beloved!' I put in, to save +Rashîd from feeling lonely under blame for ignorance.</p> + +<p>'No truly great one ever argues with a crowd. He chooses out one man, +and speaks to him, him only,' said Suleymân; and he was going to tell +us more, but just then something in the wadi down below the village +caught his eye, and he sat up, forgetting our dilemma.</p> + +<p>'A marvel!' he exclaimed after a moment spent in gazing. 'Never, I +suppose, since first this village was created, have two Franks +approached it in a single day before. Thou art as one of us in outward +seeming,' he remarked to me; 'but yonder comes a perfect Frank with +two attendants.'</p> + +<p>We looked in the direction which his finger pointed, and beheld a man +on horseback clad in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>white from head to foot, with a pith helmet and +a puggaree, followed by two native servants leading sumpter-mules.</p> + +<p>'Our horses are in need of water,' growled Rashîd, uninterested in the +sight. 'It is a sin for those low people to refuse it to us.'</p> + +<p>'Let us first wait and see how this newcomer fares, what method he +adopts,' replied Suleymân, reclining once more at his ease.</p> + +<p>The Frank and his attendants reached the outskirts of the village, and +headed naturally for the spring. The fellâhîn, already put upon their +guard by Rashîd's venture, opposed them in a solid mass. The Frank +expostulated. We could hear his voice of high command.</p> + +<p>'Aha, he knows some Arabic. He is a missionary, not a traveller,' said +Suleymân, who now sat up and showed keen interest. 'I might have known +it, for the touring season is long past.'</p> + +<p>He rose with dignified deliberation and remounted. We followed him as +he rode slowly down towards the scene of strife. When we arrived, the +Frank, after laying about him vainly with his riding-whip, had drawn +out a revolver. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>He was being stoned. His muleteers had fled to a safe +distance. In another minute, as it seemed, he would have shot some +person, when nothing under Allah could have saved his life.</p> + +<p>Suleymân cried out in English: 'Don't you be a fool, sir! Don't you +fire!'</p> + +<p>The Frank looked round in our direction, with an angry face; but +Suleymân bestowed no further thought on him. He rode up to the nearest +group of fellâhîn, crying aloud:</p> + +<p>'O true believers! O asserters of the Unity! Bless the Prophet, and +inform me straightway what has happened!'</p> + +<p>Having captured their attention by this solemn adjuration, he +inquired:</p> + +<p>'Who is the chief among you? Let him speak, him only!'</p> + +<p>Although the crowd had seemed till then to be without a leader, an old +white-bearded man was thrust before him, with the cry:</p> + +<p>'Behold our Sheykh, O lord of judgment. Question him!'</p> + +<p>Rashîd and I heard nothing of the conversation which ensued, except +the tone of the two voices, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>which appeared quite friendly, and some +mighty bursts of laughter from the crowd. No more stones were thrown, +although some persons still kept guard over the spring.</p> + +<p>At length Suleymân returned to us, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>'All is well. They grant us leave to take what water we require. The +spring has been a trouble to these people through the ages because the +wandering tribes with all their herds come here in time of drought and +drink it dry. But now they are our friends, and make us welcome.'</p> + +<p>He called out to the Frank, who all this while had sat his horse with +an indignant air, more angry, as it seemed, to be forgotten than to be +assailed:</p> + +<p>'It is all right. You take the water and you pay them five piastres.'</p> + +<p>'It is extortion!' cried the Frank. 'What right have they to charge me +money for the water of this natural spring, which is the gift of God? +I will not pay.'</p> + +<p>'No matter. I pay for you,' shrugged Suleymân.</p> + +<p>I tried to make the missionary—for such he proved to be upon +acquaintance—understand that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>the conditions in that desert country +made the spring a valued property, and gave a price to every +pitcherful of water.</p> + +<p>'What! Are you English?' was his only answer, as he scanned my +semi-native garb with pity and disgust. 'And who, pray, is that person +with you who was rude to me?'</p> + +<p>'His name is Suleymân. He is a friend of mine.'</p> + +<p>'A friend, I hardly think,' replied the Frank, fastidiously. He was a +big man, with a dark complexion and light eyes. 'I am going to camp +here to-night. I have a tent. Perhaps you will be good enough to come +and sup with me. Then we can talk.'</p> + +<p>'With pleasure,' I made answer, taken by surprise.</p> + +<p>'Where is your camp?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'We haven't got one. We put up in the guest-room if there is one, or +under the stars.'</p> + +<p>'Well, there's no accounting for tastes,' he murmured, with a sneer.</p> + +<p>Rashîd, through all this conversation, had been standing by, waiting +to tell me that Suleymân had gone before into the village to the +headman's house, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>where it had been arranged that we should pass the +night. Thither we went, when I had finished speaking to the +missionary; and there we found Suleymân enthroned among the village +elders in a long, low room. He stood up on my entrance, as did all the +others, and explained:</p> + +<p>'We have a room near by where we can throw our saddle-bags, but it is +verminous, and so we will not sleep inside it, but outside—on the +roof. For supper we are the invited guests of the good sheykh, and I +can tell you he is getting ready a fine feast.'</p> + +<p>With deep regret and some degree of shame I told him of my promise to +take supper with the missionary. He looked reproach at me, and told +the villagers what I had said. They all cried out in disappointment. +Suleymân suggested that I should revoke the promise instantly, but +that I would not do, to his annoyance; and after that, till it was +time for me to go, he and Rashîd were sulky and withdrew their eyes +from me. I knew that they were jealous of the Frank, whom they +regarded as an enemy, and feared lest he should turn my mind against +them.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE PARTING OF THE WAYS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>It was dusk when I set out for the missionary's tent, and starlit +night before I reached it—so fleeting is the summer twilight in that +land.</p> + +<p>Rashîd went with me, as in duty bound, and insisted on remaining with +the servants of the missionary by the cook's fire, although I told him +to go back repeatedly, knowing how his mouth must water for the +headman's feast. The dudgeon which he felt at my desertion made him +determined not to let me out of sight, and called for the martyrdom of +someone, even let that someone be himself.</p> + +<p>The missionary called: 'Come in!' while I was still a good way off the +tent. Entering, I found him stretched on a deck-chair, with hands +behind his head. He did not rise upon my entrance, but just smiled and +pointed to another chair beyond a little folding table laid for +supper.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>He spoke of the day's heat and the fatigues of travel and the flies; +and asked me how I could endure to sleep in native hovels full of +fleas and worse.</p> + +<p>I told him that, by Suleymân's arrangement, we were to sleep upon the +roof for safety. He sniffed.</p> + +<p>I then related a discussion I had overheard between Rashîd and +Suleymân as to the best way of defeating those domestic pests, +thinking to make him laugh. Rashîd had spoken of the virtues of a +certain shrub; but Suleymân declared the best specific was a new-born +baby. This, if laid within a room for a short while, attracted every +insect. The babe should then be carried out and dusted. The missionary +did not even smile.</p> + +<p>'The brutes!' he murmured. 'How can you, an Englishman, and apparently +a man of education, bear their intimacy?'</p> + +<p>They had their good points, I asserted—though, I fear, but lamely; +for the robustness of his attitude impressed me, he being a man, +presumably, of wide experience, and, what is more, a clergyman—the +kind of man I had been taught to treat with some respect.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>He said no more till we had finished supper, which consisted of +sardines and corned beef and sliced pineapple, tomatoes and +half-liquid butter out of tins, and some very stale European bread +which he had brought with him. Confronted with such mummy food, I +thought with longing of the good, fresh meal which I had left behind +me at the headman's house. He may have guessed my thoughts, for he +observed: 'I never touch their food. It is insanitary'—which I knew +to be exactly what they said of his.</p> + +<p>The man who waited on us seemed to move in fear, and was addressed by +his employer very curtly.</p> + +<p>After the supper there was tea, which, I confess, was welcome, and +then the missionary put me through a kind of catechism. Finding out +who I was, and that we had some friends in common, he frowned deeply. +He had heard of my existence in the land, it seemed.</p> + +<p>'What are you doing here at all?' he asked severely. 'At your age you +should be at college or in training for some useful work.'</p> + +<p>'I'm learning things,' I told him rather feebly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>His point of view, the point of view of all my countrymen, imposed +itself on me as I sat there before him, deeply conscious of my youth +and inexperience.</p> + +<p>'What things?' he asked. And then his tongue was loosed. He gave me +his opinion of the people of the country, and particularly of my two +companions. He had summed them up at sight. They were two cunning +rogues, whose only object was to fleece me. He told me stories about +Englishmen who had been ruined in that very way through making friends +with natives whom they thought devoted to them. One story ended in a +horrid murder. He wanted me to have no more to do with them, and when +he saw I was attached to them, begged me earnestly to treat them +always as inferiors, to 'keep them in their place'; and this I +promised, coward-like, to do, although I knew that, in the way he +meant, it was not in me.</p> + +<p>It seemed that he himself was travelling in these wild places in +search of an old Greek inscription, mention of which he had discovered +in some book. He half-persuaded me to bear him company.</p> + +<p>'You are doing no good here, alone with such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>companions,' he said, as +I at last departed. 'Think over my advice to you. Go back to England. +Come with me for the next few days, and share my tents. Then come and +stay with me in Jerusalem, and we can talk things over.' There was no +doubt of the kindliness of his intention.</p> + +<p>I thanked him, and strolled back toward the village in the starlight, +Rashîd, who, at my first appearance, had detached himself from a small +group which sat around the missionary's kitchen fire, stalking on +before me with a lantern.</p> + +<p>It seemed a wonder that the village dogs, which had made so great a +noise on our arrival in the place so short a while before, now took no +notice, seeming to recognise our steps as those of lawful inmates.</p> + +<p>At the headman's house Suleymân still sat up talking with the village +elders. He expressed a hope that I had much enjoyed myself, but with a +hint of grievance which I noticed as a thing expected. Looking round +upon those eager, friendly faces, I compared them with the cold face +of the missionary, who suddenly appeared to me as a great bird of +prey. I hated him instinctively, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>he was like a schoolmaster; and +yet his words had weight, for I was young to judge, and schoolmasters, +though hateful, have a knack of being in the right.</p> + +<p>At last we three went up on to the roof to sleep. We had lain down and +said 'good night' to one another, when Suleymân remarked, as if +soliloquising:</p> + +<p>'Things will never be the same.'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean?' I questioned crossly.</p> + +<p>'That missionary has spoilt everything. He told you not to trust us, +not to be so friendly with persons who are natives of this land, and +therefore born inferior.'</p> + +<p>I made no answer, and Suleymân went on:</p> + +<p>'A man who journeys in the desert finds a guide among the desert +people, and he who journeys on the sea trusts seamen. What allegations +did he make? I pray you tell us!'</p> + +<p>'He told me stories of his own experience.'</p> + +<p>'His experience is not, never will be, yours. He is the enemy. A +tiger, if one asked him to describe mankind, would doubtless say that +they are masters of the guile which brings destruction, deserving +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>only to be clawed to death. Question the pigeons of some mosque, upon +the other hand, and they will swear by Allah men are lords of all +benevolence.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd broke in: 'His boys, with whom I talked, inform me that he is +devoid of all humanity. He never thanks them for their work, however +perfect, nor has a word of blessing ever passed his lips. He frowns +continually. How can he be the same as one like thee who laughs and +talks?'</p> + +<p>We had all three sat up, unconsciously. And we continued sitting up, +debating miserably under the great stars, hearing the jackals' voices +answer one another from hill to hill both near and far, all through +that night, drawing ever closer one to another as we approached an +understanding.</p> + +<p>'An Englishman such as that missionary,' said Suleymân, 'treats good +and bad alike as enemies if they are not of his nation. He gives bare +justice; which, in human life, is cruelty. He keeps a strict account +with every man. We, when we love a man, keep no account. We never +think of what is due to us or our position. And when we hate—may <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>God +forgive us!—it is just the same—save with the very best and coolest +heads among us.'</p> + +<p>'But you are cunning, and have not our code of honour,' I objected, +with satirical intention, though the statement sounded brutal.</p> + +<p>'Your Honour says so!' cried Rashîd, half weeping. 'No doubt you are +referring to that theft in the hotel, of which you thought so little +at the time that you would take no action. That was the doing of a +Greek, as was established. Say, can you of your own experience of +children of the Arabs say that one of us has ever robbed you of a +small para, or wronged you seriously?'</p> + +<p>'I cannot,' was my answer, after brief reflection. 'But the experience +of other, older men must weigh with me.'</p> + +<p>'Let other men judge people as they find them, and do thou likewise,' +said Suleymân.</p> + +<p>'He urged me to give up this aimless wandering and go with him in +search of an old Greek inscription, not far off. Within four days he +hopes to see El Cuds again; and thence he urged me to return to +England.'</p> + +<p>At that my two companions became silent and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>exceeding still, as if +some paralysing fear hung over them. It was the hour immediately +before the dawn, and life seemed hopeless. The missionary's voice +seemed then to me the call of duty, yet every instinct in my blood was +fierce against it.</p> + +<p>'Your Honour will do what he pleases,' said my servant mournfully.</p> + +<p>'The Lord preserve thee ever!' sighed Suleymân. 'Thou art the leader +of the party. Give command.'</p> + +<p>A streak of light grew on the far horizon, enabling us to see the +outlines of the rugged landscape. A half-awakened wild-bird cried +among the rocks below us. And suddenly my mind grew clear. I cared no +longer for the missionary's warning. I was content to face the dangers +which those warnings threatened; to be contaminated, even ruined as an +Englishman. The mischief, as I thought it, was already done. I knew +that I could never truly think as did that missionary, nor hold myself +superior to Eastern folk again. If that was to be reprobate, then I +was finished.</p> + +<p>'Saddle the horses. We will start at once,' I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>told Rashîd. 'Before +the missionary is afoot—towards the East.'</p> + +<p>For a moment he sat motionless, unable to believe his ears. Then +suddenly he swooped and kissed my hand, exclaiming: 'Praise be to +Allah!'</p> + +<p>'Praise be to Allah!' echoed Suleymân, with vast relief. 'The tiger in +thee has not triumphed. We shall still know joy.'</p> + +<p>'I resign myself to be the pigeon of the mosque,' I answered, laughing +happily.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later we were riding towards the dawn, beginning to grow +red behind the heights of Moab.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE KNIGHT ERRANT</h4> +<br /> + +<p>We had left Damascus after noon the day before, and had spent the +night at a great fortress-khan—the first of many on the pilgrims' +road. We had been on our way an hour before Rashîd discovered that he +had left a pair of saddle-bags behind him at the khan; and as those +saddle-bags contained belongings of Suleymân, the latter went back +with him to retrieve them. I rode on slowly, looking for a patch of +shade. Except the khan, a square black object in the distance, there +was nothing in my range of vision to project a shadow larger than a +good-sized thistle. Between a faint blue wave of mountains on the one +hand and a more imposing but far distant range upon the other, the +vast plain rolled to the horizon in smooth waves.</p> + +<p>I was ascending such an undulation at my horse's leisure when a +cavalier appeared upon its summit—a figure straight out of the pages +of some book <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>of chivalry, with coloured mantle streaming to the +breeze, and lance held upright in the stirrup-socket. This knight was +riding at his ease till he caught sight of me, when, with a shout, he +laid his lance in rest, lowered his crest and charged. I was +exceedingly alarmed, having no skill in tournament, and yet I could +not bring myself to turn and flee. I rode on as before, though with a +beating heart, my purpose, if I had one, being, when the moment came, +to lean aside, and try to catch his spear, trusting in Allah that my +horse would stand the shock. But the prospect of success was small, +because I could see nothing clearly, till suddenly the thunder of the +hoof-beats ceased, and I beheld the knight within ten yards of me, +grinning and saluting me with lance erect, his horse flung back upon +its haunches.</p> + +<p>'I frightened thee, O Faranji?' he asserted mockingly.</p> + +<p>I replied that it would take more than such a wretched mountebank as +he could do to frighten me, and showed him my revolver, which, until +the fear was over, had escaped my memory. It pleased <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>him, and he +asked for it immediately. I put it back.</p> + +<p>'A pretty weapon,' he agreed, 'but still I frightened thee.'</p> + +<p>I shrugged and sneered, disdaining further argument, and thought to +pass him; but he turned his horse and rode beside me, asking who I was +and where I came from, and what might be my earthly object in riding +thus towards the desert all alone. I answered all his questions very +coldly, which did not disconcert him in the least. Hearing that I had +attendants, one of whom had skill in warfare, he said that he would +wait with me till they came up. I tried to frighten him with tales of +all the men Rashîd had slain in single combat: he was all the more +determined to remain with me, saying that he would gain much honour +from destroying such a man.</p> + +<p>'But I do suspect that thou are lying, O most noble Faranji, and that +this boasted champion is some wretched townsman whose only courage is +behind a wall,' he chuckled.</p> + +<p>At that I was indignant, and I lied the more.</p> + +<p>Thus talking, we came near a piece of ruined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>wall, which cast +sufficient shadow for a man to rest in. The knight dismounted and tied +up his horse. I was for riding on, but he made such an outcry that, +wishing to avoid a quarrel, I alighted also and tied up my horse. We +lay down near together in the strip of shade. He passed me a rough +leathern water-bottle, and I took a draught of warmish fluid, tasting +like the smell of goats. He took a longer draught, and then exclaimed: +'There are thy friends.'</p> + +<p>Far off upon the plain two specks were moving. I could not have told +man from man at such a distance, but the knight was able to +distinguish and describe them accurately.</p> + +<p>'The younger man who sits erect upon his horse—he is no doubt the +warrior of whom thou speakest. The other, plump and lolling, has the +air of greatness—a Pasha, maybe, or a man of law.'</p> + +<p>I told him that Suleymân was a man of learning, and then let him talk +while I took stock of his appearance. The figure out of books of +chivalry was shabby on a close inspection. The coloured surcoat was +both weather-stained and torn, the coat of mail beneath so ancient +that many of the links <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>had disappeared completely; the holes where +they had been were patched with hide, which also was beginning to give +way in places. His age was about three-and-twenty; he had bright brown +eyes, a black moustache and beard, and a malicious air. He looked a +perfect ragamuffin, yet he spoke with condescension, talking much +about his pedigree, which contained a host of names which I had never +heard before—a fact which, when he realised it, filled him first with +horror, then with pity of my ignorance. He expatiated also on his +horse's pedigree, which was as lengthy as his own.</p> + +<p>When my friends came up, I quite expected them to rid me of the +tiresome knight. But they did nothing of the sort. They took the man +and his pretensions seriously, exchanging with him compliments in +striking contrast with the haughty tone I had till then adopted. +Rashîd refused his challenge with politeness, and, much to my dismay, +Suleymân, the older and more thoughtful man, accepted it upon +condition that the combat should stand over till some more convenient +time; and when the knight proclaimed his sovereign will to travel with +us, they seemed pleased.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>'He will be useful to us,' said Rashîd, when I complained to him of +this deception, 'for his tribe controls a great part of this country. +But it will be best for me to carry our revolver while he rides with +us. Then I and not your Honour can deny him, which is more becoming.'</p> + +<p>The knight had asked for my revolver thrice already.</p> + +<p>That evening, near a lonely village of the plain, the battle with +Suleymân was fought with equal honours, each rider hitting his man +squarely with the long jerideh—the stripped palm-branch—which is +substituted for the spear in friendly combat. The heroes faced each +other at a regulated distance. Then one—it was Suleymân—clapped +spurs into his horse's flanks and fled, keeping within a certain space +which might be called the lists; the other flying after him, with +fearful yells, intent to fling the missile so that it should strike +the victim in a certain manner. This lasted till the throw was made, +and then the order was reversed, and the pursuer in his turn became +the hunted.</p> + +<p>The knight applauded his opponent's skill <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>reluctantly, and with +regret that he himself had not been in his usual form.</p> + +<p>He journeyed with us after that for many days. It seemed that he was +out in search of exploits, so did not care a jot which way he rode. In +former days, he told me, there used to be a tournament in every town +each Friday, where any stranger knight might show his prowess, winning +honour and renown. But in these degenerate times it was necessary for +the would-be champion to cry his challenge in some public place, or +else arrange the fight beforehand meanly in some tavern. I should have +been delighted with him on the whole, if he had not been quarrelsome +and had not expected us, as his companions, to extricate him from the +strife in which his arrogance involved him. We dreaded the arrival at +a town or village. If he had possessed the prowess of his courage, +which was absolutely reckless, he would have been a more endurable, if +dread, companion. But in almost every quarrel which he brought upon +himself he got the worst of it, and was severely beaten, and then +would talk to us about the honour of the Arabs till we fell asleep.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>One night in the small town of Mazarib we rescued him from two +Circassian bravoes whom he had insulted wantonly. They had nearly +stopped his mouth for ever when we intervened. I cannot say he was +ungrateful upon that occasion. On the contrary, he swore that he would +not forsake us until death—a vow which filled us with dismay, for +even Suleymân by that time saw that he was useless; and Rashîd, our +treasurer, resented his contempt of money. He had a way, too, of +demanding anything of ours which took his fancy, and, if not forcibly +prevented, taking it, peculiarly obnoxious to Rashîd, who idolised my +few belongings. We were his friends, his manner told us, and he, the +bravest of the brave, the noblest of the noble Arabs, was prepared to +give his life for us at any time. Any trifles therefore which we might +bestow on him were really nothing as compared with what he gave us +every hour of every day.</p> + +<p>It grew unbearable. The people in the khan at Mazarib were laughing at +us because that wretched Bedawi, a chance adherent, ruled our party. +We plotted desperately to get rid of him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>At length Suleymân devised a scheme. It was that we should change the +whole direction of our journey, turning aside into the mountain of the +Druzes. The Druzes were at war with many of the Bedu—probably with +this man's tribe; at any rate, a Bedawi, unless disguised, would run +grave risk among them while the war was on.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, when we at length set out from Mazarib, Suleymân, with +many compliments, informed the knight of a dilemma which distressed us +greatly. I had been summoned to the bedside of a friend of mine, a +great Druze sheykh, now lying very ill, whose one wish was to gaze on +me before he died. Rashîd chimed in to say how tenderly that Druze +chief loved me, and how depressed I was by sorrow for his grievous +illness. In short, it was imperative that we should go at once to the +Druze mountain. What were our feelings when we suddenly bethought us +that there was danger in that region for an Arab knight! Must we then +part from our beloved, from our souls' companion? Suleymân declared +that we had wept like babes at such a prospect. No, that must never +be; our grief would kill us. We had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>obliged to think of some +contrivance by which our hearts' delight might bear us company without +much risk, and with the help of Allah we had hit upon a splendid plan, +yet simple: That he should lay aside his lance and armour, dress as a +Christian, and become our cook.</p> + +<p>'Why need he seem a Christian?' asked Rashîd.</p> + +<p>'Because all cooks who go with English travellers are Christians,' was +the earnest answer, 'and because no man would ever think to find a +Bedawi beneath a Christian's cloak.'</p> + +<p>'A person of my master's standing ought to have a cook,' murmured +Rashîd, as one who thought aloud.</p> + +<p>Never have I seen such horror in the face of man as then convulsed the +features of the desert knight. He, a cook! He, the descendant of I +know not whom, to wear the semblance of a heathen and degraded +townsman! Rather than that he would encounter twenty spear-points. If +we were going to the mountain of the Druzes, we might go alone!</p> + +<p>We all were eager to express regret. He listened with a sneer, and +answered nothing. After a while he beckoned me to speak apart with +him, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>and, when we were beyond the hearing of the others, said:</p> + +<p>'I leave thee now, O Faranji, and journey towards Nejd to seek +adventures. Thou lovest me I am aware, and so I grieve to part from +thee; but thy adherents are low people and devoured by envy. If ever +we should meet again I will destroy them. If thou shouldst travel +south and eastward through the Belka, remember me, I beg, and seek our +tents. There thou shalt find a welcome far more hospitable than the +Druze will give thee. I shall never cease to pray for thee. My grief +will be extreme until we meet again. I pray thee give me that revolver +as a souvenir.'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE FANATIC</h4> +<br /> + +<p>A European hat in those days was a rarity except in the large towns, +and it attracted notice. That is the reason why I generally discarded +it, with other too conspicuously Western adjuncts. Where the +inhabitants were not well-mannered, the hat was apt to be saluted with +a shower of stones.</p> + +<p>One afternoon I happened to be riding by myself along a so-called road +in the bare mountain country round Jerusalem, wearing a hat, when I +came on a pedestrian resting in the shadow of a rock by the wayside. +He was a native Christian—that much could be detected at a glance; +but of what peculiar brand I could not guess from his costume, which +consisted of a fez; a clerical black coat and waistcoat, quite of +English cut, but very much the worse for wear; a yellow flannel shirt, +and a red cord with tassels worn by way of necktie; baggy Turkish +pantaloons; white stockings, and elastic-sided <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>boots. Beside him, a +long staff leaned up against the rock. He sprang upon his feet at my +approach, and, with an amiable smile and bow, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'Good afternoon. I think you are an English gentleman?'</p> + +<p>I pleaded guilty to the charge, and he asked leave to walk beside me +until past a certain village, not far distant, of which the people, he +assured me, were extremely wicked and averse to Christians. I readily +consented, and he took his staff and walked beside me, pouring out his +soul in fulsome flattery.