In the course of the afternoon Orion paid his visit to the Arab
governor. He crossed the bridge of boats on his finest horse.
Only two years since, the land where the new town of Fostat was now
growing up under the old citadel of Babylon had been fields and gardens;
but at Amru’s word it had started into being as by a miracle; house
after house already lined the streets, the docks were full of ships and
barges, the market was alive with dealers, and on a spot where, during
the siege of the fortress, a sutler’s booth had stood, a long colonnade
marked out the site of a new mosque.
There was little to be seen here now of native Egyptian life; it looked
as though some magician had transported a part of Medina itself to the
shores of the Nile. Men and beasts, dwellings and shops, though they
had adopted much of what they had found in this ancient land of culture,
still bore the stamp of their origin; and wherever Orion’s eye fell
on one of his fellow-countrymen, he was a laborer or a scribe in the
service of the conquerors who had so quickly made themselves at home.
Before his departure for Constantinople one of his father’s palm-groves
had occupied the spot where Amru’s residence now stood opposite the
half-finished mosque. Where, now, thousands of Moslems, some on foot,
some on richly caparisoned steeds, were passing to and fro, turbaned and
robed after the manner of their tribe, with such adornment as they had
stolen or adopted from intercourse with splendor-loving nations, and
where long trains of camels dragged quarried stones to the building, in
former times only an occasional ox-cart with creaking wheels was to be
seen, an Egyptian riding an ass or a bare-backed nag, and now and then a
few insolent Greek soldiers. On all sides he heard the sharper and more
emphatic accent of the sons of the desert instead of the language of his
forefathers and their Greek conquerors. Without the aid of the servant
who rode at his side he could not have made himself understood on the
soil of his native land.
He soon reached Amru’s house and was there informed by an Egyptian
secretary that his master was gone out hunting and would receive him,
not in the town, but at the citadel. There, on a pleasant site on
the limestone hills which rose behind the fortress of Babylon and the
newly-founded city, stood some fine buildings, originally planned as a
residence for the Prefect; and thither Amru had transported his wives,
children, and favorite horses, preferring it, with very good reason, to
the palace in the town, where he transacted business, and where the new
mosque intercepted the view of the Nile, while this eminence commanded a
wide prospect.
The sun was near setting when Orion reached the spot, but the general
had not yet come in from the chase, and the gate-keeper requested that
he would wait.
Orion was accustomed to be treated in his own country as the heir of the
greatest man in it; the color mounted to his brow and his Egyptian heart
revolted at having to bend his pride and swallow his wrath before an
Arab. He was one of the subject race, and the thought that one word
from his lips would suffice to secure his reception in the ranks of the
rulers forced itself suddenly on his mind; but he repressed it with all
his might, and silently allowed himself to be conducted to a terrace
screened by a vine-covered trellis from the heat of the sun.
He sat down on one of the marble seats by the parapet of this hanging
garden and looked westward. He knew the scene well, it was the
playground of his childhood and youth; hundreds of times the picture had
spread before him, and yet it affected him to-day as it had never
done before. Was there on earth--he asked himself--a more fertile and
luxuriant land? Had not even the Greek poets sung of the Nile as
the most venerable of rivers? Had not great Caesar himself been so
fascinated by the idea of discovering its source that to that end--so he
had declared--he would have thought the dominion of the world well lost?
On the produce of those wide fields the weal and woe of the mightiest
cities of the earth had been dependent for centuries; nay, imperial Rome
and sovereign Constantinople had quaked with fears of famine, when a bad
harvest here had disappointed the hopes of the husbandman.
