Affair in Araby

Dekta

and green and orange, with fox-fur around the edges of their hats, were drunk and celebrating noisily the Feast of Esther; so you can work out the exact date if you're curious enough. The time was nine p.m. We had talked the Anzac hurricane-drive through Palestine all over again from the beginning, taking world-known names in vain and doing honour to others that will stay unsung for la

rdict about that man from Syria that Roger took in a cab to the Sikh hospital? I'm out a new pair o

eches, Mabel. I'll settle

Half your pay goes to the scallywags you've landed i

lau

ad of 'information paid for.' I sha

ut of a stone, Jim

s well as discover them," Gr

a doctor, mind you! Am I right, Roger? Come along! There are no servants-no

k and simple, but causes alleged dyspepsia cures to sell

o tell her, Ji

" put in her husband. "Noisy i

ets with them up and down the world. Being confided in by nearly every man who met her was a habit. But Grim tells only when the telling may accomplish something, and I wondered, as h

ly into a huge brown teapot. "I expect Narayan Singh here presently. He'll have

"You mean you've sent that Sikh

nod

y job," Jer

. Narayan Singh knows where to find him. If he shows fight, he'll be simply handed over to the Sikh patrol for att

kmar's a stinker. I know all about him. Two whole squadrons had to eat lousy biscuit

l is an honest old kite in his way. He's a great rooter for Feisul. And the only easy way to ditch a man like Feisul, who's as honest as the day is long, and no man's fool, is to convince his fanatical admirers that for his own sake he ought to be fo

ainst 'em too! I camped alongside t

He was balancing his chair on two legs, so I pushed him over b

ris for the Peace Conference, the French imagined he was easy. They thought, here's another of these Eastern princes who can be taken in the old trap. So they stag

that too?" s

because he won't yield his rights they've been busy inventing wrongs of their own and insisting on immediate

suggested Jeremy, r

ho force you to believe that virtue isn't extinct. He's almost like a child in some things-like a good woman in

aint," said Jeremy

t among Bedouins, and has their stoical endurance with a sort of religiou

ht, that kind are," said J

persuade Feisul's intimates to make a

n and boot the French into the sea?" demanded Jeremy. "

ly," said Grim. "I dare say

Hand it to 'em. They

Fire away

army of occupation. There's more than a scattering of decent gentlemen who don't like dirt. I won't say they tell Feisul secr

stove to stew, with an extra handful

rom the British. They could send him things he needs more than money, and can't get. Ninety-nine per cent of the British are pro-Feisul.

d generals, and sixty percent of the junior officers and rank and file. The rest don't have to be fe

look as if Feisul's hand is directing it all? It's as simple as falling off a log. French agents who look like honest Arabs approach the most hairbrained zealots who happen to be on the inside with Feisul, and suggest to t

sake. And they make great capital out of Feisul's promise that he will protect the Jews if recognized as king of independe

interr

you warne

and I dare say she had listened in just that attitude to fifty in

the Jaffa Gate. I said as much to that fellow in the hospital, and he was scared stiff at the idea of my recovering the supposed

" laughed Jeremy. "I'll bet you

one from Paris, Mabel; Jeremy shall pay. We've lots of other information. The troops here have b

the whole of it, because about three hundred million Mohammedans are watching Feisul and will govern themselves accordingly. India, Persia, Mes

e, deep bass, for all's well; twice, almost falsetto, for a hint of danger. This time it was the single deep bass cough. But it was followed after half a minute by the two high-pitched bar

hai!-I'm on

lf, I suppose, for n

out and getting that l

ase, and give him this

Singh. I'm an old hunter, but it wasn't until Narayan Singh deliberately moved

house, and came and stood below him on his left hand where the house cast impenetrable shadow; but though I took my time and m

s if he had lost it in a scuffle and hadn't spared time to rewind it properly-a sure sign of desperate haste; for a male tige

y the back door, tossed the letter to Grim, and crept back again to bear a hand in case of need. Grim said nothing, but Jeremy followed me, and two

Jeremy and I doubled up on the same job, and a rat couldn't have come through without one of the three of us detecting him. If we had had our senses with us we might have realized that Nar

ice he started forward, as if on the point of sneaking in, but thought better of it and retreated. Once his attitude suggested that he might be taking aim with a pisto

. It was probably sheer accident that led all three of them along the far side of the house, but it was fortunate for Jerem

gate hadn't lost his head from excitement, or some similar emotion and tried to make a signal to them. All three had brought up against the end window, where a shade torn i

sahib?" Narayan

vaulting the veranda rail, we took the longer route by way of the front steps. Jeremy, w

pistol too; why didn't I use it? Well, I'll tell you. None but the irrespons

at is, that they didn't, although that was their intention. Narayan Singh, already once that night in danger of his life, and a "godless, heathen Sikh," as I have

ed against the top step in my hurry. The noise I made gave the alarm, and the three Arabs twisted round like cornered s

ackwards into his friend behind, whose head disappeared for a moment through the window-pane, and the only blood shed on th

nd feet; whereat the man in the street emptied his pistol at me and ran away. I was in two minds whether to give cha

ats, using teeth and finger- nails; and the doctor and his wife and Grim were all out lending a hand before we had

t some enemy accuse them afterwards of having had a hand in the disturbance. And the nearest police post was a mile away. So we had our little outrage all to ourselves, al

though nobody need expect to get in the way of Jeremy's fist and feel comfortable for several hours afterwards. The cut made in the second man's neck by broken glass needed se

y were all three eager to tell their story, although not necessarily the same story; whereas Narayan Sing

uth for them to build their tale on; because the truth acts like acid on untruth. They're going to lie in any case; but lies told without any reference to truth knit better than when invented at a moment's

ve to twist its meaning or smother it under a mass of lies. But the truth they have accepted, as I have said, works just like acid and des

hat he knew about the night's events. They were forced to sit down on the floor and listen to him like three coffee-shop loungers being told a

well fed, and wore fine linen, whereas Narayan Singh was in rags and had lost weight in our recent desert mar

eyes. In place of courage they flaunted an insolent leer, and the smile intended

lippers, which they had kicked off before reaching the veranda, and instead of the firm, tough feet that a real man stands on, what they displa

w Era can be distilled of talk and tricks; and they looked like mean animals compared to that s