</p> + +<p>The village which he dreaded to approach alone was the abode of +Muslims, devilish people who hate the righteous Christians and +persecute them when they get the chance. He said that he looked +forward to the day when the English would take over the whole country +and put those evil-doers in their proper place, below the Christians. +It would be a mercy and a blessing to the human race, he gave as his +mature opinion, if the English were to conquer the whole world. They +were so good and upright and so truly pious. He did not think that any +wrong was ever done in England. And then:</p> + +<p>'You are a Brûtestant?' he asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>I answered that I was a member of the Church of England.</p> + +<p>'Ah, thank God!' he cried. 'I also am a Brûtestant—a Babtist.' He +seemed to think that my avowal made us brothers.</p> + +<p>It seemed, from the account he gave me of himself, that he was an +evangelist, working to spread the truth among his wicked +country-people; for the Christians of the Greek and Latin Churches +were both wicked and benighted, he informed me, and would persecute +him, like the Muslims, if they got the chance. It was hard work, he +told me, turning up his eyes to heaven. He grieved to say it, but +there seemed no other way to purge the land of all those wicked people +save destruction. He wondered that the Lord had not destroyed them +long ago. Yet when I said that I did not agree with him, but thought +that they were decent folk, though rather backward, he came round to +my opinion in a trice, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>'Ah, how true you speak! It is that they are backward. They will +neffer be no better till they get the Gosbel light, the liffin water.'</p> + +<p>I told him he was talking nonsense; that, for my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>part, I thought the +missionaries did more harm than good, and once again he changed his +standpoint, though less boldly, saying:</p> + +<p>'It is so delightful to talk thus freely to a noble English gentleman. +God knows that I could listen for a day without fatigue, you talk so +sweet. And what you say is all so new to me.'</p> + +<p>And he proceeded to relate with what severity the English missionaries +treated native converts like himself, mentioning many wicked things +which they had done in his remembrance. I could not but admire his +versatility and total lack of shame in his desire to please. Thus +talking, we approached the village of his fears.</p> + +<p>'If I was by myself I should be much afraid,' he fawned; 'but not with +you. These wicked beoble do not dare to hurt an English gentleman, who +wears the hat and is brotected by the Bowers of Eurobe.'</p> + +<p>We had not really got into the place before some boys at play among +the rocks outside the houses, spying my hat, threw stones in our +direction. One hit my horse. I raised my whip and rode at them. They +fled with screams of terror. Glancing back, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>I could perceive no sign +of my devout companion. But when I returned at leisure, having driven +the young rogues to cover, I found him vigorously beating a small boy +who had fallen in the panic flight and, finding himself left behind, +had been too frightened to get up again.</p> + +<p>Never have I seen a face of such triumphant malice as then appeared on +that demure evangelist. He beat the child as if he meant to kill it, +muttering execrations all the while and looking round him furtively +for fear lest other Muslims should appear in sight, in which case, I +believe, he would at once have turned from blows to fondling.</p> + +<p>'The wicked boy!' he cried, as I came up, 'to throw stones at a noble +English gentleman. He well deserfs to be deliffered ofer to the Bowers +of Eurobe.'</p> + +<p>I bade him leave the child alone, or it would be the worse for him. +Aggrieved, and, in appearance, shocked at my unsympathetic tone, he +left his prey, and I endeavoured to speak comfort to the victim; who, +however, took no notice of my words, but ran hard for the village, +howling lustily.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>'The wicked boy! The wicked children!' the evangelist kept moaning, in +hesitating and half-contrite tones. 'It is a bity that you let him go. +He will perhabs make trouble for us in the fillage. But you are so +brafe. I think the English are the brafest kind of beeble.'</p> + +<p>I also thought it possible there might be trouble; but I decided to go +on, not wishing to show fear before that craven. He cried aloud in awe +and wonder when I told him that little boys threw stones in Christian +England.</p> + +<p>'But only upon unbelievers!' he exclaimed imploringly, as one who +would preserve his last illusion.</p> + +<p>I replied to the effect that members of the Church of England would, +no doubt, have stoned a Baptist or a Roman Catholic with pleasure, if +such heretics with us had dressed in a peculiar way; but that, in my +opinion, it was only natural instinct in a boy to throw a stone at any +living thing which seemed unusual.</p> + +<p>The shock this information gave him—or his private terrors—kept him +silent through the village; where the people, men and women, watched +us pass <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>with what appeared to be unfriendly faces. I was ill at ease, +expecting some attack at every step.</p> + +<p>As luck would have it, at the far end of the place, when I could see +the open country, and was giving thanks for our escape, a great big +stone was thrown by a small boy quite close to me. It struck me on the +arm, and hurt enough to make me really angry.</p> + +<p>'For God's sake, sir!' implored my terrified companion, 'Ride on! Do +nothing! There are men obserfing.'</p> + +<p>I heard him taking to his heels. But I had caught the culprit, and was +beating him. His yells went forth with terrible insistence:</p> + +<p>'O my father, O my mother, help. Ya Muslimin!'</p> + +<p>And, in a trice, I was surrounded by a group of surly-looking +fellâhîn, one of whom told me curtly to release the boy. I did so +instantly, prepared for trouble. But no sooner had I left off beating +than that man began. The boy's appeals for help went forth anew; but +this time he addressed them to his mother only, for his father held +him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>I begged the man to stop, and in the end he did so.</p> + +<p>All those ferocious-looking fellâhîn returned my smile at this +conclusion, and wished me a good evening as I rode away.</p> + +<p>I never saw that bright evangelist again. No doubt he ran till he had +reached some place inhabited by altogether righteous Christian people. +But the way he started running was a clear inducement to pursuit to +any son of Adam not evangelised.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>RASHÎD'S REVENGE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>We were staying with an English friend of mine—a parson, though the +least parsonical of men—who had a pleasant little house in a Druze +village of Mount Lebanon, and nothing to do but watch, and do his +utmost to restrain, the antics of a very wealthy and eccentric lady +missionary. He had gone away for a few weeks, leaving us in +possession, when another sort of clergyman arrived—a little man with +long white beard, sharp nose, and pale, seraphic eyes. He was, or +fancied that he was, on duty, inspecting missionary establishments in +those mountains. The master of the house had once invited him to stay +there if he passed that way. He seemed surprised to find us in +possession, and treated us as interlopers, though I was in fact his +host, regarding our small dwelling as a clergy house. His gaze +expressed an innocent surprise when I sat down to supper with him and +performed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>the honours on the night of his arrival. He gave his orders +boldly to my servant, and his demeanour plainly asked what business I +had there, though he would never listen to my explanation.</p> + +<p>I took the whole adventure philosophically, but rage and indignation +took possession of Rashîd. And his indignation was increased by the +popularity of our insulter with the girls and teachers of the +mission-school hard by. Our guest was innocence itself, if silly and +conceited. But Rashîd watched all his movements, and could tell me +that the old 'hypocrite,' as he invariably called him, went to the +school each day and kissed the pupils, taking the pretty ones upon his +knee, and making foolish jokes, talking and giggling like an imbecile, +bestowing sweetmeats. With them—for the most sinful motives, as +Rashîd averred, and, I suppose, believed—he was all sugar; but when +he came back to the house he was as grumpy as could be. Rashîd would +have destroyed him at a nod from me one evening when he said:</p> + +<p>'I think I must have left my glasses over at the school. Will you be +good enough to go and ask?'</p> + +<p>'Now your Honour knows how we feel when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>we meet a man like that; and +there are many such among the Franks,' my servant whispered in my ear +as I went out obediently. 'By Allah, it is not to be endured!'</p> + +<p>The parson occupied the only bedroom; and I slept out upon the balcony +on his account. Yet he complained of certain of my garments hanging in +his room, and flung them out. It was after that revolting episode, +when I was really angry for a moment, that Rashîd came to me and said:</p> + +<p>'You hate this hypocrite; is it not so?'</p> + +<p>'By Allah,' I replied, 'I hate him.'</p> + +<p>He seemed relieved by the decision of my tone, and then informed me:</p> + +<p>'I know a person who would kill him for the sake of thirty English +pounds.'</p> + +<p>It became, of course, incumbent on me to explain that, with us +English, hatred is not absolute as with the children of the +Arabs—mine had already reached the laughing stage. He was evidently +disappointed, and answered with a weary sigh:</p> + +<p>'May Allah rid us of this foul oppression!'</p> + +<p>It was a bitter pill for him, whose whole endeavour was for my +aggrandisement, to see me <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>treated like a menial by our guest; who, +one fine evening, had me summoned to his presence—I had been sitting +with some village elders in the olive grove behind the house—and made +to me a strange proposal, which Rashîd declared by Allah proved his +perfect infamy. His manner was for once quite amiable. Leaning back in +a deck-chair, his two hands with palms resting on his waistcoat, the +fingers raised communicating at the tips, he said, with clerical +complacency:</p> + +<p>'It is my purpose to make a little tour to visit missionary ladies at +three several places in these mountains, and then to go on to Jezzîn +to see the waterfall. As you appear to know the country and the people +intimately, and can speak the language, it would be well if you came +too. The man Rashîd could wait upon us all.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd, I knew, was listening at the door.</p> + +<p>'Us all? How many of you are there, then?'</p> + +<p>He hemmed a moment ere replying:</p> + +<p>'I—er—think of taking the Miss Karams with me'—Miss Sara Karam, a +young lady of Syrian birth but English education, was head teacher at +the girls' school, and her younger sister, Miss <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>Habîbah Karam, was +her constant visitor—'I thought you might take charge of the younger +of the two. The trip will give them both great pleasure, I am sure.'</p> + +<p>And they were going to Jezzîn, where there was no hotel, and we should +have to herd together in the village guest-room! What would my Arab +friends, censorious in all such matters, think of that?</p> + +<p>I told him plainly what I thought of the idea, and what the +mountain-folk would think of it and all of us. I told him that I had +no wish to ruin any woman's reputation, nor to be forced into unhappy +marriage by a public scandal. He, as a visitor, would go away again; +as an old man, and professionally holy, his good name could hardly +suffer among English people. But the girls would have to live among +the mountaineers, who, knowing of their escapade, would thenceforth +scorn them. And as for me——</p> + +<p>'But I proposed a mere excursion,' he interpolated. 'I fail to see why +you should take this tone about it.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I have told you what I think,' was my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>rejoinder. I then went +out and told the story to Rashîd, who heartily applauded my decision, +which he had already gathered.</p> + +<p>I did not see our simple friend again till after breakfast the next +morning. Then he said to me, in something of a contrite tone:</p> + +<p>'I have been thinking over what you said last night. I confess I had +not thought about the native gossip. I have decided to give up the +expedition to Jezzîn. And it has occurred to me that, as you are not +going, I could ride your horse. It would save the trouble and expense +of hiring one, if you would kindly lend it.'</p> + +<p>Taken fairly by surprise, I answered: 'Certainly,' and then went out +and told Rashîd what I had done. He wrung his hands and bitterly +reproached me.</p> + +<p>'But there is one good thing,' he said; 'Sheytân will kill him.'</p> + +<p>In all the months that we had owned that horse Rashîd had never once +before alluded to him by the name which I had chosen. It was +ill-omened, he had often warned me. But nothing could be too +ill-omened for that hypocrite.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>'I do not want to lend the horse at all,' I said. 'And I am pretty +sure he could not ride him. But what was I to say? He took me by +surprise.'</p> + +<p>'In that case,' said Rashîd, 'all is not said. Our darling shall enjoy +his bath to-day.'</p> + +<p>The washing of my horse—a coal-black Arab stallion, as playful as a +kitten and as mad—was in the nature of a public festival for all the +neighbours. Sheytân was led down to the spring, where all the +population gathered, the bravest throwing water over him with kerosene +tins, while he plunged and kicked and roused the mountain echoes with +his naughty screaming. On this occasion, for a finish, Rashîd let go +his hold upon the head-rope, the people fled in all directions, and +off went our Sheytân with tail erect, scrambling and careering up the +terraces, as nimble as a goat, to take the air before returning to his +stable.</p> + +<p>Our reverend guest had watched the whole performance from our balcony, +which, from a height of some three hundred feet, looked down upon the +spring. I was up there behind him, but I said no word till he +exclaimed in pious horror:</p> + +<p>'What a vicious brute! Dangerous—ought to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>be shot!' when I inquired +to what he was alluding.</p> + +<p>'Whose is that savage beast?' he asked, with quite vindictive ire, +pointing to Sheytân, who was disporting on the terrace just below.</p> + +<p>'Oh, that's my horse,' I answered, interested. 'He's really quite a +lamb.'</p> + +<p>'Your horse! You don't mean that?'</p> + +<p>He said no more just then, but went indoors, and then out to the +mission school to see the ladies.</p> + +<p>That evening he informed me: 'I shall not require your horse. I had no +notion that it was so strong an animal when I suggested borrowing it. +Old Câsim at the school will hire one for me. I should be afraid lest +such a valuable horse as yours might come to grief while in my +charge.'</p> + +<p>That was his way of putting it.</p> + +<p>We watched the party start one early morning, the clergyman all +smiles, the ladies in a flutter, all three mounted on hired chargers +of the most dejected type, old Câsim from the school attending them +upon a jackass. Rashîd addressed the last-named as he passed our +house, applying a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>disgraceful epithet to his employment. The poor old +creature wept.</p> + +<p>'God knows,' he said, 'I would not choose such service. But what am I +to do? A man must live. And I will save my lady's virtue if I can.'</p> + +<p>'May Allah help thee!' said Rashîd. 'Take courage; I have robbed his +eyes.'</p> + +<p>I had no notion of his meaning at the time when, sitting on the +balcony, I overheard this dialogue; but later in the day Rashîd +revealed to me two pairs of eyeglasses belonging to our guest. Without +these glasses, which were of especial power, the reverend man could +not see anything in detail.</p> + +<p>'And these two pairs were all he had,' exclaimed Rashîd with triumph. +'He always used to put them on when looking amorously at the ladies. +The loss of them, please God, will spoil his pleasure.'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE HANGING DOG</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Our English host possessed a spaniel bitch, which, being well-bred +gave him much anxiety. The fear of mésalliances was ever in his mind, +and furiously would he drive away the village pariahs when they came +slinking round the house, with lolling tongues. One brown and white +dog, larger than the others and with bristling hair, was a particular +aversion, the thought of which deprived him of his sleep of nights; +and not the thought alone, for that persistent suitor—more like a +bear than any dog I ever saw—made a great noise around us in the +darkness, whining, howling, and even scrabbling at the stable door. At +length, in desperation, he resolved to kill him.</p> + +<p>One night, when all the village was asleep, we lay out on the balcony +with guns and waited. After a while the shadow of a dog slinking among +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>olive trees was seen. We fired. The village and the mountains +echoed; fowls clucked, dogs barked; we even fancied that we heard the +cries of men. We expected the whole commune to rise up against us; but +after a short time of waiting all was still again.</p> + +<p>Rashîd, out in the shadows, whispered: 'He is nice and fat,' as if he +thought that we were going to eat the dog.</p> + +<p>'And is he dead?' I asked.</p> + +<p>'Completely dead,' was the reply.</p> + +<p>'Then get a cord and hang him to the balcony,' said my companion. 'His +odour will perhaps attract the foxes.'</p> + +<p>Another minute and the corpse was hanging from the balcony, while we +lay out and waited, talking in low tones.</p> + +<p>The bark of foxes came from vineyards near at hand, where there were +unripe grapes. 'Our vines have tender grapes,' our host repeated; +making me think of the fable of the fox and the grapes, which I +related to Rashîd in Arabic as best I could. He laughed as he +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'Ripe grapes, thou sayest? Our foxes do not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>love ripe grapes and +seldom steal them. I assure you, it was sour grapes that the villain +wanted, and never did they seem so exquisitely sour as when he found +out that he could not reach them. How his poor mouth watered!'</p> + +<p>This was new light upon an ancient theme for us, his hearers.</p> + +<p>After an hour or two of idle waiting, when no foxes came, we went to +bed, forgetting all about the hanging dog.</p> + +<p>The house was close beside a carriage road which leads down from the +chief town of the mountains to the city, passing many villages. As it +was summer, when the wealthy citizens sleep in the mountain villages +for coolness' sake, from the dawn onward there was a downward stream +of carriages along that road. When the daylight became strong enough +for men to see distinctly, the sight of a great brown and white dog +hanging from our balcony, and slowly turning, struck terror in the +breasts of passers-by. Was it a sign of war, or some enchantment? +Carriage after carriage stopped, while its inhabitants attempted to +explore the mystery. But there was nobody about to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>answer questions. +My host and I, Rashîd as well, were fast asleep indoors. Inquirers +looked around them on the ground, and then up at the shuttered house +and then at the surrounding olive trees, in one of which they finally +espied a nest of bedding on which reclined a blue-robed man asleep. It +was the cook, Amîn, who slept there for fresh air. The firing of the +night before had not disturbed him.</p> + +<p>By dint of throwing stones they woke him up, and he descended from his +tree and stood before them, knuckling his eyes, which were still full +of sleep.</p> + +<p>They asked: 'What means this portent of the hanging dog?'</p> + +<p>He stared incredulously at the object of their wonder, then exclaimed: +'Some enemy has done it, to insult me, while I slept. No matter, I +will be avenged before the day is out.'</p> + +<p>The tidings of the mystery ran through the village, and every +able-bodied person came to view it, and express opinions.</p> + +<p>'The dog is well known. He is called Barûd; he was the finest in our +village. He used to guard the dwelling of Sheykh Ali till he +transferred his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>pleasure to the house of Sheykh Selîm. It was a sin +to kill him,' was the general verdict. And Amîn confirmed it, saying: +'Aye, a filthy sin. But I will be avenged before the day is out.'</p> + +<p>At last Rashîd, awakened by the noise of talking, came out of the +stable where he always slept, and with a laugh explained the whole +occurrence. Some of the villagers were greatly shocked, and blamed us +strongly. But Rashîd stood up for us, declaring that the dog belonged +in truth to no man, so that no man living had the right to blame his +murderer; whereas the valuable sporting bitch of the Casîs (our host) +was all his own, and it was his duty therefore to defend her from +improper lovers. He then cut down the body of the dog, which no one up +till then had dared to do; and all the people gradually went away.</p> + +<p>The coast was clear when we arose towards eight o'clock. Rashîd, with +laughter, told the tale to us at breakfast. We had been silly, we +agreed, to leave the hanging dog; and there, as we supposed, the +matter ended.</p> + +<p>But hardly had we finished breakfast when a knock came at the open +door, and we beheld a tall <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>and dignified fellâh depositing his staff +against the doorpost and shuffling off his slippers at the call to +enter.</p> + +<p>He said the murdered dog was his, and dear to him as his own eyes, his +wife and children. He was the finest dog in all the village, of so +rare a breed that no one in the world had seen a dog just like him. He +had been of use to guard the house, and for all kinds of work. The +fellâh declared his worth to be five Turkish pounds, which we must pay +immediately unless we wished our crime to be reported to the +Government.</p> + +<p>With as nonchalant an air as I could muster, I offered him a +beshlik—fourpence halfpenny. He thereupon became abusive and +withdrew—in the end, hurriedly, because Rashîd approached him in a +hostile manner.</p> + +<p>He had not been gone ten minutes when another peasant came, asserting +that the dog was really his, and he had been on the point of regaining +his possession by arbitration of the neighbours when we shot the +animal. He thus considered himself doubly injured—in his expectations +and his property. He came to ask us instantly to pay an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>English +pound, or he would lay the case before the Turkish governor, with +whom, he could assure us, he had favour.</p> + +<p>I offered him the beshlik, and he also stalked off in a rage.</p> + +<p>We were still discussing these encounters with Rashîd when there +arrived a vastly more imposing personage—no other than the headman of +the village, the correct Sheykh Mustafa, who had heard, he said, of +the infamous attempts which had been made to levy blackmail on us, and +came now in all haste to tell us of the indignation and disgust which +such dishonesty towards foreigners aroused in him. He could assure us +that the dog was really his; and he was glad that we had shot the +creature, since to shoot it gave us pleasure. His one desire was that +we should enjoy ourselves. Since our delight was in the slaughter of +domestic animals, he proposed to bring his mare—of the best blood of +the desert—round for us to shoot.</p> + +<p>We felt exceedingly ashamed, and muttered what we could by way of an +apology. But the sheykh would not accept it from us. Gravely smiling, +and stroking his grey beard, he said: 'Nay, do what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>pleases you. God +knows, your pleasure is a law to us. Nay, speak the word, and almost +(God forgive me!) I would bring my little son for you to shoot. So +unlimited is my regard for men so much above the common rules of this +our county, and who are protected in their every fancy by the Powers +of Europe.'</p> + +<p>His flattery dejected us for many days.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>TIGERS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The fellâhîn who came to gossip in the winter evenings round our lamp +and stove assured us there were tigers in the neighbouring mountain. +We, of course, did not accept the statement literally, but our English +friend possessed the killing instinct, and held that any feline +creatures which could masquerade in popular report as tigers would +afford him better sport than he had yet enjoyed in Syria. So when the +settled weather came we went to look for them.</p> + +<p>For my part I take pleasure in long expeditions with a gun, though +nothing in the way of slaughter come of them. My lack of keenness at +the proper moment has been the scorn and the despair of native guides +and hunters. Once, in Egypt, at the inundation of the Nile, I had been +rowed for miles by eager men, and had lain out an hour upon an islet +among reeds, only to forget to fire when my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>adherents whispered as +the duck flew over, because the sun was rising and the desert hills +were blushing like the rose against a starry sky. I had chased a +solitary partridge a whole day among the rocks of En-gedi without the +slightest prospect of success; and in the Jordan valley I had endured +great hardships in pursuit of wild boar without seeing one. It was the +lurking in wild places at unusual hours which pleased me, not the +matching of my strength and skill against the might of beasts. I have +always been averse to every sort of competition. This I explain that +all may know that, though I sallied forth with glee in search of +savage creatures, it was not to kill them.</p> + +<p>We set out from our village on a fine spring morning, attended by +Rashîd, my servant, and a famous hunter of the district named +Muhammad, also two mules, which carried all things necessary for our +camping out, and were in charge of my friend's cook, Amîn by name. We +rode into the mountains, making for the central range of barren +heights, which had the hue and something of the contour of a lion's +back. At length we reached a village at the foot of this commanding +range, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>asked for tigers. We were told that they were farther on. +A man came with us to a point of vantage whence he was able to point +out the very place—a crag in the far distance floating in a haze of +heat. After riding for a day and a half we came right under it, and at +a village near its base renewed inquiry. 'Oh,' we were told, 'the +tigers are much farther on. You see that eminence?' Again a mountain +afar off was indicated. At the next village we encamped, for night +drew near. The people came out to inspect us, and we asked them for +the tigers.</p> + +<p>'Alas!' they cried. 'It is not here that you must seek them. By Allah, +you are going in the wrong direction. Behold that distant peak!'</p> + +<p>And they pointed to the place from which we had originally started.</p> + +<p>Our English friend was much annoyed, Rashîd and the shikâri and the +cook laughed heartily. No one, however, was for going back. Upon the +following day our friend destroyed a jackal and two conies, which +consoled him somewhat in the dearth of tigers, and we rode forward +resolutely, asking our question at each village as we went along. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>Everywhere we were assured that there were really tigers in the +mountain, and from some of the villages young sportsmen who owned guns +insisted upon joining our excursion, which showed that they themselves +believed such game existed. But their adherence, though it gave us +hope, was tiresome, for they smoked our cigarettes and ate our food.</p> + +<p>At last, towards sunset on the seventh evening of our expedition, we +saw a wretched-looking village on the heights with no trees near it, +and only meagre strips of cultivation on little terraces, like ledges, +of the slope below.</p> + +<p>Our friend had just been telling me that he was weary of this +wild-goose chase, with all the rascals upon earth adhering to us. He +did not now believe that there were tigers in the mountain, nor did I. +And we had quite agreed to start for home upon the morrow, when the +people of that miserable village galloped down to greet us with +delighted shouts, as if they had been waiting for us all their lives.</p> + +<p>'What is your will?' inquired the elders of the place, obsequiously.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>'Tigers,' was our reply. 'Say, O old man, are there any tigers in your +neighbourhood?'</p> + +<p>The old man flung up both his hands to heaven, and his face became +transfigured as in ecstasy. He shouted: 'Is it tigers you desire? +This, then, is the place where you will dwell content. Tigers? I +should think so! Tigers everywhere!'</p> + +<p>The elders pointed confidently to the heights, and men and women—even +children—told us: 'Aye, by Allah! Hundreds—thousands of them; not +just one or two. As many as the most capacious man could possibly +devour in forty years.'</p> + +<p>'It looks as if we'd happened right at last,' our friend said, smiling +for the first time in three days.</p> + +<p>We pitched our tent upon the village threshing-floor, the only flat +place, except roofs of houses, within sight. The village elders dined +with us, and stayed till nearly midnight, telling us about the tigers +and the way to catch them. Some of the stories they related were +incredible, but not much more so than is usual in that kind of +narrative. It seemed unnecessary for one old man to warn us gravely on +no account to take them by their tails.</p> + +<p>'For snakes it is the proper way,' he said <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>sagaciously, 'since snakes +can only double half their length. But tigers double their whole +length, and they object to it. To every creature its own proper +treatment.'