And was there anywhere a more industrious nation of laborers, had there
ever been, before them, a thriftier or a more skilful race? When he
looked back on the fate and deeds of nations, on the remotest horizon
where the thread of history was scarcely perceptible, that same gigantic
Sphinx was there--the first and earliest monument of human joy in
creative art--those Pyramids which still proudly stood in undiminished
and inaccessible majesty beyond the Nile, beyond the ruined capital of
his forefathers, at the foot of the Libyan range. He was the son of the
men who had raised these imperishable works, and in his veins perchance
there still might flow a drop of the blood of those Pharaohs who had
sought eternal rest in these vast tombs, and whose greater progeny, had
overrun half the world with their armies, and had exacted tribute and
submission. He, who had often felt flattered at being praised for the
purity of his Greek--pure not merely for his time: an age of bastard
tongues--and for the engaging Hellenism of his person, here and now had
an impulse of pride of his Egyptian origin. He drew a deep breath, as he
gazed at the sinking sun; it seemed to lend intentional significance to
the rich beauty of his home as its magical glory transmuted the fields,
the stream, and the palm-groves, the roofs of the city, and even the
barren desert-range and the Pyramids to burning gold. It was fast going
to rest behind the Libyan chain. The bare, colorless limestone sparkled
like translucent crystal; the glowing sphere looked as though it
were melting into the very heart of the mountains behind which it
was vanishing, while its rays, shooting upwards like millions of gold
threads, bound his native valley to heaven--the dwelling of the Divine
Power who had blessed it above all other lands.
To free this beautiful spot of earth and its children from their
oppressors--to restore to them the might and greatness which had once
been theirs--to snatch down the crescent from the tents and buildings
which lay below him and plant the cross which from his infancy he
had held sacred--to lead enthusiastic troops of Egyptians against the
Moslems--to quell their arrogance and drive them back to the East like
Sesostris, the hero of history and legend--this was a task worthy of the
grandson of Menas, of the son of George the great and just Mukaukas.
Paula would not oppose such an enterprise; his excited imagination
pictured her indeed as a second Zenobia by his side, ready for any great
achievement, fit to aid him and to rule.
Fully possessed by this dream of the future, he had long ceased to gaze
at the glories of the sunset and was sitting with eyes fixed on the
ground. Suddenly his soaring visions were interrupted by men’s voices
coming up from the street just below the terrace. He looked over and
perceived at its foot about a score of Egyptian laborers; free men,
with no degrading tokens of slavery, making their way along, evidently
against their will and yet in sullen obedience, with no thought of
resistance or evasion, though only a single Arab held them under
control.
The sight fell on his excited mood like rain on a smouldering fire, like
hail on sprouting seed. His eye, which a moment ago had sparkled
with enthusiasm, looked down with contempt and disappointment on the
miserable creatures of whose race he came. A line of bitter scorn curled
his lip, for this troop of voluntary slaves were beneath his anger--all
the more so as he more vividly pictured to himself what his people
had once been and what they were now. He did not think of all this
precisely, but as dusk fell, one scene after another from his own
experience rose before his mind’s eye--occasions on which the Egyptians
had behaved ignominiously, and had proved that they were unworthy of
freedom and inured to bow in servitude. Just as one Arab was now able to
reduce a host of his fellow-countrymen to subjection, so formerly three
Greeks had held them in bondage. He had known numberless instances of
almost glad submission on the part of freeborn Egyptians--peasants,
village magnates, and officials, even on his father’s estates and farms.
In Alexandria and Memphis the sons of the soil had willingly borne
the foreign yoke, allowing themselves to be thrust into the shade and
humbled by Greeks, as though they were of a baser species and origin,
so long only as their religious tenets and the subtleties of their creed
remained untouched. Then he had seen them rise and shed their blood, yet
even then only with loud outcries and a promising display of enthusiasm.
But their first defeat had been fatal and it had required only a small
number of trained soldiers to rout them.
To make any attempt against a bold and powerful invader as the leader of
such a race would be madness; there was no choice but to rule his people
in the service of the enemy and so exert his best energies to make their
lot more endurable. His father’s wiser and more experienced judgment
had decided that the better course was to serve his people as mediator
between them and the Arabs rather than to attempt futile resistance at
the head of Byzantine troops.