</p> + +<p>But there was no doubt of the sincerity of our instructors, nor of +their eagerness to be of use to us in any way. Next morning, when we +started out, the headman came with us some distance, on purpose to +instruct the guide he had assigned to us, a stupid-looking youth, who +seemed afraid. He told him: 'Try first over there among the boulders, +and when you have exhausted that resort, go down to the ravine, and +thence beat upwards to the mountain-top. Please God, your Honours will +return with half a hundred of those tigers which devour our crops.'</p> + +<p>Thus sped with hope, we set out in good spirits, expecting not a bag +of fifty tigers, to speak truly, but the final settlement of a dispute +which had long raged among us, as to what those famous tigers really +were. Rashîd would have it they were leopards, I said lynxes, and our +English friend, in moments of depression, thought of polecats. But, +though we scoured the mountain all that day, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>advancing with the +utmost caution and in open order, as our guide enjoined, we saw no +creature of the feline tribe. Lizards, basking motionless upon the +rocks, slid off like lightning when aware of our approach. Two +splendid eagles from an eyrie on the crags above hovered and wheeled, +observing us, their shadows like two moving spots of ink upon the +mountain-side. A drowsy owl was put up from a cave, and one of our +adherents swore he heard a partridge calling. No other living creature +larger than a beetle did we come across that day.</p> + +<p>Returning to the camp at evening, out of temper, we were met by all +the village, headed by the sheykh, who loudly hoped that we had had +good sport, and brought home many tigers to provide a feast. When he +heard that we had not so much as seen a single one he fell upon the +luckless youth who had been told off to conduct us, and would have +slain him, I believe, had we not intervened.</p> + +<p>'Didst seek in all the haunts whereof I told thee? Well I know thou +didst not, since they saw no tiger! Behold our faces blackened through +thy sloth and folly, O abandoned beast!'</p> + +<p>Restrained by force by two of our adherents, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>sheykh spat +venomously at the weeping guide, who swore by Allah that he had obeyed +instructions to the letter.</p> + +<p>Our English friend was much too angry to talk Arabic. He bade me tell +the sheykh he was a liar, and that the country was as bare of tigers +as his soul of truth. Some of our fellâh adherents seconded my speech. +The sheykh appeared amazed and greatly horrified.</p> + +<p>'There are tigers,' he assured us, 'naturally! All that you desire.'</p> + +<p>'Then go and find them for us!' said our friend, vindictively.</p> + +<p>'Upon my head,' replied the complaisant old man, laying his right hand +on his turban reverently. 'To hear is to obey.'</p> + +<p>We regarded this reply as mere politeness, the affair as ended. What +was our surprise next morning to see the sheykh and all the able men, +accompanied by many children, set off up the mountain armed with +staves and scimitars, and all the antique armament the village +boasted! It had been our purpose to depart that day, but we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>remained +to watch the outcome of that wondrous hunting.</p> + +<p>The villagers spread out and 'beat' the mountain. All day long we +heard their shouts far off among the upper heights. If any tiger had +been there they must assuredly have roused him. But they returned at +evening empty-handed, and as truly crestfallen as if they had indeed +expected to bring home a bag of fifty tigers. One man presented me +with a dead owl—the same, I think, which we had startled on the day +before, as if to show that their display had not been quite in vain.</p> + +<p>'No tigers!' sighed the sheykh, as though his heart were broken. 'What +can have caused them all to go away? Unhappy day!' A lamentable wail +went up from the whole crowd. 'A grievous disappointment, but the +world is thus. But,' he added, with a sudden brightening, 'if your +Honours will but condescend to stay a week or two, no doubt they will +return.'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>PRIDE AND A FALL</h4> +<br /> + +<p>There was to be a grand fantasia at the castle of the greatest of +Druze sheykhs in honour of a visit from the English Consul-General in +Syria; and as an Englishman I was invited to be there. It was a +journey of a day and a half. Upon the second morning Rashîd and I had +not gone far ere we fell in with other horsemen wending in the same +direction as ourselves, well mounted and in holiday attire. All +greeted us politely, but we kept apart, because they nearly all rode +mares while we rode stallions—a fruitful source of trouble and a +cause of war.</p> + +<p>At length a young man mounted on a stallion overtook us with most +cordial greetings. I had met him often. He was the son of a rich +landowner in a neighbouring valley, and, I think, the most beautiful +human creature I ever saw. That day he was particularly good to look +at, his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>complexion of clear olive slightly flushed, his violet eyes +beneath their long dark lashes dancing, his perfect white teeth +gleaming with excitement and delight. He wore a cloak, broad striped, +of white and crimson, a white frilled shirt of lawn showing above a +vest of crimson velvet, fawn-coloured baggy trousers, and soft +sheepskin boots. A snow-white turban crowned his whole appearance. His +horse was thoroughbred and young, and he controlled its ceaseless +dance to admiration. He told me that the stallion was his own, an +uncle's gift, and quite the best in all the mountains; although mine, +he added out of mere politeness, was undoubtedly a pearl of breeding +and high spirit. He hoped with such a steed to gain renown in that +day's horsemanship, and, if it might be, win the notice of the +Consul-General and his lady.</p> + +<p>'My father wished me to take out another horse,' he said; 'but I love +this one, and am used to all his ways. I could not do myself full +justice on another, nor would Rustem do his best for any other rider.'</p> + +<p>He proceeded to discuss the horses which we saw before us on the road, +pointing out in each of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>them some defect, and exclaiming: 'I shall +excel them all, in sh' Allah! Does not your Honour also think my horse +the best?'</p> + +<p>I assured him that I did indeed, and all my wishes were for his +success, 'because,' said I, 'I know and like you, and I do not know +the others.'</p> + +<p>'But some thou knowest for a certainty, for all the Mountain will be +there. Come, let me name them to thee one by one.' And some of those +he named were certainly well known to me.</p> + +<p>'When thou seest Hasan, son of Ali, nicely mounted, wilt thou not +think he is the better man?'</p> + +<p>'No, no, by Allah!' I disclaimed such fickleness. 'Be sure that if +good wishes can ensure success, all mine are with thee in to-day's +event.'</p> + +<p>'Allah increase thy wealth!' he cried in joy, as if I had bestowed on +him a gift of price.</p> + +<p>There was a crowd of many colours on the well-made road which wanders +up through orchards to the village and ends on the meydân before the +castle gate. There the crowd halted, making fast their horses to the +many rings and tie-holes which were in the walls. Rashîd took charge +of my horse and his own, while I went on up steps on to a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>higher +platform intersected by a stream of ice-cold water plunging down into +the valley in a fine cascade whose spray and murmur cooled the air. +That rush of water was the greatest luxury in such a land, and the +lord of the castle took much pride in its contrivance.</p> + +<p>I went up to a door where soldiers and domestics lounged, but was +informed: 'Our lord is out of doors.' A soldier pointed to a bunch of +trees above the waterfall and overlooking the meydân, where many +notables in black frock coat and fez sat out on chairs. He ran on to +announce my coming. I was soon a member of the formal group, replying +to the usual compliments and kind inquiries.</p> + +<p>Coffee was handed round. Then came a tray of different kinds of +sherbet, then a tray of eatables. The chiefs around me talked of +harvests and the price of land, but, most of all, of horses, since it +was a horsey day. The screaming of a stallion came persistently from +the meydân—a naughty screaming which foreboded mischief. I recognised +the voice. The culprit was my own Sheytân. The screams were so +disturbing, so indecent, that several of the great ones round me +frowned and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>asked: 'Whose horse is that?' in accents of displeasure. +I was ashamed to own him.</p> + +<p>At length the lord of the castle called a servant to his side and +whispered, pointing with his hand in the direction whence the screams +proceeded. The servant hurried off, but presently returned and +whispered something in his master's ear. His master looked at me and +nodded gravely. He then addressed me in a deprecating tone, remarking: +'Your Honour's horse is too high-spirited; the crowd excites him. Will +you allow him to be tethered in some other place?'</p> + +<p>From the excessive smoothness of his manner I could guess that, had I +been a native of the land, he would have told me to remove the vicious +brute and myself likewise. I rose at once to go and see to it.</p> + +<p>'Pray do not give yourself the trouble!' he exclaimed, distressed.</p> + +<p>The servant went along with me, and, when we got to the meydân, Rashîd +came running. Sheytân was then indeed a terrifying sight, with +streaming tail, mane bristling, and a wicked bloodshot eye, tearing at +his head-rope, one minute pawing at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>wall as if to climb it, the +next kicking wildly with his head down. I know little of horses in +general, but I knew that particular horse, and he knew me. I went up +quietly and talked to him, then loosed the rope and led Sheytân away +without much difficulty, Rashîd meanwhile explaining to the servant of +the house that no one else could possibly have done it. We tied him at +the further end of the meydân.</p> + +<p>Then I went back on to the terrace, where the notables had risen and +were looking at the youths who were to take part in the fantasia, +among them my companion of the road, the young Sheykh Abdul Hamid. +These were now on the parade-ground with their horses. My neighbour in +the group of great ones said, politely:</p> + +<p>'Your Honour should go with them; it is only proper, since their going +is to compliment the representative of England. And you are, I see, a +very skilful cavalier. The way you quieted that horse of yours was +wonderful. We have all been talking of it. Ride with them!'</p> + +<p>I begged to be excused. The essence of the fantasia is to show off +one's own prowess and one's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>horse's paces while careering madly in a +widish circle round some given object—an open carriage with some +great one in it, or a bridal pair—taking no note of obstacles, +dashing over rocks and gulleys and down breakneck slopes, loading and +firing off a gun at intervals, in full career. I had tried the feeling +of it once at a friend's wedding, and had been far from happy, though +my horse enjoyed the romp and often tried to start it afterwards when +there was no occasion. Remembering Abdul Hamid and his desire for +praise that day, I said:</p> + +<p>'There is only one good horseman here—Abdul Hamid, the son of the +Sheykh Mustafa. All the rest of us, compared with him, are mere +pedestrians.'</p> + +<p>I pointed out the youth in question to my neighbour, who was a man of +power in the mountains, and he praised the beauty of his form on +horseback.</p> + +<p>'By Allah, right is with thee,' he assented. 'There is none but he.'</p> + +<p>Away they went—Jinblâts, Talhûks, and Abdul Meliks—all in clean +white turbans, with coloured cloaks a-stream upon the breeze, on +horses gorgeously caparisoned. We waited half an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>hour—in silence, as +it seemed; and then we heard the noise of their return, the shouts, +the firing. I swear I saw a horse and man surmount a housetop in the +village and then leap down upon the other side. At last, with yells +and reckless gunshots and a whirl of dust, the crowd of horsemen came +full tilt on the meydân. Their leader—in appearance a mad angel—was +my friend, Abdul Hamid. Suddenly he drew his rein, flinging the steed +right back upon his haunches. In so doing, looking up at me with a +triumphant smile, he somehow missed his balance and pitched clear over +his horse's head, just at the very moment when a carriage and pair +containing the beaming Consul-General and his lady, with a glorious +Cawwâs upon the box, arrived upon the scene. I ran to help him, but +another person was before me. A tall old man, whose garb bespoke him +an initiated Druze, rushed out among the horses and the dust and beat +the wretched lad about the shoulders, heaping curses on that lovely +head for bringing shame upon an honoured house before such company. It +was the lad's own father, the Sheykh Mustafa. I helped to drag the old +man off, and would have gone on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>to console the son; but just then I +beheld Sheytân approaching with a broken head-rope. I contrived to +catch him and to mount without attending to the girths; and, once on +horseback, I was glad to be there; for quite fifty of the tethered +steeds had broken loose in the excitement, and were rushing here and +there and fighting in a most alarming way. I have always had a dread +of horse-fights, and this was not a single fight; it was a mêlée, +fresh horses every minute breaking loose to join it. Right in my way +two angry stallions rose up, boxing one another like the lion and the +unicorn, and a little boy of ten or thereabouts ran in between and, +jumping, caught their head-ropes.</p> + +<p>I escaped at last and rode down through the village to the bottom of +the valley, where a grove of walnut trees cast pleasant shade beside a +stream. There Rashîd found me later in the day. He told me that my +disappearance had caused consternation and alarm, the Consul-General +and his lady having asked for me. Bidding him remain with the two +horses, I went back on foot to the castle, where I stayed only the +time necessary to pay my respects.</p> + +<p>As I was returning towards the valley, a litter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>borne between two +mules was leaving the meydân. Beside it walked the stern Sheykh +Mustafa, and in it, I had little doubt, reclined the beautiful Abdul +Hamid.</p> + +<p>I asked the serving-man who led the foremost mule if his young lord +was seriously hurt. He answered:</p> + +<p>'Yes; for he has broken his elbow and his shoulder and his +collar-bone. But that is nothing, since he has disgraced our house.'</p> + +<p>A bitter wail of 'Woe the day!' came from within the palanquin.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>TRAGEDY</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The sun was sinking down over the sea, the mountain wall with all its +clefts and promontories wore a cloak of many colours, when we saw +before us on a rock a ruined tower. We were looking for some human +habitation where we might get food and shelter for the night; but we +should have passed by that building, taking it to be deserted, had not +we espied a woman's figure sitting out before it in the evening light.</p> + +<p>Experience of late had taught us to shun villages, belonging +thereabouts to a peculiar sect, whose members made a virtue of +inhospitality. At noon that day, when wishing to buy food, we had been +met with such amazing insults that Rashîd, my henchman, had not yet +recovered from his indignation, and still brooded on revenge. On +seeing that the ruined tower had occupants, he said:</p> + +<p>'If these refuse us, we will force an entrance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>mercilessly; for see, +they dwell alone, with none to help them.'</p> + +<p>He rode before me towards the tower, with shoulders squared and whip +upraised.</p> + +<p>It surprised me that the woman sitting out before the door appeared +indifferent to his approach, until, upon a closer view, I saw that she +was old and blind. She must, I thought, be deaf as well, since she had +failed to move at sound of hoof beats; which sound brought out an aged +man, who shattered Rashîd's plan of vengeance by exclaiming: +'Itfaddalû! (Perform a kindness!' that is, 'Enter!').</p> + +<p>'It is thou who doest kindness,' I replied, by rote. 'We are thy +suppliants for food and rest this night.'</p> + +<p>'All mine is thine,' the old man answered, coming to hold my horse's +head, while I dismounted. His wrinkled face was moulded to a patient, +sad expression, which became more noticeable when he smiled; and he +was always smiling.</p> + +<p>I went into the tower and down a flight of much-worn steps, which +ended in a heap of fallen masonry.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>'Deign to proceed,' called out the tenant from behind me; when, +climbing over the obstruction, I found myself in a large room, of +which the only furniture consisted in a heap of bedding and some +cooking things. Rather to my surprise the place was clean. The old man +flung himself upon the ground and blew upon the mass of charcoal in a +brazier, and presently a smell of coffee stewing filled the dungeon; +for such it doubtless had been in the past, its only window being high +above our heads, yet only just above the level of the rock, as I +discovered when I went to seek Rashîd, who, by our host's direction, +had bestowed the horses in a cavern by the sea. The blind old woman +still sat out before the door.</p> + +<p>I walked all round the tower and noticed small fields neatly fenced +below it on the landward side, and a few hobbled goats upon a strip of +herbage near the shore; which, with some fishing-nets spread out upon +the rocks to dry, informed me how our host obtained a livelihood.</p> + +<p>As I went back towards the door, I met Rashîd bringing our saddlebags. +He nodded to the woman, who still sat there motionless, and told me: +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>'She is mad, the poor old creature—but not dangerous. Fear nothing. +They are quite good people. It is strange, but he informs me she is +not his mother nor his wife, nor anyone by birth allied to him. And +yet he waits upon her, helpless as she is.'</p> + +<p>Just then, the master of the tower appeared, and, going to the woman, +took her hand and raised her. 'Itfaddalû!' he said, with just the same +polite alacrity with which he welcomed us on our arrival, as if she, +too, had been an honoured guest. We all went down the broken steps +into the dungeon. A meal of fish and bread was set before us. The +woman took her food apart. The master of the house did not sit down +till she was satisfied; and, after supper, he set out a bed for her, +and then washed out the vessels, before he came again and sat with us. +By that time the old woman was asleep. Two lighted wicks, passed +through a piece of cork which floated in a bowl of oil and water, +roused the shadows of the vault. A sudden outcry at the far end of the +room made us both jump.</p> + +<p>'Fear nothing!' said our entertainer. 'She is dreaming. Ah, poor lady! +Our Lord repay her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>goodness in the next life for all the evil she has +borne in this!'</p> + +<p>'Is it permissible to ask to hear her story?' said Rashîd.</p> + +<p>The old man looked at me with a reluctant smile, as who should say: +'It is a sad tale. Would you really care to hear it?'</p> + +<p>I nodded gravely, and, with a deep sigh, he began:</p> + +<p>'Many years ago—how many it is now impossible for me to say, for, +dwelling here, I have lost count of time—a certain chieftain of the +desert Arabs had a son who loved the daughter of his father's enemy. +There was no intercourse between the houses, but the young prince of +whom I speak contrived to see the maiden and to meet her stealthily, +even riding in among the dwellings of her people at risk of his own +life and mine; for I must tell you that I am his foster-brother, +though not by blood a scion of the desert, and so I served him, as was +usual with us, in the quality of an esquire.</p> + +<p>'Both tribes were of those Arabs which have villages for their +headquarters, without renouncing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>the old life of war and wandering. +Our village was upon the borders of the Belka, and hers far north +towards the Hauran. In those days there were no Turkish military posts +beyond the Jordan. The feuds and customs of the tribes were then the +only law; though now, they tell me, that that country is made safe for +travel.</p> + +<p>'There was no means to bridge the gulf which custom fixed between the +lovers; and so my foster-brother, being mad with longing for the maid, +decided to abduct her and escape into the settled country. I, loving +him, applauded all his schemes. The princess Amîneh—for she was the +daughter of a sovereign chief—was of a spirit equal to his own. She +rode out from her father's town by night upon the best mare of the +tribe with but one girl attendant. My lord and I were waiting by a +certain well. And then we rode, well knowing that both tribes would +hunt us, towards the wilâyet, where there was law and Turkish power to +protect us. The princess Amîneh lacked a man's endurance, and her +woman suffered greatly from fatigue. Their weakness had to be +considered, and there came a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>time when it was evident that they could +go no further without rest.</p> + +<p>'We were then within a short day's journey of the nearest Government +post, attaining which we should have been in safety. We took refuge in +a ruined sheepcote. I was keeping the look-out while all the others +slept, when I noticed a small cloud of dust uprising in the distance. +I roused my lord, and told him: "The pursuers come." He looked upon +the princess and her maiden: they lay fast asleep, exhausted by +fatigue.</p> + +<p>'"Let be," he said. "There is no hope for us in flight. Lie low. +Perhaps they will pass by without perceiving us."</p> + +<p>'And so they might have done, God knows, had not our horses neighed, +winding the other horses.'</p> + +<p>The old man wrung his hands, then hid his eyes with them.</p> + +<p>'Never, never can I tell the details of what followed. We fought, and +the princess fought beside us, snatching a scimitar which I was +wearing from my side. Her boldness helped us somewhat to delay the +end, for our assailants were her father's people, and they feared to +hurt her. But the end <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>came; it was from the first inevitable. I was +lying helpless on the ground, wounded, but fully conscious, when they +slew my lord. At once they hewed his body into fragments, each of +which was soon exalted on a spear. The princess, wounded in the face, +and pinioned, witnessed that. Her damsel lay inanimate, and at the +time I thought her dead. She was my promised bride. Then the Emir +approached with a great spear—as I suppose, to kill his daughter, but +just then there were loud shouts, and then another battle, in which I +heard the war-cry of our tribe. The father of my lord, pursuing also +with intent to punish us, had come upon his ancient enemy at unawares. +He won the day. The other Arabs broke and fled. The noblest of our +braves pursued them; but several of the lewder sort remained behind to +torture and dishonour my unhappy lady. I tried to rise and rescue her, +but, with the effort, my spirit left my body, and I lay as dead—the +praise to Allah!—which is the reason why I am alive to-day.</p> + +<p>'So great a fight could not take place so near the guarded country +without coming to the knowledge of the Government. Ten Turkish +soldiers, armed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>with carbines, and an ombashi, coming to the spot +next day, discovered us, and carried the survivors to a place of +safety. The princess was then, as you yourselves have seen her, except +that she was young and now is old. Her damsel had survived the fight +without much hurt, by God's protection, having lain upon the ground so +still that she was left for dead. When I recovered from my wounds, I +married her.</p> + +<p>'So tragic was our tale that all men pitied us. The Governor himself +protected the princess, and placed her with the women of his +household. But she could not be happy in the city, in that kind of +life; her soul grew restless, pining. My wife, who visited her every +day, was grieved for her; and when I found that it was as she said, I +went and asked the Governor's permission to support our lady. +Perceiving that she was not happy in his house, he yielded; and we +three wandered through the settled country for long months, the people +showing kindness to us through compassion, for our tale was known. At +last we reached this ruin by the sea, which pleased our lady because, +my wife believed, the mountains are so like a wall raised <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>up between +her and the country of her grief. That must be thirty years ago; but +she has never wandered since.</p> + +<p>'My wife died and I buried her beside the shore; for years I have +performed her duties to our lady. The people of these parts are +wicked, but they let us be, because they think that we are under some +enchantment. My prayer is always that I may survive my lady, for how +could she, poor creature, fare alone? So far, we have been very +fortunate, praise be to Allah!'</p> + +<p>Rashîd was loud in his expressions of amazement at the story, his mind +intent upon the central tragedy. He said no word of praise or wonder +at our host's self-sacrifice. That he accepted, as a thing of course. +This attitude of his, which I observed, prevented me from uttering the +words of pity and condolence which were on my tongue; and I am glad +those words were never uttered, for they were impertinent, and would +have seemed absurd to Orientals, who have not our sentiment.</p> + +<p>So, after the conclusion of the tale, we went to bed.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>BASTIRMA</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The moon began to shine upon the gardens of Damascus, casting pale +shadows, though the daylight had not quite departed, and the sky +behind the trees to westward was still green. We were sitting out on +stools under the walnut trees, beside a stream which made a pleasant +murmur. The air was laden with the scent of unseen roses. Behind us +was a little tavern with a lantern lighted in its entrance arch, a +solitary yellow eye amid the twilight.</p> + +<p>We were the centre of a crowd, as usual when Suleymân was with us. His +voice attracted people like a drum, and the matter of his talk had +power to hold them. It was a weighty voice of studied modulations, +which promised wisdom on the brink of laughter. He generally chose +some moral or religious subject for discourse, and illustrated it by +what we call 'nawâdir' (rare things) selected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>from his vast +experience of life. By his own account he had journeyed to the world's +rim, and had associated not alone with men, but also with jinn and +ghouls. On the other hand, he had been to Europe several times, and +knew the streets of Paris and of London. Somehow, one never doubted +any of his stories while he was telling them, the accents of his voice +had such conviction. One was conscious that his tales—even the most +extravagant—were true in some mysterious, intrinsic way. This time he +chose to speak to us of guilt and innocence, of good and evil works, +and their effect on man's salvation. He aired the theory, which roused +approving murmurs in the listening circle, that to have a good +intention was the chief desideratum for every son of Adam on his +journey through the world, no matter though his works might turn out +bad or unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>'To lie with good intention is better than to tell the truth with bad +intention,' he declared.</p> + +<p>'To lie is the salt of a man; the shame is to him who believes,' put +in Rashîd, my servant, who was great at proverbs.</p> + +<p>Suleymân paid no heed to the interruption.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>'A sin committed thoughtlessly,' said he, 'is light compared with one +which thou hast hatched and planned.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, O beloved, a sin is a sin, appointed so by the Most High; and +the duty of a man is to avoid it. The hurt to man's salvation is the +same, however he approach it,' said an old man in the audience. 'If I +cut my hand, is the wound less, is it not rather likely to be +more—for being thoughtless?'</p> + +<p>There was a murmur of applause as all eyes turned on this objector, +whose likeness could not be distinguished in the gloaming.</p> + +<p>I spoke in approbation of the view expressed, and the old man, +emboldened, laughed:</p> + +<p>'To lie is bad, to kill is bad, to steal is bad. Our Lord destroy this +rogue of an Intention, which plain men cannot catch nor understand!'</p> + +<p>'Nay, listen!' Suleymân became persuasive and profoundly earnest, as +was his manner always under opposition. 'Thou hast not altogether +caught my meaning. I say a man should trust in the Most High, not +think too much beforehand of his ways. By thinking beforehand, he may +form <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>a bad intention, since man's thoughts are naturally fallible. +Let him think afterwards, thus he will learn to shun such snares in +future, and by repentance place a good work to his credit. Men learn +wisdom from their sins, not from their righteous deeds. And the +consciousness of sin, the knowledge that they may at any moment fall +into it, preserves them from the arrogance of goodness.'</p> + +<p>'There may be some small grain of sense in what thou sayest,' chuckled +the objector, 'but not enough to make sin righteous, nor yet to +abrogate the sacred law.'</p> + +<p>Suleymân pursued unheeding: 'I have a rare thing, which will show you +what I mean.</p> + +<p>'A new judge had been appointed to the Holy City. He was departing +from Stambûl by ship to take up his appointment. On the quay, a Jew of +his acquaintance came to him with reverence, and begged him kindly to +convey a basket of bastirma to his (the Jew's) son at the Holy City, +which the Jews in their own language call Jerusalem. You all know what +bastirma is. It is dried and salted mutton—very tasty—a dish of +which the Turks are most inordinately fond. The Cadi graciously +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>consented, bidding his major-domo take the basket, and bestow it +carefully among the things. The Jew departed. The Cadi and his party +journeyed till they reached their destination, where, upon arrival, +they discovered a young Jew inquiring earnestly about a basket of +bastirma. The Cadi had forgotten its existence. "Ah, to be sure!" he +cried. "I gave it my major-domo for safe keeping."</p> + +<p>'He called that servant, and commanded him to give the basket of +bastirma to the Jew there waiting. The major-domo bowed his head, +folded his hands upon his breast, and said: "I ask forgiveness, O my +lord. The basket still remains, but the bastirma was so excellent +that, having tasted but a piece of it, I wanted more, so that, in +fact, I ate it all upon the journey. I wish to pay the price of it to +this young Jew."</p> + +<p>'The Cadi thought his servant's offer fair enough, but the young Jew +went mad. Flying at the throat of the major-domo, he flung him to the +ground, and tried to tear the soul out of his body with his teeth and +nails. The Cadi called upon the bystanders for help. The Jew was +dragged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>with difficulty from his victim. Then the Cadi asked:</p> + +<p>'"Why, pray, did you attack my servant in that savage way?"</p> + +<p>'"That man," said the Jew, still white with rage, and pointing with +his tallow finger at the major-domo, who had risen from the +ground—"that man contains my grandfather."</p> + +<p>'"What words are these? Explain yourself!" the Cadi cried.</p> + +<p>'"Three weeks ago, O gracious Excellency, my grandfather died in +Stambûl. It had ever been his dearest wish to be buried in the Holy +City, near the scene of judgment; and that wish of his was law on us +his offspring. But how could we fulfil it? How, I ask? No skipper, +whether Nazarene or Muslim, would receive a dead Jew on his ship for +less than the corpse-weight in gold. And we are poor. To take him +overland was quite impossible. And so my father and my mother in +Stambûl cured his dead limbs, and made of them bastirma, and sent him +hither in the way thou knowest. It follows that thy servant has +committed a most dreadful crime. Let him be killed, I pray, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>and +buried in the tomb we have prepared, that so my grandfather's great +wish may be fulfilled."</p> + +<p>'The major-domo was more dead than living as he heard that story. He +rent his clothes and fell down on the ground insensible.</p> + +<p>'The Cadi answered the young Jew with wisdom, saying: "Thou art +entitled to the price of one basket of bastirma, and no more, from +this my servant; but he, on his side, has a right to all thou ownest. +What wealth can ever compensate him for the haunting fear that on the +Last Day he may rise inextricably mingled with thy worthy grandfather? +Go, I say, and never venture to approach him any more, or I shall +surely act upon this judgment and denude thee quite." The +major-domo—'</p> + +<p>Cries of 'Miskîn! Miskîn!' (poor fellow!) interrupted the narrative.</p> + +<p>One said: 'I once ate pig's flesh by mistake, but this man's plight is +much more horrible.'</p> + +<p>Suleymân's opponent cried: 'It was a judgment on him, evidently, for +his theft of the bastirma. Say, what became of him thereafter, O +narrator?'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>'The major-domo, who, till then, had been a precious rogue—I knew him +intimately from a child, and so can vouch for it—became from that day +forth the saintliest of men. He thought about his crime and mourned +for it, and deemed himself an unclean beast until he died—may God +have mercy on him—and was buried in the Holy City as the Jew desired. +He thought of nothing but good deeds, yet without seeking merit, +knowing that nothing he could do would ever cleanse him. He became the +humblest and the best of men, who had before been arrogant and very +wicked. Therefore I say that it is well for men to think of their sins +after rather than before committing them.'</p> + +<p>'But the intention!—What of the intention, O my master? His intention +was not good. He stole!'</p> + +<p>'His intention went no further than a basket of bastirma. The Jew was +only an unpleasant accident, in respect whereof no guilt attached to +him. The case is clear, and yet, although I used to argue with him on +the subject, I never could contrive to make him see it. One thing is +certain, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>and will prove to you the worth of good intentions. He only +meant to eat a basket of bastirma; therefore he felt great remorse +when he devoured a Jew, and so became a saint for Paradise. Had he +intended to devour a Jew he could not possibly have felt such great +remorse. What say you?'</p> + +<p>And everyone agreed that it was so.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE ARTIST-DRAGOMAN</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Of Suleymân in his capacity of dragoman I saw little but heard much +both from himself and others. The English residents in Palestine and +Syria—those who knew of him—regarded him as but a doubtful +character, if one may judge from their repeated warnings to me not to +trust him out of sight. His wisdom and his independent way of airing +it did not please everybody as they did me; and reverence in dealing +with a fellow-man was not his strong point. By travellers, I gather +from innumerable testimonials which he showed me, he was either much +beloved or the reverse, though none could say he did not know his +business.</p> + +<p>His English, though voluminous and comprehensive, was sometimes +strange to native English ears. He had read the Bible in a German +mission school, and spoke of 'Billiam's donkey' and 'the mighty +Simson' where we should speak of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>Balaam's ass and Samson. He called +the goatskins used for carrying water 'beastly skins,' and sometimes +strengthened a mild sentence with an expletive.</p> + +<p>I do not think he ever went so far in this way as another dragoman +who, riding out from Haifa one fine morning with an English lady, +pointed to Mount Carmel and observed:</p> + +<p>'Bloody fine hill, madam!'</p> + +<p>He knew how to adapt his language to his audience. But it is curious +that a man whose speech in Arabic was highly mannered, in English +should have cultivated solecisms. That he did cultivate them as an +asset of his stock-in-trade I can affirm, for he would invent absurd +mistakes and then rehearse them to me, with the question: 'Is that +funny? Will that make the English laugh?'</p> + +<p>For clergymen he kept a special manner and a special store of jokes. +When leading such through Palestine he always had a Bible up before +him on the saddle; and every night would join them after dinner and +preach a sermon on the subject of the next day's journey. This he +would make as comical as possible for their amusement, for clergymen, +he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>often used to say to me, are fond of laughter of a certain kind.</p> + +<p>One English parson he bedevilled utterly by telling him the truth—or +the accepted legend—in such a form that it seemed false or mad to +him.</p> + +<p>As they were riding out from Jaffa towards Jerusalem, he pointed to +the mud-built village of Latrûn and said:</p> + +<p>'That, sir, is the place where Simpson catch the foxes.'</p> + +<p>'Ah?' said the clergyman. 'And who was Simpson?'</p> + +<p>'He was a very clever gentleman, and liked a bit of sport.'</p> + +<p>'Was he an Englishman?'</p> + +<p>'No, sir; he was a Jew. He catch a lot of foxes with some traps; he +kill them and he take their skins to Jaffa to the tailor, and he tell +the tailor: "Make me one big skin out of these little ones." The +tailor make one thundering big fox's skin, big enough for Simpson to +get inside of it. Then Simpson, he put on that skin one night, and go +and sit out in the field and make the same noise what the little foxes +make. The little foxes come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>out of their holes to look; they see one +big fox sitting there, and they not know it's really Simpson. They +come quite near and Simpson catch hold of their tails and tie their +tails together. Then they make the noise, and still more foxes come, +and Simpson catch hold of their tails and tie their tails together, +till he got hundreds and hundreds.'</p> + +<p>'Whatever did he do with them?' inquired the parson.</p> + +<p>'He set fire to them.'</p> + +<p>'What on earth did he do that for?'</p> + +<p>'That, sir, was to annoy his wife's relations.'</p> + +<p>'And would you believe it,' added Suleymân when he told me the story, +'that foolish preacher did not know that it is in the Bible. He took +it all down in his notebook as the exploit of a Jewish traveller. He +was the Heavy One.'</p> + +<p>The last remark was in allusion to an Arabic proverb of which Suleymân +was very fond:</p> + +<p>'When the Heavy One alights in the territory of a people there is +nothing for the inhabitants except departure.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>Which, in its turn, is an allusion to the following story:</p> + +<p>A colony of ducks lived on an island in a river happily until a +certain day, when the carcase of an ox came drifting down the current +and stuck upon the forepoint of that island. They tried in vain to +lift it up or push it off; it was too heavy to be moved an inch by all +their efforts. They named it in their speech the Heavy One. Its stench +infected the whole island, and kept on increasing until the hapless +ducks were forced to emigrate.</p> + +<p>Many Heavy Ones fell to the lot of Suleymân as dragoman, and he was by +temperament ill-fitted to endure their neighbourhood. Upon the other +hand, he sometimes happened on eccentrics who rejoiced his heart. An +American admiral, on shore in Palestine for two days, asked only one +thing: to be shown the tree on which Judas Iscariot had hanged +himself, in order that he might defile it in a natural manner and so +attest his faith. Suleymân was able to conduct him to the very tree, +and to make the journey occupy exactly the time specified. The +American was satisfied, and wrote him out a handsome testimonial.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>It must have been a hardship for Suleymân—a man by nature sensitive +and independent—to take his orders from some kinds of tourists and +endure their rudeness. If left alone to manage the whole journey, he +was—I have been told, and I can well believe it—the best guide in +Syria, devoting all his energies to make the tour illuminating and +enjoyable; if heckled or distrusted, he grew careless and eventually +dangerous, intent to play off jokes on people whom he counted enemies. +One Englishman, with a taste for management but little knowledge of +the country, and no common sense, he cruelly obeyed in all things, +with the natural result in loss of time and loss of luggage, sickness +and discomfort. That was his way of taking vengeance on the Heavy +Ones.</p> + +<p>'And yet the man was happy, having had things his own way, even after +the most horrid and disastrous journey ever made,' he told me with a +sigh. 'Some men are asses.'</p> + +<p>One afternoon, when I was riding round the bay from Akka towards the +foot of Carmel, supposing Suleymân to be a hundred miles away, I came +upon a group of tourists by the river Kishon, on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>outskirts of the +palm grove. They had alighted and were grouped around a dragoman in +gorgeous raiment, like gulls around a parrot. The native of the land +was holding forth to them. His voice was richly clerical in +intonation, which made me notice that his audience consisted solely of +members of the clergy and their patient women.</p> + +<p>'This, ladies and gentlemen,' the rascal was declaiming like a man +inspired, 'is that ancient riffer, the riffer Kishon. It was here that +the great Brophet Elijah bring the Brophets of Baal after he catch +them with that dirty trick which I exblain to you about the sacrifice +ub there upon that mountain what you see behind you. Elijah he come +strollin' down, quite habby, to this ancient riffer, singin' one +little song; and the beoble they lug down those wicked brophets. Then +Elijah take one big, long knife his uncle gif him and sharben it ubon +a stone like what I'm doin'. Then he gif a chuckle and he look among +those brophets; and he see one man he like the look of, nice and fat; +and he say: "Bring me that man!" They bring that man; Elijah slit his +throat and throw him in the riffer. Then he say: "Bring his brother!" +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>and they bring his brother, and he slit his throat and throw him in +the riffer ... till they was <span class="smcap">ALL</span> gone. Then Elijah clean his +knife down in the earth, and when he'd finished laughin' he put ub a +brayer.</p> + +<p>'That was a glorious massycration, gentlemen!'</p> + +<p>The preacher was Suleymân, at struggle with the Heavy Ones. He was not +at all abashed when he caught sight of me.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>LOVE AND THE PATRIARCH</h4> +<br /> + +<p>I was staying for some weeks at Howard's Hotel in Jerusalem (Iskender +Awwad, the dragoman, had transformed himself into the Chevalier +Alexander Howard, a worthy, if choleric, gentleman, and a good friend +of mine), and I rode out every day upon a decent pony, which I had +discovered in the stables at the back of the hotel. One afternoon a +nephew of the stable-owner, who was something of a blood, proposed +that we should ride together out towards Bethlehem. His horse was a +superb and showy stallion, quite beyond his power to manage properly. +My modest steed was fired to emulation, and, once beyond the outskirts +of Jerusalem, we tore away. At a corner where the road was narrow +between rocks, I do not know exactly how, the big horse cannoned into +mine and overturned him. I pitched headlong on some stones.</p> + +<p>My first impression was that I had struck a wet spot in that arid +wilderness. Then I saw my horse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>at a great distance, galloping, and +heard the nephew of the owner saying that he must pursue it, while I +must mount his horse and ride on slowly.</p> + +<p>'Not half a mile from here, upon that hill,' he said, 'is Katamûn, the +country seat of the Greek Patriarch. There you are certain to find +people who will have compassion. Would God that I had never lived to +see this day! Would God that I were in the grave instead of you!'</p> + +<p>He seemed beside himself with grief and fear on my account; and yet +the sense of property remained supreme. His first concern was to +retrieve the runaway.</p> + +<p>Bewildered and unable to see clearly, I did not mount the horse, which +would have mastered me in that condition, but led him slowly up the +hill to Katamûn. Upon the top there was a grove of trees, above which +peeped some flat roofs and a dome. At length I reached the gate of +this enclosure. It was open, and I led the horse along a sort of +drive, on which were many chickens and a tethered sheep, which, +bolting round a tree at our approach, became inextricably tangled in +its rope.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>In a court between a little church and other buildings, a grim old +woman in a coloured head-veil looked at me out of a doorway. I called +to her that I had had an accident, and asked the favour of some +washing-water and a bandage. She stared at me in doleful wise, and +shook her head.</p> + +<p>'Water! Bring me water!' I insisted.</p> + +<p>She went indoors and fetched a man of the same breed, whose eyes grew +large and dull with horror at the sight of me.</p> + +<p>Again I asked to be allowed to wash my head and face.</p> + +<p>I heard the woman whisper: 'Shall I bring it?' and the man reply: 'Let +be! This blood-stained form is half a corpse already. He will surely +die. The horse, perhaps, is stolen. There has been a fight. If we +should touch him we might be concerned in it. Wait till the end. Then +we will summon his Beatitude, and have our testimony written down to +prove our innocence.'</p> + +<p>Amazed at their stupidity, I took a step towards them, arguing. They +vanished headlong, when I realised for the first time that my +appearance was in truth alarming. Perceiving the advantage that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>appearance gave me, I pursued them, promising them plagues in this +world and perdition in the next unless they brought some water +instantly.</p> + +<p>The horse, which I was leading all this while, had been as quiet as a +lamb; but, frightened by my shouts and gestures, he became +unmanageable. I was struggling with him in the doorway of the house +when a large and dignified ecclesiastic came upon the scene, the +jewelled cross upon his cassock flashing in the sun. In the twinkling +of an eye, it seemed to me, he had subdued the horse and tied him to a +ring in the wall which I, in my bewilderment, had failed to see; had +seized me by the collar of my coat and driven me before him through a +kind of tunnel to a second court in which there was a cistern and a +pump. He worked that pump and held my head beneath it, cursing the +servants for a pack of imbeciles.</p> + +<p>The man and woman reappeared, completely tamed. He sent them running, +one for stuff to make a bandage, the other for medicaments, but said +no word to me until the work was ended, when he grinned and asked: +'Art happy now?'</p> + +<p>I told him that I felt a great deal better.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>'Good,' he said, and led me by the hand into an upper chamber, richly +carpeted, and furnished with a cushioned divan, of which the windows +framed a wide view eastward over the Judæan wilderness.</p> + +<p>There, sitting comfortably, he asked who I was and of what country; +and, hearing that I came from England, questioned me about the High +Church and the Low Church in that land, and whether they formed one +communion or were separate—a problem which he seemed to think of +great importance. He was glad, he said, that I was not a Roman +Catholic, a sect which he regarded as the worst of heretics.</p> + +<p>But his concern with all these matters seemed perfunctory compared +with the delight he took in farming; for when I noticed from the +window some sleek cows munching in a small enclosure, he brightened up +and told me they were recent purchases. He talked about his poultry +and his sheep and goats, all of which he would be pleased to show me +if I cared to see them.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, when we had drunk some coffee, which completed my +revival, he took me out and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>showed me round his small demesne. We +were standing in the shade of trees, discussing turkeys, when my +companion of the road arrived upon the truant horse. He was a member +of the Orthodox Greek Church.</p> + +<p>What was my amazement when, having tied up the horse, he came with +reverent haste and knelt at my companion's feet, kissing his hand with +pious and devoted fervour. The grey-bearded priest, with full brown +eyes, and hair that curled below the tall black head-dress like a +trimming of grey astrakhan, with whom I had been talking so +familiarly, was no other than the successor of St. James, the Orthodox +Patriarch of Jerusalem. I had supposed him some sub-prior or domestic +chaplain. His Beatitude acknowledged my surprise by an ironic grin.</p> + +<p>The new arrival, still upon his knees, embarked on a long story, told +in lamentable tones, about a man who was in love, and like to die of +it, with a young girl who was the sister of his brother's wife. It is +forbidden by the canons of the Eastern Church for two brothers to +marry two sisters.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>'Is there no way by which he may obtain her lawfully?' the suppliant +asked.</p> + +<p>The Patriarch assumed an air of weariness, and shook his head.</p> + +<p>'If he were a Catholic or a Protestant he could obtain her lawfully.'</p> + +<p>The Patriarch assumed an air of pitying scorn.</p> + +<p>'The case is very hard,' the suppliant moaned, as he rose up from the +ground at last and cleaned his knees.</p> + +<p>The Patriarch, with a shrug, remarked that it was so. The young man +should not have cast eyes upon a maid unlawful to him.</p> + +<p>'The only way,' he said, 'is to obtain annulment of the brother's +marriage by proving it to be illegal in some way.' With that he left +the subject and resumed his talk concerning poultry. My companion of +the road was plucking at my sleeve.</p> + +<p>I took leave of the Patriarch respectfully, with many thanks. He +clapped me on the shoulder, saying: 'Come again! And never seek to wed +the sister of thy brother's wife. Your Church does not forbid such +marriage—does it?—being still tainted with the Latin heresy. Why +does the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>Orthodox Church forbid it? Because it brings confusion into +families, and is indecent.'</p> + +<p>He seemed to jest, but the look he gave to my companion as we rode +away was stern, I thought, and more than half-contemptuous.</p> + +<p>Excepting that my head was bandaged, I felt well again; so we rode on, +as we had first intended, towards Bethlehem. Over a rocky land with +patches of pink cyclamen, black crows were wheeling in a sky of vivid +blue.</p> + +<p>We came into the olive groves beneath the hill on which stands the +Greek priory of Mâr Elias, when my companion said ingratiatingly: 'If +you please, we will call at the monastery and take refreshment. The +monks are friends of mine. It was with the object of this visit that I +led our ride in this direction.'</p> + +<p>As I raised no objection, we tied up our horses in the garden of the +monastery and went in. We found the Prior in the middle of a +tea-party, a number of Greek neighbours, of both sexes, being gathered +in a very comfortably-furnished room.</p> + +<p>My friend, ere entering, implored me in a whisper not to tell them +that my accident was owing to his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>clumsy horsemanship. Instead, he +put about some story which I did not clearly overhear—something about +a fight with desert Arabs, redounding to my credit, I conclude, from +the solicitude which everyone expressed on my account when he had told +it. Some of the ladies present insisted on a second washing of my +wounds with rose-water, and a second bandaging with finer linen than +the Patriarch had used. Some monks, their long hair frizzed +coquettishly and tied with ribbon, helped in the work. I did not like +the look of them. My friend meanwhile was talking to some pretty +girls.</p> + +<p>When we rode off again towards Jerusalem he asked me questions about +the Anglican and Roman Churches, and seemed to think it a sad defect +in the former that it lacked the faculty of dispensation with regard +to marriage.</p> + +<p>After a space of silence, as we were riding down the hill by the +Ophthalmic Hospital, with the Tower of David and the city walls +crowning the steep before us, he inquired: 'Did you observe those +girls with whom I was conversing—especially the one with pale-blue +ribbons. It is her I love.' And, when I complimented him on his good +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>taste, he added: 'I think I shall become a Catholic,' and started +weeping.</p> + +<p>I then learnt from his broken speech that he was himself the hapless +lover of his story to the Patriarch. The girl whom I had seen at Mâr +Elias was the sister of his brother's wife. I was as sympathetic in +appearance as I could be; but somehow all my sympathy was with the +Patriarch, who seemed to me the only man whom I had seen that day.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE UNPOPULAR LANDOWNER</h4> +<br /> + +<p>I had decided to buy land and settle down in Syria; and had obtained +consent from home upon condition that I did not spend more than a +certain sum of money, not a large one, which, Suleymân had told me, +would be quite sufficient for the purpose. He pointed out how lands, +at present desert, and to be bought for a mere song, could be rendered +profitable for the cost of bringing water to them. There was such a +tract of land adjacent to the village where he had a house, with water +running under it at no great depth. Rashîd, my servant, did not like +this notion of converting deserts into gardens. He called it simple +waste of time and labour, when gardens ready made were going cheap. +There was a nice estate, with two perennial springs within its +boundaries, near his village in the north. His people would be proud +and gratified if I would honour their poor dwelling while <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>inspecting +it. Suleymân lamented that his house was quite unworthy of my +occupation, but proposed to have a fine pavilion pitched outside it, +if I would deign to grace the village as his guest.</p> + +<p>'Depend upon it,' said an Englishman whom I consulted on one of my +rare visits to the city, 'the land they recommend belongs to their +relations. They will sell it you for twenty times the market value, +and then adhere to you like leeches till they've sucked you dry.' He +added: 'I advise you to give up the whole idea,' but I was used to +that advice, and firm against it.</p> + +<p>His warning against native counsellors, however, weighed with me to +this extent, that I determined to ignore the lands they recommended in +their neighbourhood. Each was at first cast down when I announced this +resolution. But presently Rashîd exclaimed: 'No matter where we dwell. +I still shall serve thee'; and Suleymân, after smoking his narghîleh a +long while in silence, said: 'Each summer I will visit thee and give +advice.'</p> + +<p>All three of us then set to work upon inquiries. Innumerable were the +sheykhs who seemed to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>in money difficulties and wished to sell +their land. Some owners journeyed forty miles to come and see me, and +explain the great advantage of their property. But, knowing something +of the Land Code, I inquired about the tenure. I wanted only 'mulk' or +freehold land; and 'wakf' (land held in tail or mortmain) of various +and awful kinds is much more common. At last a sheykh came who +declared his land was 'mulk,' and certain of our neighbours, men of +worth, testified of their certain knowledge that he spoke the truth.</p> + +<p>The village where the property was situated was a long day's journey +from our own. A fortnight after my discussion with the owner Suleymân +and I set out on our way thither, having sent Rashîd ahead of us to +find a decent lodging, since it was our intention to remain there +several days.</p> + +<p>The village was arranged in steps upon a mountain side, the roofs of +houses on the lower level serving as approach to those above. On all +the steep slopes round about it there were orchards, with now and then +a flat-roofed house among the trees.</p> + +<p>Rashîd came out to meet us, accompanied by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>certain of the elders, +among whom I looked in vain for the owner of the land we were to +visit. My first inquiry was for him. Rashîd replied: 'He is unpopular. +I went to the chief people of the village'—he waved his hand towards +the persons who escorted him—'and they have set apart a house and +stable for your Honour's use.'</p> + +<p>The house turned out to be a single room, cube-shaped, and furnished +only with some matting. The stable, part of the same building, was +exactly like it, except that it was open at one end.</p> + +<p>We had our supper at a tavern by the village spring, surrounded by a +friendly crowd of fellâhîn. Again I looked for the old gentleman whom +I had come to see, and whispered my surprise at not beholding him. +Rashîd again replied: 'He is unpopular.'</p> + +<p>Returning to the house with me, Rashîd arranged my bed; put candle, +matches, cigarettes within my reach; fastened the shutters of two +windows; and retired, informing me that he and Suleymân were sleeping +at the dwelling of the headman of the place.</p> + +<p>I had got into my bed upon the floor when there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>came a knocking on +the solid wooden shutters which Rashîd had closed. I went and opened +one of them a little way. It was moonlight, but the window looked into +the gloom of olive trees. A voice out of the shadows questioned:</p> + +<p>'Is it thou, the Englishman?'</p> + +<p>It was the owner of the land, who then reproached me in heartbroken +tones because I had not let him know the hour of my arrival, that he +and his three sons might have gone forth upon the road to meet me. The +owners of the place where now I lodged were his chief enemies. He +begged me to steal forth at once and come with him. When I refused, he +groaned despairingly and left me with the words:</p> + +<p>'Believe not anything they say about us or the property.'</p> + +<p>I closed the shutter and went back to bed. But it was hot. I rose +again and opened both the windows so as to secure whatever breeze +there was, and, after a long spell of angry tossing due to sandflies, +fell asleep. When I awoke the room was full of daylight and a murmur +which I first mistook for that of insects, but soon found out to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>be +the voice of a considerable crowd of human beings. At every window was +a press of faces and of women's head-veils, and children raised upon +their mothers' shoulders. I heard a child's sad wail: 'O mother, lift +me up that I, too, may behold the unbeliever!'</p> + +<p>I made haste to cover myself somehow, for in my sleep I had kicked off +the bedclothes, and commanded all those women to be gone immediately. +They merely grinned and wished me a good day, and then discussed my +personal appearance, the whiteness of my skin, and more particularly +my pyjamas, with much interest. This went on till Rashîd appeared upon +the scene, bringing my india-rubber bath and a kerosene tin full of +water. He closed and bolted all the shutters firmly, with stern +reflections on the lack of shame of my admirers.</p> + +<p>I told him of the visit of the owner of the land.</p> + +<p>He answered as before: 'He is unpopular.'</p> + +<p>I asked the reason, and he told me:</p> + +<p>'There are in this part of the country two factions which have existed +from old time. All the people in this village are adherents of one +faction, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>except that old man and his children, who uphold the other. +The people would not mind so much if he kept silent, but he gibes at +them and vaunts his party upon all occasions. They intend to kill him. +That is why he wants to sell. It is good to know this, since it gives +us an advantage.'