“Wretched and degenerate brood!” he muttered wrathfully, and he began to
consider whether he should not quit the spot and show the arrogant Arab
that one Egyptian, at any rate, still had spirit enough to resent his
contempt, or whether he should yet wait for the sake of the good cause,
and swallow down his indignation. No! he, the son of the Mukaukas, could
not--ought not to brook such treatment. Rather would he lose his life as
a rebel, or wander an exile through the world and seek far from home a
wider field for deeds of prowess, than put his free neck under the feet
of the foe.
But his reflections were disturbed by the sound of footsteps, and
looking round he saw the gleam of lanterns moving to and fro on the
terrace, turned directly on him. These must be Amru’s servants come to
conduct him to their master, who, as he supposed, would now do him the
honor to receive him--tired out with hunting, no doubt, and stretched
on his divan while he imperiously informed his guest, as if he were some
freed slave, what his wishes were.
But the steps were not those of a messenger. The great general himself
had come to welcome him; the lantern-bearers were not to show the way
to Amru’s couch, but to guide Amru to the “son of his dear departed
friend.” The haughty Vicar of the Khaliffs was the most cordial host,
prompted by hospitality to make his guest’s brief stay beneath his roof
as pleasant as possible, and giving him the right hand of welcome.
He apologized for his prolonged absence in very intelligible Greek,
having learnt it in his youth as a caravan-leader to Alexandria; he
expressed his regret at having left Orion to wait so long, blamed his
servants for not inviting him indoors and for neglecting to offer him
refreshment. As they crossed the garden-terrace he laid his hand on the
youth’s shoulder, explained to him that the lion he had been pursuing,
though wounded by one of his arrows, had got away, and added that he
hoped to make good his loss by the conquest of a nobler quarry than the
beast of prey.
There was nothing for it but that the young man should return courtesy
for courtesy; nor did he find it difficult. The Arab’s fine pleasant
voice, full of sincere cordiality, and the simple distinction and
dignity of his manner appealed to Orion, flattered him, gave him
confidence, and attracted him to the older man who was, besides, a
valiant hero.
In his brightly-lighted room hung with costly Persian tapestry, Amru
invited his guest to share his simple hunter’s supper after the Arab
fashion; so Orion placed himself on one side of the divan while the
Governor and his Vekeel--[Deputy]--Obada--a Goliath with a perfectly
black moorish face squatted rather than sat on the other, after the
manner of his people.
Amru informed his guest that the black giant knew no Greek, and he only
now and then threw in a few words which the general interpreted to Orion
when he thought fit; but the negro’s remarks were not more pleasing to
the young Egyptian than his manner and appearance.
Obada had in his childhood been a slave and had worked his way up to his
present high position by his own exertions; his whole attention seemed
centred in the food before him, which he swallowed noisily and greedily,
and yet that he was able to follow the conversation very well, in spite
of his ignorance of Greek, his remarks sufficiently proved. Whenever he
looked up from the dishes, which were placed in the midst on low
tables, to put in a word, he rolled his big eyes so that only the whites
remained visible; but when he turned them on Orion, their small,
black pupils transfixed him with a keen and, as the young man thought,
exceedingly sinister glare.
The presence of this man oppressed him; he had heard of his base origin,
which to Orion’s lofty ideas rendered him contemptible, of his fierce
valor, and remarkable shrewdness; and though he did not understand what
Obada said, more than once there was something in the man’s tone that
brought the blood into his face and made him set his teeth. The more
kindly and delightful the effect of the Arab’s speech and manner,
the more irritating and repulsive was his subordinate; and Orion was
conscious that he would have expressed himself more freely, and have
replied more candidly to many questions, if he had been alone with Amru.
At first his host made enquiries as to his residence in Constantinople
and asked much about his father; and he seemed to take great interest in
all he heard till Obada interrupted Orion, in the midst of a sentence,
with an enquiry addressed to his superior. Amru hastily answered him in
Arabic and soon after gave a fresh turn to the conversation.
The Vekeel had asked why Amru allowed that Egyptian boy to chatter so
much before settling the matter about which he had sent for him, and
his master had replied that a man is best entertained when he has most
opportunity given him for hearing himself talk; that moreover the young
man was well-informed, and that all he had to say was interesting and
important.