</p> + +<p>Suleymân arrived. We all three breakfasted on slabs of country bread +and a great bowl of curds, and then went out to view that old man's +land. The sheykh—whose name was Yûsuf—and his sons were there to +show us round, and, though the property was not extensive, they +contrived to keep us there till noon, when a round meal was spread for +us beneath some trees. And after that was finished, the sheykh availed +himself of some remark of mine to start the whole perambulation once +again.</p> + +<p>At last it came to mention of the price, which seemed to me excessive, +and I said so to my friends.</p> + +<p>Rashîd replied: 'Of course! The business has not yet begun. To-morrow +and the next day we shall view the land again; and after that we shall +arrange for the appointment of two valuers, one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>for us and one for +him, who will inspect the land, first separately, then together; and +after that we shall appoint an arbiter who will remonstrate with the +owner of the land; and after that——'</p> + +<p>'But the business will take months.'</p> + +<p>'That is the proper way, unless your Honour wishes to be cheated.'</p> + +<p>'What is your opinion?' I inquired of Suleymân.</p> + +<p>'The land is good, and capable of much improvement,' he replied, 'and +all the trees go with it, which is an advantage. Also the source of +water will be all our own.'</p> + +<p>Suleymân repeated this remark in presence of the crowd of villagers +whom we found awaiting our return before my house. At once there rose +a cry: 'That Yûsuf is a liar. Some of the trees do not belong to him. +The water, too, does not originate upon his property, but on the hill +above, so can be cut from him.'</p> + +<p>Suleymân was talking with the village headman. When he returned to me +his face was grave.</p> + +<p>'What is it?' I inquired. 'Has the Sheykh Yûsuf been deceiving us?'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>He shook his head with a disgusted frown before replying:</p> + +<p>'No, it is these others who are lying through dislike of him. Is your +heart set upon the purchase of that land?'</p> + +<p>'By no means.'</p> + +<p>'That is good; because this village is a nest of hornets. The headman +has long marked that land out for his own. Were we to pay Sheykh Yûsuf +a good price for it, enabling him to leave the neighbourhood with +honour, they would hate us and work for our discomfort in a multitude +of little ways. We will call upon the Sheykh to-morrow and cry off the +bargain, because your Honour caught a touch of fever from the land +to-day. That is a fair excuse.'</p> + +<p>We proffered it upon the morrow, when the Sheykh Yûsuf received it +with a scarce veiled sneer, seeming extremely mortified. Directly +after we had left him, we heard later, he went down to the tavern by +the village spring and cursed the elders who had turned my mind +against him in unmeasured terms; annoying people so that they +determined there and then to make an end of him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>Next morning, when we started on our homeward way, there was a noise +of firing in the village, and, coming round a shoulder of the hill in +single file we saw Sheykh Yûsuf seated on a chair against the wall of +his house, and screened by a great olive tree, the slits in whose old +trunk made perfect loopholes, blazing away at a large crowd of hostile +fellâhîn. He used, in turn, three rifles, which his sons kept loading +for him. He was seated, as we afterwards found out, because he had +been shot in the leg.</p> + +<p>I was for dashing to his rescue, and Rashîd was following. We should +both have lost our lives, most probably, if Suleymân had not shouted +at that moment, in stentorian tones: 'Desist, in the name of the +Sultan and all the Powers of Europe! Desist, or every one of you shall +surely hang!'</p> + +<p>Such words aroused the people's curiosity. The firing ceased while we +rode in between them and their object; and Suleymân assured the +villagers politely that I was the right hand and peculiar agent of the +English Consul-General, with absolutely boundless power to hang and +massacre.</p> + +<p>Upon the other hand, we all three argued with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>Sheykh Yûsuf that he +should leave the place at once and lay his case before the Governor.</p> + +<p>'We will go with him,' said Suleymân to me, 'in order that your Honour +may be made acquainted with the Governor—a person whom you ought to +know. His property will not be damaged in his absence, for they fear +the law. The heat of war is one thing, and cold-blooded malice is +another. It is the sight and sound of him that irritates them and so +drives them to excess.'</p> + +<p>At length we got the Sheykh on horseback and upon the road; but he was +far from grateful, wishing always to go back and fight. We could not +get a civil word from him on the long ride, and just before we reached +the town where lived the Governor he managed to escape.</p> + +<p>Rashîd flung up his hands when we first noticed his defection. 'No +wonder that he is unpopular,' he cried disgustedly. 'To flee from us, +his benefactors, after we have come so far out of our way through +kindness upon his account. It is abominable. Who, under Allah, could +feel love for such a man?'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE CAÏMMACÂM</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Though the reason of our coming, the Sheykh Yûsuf, had deserted us, we +rode into the town and spent the night there, finding lodgings at a +khan upon the outskirts of the place, of which the yard was shaded by +a fine old carob tree. While we were having breakfast the next morning +in a kind of gallery which looked into the branches of that tree, and +through them and a ruined archway to the road, crowded just then with +peasants in grey clothing coming in to market, Suleymân proposed that +he and I should go and call upon the Caïmmacâm, the local Governor. I +had spent a wretched night. The place was noisy and malodorous. My one +desire was to be gone as soon as possible, and so I answered:</p> + +<p>'I will call on no one. My only wish to see him was upon account of +that old rogue who ran away from us.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>'The man was certainly ungrateful—curse his father!' said Rashîd.</p> + +<p>'The man is to be pitied, being ignorant,' said Suleymân. 'His one +idea was to defend his house and land by combat. He did not perceive +that by the course of law and influence he might defend them more +effectually, and for ever. He probably did not imagine that your +Honour would yourself approach the Governor and plead with him.'</p> + +<p>'I shall see nobody,' I answered crossly. 'We return at once.'</p> + +<p>'Good,' said Rashîd. 'I get the horses ready.'</p> + +<p>'And yet,' said our preceptor thoughtfully, 'his Excellency is, they +say, a charming man; and this would be a golden opportunity for us to +get acquainted with him and bespeak his favour. Thus the Sheykh Yûsuf, +though himself contemptible, may be of service to us. Already I have +told the people here that we have come on an important errand to the +Governor. Rashîd, too, as I know, has spoken of the matter in a +boastful way. If, after that, we should depart in dudgeon without +seeing him, there would be gossip and perhaps—God knows—even +political disturbance. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>Governor, coming to hear of it, might +reasonably feel aggrieved.'</p> + +<p>He argued so ridiculously, yet so gravely, that in the end I was +obliged to yield. And so, a little before ten o'clock, we sauntered +through the narrow streets to the Government offices—a red-roofed, +whitewashed building near which soldiers loitered, in a dusty square.</p> + +<p>There we waited for a long while in an ante-room—spacious, but rather +dingy, with cushionless divans around the walls, on which a strange +variety of suitors sat or squatted. Some of these appeared so poor +that I admired their boldness in demanding audience of the Governor. +Yet it was one of the most wretched in appearance who was called first +by the turbaned, black-robed usher. He passed into an inner room: the +door was shut.</p> + +<p>Then Suleymân went over to the usher, who kept guard upon that door, +and held a whispered conversation with him. I know not what he said; +but, when the wretched-looking man came out again, the usher slipped +into the inner room with reverence and, presently returning, bowed to +us and bade us enter. I went in, followed by Suleymân, who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>swelled +and strutted like a pouter pigeon in his flowing robes.</p> + +<p>The Caïmmacâm was a nice-looking Turk of middle-age, extremely neat in +his apparel and methodical in his surroundings. He might have been an +Englishman but for the crimson fez upon his brow and a chaplet of red +beads, with which he toyed perpetually. He gazed into my eyes with +kind inquiry. I told him that I came with tidings of a grave +disturbance in his district, and then left Suleymân to tell the story +of Sheykh Yûsuf and his neighbours and the battle we had witnessed in +the olive grove before his house.</p> + +<p>Suleymân exhausted all his powers of language and of wit, making a +veritable poem of the episode. The Governor did not appear profoundly +interested.</p> + +<p>'Sheykh Yûsuf! Who is he?' he asked at the conclusion of the tale.</p> + +<p>I explained that the Sheykh Yûsuf was a landowner, whose acquaintance +we had made through my desire to buy some property.</p> + +<p>'Your Honour thinks of settling here among us?' cried his Excellency, +with sudden zest, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>appearing quite enraptured with the notion. He +asked then if the French tongue was intelligible to me, and, hearing +that it was, talked long in French about my project, which seemed to +please him greatly. He said that it would be a blessing for his +district to have a highly civilised, enlightened being like myself +established in it as the sun and centre of improvement; and what a +comfort it would be to him particularly to have an educated man at +hand to talk to! He hoped that, when I had set up my model farm—for a +model it would be, in every way, he felt quite sure of that, from my +appearance and my conversation—I would not limit my attention solely +to the work of agriculture, but would go on to improve the native +breeds of sheep and oxen. He heard that splendid strains of both were +found in England. He wished me to import a lot of English bulls and +rams, assuring me of the assistance of the Government in all that I +might do in that direction, since the Sultan ('His Imperial Majesty' +he called him always) took the greatest interest in such experiments.</p> + +<p>All this was very far from my original design, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>which was to lead as +far as possible a quiet life. But I promised to give thought to all +his Excellency's counsels.</p> + +<p>He made me smoke two cigarettes and drink a cup of coffee which his +secretary had prepared upon a brazier in a corner of the room; and +then, with a sweet smile and deprecating gestures of the hands, he +begged me to excuse him if he closed the interview. It was a grief to +him to let me go, but he was very busy.</p> + +<p>I rose at once, and so did Suleymân.</p> + +<p>'But what of the Sheykh Yûsuf?' I exclaimed, reminding him.</p> + +<p>'Ah, to be sure!' rejoined the Governor with a slight frown. 'Of what +religion is he?'</p> + +<p>'I suppose a Druze.'</p> + +<p>'And the people who attacked him so unmercifully?'</p> + +<p>'Are Druzes too.'</p> + +<p>'Ah, then, it is all in the family, as the saying goes. And, unless +some deputation from the Druze community appeals to me, I should be +ill-advised to interfere in its affairs. Our way of government is not +identical with that which is pursued with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>such conspicuous success in +highly civilised and settled countries like your own. We leave the +various communities and tribes alone to settle their internal +differences. It is only where tribe wars on tribe, religion on +religion, or their quarrels stop the traffic on the Sultan's highway +that we intervene. What would you have, mon ami? We are here in Asia!'</p> + +<p>With these words, and a smile of quite ineffable indulgence for my +young illusions, his Excellency bowed me out.</p> + +<p>In the ante-room Suleymân drew close to my left ear and whispered +sharply:</p> + +<p>'Give me four mejîdis.'</p> + +<p>'Whatever for?' I asked in deep amazement.</p> + +<p>'That I will tell you afterwards. The need is instant.'</p> + +<p>I produced the four mejîdis from a trouser-pocket, and, receiving +them, he went back to the door by which the usher stood, and whispered +to the man, who went inside a moment and came back with the private +secretary of the Caïmmacâm. The compliments which passed between them +seemed to me interminable.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>I paced the pavement of the waiting-room, the only figure in the crowd +whose attitude bespoke impatience. The others sat or squatted round +the walls in perfect resignation, some of them smoking, others +munching nuts of various kinds, of which the shells began to hide the +floor adjacent to them. A few of the suppliants had even had the +forethought to bring with them bags full of provisions, as if +anticipating that their time of waiting might endure for several days.</p> + +<p>At last, when I was growing really angry with him, Suleymân returned +and told me:</p> + +<p>'All is well, and we can now be going, if your Honour pleases.'</p> + +<p>'I do please,' I rejoined indignantly. 'Why have you kept me waiting +all this while? I never wished to come at all into this place, and +Allah knows that we have done no good by coming. We have spoilt a +morning which we might have spent upon the road.'</p> + +<p>'Allah, Allah!' sighed Suleymân long-sufferingly. 'Your Honour is +extremely hard to please. Did not his Excellency talk to you +exclusively, with every sign of the most lively <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>pleasure for quite +half an hour; whereas he scarcely deigned to throw a word to me, +although I wooed his ear with language calculated to seduce the mind +of kings? I have some cause to be dejected at neglect from one so +powerful; but you have every cause to be elated. He is now your +friend.'</p> + +<p>'I shall never see him in my life again most likely!' I objected.</p> + +<p>'Nay, that you cannot tell,' replied my mentor suavely. 'To be +acquainted with a person in authority is always well.'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>CONCERNING BRIBES</h4> +<br /> + +<p>'Why did you want those four mejîdis?' I inquired severely.</p> + +<p>Suleymân shrugged up his shoulders and replied:</p> + +<p>'I had to pay the proper fees, since you yourself showed not a sign of +doing so, to save our carefully established honour and good name.'</p> + +<p>'You don't mean that you gave them to the Caïmmacâm?'</p> + +<p>'Allah forbid! Consider, O beloved, my position in this matter. To put +it in the form of parables: Suppose a king and his vizier should pay a +visit to another king and his vizier. If there were presents to be +made, I ask you, would not those intended for the king be offered +personally by the king, and those for the vizier by the vizier? It +will be obvious to your Honour, upon slight reflection, that if, in +our adventure of this morning, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>a present to the Governor was +necessary or desirable, you personally, and no other creature, should +have made it.'</p> + +<p>'Merciful Allah!' I exclaimed. 'He would have knocked me down.'</p> + +<p>'He would have done nothing of the kind, being completely civilised. +He would merely have pushed back your hand with an indulgent smile, +pressing it tenderly, as who should say: "Thou art a child in these +things, and dost not know our ways, being a stranger." Yet, +undoubtedly, upon the whole, your offer of a gift, however small, +would have confirmed the good opinion which he formed at sight of you.</p> + +<p>'But let that pass! Out of the four mejîdis which you gave me so +reluctantly (since you ask for an account) I presented one to the +usher, and three to his Excellency's private secretary, in your name. +And I have procured it of the secretary's kindness that he will urge +his lord to take some measures to protect that ancient malefactor, the +Sheykh Yûsuf.'</p> + +<p>'If I had tipped the Governor, as you suggest that I ought to have +done,' I interrupted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>vehemently, 'do you mean to say he would have +taken measures to protect Sheykh Yûsuf?'</p> + +<p>'Nay, I say not that; but he would at least have had complete +conviction that your Honour takes a lively interest in that old +churl—a person in himself unpleasant and unworthy of a single thought +from any thinking or right-minded individual. Thus, even though he +scorned the money, as he would no doubt have done, the offer would +have told him we were earnest in our application, and he might +conceivably have taken action from desire to do a pleasure to one +whom, as I said before, he loved at sight.'</p> + +<p>'The whole system is corrupt,' I said, 'and what is worse, +unreasonable.'</p> + +<p>'So say the Franks,' replied Suleymân, shrugging his shoulders up and +spreading wide his hands, as though before a wall of blind stupidity +which he knew well could never be cast down nor yet surmounted. 'Our +governors, our judges, and the crowd of small officials are not highly +paid, and what they do receive is paid irregularly. Then all, whether +high or low, must live; and it is customary in our land to offer +gifts <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>to persons in authority, because a smile, God knows, is always +better than a frown from such an one. We are not like the Franks, who +barter everything, even their most sacred feelings, even love. It +gives us pleasure to make gifts, and see them welcomed, even when the +recipient is someone who cannot in any way repay us for our trouble, +as a Frank would say.'</p> + +<p>'But to sell justice; for it comes to that!' I cried, indignant.</p> + +<p>'Who talks of selling justice? You are quite mistaken. If I have to go +before a judge I make a gift beforehand to his Honour, whose +acceptance tells me, not that he will give a verdict in my favour—do +not think it!—but merely that his mind contains no grudge against me. +If he refused the gift I should be terrified, since I should think he +had been won completely by the other side. To take gifts from both +parties without preference, making allowance, when there is occasion, +for the man who is too poor to give; and then to judge entirely on the +merits of the case; that is the way of upright judges in an Eastern +country. The gifts we make are usually small, whereas the fees which +lawyers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>charge in Western countries are exorbitant, as you yourself +have told me more than once and I have heard from others. And even +after paying those enormous fees, the inoffensive, righteous person is +as like to suffer as the guilty. Here, for altogether harmless men to +suffer punishment in place of rogues is quite unheard-of; though +occasionally one notorious evildoer may be punished for another's +crime when this is great and the real criminal cannot be found and +there is call for an example to be made upon the instant. This +generally happens when a foreign consul interferes, demanding +vengeance for some slight offence against his nationals. Things like +that take place occasionally when the court is flustered. But in its +natural course, believe me, Turkish justice, if slow-moving, is as +good as that of Europe and infinitely less expensive than your English +law.'</p> + +<p>I made no answer, feeling quite bewildered.</p> + +<p>Suleymân was always serious in manner, which made it very hard to tell +when he was joking or in earnest. Among the natives of the land, I +knew, he had the reputation of a mighty joker, but I had learnt the +fact from the applause of others. I never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>should have guessed from +his demeanour that he jested consciously.</p> + +<p>He also held his peace until we reached our hostelry. There, some +half-hour later, when I had given orders for our horses to be ready +for a start directly after luncheon—a decision against which Suleymân +protested unsuccessfully, declaring it would be too hot for riding—I +overheard him telling the whole story of our visit, including the +donation of the four mejîdis, to Rashîd, who was lazily engaged in +polishing my horse's withers.</p> + +<p>'That secretary is a man of breeding,' he was saying, in a tone of +warm approval; 'for I noticed he was careful to receive the present in +his left hand, which he placed behind his back in readiness, with +great decorum. Nor did he thank me, or give any token of +acknowledgment beyond a little friendly twinkle of the eyes.'</p> + +<p>At once I pounced on this admission, crying: 'That shows that he +regarded the transaction as unlawful! And your remark upon it shows +that you, too, think it so.'</p> + +<p>Suleymân looked slowly round until his eyes met mine, not one whit +disconcerted, though until <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>I spoke he had not known that I was +anywhere in earshot.</p> + +<p>'Your Honour is incorrigible,' he replied, with a grave smile. 'I +never knew your like for obstinacy in a false opinion; which shows +that you were born to fill some high position in the world. Of course +they all—these fine officials, great and small—regard it as beneath +their dignity to take a present which they sorely need. To take such +presents greedily would be to advertise their poverty to all the +world. And Government appointments swell a man with pride, if nothing +else—a pride which makes them anxious to be thought above all fear of +want. For that cause, they are half-ashamed of taking gifts. But no +one in this country thinks it wrong of them to do so, nor to oblige +the giver, if they can, in little ways. It would be wrong if they +betrayed the trust reposed in them by their superiors, or were seduced +into some act against their loyalty or their religion. But that, +praise be to God, you will not find. It is only in small matters such +as acts of commerce or politeness, which hardly come within the sphere +of a man's conscience, that they are procurable, and no one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>in this +country thinks the worse of them, whatever people say to you, a +foreigner, by way of flattery. It is very difficult for foreigners to +learn the truth. Your Honour should be thankful that you have Suleymân +for an instructor—and Rashîd, too,' he added as an after-thought, +seeing that my bodyservant stood close by, expecting mention.</p> + +<p>And after more than twenty years' experience of Eastern matters, I +know now that he was right.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE BATTLEFIELD</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Our road, the merest bridle-path, which sometimes altogether +disappeared and had to be retrieved by guesswork, meandered on the +side of a ravine, down in the depths of which, in groves of oleander, +there flowed a stream of which we caught the murmur. The forest was +continuous on our side of the wadi. It consisted of dense olive groves +around the villages and a much thinner growth of ilex in the tracts +between. The shade was pleasant in the daytime, but as night came on +its gloom oppressed our spirits with extreme concern, for we were +still a long way off our destination, and uncertain of the way.</p> + +<p>The gloom increased. From open places here and there we saw the stars, +but gloom filled the ravine, and there was little difference between +the darkness underneath the trees and that outside in open spaces of +the grove. We trusted to our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>horses to make out the path, which +sometimes ran along the verge of precipices.</p> + +<p>I cannot say that I was happy in my mind. Rashîd made matters worse by +dwelling on the risks we ran not only from abandoned men but ghouls +and jinnis. The lugubrious call of a hyæna in the distance moved him +to remark that ghouls assume that shape at night to murder travellers. +They come up close and rub against them like a loving cat; which +contact robs the victims of their intellect, and causes them to follow +the hyæna to its den, where the ghoul kills them and inters their +bodies till the flesh is ripe.</p> + +<p>He next expressed a fear lest we might come upon some ruin lighted up, +and be deceived into supposing it a haunt of men, as had happened to a +worthy cousin of his own when on a journey. This individual, whose +name was Ali, had been transported in the twinkling of an eye by +jinnis, from somewhere in the neighbourhood of Hamá to the wilds of +Jebel Câf (Mount Caucasus), and had escaped a hideous and painful +death only by recollection of the name of God. He told me, too, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>how +he himself, when stationed at Mersîn, had met a company of demons, one +fine evening in returning from an errand; and other tales which caused +my flesh to creep.</p> + +<p>The groves receded. We were in an open place where only a low kind of +brushwood grew, when suddenly my horse shied, gave a fearful snort, +and sturdily refused to budge another inch. I let him stand until +Rashîd came up. He thought to pass me, but his horse refused as mine +had done.</p> + +<p>'It is no doubt some jinni in the way,' he whispered in a frightened +tone; then, calling out: 'Dastûr, ya mubârak' (Permission, blessed +one!), he tried to urge his horse, which still demurred. So there we +were, arrested by some unseen hand; and this became the more +unpleasant because a pestilential smell was in the place.</p> + +<p>'Better return!' muttered Rashîd, with chattering teeth.</p> + +<p>'Give me a match!' I said distractedly. 'My box is empty.'</p> + +<p>'Better return!' he pleaded.</p> + +<p>'A match, do you hear?' I cried, made cross by terror.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>He gave the match, and I believe I shouted as I struck it. For a brief +space it made a dazzle in my eyes, preventing me from seeing anything, +and then went out.</p> + +<p>'There is something lying in the path!' Rashîd was gibbering.</p> + +<p>I got down off my horse and lit a second match, which I took care to +shelter till the flame was strong. A human arm lay in the path before +us.</p> + +<p>My horror was extreme, and grew uncanny when the match expired. But +the ghastly object had restored his courage to Rashîd, who even +laughed aloud as he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'The praise to Allah! It is nothing which can hurt us. No doubt some +murder has been here committed, all unknown. The Lord have mercy on +the owner of that arm! We will report the matter to some high official +at our journey's end.'</p> + +<p>We turned our horses to the right and made a long detour, but scarcely +had they found the path again when mine (which led the way) demurred +once more.</p> + +<p>'Another piece,' exclaimed Rashîd excitedly. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>He got down off his +horse to look. 'Nay, many pieces. This, by Allah, is no other than a +battlefield unknown to fame.'</p> + +<p>'How can a battle take place without public knowledge?' I inquired, +incredulous.</p> + +<p>'The thing may happen when two factions quarrel for unlawful cause—it +may be over stolen gains, or for some deadly wrong which cannot be +avowed without dishonour—and when each side exterminates the other.'</p> + +<p>'How can that happen?' I exclaimed again.</p> + +<p>Rashîd could not at once reply, because in our avoidance of those +human relics we found ourselves on broken ground and among trunks of +trees, which called for the address of all our wits. But when the +horses once more plodded steadily, he assured me that the thing could +happen, and had happened often in that country, where men's blood is +hot. He told me how a band of brigands once, in Anti-Lebanon, had +fought over their spoils till the majority on both sides had been +slain, and the survivors were so badly wounded that they could not +move, but lay and died upon the battlefield; and how the people of two +villages, both men and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>women, being mad with envy, had held a battle +with the same result. I interrupted him with questions. Both of us +were glad to talk in order to get rid of the remembrance of our former +fear. We gave the rein to our imaginations, speaking eagerly.</p> + +<p>Reverting to the severed limbs which we had seen, Rashîd exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'Now I will tell your Honour how it happened. A deadly insult had been +offered to a family in a young girl's dishonour. Her father and her +brothers killed her to wipe out the shame—as is the custom here among +the fellâhîn—and then with all their relatives waylaid the men of the +insulter's house when these were cutting wood here in the forest. +There was a furious battle, lasting many hours. The combatants fought +hand-to-hand with rustic weapons, and in some cases tore each other +limb from limb. When all was done, the victors were themselves so +sorely wounded that they were able to do nothing but lie down and +die.'</p> + +<p>'How many do you think there were?' I asked, believing.</p> + +<p>'To judge by scent alone, not one or two; but, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>Allah knows, perhaps a +hundred!' said Rashîd reflectively.</p> + +<p>'It is strange they should have lain there undiscovered.'</p> + +<p>'Not strange, when one remembers that the spot is far from any village +and probably as far from the right road,' was his reply.</p> + +<p>This last conjecture was disquieting; but we were both too much +excited for anxiety.</p> + +<p>'It is an event to be set down in histories,' Rashîd exclaimed. 'We +shall be famous people when we reach the village. Such news is heard +but once in every hundred years.'</p> + +<p>'I wish that we could reach that village,' was my answer; and again we +fell to picturing the strange event.</p> + +<p>At length we heard the barking of a dog in the far distance, and gave +praise to Allah. A half-hour later we saw lights ahead of us. But that +did not mean that the village was awake, Rashîd explained to me, for +among the people of that country 'to sleep without a light' is to be +destitute. A little later, Rashîd hammered at a door, while <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>savage +dogs bayed round us, making rushes at his heels.</p> + +<p>'Awake, O sons of honour!' was his cry. 'A great calamity!' And, when +the door was opened, he detailed the story of an awful fight, in which +both parties of belligerents had been exterminated. 'They are torn +limb from limb. We saw the relics,' he explained. 'If you have any +doubt, question my lord who is out here behind me—a great one of the +English, famed for his veracity.'</p> + +<p>And I was ready to confirm each word he said.</p> + +<p>In a very little while that village was astir.</p> + +<p>It was the seat of a mudîr who had two soldiers at his beck and call. +The great man was aroused from sleep; he questioned us, and, as the +result of the inquiry, sent the soldiers with us to survey the +battlefield. A crowd of peasants, armed with quarter-staves and +carrying lanterns, came with the party out of curiosity. Our horses +having had enough of travel, we went back on foot amid the noisy +crowd, who questioned us incessantly about the strange event. The +murmur of our going filled the wood and echoed from the rocks above. +By the time we reached the place where we had seen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>the human limbs, +the dawn was up, to make our lanterns useless.</p> + +<p>Rashîd and I were certain of the spot. We came upon it with a thrill +of apprehension.</p> + +<p>But there was nothing there.</p> + +<p>'I seek refuge in Allah!' gasped Rashîd in pious awe. 'I swear by my +salvation it was here we saw them. The name of God be round about us! +It is devilry.'</p> + +<p>Our escort was divided in opinion, some thinking we had been indeed +the sport of devils, others that we lied. But someone sniffed and +said:</p> + +<p>'There is a smell of death.'</p> + +<p>There was no doubt about the smell at any rate. Then one of the +mudîr's two soldiers, searching in the brushwood, cried: 'I have the +remnant of an arm.'</p> + +<p>And then an old man of the village smote his leg and cried:</p> + +<p>'O my friends, I see it! Here is neither lies nor devilry.'</p> + +<p>Laughing, he seized me by the arm and bade me come with him. We went a +little way into the wood, and there he showed me three Druze tombs +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>deep in the shade of ilex trees—small buildings made of stone and +mud, like little houses, each with an opening level with the ground, +and a much smaller opening, like a window, at the height of a man's +elbow.</p> + +<p>'Thou seest?' cried my tutor. 'Those are graves. The openings on the +ground were made too large, and jackals have got in and pulled the +bodies out. The men who made those graves are foolish people, who have +wandered from the truth. They think the spirits of the dead have need +of food and light, and also of a hole for crawling in and out. I heard +thee ask thy servant for a match just now. Come, I will show thee +where to find one always.'</p> + +<p>He led me to the nearest tomb, and thrust my hand into the little hole +which served as window. It touched a heap of matches which he bade me +take and put into my pocket, saying:</p> + +<p>'It is not a theft, for the matches have been thrown away, as you +might say. Those foolish people will suppose the dead have struck +them. They used to put wax candles and tinder-boxes with them in the +niches, but when these sulphur <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>matches came in fashion, they +preferred them for economy. When I am working in this wood I take no +fire with me, being quite sure to find the means of lighting one. +Praise be to Allah for some people's folly!'</p> + +<p>I thanked him for the wrinkle, and went back to join Rashîd, who was +exclaiming with the others over our deception. But everyone agreed +that the mistake was natural for men bewildered in the darkness of the +night.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>MURDERERS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Rashîd and I were riding down to Tripoli, and had long been looking +for a certain 'kheymah' or refreshment booth beside the road, which an +enterprising Christian of that town had opened in the summer months +for the relief of travellers. When at length we came in sight of it, +we saw a crowd of men reposing on the ground before its awning. We +soon lost sight of them again in a ravine, and it was not till we were +close upon them, climbing up the other bank, that I remarked that most +of them were shackled and in charge of a small guard of Turkish +soldiers.</p> + +<p>'Criminals upon their way to the hard labour prison,' said Rashîd.</p> + +<p>'What have they done?' I asked, as we dismounted.</p> + +<p>He strolled across and put a question to their escort, then returned +and told me:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>'They are murderers.'</p> + +<p>After that information it surprised me, while we ate our luncheon, to +observe their open faces, and to hear them laugh and chatter with +their guards. Already I had learnt that crime in Eastern countries is +not regarded altogether as it is with us; that Orientals do not know +that shrinking from contamination which marks the Englishman's +behaviour towards a breaker of his country's law. But I was unprepared +for this indulgence towards a gang of murderers. It interested me; +and, seeing that Rashîd was talking with them in a friendly way, I +gathered there was nothing to be feared from their proximity, and +myself drew near when I had finished eating, and gave them cigarettes. +They thanked me loudly. The smile of pleasure on each face expressed a +childlike innocence. One only sat apart in gloom, conforming in some +measure to my preconceived idea of what a murderer upon his way to +prison ought to look like. I noticed with surprise that this one wore +no chain. I went and touched him on the shoulder. It was only then +that he looked up and saw that I was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>wishing him to take a cigarette. +He did so quickly, and saluted me without a word.</p> + +<p>One of the others said in tender tones:</p> + +<p>'Blame him not, O my lord, for he is mad with sorrow. He is more +luckless than the rest of us—may Allah help him! He killed the person +he loved best on earth—his only brother.'</p> + +<p>'Then it is true that you are murderers?' I asked, still +half-incredulous.</p> + +<p>'By Allah, it is true, alas! and we are paying for it by a year's +enslavement.'</p> + +<p>'A year! No more than that,' I cried, 'for killing men?'</p> + +<p>'And is it not enough, O lord of kindness? It is not as if we had +killed men from malice or desire of gain. We killed in sudden anger, +or, in the case of three among us, in a faction-fight. It is from +Allah; and we ask forgiveness.'</p> + +<p>'How did that man kill?' I questioned, pointing to the apathetic +figure of the fratricide, which attracted my imagination by its +loneliness.</p> + +<p>'He suffered persecutions from a rich man of his village, who was his +rival for the favour of a certain girl—so it is said. Those +persecutions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>maddened him at times. One day when he was mad like +that, his brother came to him and spoke some word of blame upon +another matter. He killed him, as he might have killed his wife and +children or himself, being in that state of mind devoid of reason. +When he awoke and saw what he had done, he wished to kill himself.'</p> + +<p>'It is from Allah! His remorse is punishment,' exclaimed Rashîd. 'Why +should he go to prison? He has had enough.'</p> + +<p>'Nobody of this country would have thought of punishment for him,' +replied the spokesman of the murderers, with rueful smile. 'But his +brother was the servant of a foreign merchant—a Greek from overseas, +I think it was—who put the business in his Consul's hands, and +so——' The speaker clicked his thumbnail on his white front teeth to +signify finality. 'But the poor man himself does not object; it seems +indeed that he is glad to go with us. Perhaps by labour and harsh +treatment he may be relieved.'</p> + +<p>As there were still provisions in our saddle-bags, Rashîd, by my +command, divided them among <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>the company, the soldiers and the +murderers alike, who were delighted. It was a merry party which we +left behind, with the exception of the fratricide, who ate the food, +when it was set before him, ravenously, but said not a word.</p> + +<p>'May Allah heal him!' sighed the other murderers. 'Our Lord remove +this shadow from his mind!'</p> + +<p>Rashîd and I pursued our way on an interminable path meandering in +zig-zags down through brushwood, which smelt sweet of myrtle and wild +incense. I tried to make him understand that he had quite misled me by +the term he had applied to men who had been guilty of no more than +manslaughter. The distinction had to be explained with much +periphrasis, because the Arabic word 'Câtil' means a slayer, and is +given indiscriminately to all who kill.</p> + +<p>He caught my meaning sooner than I had expected.</p> + +<p>'Ah!' he said. 'Your Honour thought from what I said that they were +"cutters of the road,"<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> or hired assassins, who kill men for gain. +Those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>are the greater criminals, whose punishment is death. Few such +exist among us. Here a robber will seldom kill a man unless that man +kills him.' [I translate literally] 'when it is just retaliation; and +as for hired assassins, I have known several of them in my time, and +they are not bad people, but unfortunate, having fallen early in the +power of cruel and ambitious men. Most of the killing in this country +is done without a thought, in anger or mad jealousy.'</p> + +<p>'Is it for man to judge them?' he exclaimed, with a high shrug, when I +remarked upon their friendly treatment by the Turkish guards. 'They +are punished by authority down here, so we are better; but afterwards, +when comes the Judgment of the Lord, we may be worse. It is hard upon +those men we met just now. They go to prison, most of them, because +they were not rich enough to pay the sum demanded as the price of +blood. For men of wealth, or who have rich relations, it is easy to +compound the matter for a sum of money, in return for which the dead +man's relatives regard his death as due to natural causes, and +forswear revenge. It is hard, I say, upon those men we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>met just now; +and especially upon the man who slew his brother—may Our Lord console +him!'</p> + +<p>A few days later I was strolling in the town and happened to pass by +the public gaol. In the middle of the gate, behind some iron bars, a +wretched man stood shaking a tin can, in which some small coins +rattled, and calling on the passers-by for alms for the poor +prisoners. A little group of English tourists—a gentleman and two +fair ladies—came that way, led on by a resplendent dragoman. They +stared at the wild figure at the prison gate.</p> + +<p>'You like to give a trifle to the brisoners?' inquired the guide.</p> + +<p>'What are they in for?' asked the gentleman.</p> + +<p>'Murders, I guess, mostly,' shrugged the dragoman.</p> + +<p>'Certainly not,' replied the gentleman, with indignation.</p> + +<p>I ventured to approach and tell him that they were not murderers in +our sense of the word, and that they depended for a bare subsistence +upon public charity. The only thanks I got were a cold stare from the +man, a fastidious grimace from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>the two ladies, and an 'Oh, indeed!' +so arrogant in tone that I retired discomfited. My ill-success may be +attributable to the fact that I was wearing a 'kufiyeh' and 'acâl' and +so appeared to them as what is called a 'native.'</p> + +<p>I myself have always, since that day, felt it my duty to give alms to +murderers in Eastern lands.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, Highwaymen.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE TREES ON THE LAND</h4> +<br /> + +<p>My search for an estate provided us with an excuse for visiting all +sorts of out-of-the-way places, and scraping acquaintance with all +sorts of curious people. In some villages we were greeted with +unbounded glee; in others with a sullen, gruff endurance far from +welcome. But, though the flavour of reception varied, we were +everywhere received with some degree of hospitality, and shown what we +desired to see. Thus we surveyed a great variety of properties, none +of which fulfilled my chief requirements. I wanted both a house in +which I should not feel ashamed to live, and cultivable land enough to +yield a revenue; and the two together seemed impossible to find, at +least for the sum of money which was placed at my disposal.</p> + +<p>One piece of land attracted us so much that we remained in the +adjacent village a full week, returning every day to wander over it, +trying to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>see if it could not be made to fit my needs. It consisted +of a grove of fine old olive trees, with terraces of fig and mulberry +trees and vegetables, spread out to catch the morning sun upon a +mountain side sloping to a wooded valley walled by rocky heights. +Water was there in plenty, but no house to speak of; the three small, +cube-shaped houses on the property being in the occupation (which +amounts to ownership) of workers of the land, who, according to the +custom of the country, would become my partners. Upon the other hand, +the land was fairly cheap, and after paying for it, I should have a +balance with which I might begin to build a proper house; for, as +Suleymân remarked, 'here all things are done gradually. No one will +expect to see a palace all at once. Begin with two rooms and a stable, +and add a fresh room every time that you have forty pounds to spare.'</p> + +<p>The price of building appeared fixed in all that countryside at forty +pounds a vault, which in ordinary buildings means a room, since every +room is vaulted.</p> + +<p>The trouble was to see just where to put the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>house without +encroaching upon profitable land. At last I hit on a position in the +middle of the highest terrace on which grew olive trees so very old +that they could well be sacrificed. Having arrived at this decision I +sat down among those trees and gazed in rapture at the view across the +valley. It was indeed a grand position for a house.</p> + +<p>Rashîd exclaimed: 'Our dwelling will be seen afar. The traveller on +distant roads will see its windows flashing, and will certainly +inquire the owner's name. Yet would I rather it had faced the evening +sun, because more people are abroad at sunset than at dawn.'</p> + +<p>'The morning sun is better for the growth of plants, and it comports +the evening shadow, which is most agreeable,' murmured Suleymân, who +stretched his length upon the ground before us, chewing a flower-stem +with an air of wisdom.</p> + +<p>As we were there conversing lazily, one of the peasant-partners in the +land came through the trees, bringing a tray with cups of coffee, +which he had prepared for our refreshment.</p> + +<p>'The Lord preserve thy hands, O Câsim,' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>sighed Suleymân. 'Thou comest +at the very moment when my soul said "coffee."'</p> + +<p>The peasant Câsim beamed with pleasure at the thanks we showered on +him, and, squatting down, inquired if we had yet decided anything.</p> + +<p>'Aye,' I replied. 'In sh'Allah we shall cut down these three olive +trees and put the house instead of them.'</p> + +<p>At that his smile gave place to grave concern.</p> + +<p>He said: 'That may not be.'</p> + +<p>'Why not?' I asked.</p> + +<p>'Because we have no right to touch these trees.'</p> + +<p>'But the Sheykh Ali told me that this terrace was his property.'</p> + +<p>'That is so, as to the land. The trees are different.'</p> + +<p>'To whom, then, do these trees belong?'</p> + +<p>'To different people.'</p> + +<p>'How can I know which trees are ours, which theirs?'</p> + +<p>'Your Honour need not trouble. They are able to distinguish.'</p> + +<p>'But they must walk upon our land to reach their trees!'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>'Without a doubt.'</p> + +<p>'But it is unheard of!'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps; but it has been the way since Noah's flood.'</p> + +<p>'If your Honour condescends to read the Bible he will notice that, in +the bargain which our lord Abraham made for the cave of Machpelah, the +trees upon the land are mentioned separately,' put in Suleymân, who +had a well-stored mind.</p> + +<p>I took no notice, but continued my alarmed inquiries.</p> + +<p>'How many people own these trees?'</p> + +<p>'Twenty or thirty.'</p> + +<p>'And they trample on our land?'</p> + +<p>'The case is so.'</p> + +<p>'Who is their chief?'</p> + +<p>'I know not; but the largest share, they say, is vested in Muhammad +abu Hasan. His share of all the trees is twelve kîrâts, as much as all +the others put together. They say so. Only Allah knows the truth!'</p> + +<p>'I should like to speak to this Muhammad abu Hasan.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>'Upon my head; I go to fetch him,' answered Câsim, touching his brow +in token of obedience.</p> + +<p>When he was gone, Suleymân observed significantly:</p> + +<p>'Have naught to do with all these fathers of kîrâts. When once the +word "kîrât" is mentioned, flee the place, for you may be assured that +it is the abode of all bedevilment. When once a man is father of but +one or two kîrâts, he has the power of forty thousand for unreasoning +annoyance.'</p> + +<p>'And what, in mercy's name, is a kîrât?' I questioned.</p> + +<p>'A kîrât,' replied Rashîd, as usual eager to explain, 'is that term +into which all things visible and invisible are resolved and +subdivided secretly, or may be subdivided at a person's pleasure. A +kîrât is that which has no real existence unless a group of men agree +together saying: "It is here or there." A kîrât——'</p> + +<p>Suleymân cut short his explanation, saying simply: 'A kîrât is the +twenty-fourth part of anything. If my soul is sick, I ask the doctor: +"How many kîrâts of hope?" and according to his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>answer "four" or +"twenty" I feel gladness or despair. To own but one kîrât, in this +concern of property, is sometimes better than to own all the remaining +three-and-twenty, as witness the affair of Johha, the greatest +wiseacre this country has produced. Johha owned a house, consisting of +a single room. Wishing to make a little money, he let his house to +people for a yearly rent (which they paid in advance), reserving to +himself the use of only one kîrât of it. To show where his kîrât was +situated Johha drove a peg into the wall inside. After the tenants had +been in a week he brought a bag of beans and hung it on his peg. No +one objected; he was exercising his free right. A few days later he +removed the bag of beans and hung up garlic in its place. Again a few +days and he came with an old cat which had been some time dead; and so +on, bringing ever more offensive things, until the tenants were +obliged to leave the house and forfeit their year's rent, without +redress, since Johha was within his rights. Therefore I say to you, +beware. These fathers of kîrâts will spoil the property.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd gave an appreciative chuckle, and was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>going to relate some +story of his own; but just then Câsim reappeared, attended not by one +man only but a score of men—the owners of the trees, as it +immediately appeared, for they cried out, as they came up, that it +would be a sin for us to cut them down.</p> + +<p>I asked them to elect a spokesman, as I could not deal with all at +once, and Muhammad abu Hasan was pushed forward. He squatted, facing +me, upon the ground, his men behind him. The twigs and leaves of +olives overhead spread a filigree of moving shade upon their puckered +faces. They were evidently much perturbed in mind.</p> + +<p>I asked them for how much they would consent to sell those +trees—showing the three I wished to fell to clear a space for +building.</p> + +<p>'The freehold, meanest thou?' inquired their spokesman anxiously. 'Not +for five hundred pounds. But we would sell a share.'</p> + +<p>'I want no share. I want to cut them down.'</p> + +<p>At that there was a general outcry that it must not be.</p> + +<p>'The trees would remain yours until the end,' I told them, 'for I +would let you have the wood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>for your own purposes, and, in addition, +you would have a pretty sum of money.'</p> + +<p>There ensued a long and whispered consultation before Muhammad abu +Hasan answered me. At length he said:</p> + +<p>'It may not be. Behold, we all are the descendants of one man who +owned these trees in ancient days. But we are not brothers, nor yet +uncles' children, and there is jealousy among us. We quarrel near to +fighting every year about the produce of these trees, each man +perceiving that he has been cheated of his proper share. But that is +not so very serious, for each man hopes that next year he will get a +larger share in compensation. Suppose, instead of trees which bear +fruit every year, we had a sum of money. In that case the division +would admit of no redress, and those who thought themselves defrauded +would bear lifelong malice. Therefore I say: We will not have those +trees cut down; but we are prepared, upon the other hand, to sell you +all our trees upon this terrace if you, on your side, will assign to +us but two kîrâts of all your trees, these trees included.'</p> + +<p>'Allah destroy the dwelling of your two kîrâts,' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>I cried out angrily. +'I will have none of them. Nor will I make my dwelling in the +neighbourhood of men so foolish. I shall seek elsewhere.'</p> + +<p>The peasants chuckled at my curse on the kîrâts. They murmured an +apology, but seemed relieved, as they went off.</p> + +<p>Suleymân, who had to leave us on the following day, then gave me good +advice.</p> + +<p>He said: 'It is no use for thee to deal with little people who wish to +make the most of their small lands, who have mean, dirty houses. Thou +hast a friend among the great sheykhs of the Drûz. Go to him in his +castle and explain thy wish. He owns a score of noble houses which he +does not use, and for the love of thee he will not count the price too +closely. Moreover, he will think that, showing favour to an +Englishman, he will earn the good opinion of the British Government. +He has political ambitions. All great men are fools or malefactors.'</p> + +<p>'That is the best of counsel,' said Rashîd. And, having nothing else +in mind, we acted on it.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>BUYING A HOUSE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Even great men in the East rise early; so, when I arrived before the +castle of the great Druze chief at six o'clock of a summer's morning, +I was not surprised to find a crowd of black-cloaked and +white-turbaned mountaineers already waiting for an audience of his +grace; nor yet, when I had gained admittance as a favoured person, to +find the chief himself afoot and wide awake. What did surprise me was +to see him clad in Stambûli frock-coat and all its stiff +accompaniments at an hour when even the most civilised of Pashas still +wears native dress. He heard of my desire to settle in his country +with surprise and seeming pleasure, and made me sit beside him on a +sofa in an upper chamber of magnificent proportions—spoilt, to my +taste, by gaudy Frankish furniture and certain oleographs of the +crowned heads of Europe which adorned its walls.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>He thought, as is the way of Orientals, visibly, with finger pressed +to brow. Then he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'I have a house close by, across the glen—a little ruinous, perhaps, +but we can soon repair it. Come to the window; you can see the place +from here.' He pointed out a kind of thickset tower which crowned a +pretty village set in orchards. 'If you care to see it we will go +there when I have received my people.'</p> + +<p>He invited me to go with him to the reception; but, having seen the +crowd outside, I thought it wisdom to go back rather to the village +khan where I had left my horse, to warn Rashîd to have things ready +for a start, and get some breakfast.</p> + +<p>I returned in two hours' time, to find the chief already mounted on a +splendid charger, led by a no less splendid servant, setting forth in +search of me, 'with half the world for tail,' as Rashîd put it.</p> + +<p>It was in truth a long procession which meandered down the steep and +rocky pathway, deep in the shade of walls and overhanging trees, to +the ravine, forded the stream, and climbed the other bank.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>The village, when we reached it, was in great commotion, all its +people crowding to the wide meydân, or levelled ground for +horsemanship, spread out before the house which might be mine. In the +midst of this meydân there was a fine old carob tree, with a stone +bench all round the foot of its enormous trunk.</p> + +<p>The house itself was an old fortress, built of solid stone, with arrow +slits as well as modern windows, and an arched doorway at the top of +wide stone steps. Against it nestled lesser houses of the village +which seemed to climb up towards it for protection.</p> + +<p>Some men of consequence came forth to greet the chief, who then +dismounted with their servile aid. He introduced me to a turbaned +Druze of reverend appearance, who (he said) at present occupied the +house, and also to the son of the said turbaned Druze, who knew a +little French and longed to air it.</p> + +<p>The turbaned one, whose name was Sheykh Huseyn, was called on to +refresh his chieftain's memory with regard to various details of the +house and property and all the feudal rights and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>privileges +appertaining thereunto. He did so, as in duty bound, but in a very +mournful tone.</p> + +<p>His son explained: Tu fiens habiter, nous defons quitter. Mon bère +n'aime bas quitter. Très bon marché'—from which I guessed that they +had occupied the house rent-free till they had come to look upon it as +their own.</p> + +<p>Leaving aside the land, which we should visit presently, the owner of +the house, I was informed, had jurisdiction over the meydân, which was +in times of peace the village square, and owned one-fifth part of the +great tree in its midst. He also owned a fifth of all the water +flowing or to flow from the great village spring; and had the right to +call upon the fellâhîn for one day's work a year in return for his +protection of their land from enemies. When I inquired by what means I +could possibly secure my fifth share of the water from the spring, the +chief informed me that the stipulation was in case the source +diminished in dry seasons, which, thank the Lord, it never yet had +done.</p> + +<p>We viewed the house, and I was pleased with the great vaulted rooms, +in which the pots and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>pans and bedding of the Sheykh Huseyn appeared +like nothing, and the women of the family of Sheykh Huseyn, +close-veiled against our inroad, made themselves exceeding small; and +then, remounting, we went off to view the land. This was scattered all +about the mountain side—a terrace here, a terrace there. It took us a +long while to see the whole of it.</p> + +<p>The chief, fatigued, alighted and sat down beneath some walnut trees. +He ordered Sheykh Huseyn to cause refreshments to appear. The latter +shouted, and a dozen villagers went tearing off. In a very little time +a meal of honeyed cakes and fruit was set before us, and the ceremony +of making coffee was in progress on a brazier near us in the shade.</p> + +<p>'Allah! Allah!' sighed the Sheykh Huseyn, telling his beads.</p> + +<p>'Mon bère est triste, tu vois. Il aime bas quitter,' murmured his +hopeful son in tones of high delight, the feeling proper to express +before a new acquaintance of my quality.</p> + +<p>'Curse the religion of these flies! It is extremely hot!' exclaimed +the chief in momentary irritation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>The trees went with the land without exception, I was glad to hear. +One-fifth of all the produce of that land of any kind whatever would +be mine, the rest belonging to the husbandmen by immemorial right. +There was never such a thing as wages for the cultivation of the land.</p> + +<p>The Sheykh Huseyn implored us to return to luncheon at his house, +protesting that he had commanded a great feast to be prepared; but the +chief declared we were too busy to allow ourselves that pleasure. As +we were then some way below the village, we did not go back thither, +but rode off along a path through orchards till we found the road to +the ravine.</p> + +<p>At taking leave, the eyes of Sheykh Huseyn met mine a moment. They +were large, benevolent, brown eyes, and they expressed much inward +sorrow, while on his lips there broke the smile demanded of +politeness.</p> + +<p>'Au refoir, mon cher! Au blaisir!' cried his hopeful son.</p> + +<p>Rashîd came up behind me as we rode along, and poured into my ear a +wondrous tale of how the Sheykh Huseyn was our ill-wisher and would +do <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>his best to make things lively for us if we took the place. He had +conversed with people of the village while we viewed the house.</p> + +<p>'But the majority are in our favour,' he assured me, with grave +satisfaction. 'They do not love the Sheykh Huseyn, who is a miser and +a hypocrite. They say, please God, we shall humiliate him to the very +depth of shame.'</p> + +<p>He spoke as if we were at war, and within sight of victory, as if we +were already settled in the place. And I was glad, because it augured +well for my content if I should buy the place, which I was now +resolved to do if I could anyhow afford it.</p> + +<p>'The price will be too great, I fear,' was my reply; whereat he +sighed, observing that the place was of a nature to exalt our honour.</p> + +<p>Returning to the castle of the chieftain, I was ushered to his private +chamber, where I broached at once the burning question of the price. +He said: 'God knows I wish to give thee house and land since thou +desirest them. But I have a mortgage on some other lands of mine which +vexes me, because, though I can find the interest—which is +exorbitant—each year, I cannot in this country <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>lay my hands upon the +principal. Discharge that debt for me and, God reward thee, take the +house and land.'</p> + +<p>He named a sum of money. I could not believe my ears, it was so little +as compared with what I judged to be the value of the property. It was +well within the sum at my disposal. I wished to write a cheque out +there and then; but he forbade me, saying: 'Allah knows I might mislay +the paper or destroy it in a moment of forgetfulness. Do thou in +kindness pay my creditor and bring me the discharge.'</p> + +<p>He named an Armenian gentleman of my acquaintance—an amiable, learned +man of modest means, the last person in the country whom I should have +thought a usurer. Nor was he one habitually, for he himself informed +me that this loan to the Druze chieftain was his sole investment of +the kind. I called on him one afternoon in the city, and handed him my +cheque, explaining how the matter stood.</p> + +<p>'You do me a bad turn. Unlucky day!' he sighed as he received it. 'My +little fortune was more safe with him than in a bank, and every year +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>it brought me in a pretty income. Where can I find another such +investment.'</p> + +<p>With groans he wrote out the receipt, which in due time I carried to +the chief, who thanked me and assured me that the house was mine and +should be made so formally.</p> + +<p>I then rode over to the house again, and with Rashîd planned out the +changes we desired to make, the Sheykh Huseyn following us about +gloomily, and his cheerful son bestowing on us his advice in broken +French. They knew their tenancy was at an end. The Sheykh, resigned at +length to the inevitable, sought to establish good relations with me; +and he also gave us counsel, which Rashîd, who viewed him as our +deadly foe, at once rejected. Under these rebuffs the old man became +quite obsequious.</p> + +<p>His son exclaimed excitedly: 'Mon bère est heureux, tu vois. If feut +bas quitter. Il feut rester afec toi comme chef de serfice.'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXVIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>A DISAPPOINTMENT</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Considering that I had bought a house and land exactly to my taste, +and likely, as Rashîd declared, to raise our honour in the country, I +felt that I had earned the right to take a holiday. Whenever I have +done anything decisive it is my instinct to withdraw myself a little +from the scene of action and inure myself by contemplation to the new +position of affairs. Accordingly, having surveyed the house and land +as owner, I set off with Rashîd upon a ten days' journey beyond the +reach of telegrams and letters.</p> + +<p>At the end of the ten days we rode into Beyrout, and put up at a +little hostelry, which we frequented, built out on piers above the +sea. There I found two letters waiting for me, one from the great +Druze chief who sold to me my house and land.</p> + +<p>'Never,' he wrote, 'have I had to endure such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>disrespect and +ignominy. It is not at all what I expected from your friendship. In +obedience to the Consul's order, I wrote express to the Khawâjah ——, +my creditor, informing him that there had been some error and +entreating him to send your cheque in to the British Consulate. I hope +to God you have received it safely before this. My health has suffered +from this huge indignity. I shall not long survive this cruel shame.'</p> + +<p>The second letter was from Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General, +enclosing my cheque written to the order of the Armenian gentleman for +the amount of the mortgage which he held upon my Druze friend's +property, and adjuring me to pay a visit to the Consulate without +delay.</p> + +<p>I went that afternoon. The outer office was crowded with the usual set +of English and would-be English persons who went there for gossip. My +appearance called forth more or less derisive shouts. I was a nice +young man to go and buy a village—from a native, too!—without the +forethought to secure a title to the property! It was plain that they +knew more about the matter than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>I did myself. I felt ashamed, and +must have looked dejected, I suppose, for they changed their tone for +one more genial, crying: 'Cheer up, man! We've all been through it. +You know now what these devils really are. They'll always do you, if +they can. It's no shame to you at your age. They're so devilish +clever.'</p> + +<p>I did not know then, nor do I know to-day, that I had ever been +defrauded seriously, or deceived, by any native of the country, but +the legend ran, and doubtless runs, to that effect.</p> + +<p>Then I was called into the Consul's presence and strongly blamed by +him for running off just at the moment when my presence was most +needed. I had written joyously to tell him of my purchase. I now heard +that I should have waited for his reply before concluding it. A man +does not buy tracts of land like that, I was severely told. And as I +was so very young and (he implied it) idiotic, he had intervened to +stop the sale, pending inquiries and the discharge of certain +formalities which were legally required. If the seller went into the +court and had the transfer registered and a proper deed of sale made +out, then well and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>good; but he understood that there was some +objection on the seller's part. If not, then he advised me to give up +the whole idea. Profoundly conscious of my youth, and mindful of past +kindness on the Consul's part, I was, of course, impressed. I thought +I had indeed been foolish, even mad; and promised to do all that he +required of me. As I went through the outer office, looking more than +ever downcast, I was hailed with further adjurations to cheer up, for +they had all been through it.</p> + +<p>Rashîd was more depressed than even I was when I told him of the +sudden downfall of our hopes. He cursed the Consul and the Druzes +indiscriminately. But on our journey up into the mountains his +reconstructive mind transfigured my misfortunes, making of them an +event well calculated to 'exalt our honour.' So great was my +consideration in my native country that the Queen herself had written +to the Consul-General to take care of me and see that I was not +defrauded when I bought my land. The Consul, who had been neglectful +of me, and knew nothing of the land <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>I wished to buy, had been afraid +of the Queen's anger, hence his mad activity. I did not hear that +version at the time, nor from Rashîd's own lips; but it came to my +ears eventually, after its vogue was past.</p> + +<p>We both hoped, however, that the house and land would yet be ours.</p> + +<p>I found the Druze chief prostrate with humiliation and bewilderment. +He greeted me with monstrous sighs, and told me how ashamed he was, +how very ill. His eyes reproached me. What had he ever done to me that +I should loose upon him such a swarm of ignominies. I felt humiliated +and ashamed before him, an honourable man who had been treated like a +rogue on my account.</p> + +<p>'I shall not survive these insults, well I know it. I shall die,' he +kept lamenting. 'All my people know the way I have been treated—like +a dog.'</p> + +<p>I told him that there had been a misunderstanding, and that the shame +which he had suffered had been all my fault, because I had been absent +for my selfish pleasure at the moment when I might have saved him by a +simple statement of the facts.</p> + +<p>'I shall not easily recover,' the chief groaned. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>'And then that debt +which I was so delighted to pay off is once again upon my shoulders.'</p> + +<p>I explained then that the Consul's stopping of the sale was not +conclusive, but provisional; his only stipulation being that, before I +paid, all the legal formalities necessary to the transfer should have +been fulfilled.</p> + +<p>'He asks no more than that your Excellency will condescend to go +before the Caïmmacâm with witnesses, and have a proper title-deed made +out.'</p> + +<p>At those words, uttered in all innocence, the great man shuddered +violently and his face went green. I feared that he would have a fit, +but he recovered gradually; and at last he said: 'It is a cruel +thought, and one which must have been suggested to him by my enemies. +Know that the Caïmmacâm at present is my rival and most deadly foe. We +have not met on terms of speech for many years; our servants fight at +chance encounters on the road. It is but five years since I held the +post of Governor which he now occupies. When, by means of calumny and +foul intrigue against me at Stamboul, he managed to supplant me, I +swore a solemn oath that I would never recognise the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>Government nor +seek its sanction so long as he remained its representative. And now +the Consul bids me have recourse to him. By Allah, I would sooner be +impaled alive.'</p> + +<p>He paused a moment, swallowing his rage, then added:</p> + +<p>'This, however, I will do. I will summon all the chiefs of all my +people—every head of every family—hither to your presence and +command them all to witness that the property is yours. I will make +them swear to defend you and your successors in possession of it with +their lives if need be, and to leave the obligation as a sacred charge +to their descendants. That, I think, would be sufficient to assure you +undisturbed possession if I die, as well I may, of this unheard-of +treatment. And if I live till happier times—that is, to see the +downfall of my enemy—then you shall have the Government certificate +which the Consul deems of such immense importance.'</p> + +<p>I now know that the kind of treaty which he thus proposed, laying a +solemn charge on all his people—who would have been, of course, my +neighbours—to defend my right, would have been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>worth a good deal +more than any legal document in that wild country. The Armenian +gentleman, who was delighted that his mortgage still held good, told +me as much when next I saw him in the city. He thought me foolish not +to jump at it, particularly when the land was offered to me for a +song. But the Consul's prohibition, and the warnings of the English +colony, possessed more weight with me just then than his opinion, or, +indeed, my own, for I was very young.</p> + +<p>I told the chieftain it was not enough.</p> + +<p>'Then I am truly sorry,' he replied, with dignity; 'but there the +matter ends. I have told your Honour the reason why I cannot go to +court at present.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd was sad when I informed him of my failure. Once more he cursed +the Druzes and all Consuls. And as we rode back through the mountains +he was wrapped in thought. He came at length to the conclusion that +this, too, redounded to our honour, since anybody less exalted than +ourselves would certainly have jumped at such an offer as the chief +had made to me. But everything, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>us, must be performed in the most +perfect manner. We were tremendous sticklers for formality.</p> + +<p>There was only one thing he could not get over.</p> + +<p>'It is the triumph of our enemy, that Sheykh Huseyn,' he told me. 'I +hate to think of him in comfort in our house.'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXIX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>CONCERNING CRIME AND PUNISHMENT</h4> +<br /> + +<p>If we wished to stay in any place for more than a day or two, Rashîd, +upon arrival, wandered through the markets and inquired what dwellings +were to let, while I sat down and waited in some coffee-house. Within +an hour he would return with tidings of a decent lodging, whither we +at once repaired with our belongings, stabling our horses at the +nearest khan.</p> + +<p>My servant was an expert in the art of borrowing, so much so that no +sound of disputation on that subject reached my ears. It seemed as if +the neighbours came, delighted, of their own accord to lend us pots +and pans and other necessaries. He also did the cooking and the +marketing without a hitch, giving a taste of home to the small +whitewashed chamber, which we had rented for a week, it might be, or a +month at most.</p> + +<p>When obliged to go out upon any errand, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>Rashîd was always worried +about leaving me alone, regarding me as careless of my property and so +untrusty from the point of view of one who idolised it.</p> + +<p>'If your Honour should be seized with a desire to smell the air when I +am absent,' he would say, 'do not forget to lock the door and place +the key in the appointed hiding-place where I can find it. There are +wicked people in the world. And while you sit alone, keep our revolver +handy.'</p> + +<p>He told me that in cities robberies of private dwellings are oftener +committed at high noon, when many houses are left empty, than at +night, when they are full of snoring folk. I did not doubt the truth +of this assertion, but differed from him in believing that we +harboured nothing likely to attract a thief.</p> + +<p>'I would not lose the buckle of a strap, a single grain of sesame, by +such foul means,' he would reply with vehemence.</p> + +<p>One morning—it was in Damascus—he went out, after imploring me as +usual to take care of everything. The room we occupied was at the end +of a blind alley, up a flight of nine stone steps. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>alley led into +a crowded, narrow street, bordered with shops of many-coloured wares, +which at that point was partly shaded by a fine old ilex tree. From +where I sprawled upon a bed of borrowed cushions in the room, reading +a chap-book I had lately purchased—<i>The Rare Things of Abu Nawwâs</i>—I +saw the colour and the movement of that street as at the far end of a +dark kaleidoscope, for all the space between was in deep shadow.</p> + +<p>When a man turned up our alley—a most rare occurrence—I noticed his +appearance. It was rather strange. He wore an old blue shirt, and on +his head a kind of turban, but of many colours and, unlike any I had +ever seen upon the natives of the country, with an end or streamer +hanging loose upon one side. In complexion, too, he was a good deal +darker than a Syrian, and yet had nothing of the negro in his looks. +Something furtive in his manner of approach amused me, as suggestive +of the thief of Rashîd's nightmares. I moved into the darkest corner +of the room and lay quite still. He climbed our steps and filled the +doorway, looking in.</p> + +<p>It happened that Rashîd had left a bag of lentils, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>bought that +morning, just inside. The thief seized that and, thinking he was +unobserved, was going to look round for other spoil, when I sat up and +asked to know his business. He gave one jump, replied: 'It is no +matter,' and was gone immediately. I watched him running till he +vanished in the crowded street.</p> + +<p>Rashîd returned. I told him what had happened in his absence, but he +did not smile. He asked me gravely to describe the man's appearance, +and, when I did so, groaned: 'It is a Nûri (gipsy). Who knows their +lurking-places? Had it been a townsman or a villager I might perhaps +have caught him and obtained redress.' He said this in a manner of +soliloquy before he turned to me, and, with reproachful face, +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'He stole our bag of lentils and you watched him steal it! You had at +hand our good revolver, yet you did not shoot!'</p> + +<p>'Why should I shoot a man for such a trifle?'</p> + +<p>'It is not the dimensions or the value of the object stolen that your +Honour ought to have considered, but the crime! The man who steals a +bag of lentils thus deliberately is a wicked man, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>and when a man is +wicked he deserves to die; and he expects it.'</p> + +<p>I told him that the gipsy was quite welcome to the lentils, but he +would not entertain that point of view. After trying vainly to +convince me of my failure to perform a social duty, he went out to the +establishment of a coffee-seller across the street, who kept his cups +and brazier in the hollow trunk of the old ilex tree, and set stools +for his customers beneath its shade, encroaching on the public street. +Thither I followed after a few minutes, and found him telling +everybody of the theft. Those idlers all agreed with him that it was +right to shoot a thief.</p> + +<p>'All for a bag of lentils!' I retorted loftily. 'God knows I do not +grudge as much to any man.'</p> + +<p>At that there rose a general cry of 'God forbid!' while one explained:</p> + +<p>'It were a sin to refuse such a thing to a poor man in need who came +and begged for it in Allah's name. But men who take by stealth or +force are different. Think if your Honour had destroyed that thief, +the rascal would not now be robbing poorer folk, less able to sustain +the loss! Suppose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>that bag of lentils had been all you had! There may +be people in the world as poor as that.'</p> + +<p>'Why should I kill a man who offered me no violence?' I asked +defiantly.</p> + +<p>'Why should you not do so, when the man is evidently wicked?'</p> + +<p>'Why do the Franks object to killing wicked people?' asked the +coffee-seller with a laugh. 'Why do they nourish good and bad in their +society?'</p> + +<p>'It is because they are without religion,' muttered one man in his +beard.</p> + +<p>An elder of superior rank, who overheard, agreed with him, pronouncing +in a tone of gentle pity:</p> + +<p>'It is because they lose belief in Allah and the life to come. They +deem this fleeting life the only one vouchsafed to man, and death the +last and worst catastrophe that can befall him. When they have killed +a man they think they have destroyed him quite; and, as each one of +them fears such destruction for himself if it became the mode, they +condemn killing in their laws and high assemblies. We, when we kill a +person, know that it is not the end. Both killed and killer will be +judged by One <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>who knows the secrets of men's breasts. The killed is +not deprived of every hope. For us, death is an incident: for them, +the end. Moreover, they have no idea of sacrifice. Killing, with them, +is always the result of hate.'</p> + +<p>'What does your Honour mean by that last saying?' I inquired with +warmth.</p> + +<p>The old man smiled on me indulgently as he made answer sadly:</p> + +<p>'Be not offended if we speak our mind before you. We should not do so +if we wished you ill. Here, among us, it is not an unheard-of thing +for men to kill the creatures they love best on earth; nor do men +blame them when, by so doing, they have served the cause of God, which +is the welfare of mankind. Thus it was of old the rule, approved of +all the world, that every Sultan of the line of Othman had to kill his +brothers lest they should rise against him and disturb the peace of +all the realm. Was it not like depriving life of all its sweetness +thus to destroy their youth's companions and their nearest kin? Yet, +though their hearts were in the bodies of their victims, they +achieved <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>it. And the victims met their death with the like fortitude, +all save a few of less heroic mould.</p> + +<p>'Now, I have read some histories written by the Europeans. They do not +understand these things at all. They think us merely cruel—just as +we, in the same unperceiving manner, think them merely covetous. Yet I +disagree with your good servant in the present case. I think that you +were right to spare that Nûri.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd, who, with the rest of the assembly, had listened to the old +man's speech with reverence, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'It is not just this Nûri or that bag of lentils, O my lord! My master +is thus careless always. He never locks the door when he goes out +during my absence, though all that we possess is in that room.'</p> + +<p>'Thy lord is young.' The old man smiled upon me kindly, and proceeded +then to read me a mild lecture on my carelessness, detailing to me the +precautions which he took himself, habitually, when shutting up his +house or place of business, including pious formulas which he made me +repeat after him. While he was thus instructing me, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>Rashîd went off, +returning in about three minutes with a face of indignation strangely +and incongruously mixed with triumph.</p> + +<p>Taking his stand before me in the very middle of the seated crowd, he +said:</p> + +<p>'You left the door wide open even after you had seen that Nûri steal +the bag of lentils. I have this minute been to look and I have seen. +With our revolver lying in the full light of the doorway! Merciful +Allah! What is to be done with you?'</p> + +<p>The old man, my preceptor, laughed aloud; and at the sound Rashîd, +whose desperation was not acted, wept real tears. The people round us +tried in vain to comfort him.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE UNWALLED VINEYARD</h4> +<br /> + +<p>One morning, as we rode along, we came to vineyards on a valley-side. +Rashîd dismounted and began to pick the grapes. Suleymân dismounted +likewise, and invited me to do the same.</p> + +<p>'But it is stealing,' I objected.</p> + +<p>'Allah! Allah!' moaned Suleymân, as one past patience. He hung his +head a moment, limp all over, as if the spirit had been taken out of +him; then called out to Rashîd, who was devouring grapes:</p> + +<p>'Return, O malefactor, O most wicked robber! Thou art guilty of a +fearful crime. Thy master says so.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd came back to us immediately, bringing a purple bunch, which he +was going to give to me when Suleymân prevented him, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>'Wouldst dishonour our good lord by placing in his hands the fruit of +infamy, as if he were a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>vile accomplice of thy crime? For shame, O +sinful depredator, O defrauder of the poor!'</p> + +<p>Rashîd gaped at him, and then looked at me. I held out my hand for the +grapes.</p> + +<p>'Touch them not, for they are stolen!' cried Suleymân.</p> + +<p>'I know not what thou wouldst be at, O evil joker,' said Rashîd, with +warmth; 'but if thou callest me a thief again, I'll break thy head.'</p> + +<p>'<i>I</i> call thee thief? Thou art mistaken, O my soul! By Allah! I am but +the mouthpiece of thy master here, who says that to pluck grapes out +of this vineyard is to steal.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd looked towards me, half incredulous, and, seeing that I ate the +grapes with gusto, answered with a laugh:</p> + +<p>'He does not understand our customs, that is all. By Allah! there is +no man in this land so churlish or so covetous as to begrudge to +thirsty wayfarers a bunch of grapes out of his vineyard or figs or +apricots from trees beside the road. To go into the middle of the +vineyard and pick fruit there would be wrong, but to gather from the +edge is quite allowable. If we were to come with sumpter-mules <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>and +load them with the grapes, that would be robbery; but who but the most +miserly would blame us for picking for our own refreshment as we pass, +any more than he would stop the needy from gleaning in the fields when +corn is cut. What your Honour thinks a crime, with us is reckoned as a +kindness done and taken.'</p> + +<p>'Aye,' said Suleymân, whose gift was for interpretations, 'and in the +same way other matters which your Honour blames in us as faults are in +reality but laudable and pious uses. Thus, it is customary here among +us to allow the servant to help himself a little to his master's +plenty in so far as food and means of living are concerned. The +servant, being wholly given to his master's service, having no other +means of living, still must live; aye, and support a wife and children +if he have them; and it is the custom of our great ones to pay little +wages, because they have but little ready money. Upon the other hand, +they have possessions and wide influence, in which each servant is +their partner to a small extent. No one among them would object to +such small profits as that cook of yours, whom you condemned so +fiercely, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>made while in your service. If the master does not care to +let the servant gain beyond his wages, he must pay him wages high +enough for his existence—certainly higher wages than you paid that +cook.'</p> + +<p>'I paid him what he asked,' I said indignantly.</p> + +<p>'And he asked what he thought sufficient in consideration of the +profits he felt sure of making in your service—a foreigner and a +young man of many wants.'</p> + +<p>'I had told him that thou art of all men living the most generous!' +put in Rashîd. My dismissal of that cook had long been rankling in his +mind. 'It is the custom of the country,' he subjoined, defiantly.</p> + +<p>'It is a custom which I very heartily dislike,' I answered. 'It seems +to me that people here are always grasping. Look at the prices which +the merchants ask, the way they bargain. They fight for each para as +if it were their soul's salvation. They are mad for gain.'</p> + +<p>'Again you are mistaken,' answered Suleymân. 'They do not ask too much +from avarice, but for the sake of pastime. Indeed, you will find +sometimes that the price they ask is less than the real <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>value of the +object, and still they let the buyer beat it down—for mere amusement +of the argument and for the sake of seeing what devices he will use. +In addition, they will give the buyer a nice cup of coffee—sometimes +two cups of coffee if the argument is long—and as many glasses full +of sherbet as he cares to drink.'</p> + +<p>'And if the buyer will not pay the price, though much reduced, the +merchant often will present the object to him, as happened to your +Honour in Aleppo only the other day,' put in Rashîd.</p> + +<p>'That was only a device to shame me into buying it.'</p> + +<p>'No, by your Honour's leave!'</p> + +<p>'Rashîd may well be right,' said Suleymân, 'although I cannot judge of +the peculiar instance since I was not present.'</p> + +<p>Just then we came around a shoulder of the hill, and saw some people, +men and women, harvesting the grapes in a much larger vineyard.</p> + +<p>'Now you shall see!' exclaimed Rashîd exultantly. He got down off his +horse and stooped over the nearest vines. The workers, seeing him, set +up a shout of 'Itfaddalû!' (perform a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>kindness), the usual form of +hospitable invitation. Since we refused to join them in the middle of +the vineyard a man came wading towards us, bearing on his head a +basket tray piled up with grapes. Suleymân picked out three monstrous +clusters, one for each of us, with blessings on the giver. To my offer +of payment the fellâh opposed a serious refusal, saying: 'It would be +a shame for me.'</p> + +<p>'You see now!' said Rashîd, as we resumed our way. 'It is not robbery +for wayfarers to take refreshment.'</p> + +<p>'And as for the custom of the merchants,' added Suleymân, 'in asking a +much higher price than that which they at last accept, what would you +have? Those merchants are rich men, who have enough for all their +needs. Their aim is not that of the Frankish traders: to increase +their wealth by all means and outdistance rivals. Their object is to +pass the time agreeably and, to that end, detain the customer as long +as possible, the more so if he be a person like your Honour, who loves +jokes and laughter. The greatest disappointment to our merchants is +for the customer to pay the price first <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>asked and so depart +immediately. I have a rare thing in my memory which hits the case.</p> + +<p>'Everyone has heard of Abdu, the great Egyptian singer, who died +recently. His only daughter met her death in a distressing way. It was +her wedding night, and bride and bridegroom died of suffocation owing +to the scent of flowers and perfumes in the bedroom where they lay. At +sight of the two corpses Abdu broke his lute and swore a solemn oath +never to sing again.</p> + +<p>'He was rich—for he had earned much by his singing, often as much as +a hundred pounds a night—and he sought some means to pass the time +till death should come for him. He took a shop in Cairo, and hoped for +pleasant conversation in the course of bargaining. But the Egyptians +wished to hear him sing again, and men of wealth among them planned +together to buy up his whole stock-in-trade immediately. This happened +thrice, to the despair of Abdu, who saw his hope of pastime taken from +him. In the end he was compelled to get the Câdi to release him from +his vow, and sing again, although he would have much preferred to be a +merchant. That shows the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>difference between a trader in our cities +and one in any city of the Franks, whose sole desire is to sell +quickly and repeatedly.'</p> + +<p>'There is no accounting for tastes,' was my reply. 'For my part I +detest this bargaining.'</p> + +<p>'When that is understood by decent merchants they will not afflict +thee. They will ask thee a fair price and let thee go—though with +regret, for they would rather spend an hour in talk with thee,' said +Suleymân indulgently. 'It is a game of wits which most men like.' He +shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>'Your Honour was relating yesterday,' observed Rashîd, with grievance +in his tone, 'how an Englishman of your acquaintance in our country +accused his servants of dishonesty. Doubtless he distrusted them and +locked things up, which is the same as saying to them: "It is my locks +and my vigilance against your wits." Few men of spirit could resist a +challenge such as that, which is indeed to urge men on to robbery. But +where the master trusts his servants and leaves all things to their +care, only a son of infamy would dream of robbing him.'</p> + +<p>'Let me propound the matter otherwise for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>understanding. Seeing that +open vineyard, with a wall but two stones high, no man would think of +plundering the crop of grapes. But surround that vineyard with a high, +strong wall, and every son of Adam will conceive the project of +clearing it of every cluster.'</p> + +<p>'I should never think of such a thing.'</p> + +<p>'That is because your Honour is accustomed to restraints and +barriers,' said Suleymân. 'We, in the Sultan's dominions, have more +freedom, praise to Allah! For us a high wall is an insult, save in +cities.'</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE ATHEIST</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Though I had known Suleymân for nearly two years, and had had him with +me for some six months of that time, I had never seen him in his +function of a dragoman, by which he earned enough in two months of the +year to keep a wife and children in a village of the coasts of Tyre +and Sidon, of which he spoke with heart-moving affection, though he +seldom went there. It was only after much insistence that he allowed +us to conduct him thither on one memorable occasion, when I could not +but admire his perfect manners as a despot. When first I met him he +had been a gentleman at large, and it was as that, and a familiar +friend, that he repaired to me whenever he had nothing else to do. +Judging from his gifts of conversation, which we all admired, and his +unbounded knowledge of the country, I thought that, as a guide for +tourists, he would be invaluable. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>So, when I heard that English +friends of mine were coming out to Palestine, I wrote advising them to +ask for him, him only; and I was glad to hear soon afterwards that he +was with them. When they came north, I joined the party at Damascus +and travelled with them for their last fortnight.</p> + +<p>It did not take me many minutes in the camp to see that Suleymân was +not himself, and that my friends were not so charmed with him as I had +thought they would be. On the first evening in their tent I heard +complaints. They told me he was most unconscionably lazy, and would +not take them to the places they desired to visit. The trouble was, as +I soon learnt, that they possessed a map and guidebook which they +studied reverently every night, finding out places said therein to be +of interest. Suleymân, on his side, had, at setting out, possessed a +plan to make their tour the most delightful one imaginable. He hoped +by visiting selected spots and people to give it sequence and +significance. In a word, he was an artist in travel, wishing to +provide them with delicious memories, while they were English and +omnivorous of facts and scenes. When he learnt from various rebuffs +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>that they would not confide themselves to him, he lost all pleasure in +the tour. It was a listless and disgusted upper servant, most unlike +the man I knew, whom I found in gorgeous raiment sitting by the cook's +fire in the gardens of Damascus, which were then a wilderness of +roses.</p> + +<p>He did not explain matters to me all at once. When I reproached him +for neglecting friends of mine, he answered only: 'It is the will of +Allah, who made men of different kinds, some sweet, some loathsome.' +But my arrival mended things a little. At least, my English friends +professed to see a great improvement in the conduct of Suleymân and +all the servants. I think it was because the poor souls knew that they +had someone now to whom they could express their grievances, someone +who would condescend to talk with them; for nothing is more foreign to +the Oriental scheme of life than the distance at which English people +keep their servants. In the democratic East all men are equal, as far +as rights of conversation are concerned. It is a hardship for the +Oriental to serve Europeans, and only the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>much higher and more +certain wages bring him to it.</p> + +<p>My English friends had few good words to say for any of their Arab +servants; but I found they had conceived a perfect hatred for the +cook, who had undoubtedly a villainous appearance. He was a one-eyed +man with a strong cast in his surviving eye. A skull-cap, which had +once been white, concealed his shaven poll, and his long pointed ears +stood out upon it. He wore a shirt of indigo impaired by time, over +which, when riding, he would throw an ancient Frankish coat, or, if it +chanced to rain, a piece of sacking. His legs were bare, and he wore +scarlet slippers. To see him riding on an ass hung round with cooking +tins, at the head of the procession of the beasts of burden, suggested +to the uninformed spectator that those beasts of burden and their +loads had all been stolen.</p> + +<p>I spoke about him to Suleymân one day when in my company he had +regained his wonted spirits, telling him of the extreme dislike my +friends had taken to the man.</p> + +<p>'They are foolish,' he replied, 'to grumble at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>the figure of a mill +which grinds good flour. They profit by his cooking, which is +excellent. Indeed, he is the best cook in the world, and most +particular. I took great trouble to secure him for this expedition, +knowing that the Khawâjât were friends of yours.' The tone of +grievance in his voice became acute.</p> + +<p>I feared that he was going to cry, so answered quickly:</p> + +<p>'It is not that. They like his cooking. But his manners——'</p> + +<p>'What know they of his manners? Has he ever entered the saloon or +bed-tent to defile them? Has he ever spoken insult in their hearing? +Inform me of his crime, and I will beat him bloody. But well I know he +has done nothing wrong, for I have kept him in the strictest order all +these days. It is only his appearance they object to; and that is +God's affair, not theirs. The Lord repay them!'</p> + +<p>'You say that you have kept him in strict order? Is that necessary?'</p> + +<p>'Of course it is, for the poor man is mad. I thought his madness would +amuse them; it is very funny. But Allah knows that there is not a +laugh <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>in all their bodies. So I have kept him from approaching them.'</p> + +<p>The word 'majnûn,' which I have here translated 'mad,' has often, as I +knew, a complimentary value; and I gathered from Suleymân's way of +speaking that the cook was not a raving maniac, but rather what in +English country-places we should call 'a character.'</p> + +<p>I cultivated his acquaintance after that, and was astonished by his +powers of story-telling and of mimicry; still more, perhaps, by a +curious, dry scepticism, expressed facetiously and sometimes with +profanity, which was evident in almost everything he said. This it was +which chiefly pleased the waiter and the muleteers, who were his usual +listeners, since they were together on the road. They would laugh and +curse him in religious terms for a blasphemer and a wicked atheist, +reproofs which he received as high applause. It was his custom to +salute his friends with insults, which they took kindly from him, +being what he was. They told me in low tones of awe, yet with a +chuckle, that he had even sold his father's grave <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>in a facetious way. +But I could never get them to relate that story clearly.</p> + +<p>I could understand then why Suleymân had kept him in strict order on +the journey; for my English friends were quite incapable of seeing any +fun in such a character. Nor did I ever tell them of the great +adventure of that journey, in which their cook was very nearly done to +death.</p> + +<p>It happened near the village of Mejdel esh-Shems, down in the valley +underneath Mount Hermon. We remained in camp there over Sunday, and on +Sunday afternoon my friends were resting in their tent. Suleymân and I +had seized that opportunity to go off for a ramble by ourselves, which +did us good. We were returning to the camp in time for tea, when a +crowd of fellâhîn came hurrying from the direction of our tents, +waving their arms and shouting, seeming very angry. Suleymân called +out to them to learn the matter.</p> + +<p>'Zandîq!' (an atheist) they cried. 'Zandîq! Zandîq!'</p> + +<p>'Where?' I asked, eagerly.</p> + +<p>'There, in yonder tent,' an old white-bearded man informed me, with +wide eyes of horror. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>pointed to the canvas windscreen against +which our famous cook sat gazing at the kettle he had set to boil for +tea. 'We go to fetch the wherewithal to kill him properly.'</p> + +<p>'Stop!' said Suleymân peremptorily. 'You are mistaken. That is our +cook—a good, religious man, but mad occasionally.'</p> + +<p>'No, there is no mistake, O lords of honour,' cried a score of voices; +while the old man who had pointed out the cook to me, explained:</p> + +<p>'He said—may God protect us from the blame of it!—He said: "You see +that mountain! It is I who made it. Prostrate yourselves before me for +I made the world." We had been standing round him inoffensively, +asking him questions, as the custom is, about his parentage, his +trade, and so forth. But when we heard that awful blasphemy we rent +our clothes, and ran in haste to fetch our weapons, as thou seest. +Delay us not, for he must surely die.'</p> + +<p>'Commit not such a wickedness! The man is mad.'</p> + +<p>'No; he is sane.'</p> + +<p>'Quite mad, I do assure you. Return with us, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>and I will prove it to +your understanding,' cried Suleymân.</p> + +<p>I added my assurance. They came back with us, but murmuring, and in +two minds. I could not but admire the simple piety which prompted them +at once to kill a man whose speech betrayed him as an atheist. But I +was very much afraid of what might happen, and of the sad impression +it would make upon my English friends. And everything depended on the +cook's behaviour.</p> + +<p>'I tell you he is mad,' said Suleymân, advancing towards the fire. 'It +were a sin for you to slay a fellow-creature thus afflicted. Come +hither, O Mansûr,' he cried as to a dog.</p> + +<p>The cook rose up and came towards us with a foolish air.</p> + +<p>'Lie down before my horse. I would ride over thee.'</p> + +<p>The cook fell prostrate, then turned over on his back. His mouth hung +open idiotically; his tongue lolled out.</p> + +<p>'Now rise and kiss my boot.'</p> + +<p>The cook obeyed. By that time there were murmurs of compassion from +the would-be slayers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>'Spake I not truly?' asked Suleymân.</p> + +<p>'Aye, O sun of verity! He is quite mad, the poor one,' said the old +man who had acted spokesman. 'It were a sin for us to kill him, being +in that state. His manner at the first deceived us. Allah heal him! +How came the dreadful malady upon him?'</p> + +<p>'It came upon him through the pangs of unrequited love.'</p> + +<p>'Alas, the poor one! Ah, the misery of men! May Allah heal him!' cried +the women, as the group of villagers moved off, contented. Just when +the last of them passed out of sight the longest tongue I ever saw in +man emerged from the cook's mouth, and the rascal put his finger to +his nose in a derisive gesture. Those portents were succeeded by a +realistic cock-crow.</p> + +<p>'What makes the cook like that, devoid of reverence?' I asked of +Suleymân.</p> + +<p>'It is because he was born in Jerusalem,' was the astonishing reply. +'He is a Christian, and was born poor; and the quarrels of the +missionaries over him, each striving to obtain his patronage for some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>absurd belief, have made him what he is—a kind of atheist.'</p> + +<p>Selîm, the waiter, who was near and overheard this ending, burst out +laughing.</p> + +<p>'An atheist!' he cried. 'Your Honour understands? It means a man who +thinks there is no God. Just like a beetle!' and he held his quaking +sides.</p> + +<p>Both he and Suleymân appeared to think that atheism was a subject to +make angels laugh. And yet they were as staunch believers as those +fellâhîn.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE SELLING OF OUR GUN</h4> +<br /> + +<p>I had been ill with typhoid fever. Just before my illness, the son of +a sheykh in our neighbourhood had asked me to lend him my gun for a +few days, since I never used it. There was nothing really which I +cared to shoot. The village people rushed out in pursuit of every +little bird whose tweet was heard, however distant, in the olive +groves or up the mountain side. Jackals there were besides, and an +occasional hyæna; and, in the higher mountains, tigers, so the people +still persisted in declaring, meaning leopards, I suppose, or lynxes; +for ignorant Arabs lump together a whole genus under one specific +name, in the same way that they call all wild plants, which have +neither scent nor market-value, grass. It was after we had sought +those tigers vainly that I put away my gun.</p> + +<p>The sheykh's son asked me for the loan of it, and I consented in the +absence of Rashîd; who, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>when he heard what I had done, defiled his +face with dust and wailed aloud. Suleymân, who happened to be with us +at the moment, also blamed me, looking as black as if I had committed +some unheard-of sin. It is unlucky for a man to lend his gun to +anybody, even to the greatest friend he has on earth, they told me +sadly; and that for no superstitious reason, but because, according to +the law, if murder be committed with that weapon, the owner of the gun +will be considered guilty no matter by whose hand the shot was fired.</p> + +<p>'How do they know the owner of the gun?' I answered, scoffing.</p> + +<p>'For every gun there is a tezkereh,'<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> answered Rashîd; 'and he who +holds the tezkereh is held responsible for every use to which that gun +is put.'</p> + +<p>It was, in fact, a rough-and-ready way of saying that the gun licence +was not transferable. I remarked with satisfaction that I had no +tezkereh, but that did not appear to reassure them in the least. They +still were of opinion harm might come of it.</p> + +<p>Then I fell ill and knew no more of daily life <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>until I found myself +in a hospital of the German Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, where +the good sisters nursed me back to health.</p> + +<p>Among the Arab visitors from far and near who came to see me as I lay +in bed, was the youth who had borrowed my gun, together with his +father and his brethren, who wept real tears and prayed for my +complete recovery, talking as if they were beholden to me in some +signal way. Their manner puzzled me a little at the time; but I had +quite forgotten that perplexity when, discharged at last from +hospital, I travelled back into the mountains with Rashîd.</p> + +<p>On the very day of my return I got an invitation from that young man's +father to dine with him at noon upon the morrow. Rashîd made a grimace +at hearing of it and, when I asked him why, looked down his nose and +said:</p> + +<p>'He has our gun.'</p> + +<p>'Aye, to be sure, and so he has!' I said. 'To-morrow I must not forget +to ask him for it.'</p> + +<p>Rashîd looked big with tidings, but restrained himself and merely +growled:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>'You will not ask for it. I know your Honour! Nor will that rogue +return it of his own accord.'</p> + +<p>At the sheykh's house next day I found a largeish company assembled in +my honour, as it seemed. Innumerable were the compliments on my +recovery, the pretty speeches and remarks, to which I made reply as +best I could. The meal consisted of some thirty courses, and was set +on trays upon the floor in the old, country fashion, everybody eating +with his fingers from the dish. When it drew near an end, the son of +the house glanced at his father meaningly, and getting in return a +nod, rose up and left the room. He soon came back, carrying my gun, +which he brought first to me as if for benediction, then handed round +for the inspection of the other guests. There were cries of 'Ma +sh'Allah!' while they all praised its workmanship, one man opining +that it must have cost a mint of money, another wishing he possessed +its brother, and so forth. These exclamations and asides were +evidently aimed at me, and it was somehow carried to my understanding +that this exhibition of the gun, and not the public joy on my +recovery, was the true reason of the feast <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>and all attending it; +though why it should be so I could not think.</p> + +<p>'One thing that is remarkable about this gun,' explained the master of +the house, 'is that it cannot miss the object aimed at. We have tried +it at a target nailed upon a tree—I and my sons—at fifty and a +hundred paces—aye, and more! And, by the Lord, the bullet always +strikes exactly on the spot at which the gun is pointed, even though +that spot be not much bigger than a gnat.'</p> + +<p>And then, quite unaccountably, the whole assembly rose and tried to +kiss my hands, as if the virtues of my gun were due to me. It was +obviously not the moment to reclaim the weapon.</p> + +<p>When I got home after that strange ovation, Rashîd received me coldly +and observed:</p> + +<p>'You do not bring our gun! You feared to ask for it! Did not I know +how it would be? Oh, Allah, Allah!'</p> + +<p>'I had no opportunity,' I told him; 'but I am going now to write and +ask him to return it. Be ready for the letter. You will have to take +it.'</p> + +<p>'Upon my head and eye, with all alacrity,' Rashîd replied. 'Never did +I rejoice so much in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>any errand. That rascal has been telling +everybody that it is your gift to him, and boasting of his gun through +all the mountains. No doubt, he counts upon your illness having dimmed +remembrance, and hopes that you yourself may be deluded into thinking +that it was a gift and not a loan.'</p> + +<p>'Why did you not tell me this before?' I asked.</p> + +<p>'Was it my business, till the question rose?'</p> + +<p>I wrote a civil note to the young man, asking him to let me have the +gun in a few days, as I was collecting my belongings for the journey +back to England. I thanked him for the care which he had taken of my +property, which was much better kept than when I lent it to him, as I +had remarked that day. Rashîd received the missive and went off +exulting.</p> + +<p>Within an hour that young man came to me, without the gun, and in a +state of most profound affliction and despair. Having shut the door +with great precaution to make sure we were alone, he fell upon the +ground and burst out crying, confessing that his passion for the gun +had made him dream that it was his each night as he lay thinking ere +he fell asleep.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>'But I did not tell a soul that it was mine—did but dream it—until I +knew your Honour was abed and like to die,' he told me naively, as +something which might make his fault seem natural. 'I thought that you +would die and leave it with me.'</p> + +<p>So, thinking me as good as dead, he had told his father and his +brothers that it was a gift from me, or, as it were, a legacy; and now +the fame of my munificence, my love for him, had gone abroad. An hour +ago, when he received my letter, he had confessed the truth at last +and privately to his beloved father, who, while strongly blaming him +for his deceit, was willing to pay any price I chose to put upon the +weapon to save him from the horrid scandal of exposure. If the story +became public in the country he would die of grief. The honour of a +noble house was at my mercy.</p> + +<p>The gun, so much admired, was quite a cheap one in reality. I had +bought it for ten pounds three years before, in London, on the advice +of an uncle skilled in all such matters. After a moment's thought, I +said: 'Eight English pounds.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>Never in my life before or since have I beheld such transports of +relief and gratitude, nor heard such heartfelt praises of my +generosity. He told the money out before me there and then, insisted +on embracing me repeatedly, and then rushed out, intent to tell his +father.</p> + +<p>When he had gone, Rashîd appeared before me, stern and aloof as the +Recording Angel.</p> + +<p>'It is a crime you have committed,' he exclaimed indignantly. 'That +rascal told me as we came along together that his father was prepared +to pay a hundred pounds to save their honour. He had sinned; it is but +right his house should bear the punishment.'</p> + +<p>'You would have done as I have done, in my position,' I assured him, +laughing.</p> + +<p>'In the position of your Honour,' was the dignified reply, 'I should +either have made him pay a hundred pounds for our gun, or else +persuaded him that it was worth a hundred pounds, and then presented +it. In either case I should have crushed those people utterly. But, +for a man in your position to accept eight pounds for such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>a +weapon—and proclaim it worth no more—that is a shame! If your desire +was money, you should not have touched the matter personally, but have +left it altogether in the hands of me, your servant, who am always +careful of your honour, which is mine as well.'</p> + +<p>He sulked with me thereafter for two days.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Licence.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>MY BENEFACTOR</h4> +<br /> + +<p>When I knew at length that I was going to leave Syria, I was seized +with a desire to buy all kinds of notions of the country to show to my +people at home—a very foolish way of spending money, I am now aware, +for such things lose significance when taken from their proper +setting.</p> + +<p>In after days, when leaving Syria for England, the one thing I would +purchase for myself was a supply of reed pens for Arabic writing. But +on that first occasion I wished to carry the whole country with me.</p> + +<p>There was an old, learned Christian of Beyrout, who had given me +lessons in Arabic at various times, and always waited on me honourably +whenever I alighted in that loveliest and most detestable of seaport +towns. He wore the baggiest of baggy trousers, looking just like +petticoats, a short fez with enormous hanging tassel, a black alpaca +coat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>of French design, a crimson vest, white cotton stockings, and +elastic-sided boots, convenient to pull off ere entering a room. He +always carried in the street a silver-headed cane, which he would lean +with care against the wall of any room he chanced to enter, never +laying it upon the ground, or on a chair or table. In all the time of +my acquaintance with him I never, that I can remember, saw him really +smile, though something like a twinkle would occasionally touch his +eyes beneath great bushy eyebrows, between black and grey. An +extraordinarily strong and heavy grey moustache, with drooping ends, +gave him a half-pathetic, half-imposing likeness to some aged walrus; +so that some of the common people actually called him 'Sheykh el Bahr' +(the old man of the sea)—which is the proper Arabic designation of a +walrus.</p> + +<p>He came to see me after I had left the hospital and was staying with +some English friends for a few days before returning to the wilds for +a farewell; and repeatedly praised Allah for my safe recovery. There +never was a man more thoroughly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>respectable, more perfectly correct +in every word and movement. He disapproved of poor Rashîd as a +companion for me, because the latter dealt in vulgar language; and I +feel certain that he would have disapproved of Suleymân, if he had +ever seen that Sun of Wisdom in my company, for pandering to my desire +for foolish stories. He was known as the Mu'allim Costantîn, a worthy +man.</p> + +<p>With his usual ceremonious salutation, suggestive of his high position +as a representative of learning, he placed himself at my command for +any purchases I wished to make; knowing, he said, that I was likely to +be busy in the weeks before departure. And his offer was extremely +welcome to me at the time. I wished, as I have said already, to buy +lots of things; among others—why, I cannot now imagine—the whole +costume of natives of the country. The Mu'allim Costantîn praised my +intention, gravely declaring that it could not fail to interest my +honoured relatives and lovers, and enlarge their minds, to know the +details of a dress the most becoming in the world. In order that a +full idea of Syrian raiment might be given, two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>suits and two long +garments (corresponding to two other suits) were necessary, he +pronounced. These, with the various articles of clothing which I then +possessed and had grown used to wearing in the country, would be +sufficient for the purposes of exhibition.</p> + +<p>Upon the following day, as I was dressing, about ten o'clock (for I +was still to some extent an invalid), there came a light knock at the +door, and the Mu'allim Costantîn appeared, ushering in a friend of +his, who was a tailor—a man as grave and worthy as himself, who there +and then proceeded to take measurements, praising the proportions with +which nature had endowed me, and asking Allah to fill out those parts +which now were lean through illness. The moment of a man's uprising +is—or was at that time, for old customs are now dying out—the one +which servants, tradesmen, pedlars, and all who wished to ask a favour +chose for visiting. On the morning after my arrival in an Eastern city +where I happened to be known I have had as many as twelve persons +squatting round upon the floor, watching a barber shave me, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>while a +little boy, the barber's 'prentice, bearing towels, jug, and basin, +waited upon him like an acolyte.</p> + +<p>The tailor, having made the necessary notes, withdrew with many +compliments. The Mu'allim Costantîn remained behind a moment, to +assure me, in a loud stage-whisper, that the said tailor was a man +whom I could trust to do the best for me, and that I might think +myself extremely fortunate to have secured his services, as, being +much sought after by the fashionables, he generally had more work than +he could really do; but that, having taken, as he said, a fancy to me, +he would certainly turn out a set of garments to enslave the heart. +Having said this in the finest classic phraseology, he went out to +rejoin the tailor in the passage; nor did I see him any more until the +very day of my departure, when, at the English Consul-General's +hospitable house, I was waiting for the carriage which would take me +to the quay.</p> + +<p>I was told that someone wished to see me upon urgent business, and, +going to the great Liwân or entrance-hall, I found my friend, his +silver-headed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>cane leaned carefully against the wall as usual. He +carried underneath his arm a number of large books. These he presented +to me with a solemn bow.</p> + +<p>'It occurred to me,' he said, 'that as your Honour has a predilection +for all those curious and often foolish tales which circulate among +the common people, you might not perhaps disdain these four poor +volumes which I chance to have in my possession. Deign to accept them +as a parting gift from me.'</p> + +<p>I thanked him kindly, though in truth I was embarrassed, not knowing +where to stow the books, since all my things were packed. And then he +handed me the tailor's bill, which, with the clothes which I had +ordered, had escaped my memory.</p> + +<p>'Where are the clothes?' I asked, 'I had forgotten them.'</p> + +<p>He pointed to a bundle pinned up honourably in a silken wrapper, +reposing on the floor hard by the silver-handled cane. I tore the +envelope and opened out the bill. It came to twenty pounds.</p> + +<p>And I had got my money ready for my journey. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>I was going to visit +some of the Greek Islands, Smyrna, and Constantinople, on my way to +England, and had hoped, besides, to see a little of the Balkan States. +To pay out twenty pounds was to reduce that journey by at least a +fortnight. And, as I said, I had forgotten all about the clothes, +regarding all my Syrian debts as fully paid.</p> + +<p>The hall was empty; we were quite alone. I fear I stormed at the +Mu'allim Costantîn, reminding him that he had promised that the +clothes should not be dear.</p> + +<p>'But,' he persisted, 'they are very cheap for the materials. If your +Honour's wish was to pay less, you ought not to have chosen fabrics +three parts silk. I did not know that you were counting money.'</p> + +<p>He was right. Throughout my stay in Syria, until that moment, I had +never counted money. Compared with England, living in the country was +absurdly cheap, and on my small allowance I had lived at ease. He +might quite reasonably have supposed me to be very wealthy. But I was +not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>in reasonable mood just then. I paid the bill, but in an angry +manner; and while I was still talking to him, the Cawwâs arrived, and, +close upon his heels, Rashîd in tears, to tell me that the carriage +was in waiting. The grief I felt at leaving Syria, at parting from +Rashîd and our Sheytân and many friends took hold of me. Hurriedly I +said goodbye to the Mu'allim Costantîn, and I am glad to say I changed +my tone at that last moment, and had the grace to bid him think no +more of the whole matter. But I shall carry to my grave the +recollection of his face of horror while I scolded, the look that told +his grief that he had been deceived in me.</p> + +<p>I went and shoved the books into my luggage here and there, gave +Rashîd orders to send on the clothes, took leave of my kind hosts, and +drove down in a hurry to the quay. It was not till some time after I +arrived in England that I realised that the volumes which he had +presented to me were a complete Bûlâc Edition of the <i>Thousand and One +Nights</i>—a valuable book—which is my greatest treasure.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>Nor have I ever had the chance of thanking the giver in a manner +worthy of the gift, and wiping out the bad impression left by my +ill-temper, for a letter which I wrote from England never reached him +I am told, and when I next was in his country the Mu'allim Costantîn +had gone where kindness, patience, courtesy, and all his other virtues +are, I hope, rewarded.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h5>GLASGOW: W. COLLIN'S SONS AND CO. LTD.</h5> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/logo.png" width="45%" alt="Publisher's Logo" /> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 212: Yusûf replaced with Yûsuf<br /> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORIENTAL ENCOUNTERS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 19378-h.txt or 19378-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/7/19378">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/7/19378</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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