The Moslems drank nothing; Orion was served with capital wine, but he
took very little, and at length Amru began to speak of his father’s
funeral, alluding to the Patriarch’s hostility, and adding that he
had talked with him that morning and had been surprised at the marked
antagonism he had confessed towards his deceased fellow-believer,
who seemed formerly to have been his friend. Then Orion spoke out; he
explained fully what the reasons were that had moved the Patriarch to
display such conspicuous and far-reaching animosity towards his
father. All that Benjamin cared for was to stand clear in the eyes of
Christendom of the reproach of having abandoned a Christian land to
conquerors who were what Christians termed “infidels” and his aim at
present was to put his father forward as the man wholly and solely
responsible for the supremacy of the Moslems in the land.
“True, true; I understand,” Amru put in, and when the young man went on
to tell him that the final breach between the Patriarch and the Mukaukas
George had been about the convent of St. Cecilia, whose rights the
prelate had tried to abrogate by an illegal interpretation of certain
ancient and perfectly clear documents; the Arab exchanged rapid glances
with the Vekeel and then broke in:
“And you? Are you disposed to submit patiently to the blow struck at you
and at your parent’s worthy memory by this restless old man, who hates
you as he did your father before you?”
“Certainly not,” replied the youth proudly.
“That is right!” cried the general. “That is what I expected of you; but
tell me now, with what weapons you, a Christian, propose to defy this
shrewd and powerful man, in whose hands--as I know full well--you have
placed the weal and woe, not of your souls alone....”
“I do not know yet,” replied Orion, and as he met a glance of scorn from
the Vekeel, he looked down.
At this Amru rose, went closer to him, and said “And you will seek them
in vain, my young friend; nor, if you found them, could you use them.
It is easier to hit a woman, an eel, a soaring bird, than these supple,
weak, unarmed, robed creatures, who have love and peace on their tongues
and use their physical helplessness as a defence, aiming invisible but
poisoned darts at those they hate--at you first and foremost, Son of the
Mukaukas; I know it and I advise you: Be on your guard! If indeed manly
revenge for this slight on your father’s memory is dear to your heart
you can easily procure it--but only on one condition.”
“Show it me!” cried Orion with flaming eyes. “Become one of us.”
“That is what I came here for. My brain and my arm from this day forth
are at the service of the rulers of my country: yourself and our common
master the Khaliff.”
“Ya Salaam--that is well!” cried Amru, laying his hand on Orion’s
shoulder. “There is but one God, and yours is ours, too, for there is
none other but He! you will not have to sacrifice much in becoming a
Moslem, for we, too, count your lord Jesus as one of the prophets; and
even you must confess that the last and greatest of them is Mohammed,
the true prophet of God. Every man must acknowledge our lord Mohammed,
who does not wilfully shut his eyes to the events which have come about
under his government and in his name. Your own father admitted...”
“My father?”
“He was forced to admit that we are more zealous, more earnest, more
deeply possessed by our faith than you, his own fellow-believers.”
“I know it.”
“And when I told him that I had given orders that the desk for the
reader of the Koran in our new mosque should be discarded, because when
he stepped up to it he was uplifted above the other worshippers, the
weary Mukaukas was quite agitated with satisfaction and uttered a
loud cry of approbation. We Moslems--for that was what my commands
implied--must all be equal in the presence of God, the Eternal, the
Almighty, the All-merciful; their leader in prayer must not be raised
above them, even by a head; the teaching of the Prophet points the road
to Paradise, to all alike, we need no earthly guide to show us the way.
It is our faith, our righteousness, our good deeds that open or close
the gates of heaven; not a key in the hand of a priest. When you are one
of us, no Benjamin can embitter your happiness on earth, no Patriarch
can abrogate your claims and your father’s to eternal bliss. You have
chosen well, boy! Your hand, my convert to the true faith!”
And he held out his hand to Orion with glad excitement. But the young
man did not take it; he drew back a little and said rather uneasily:
“Do not misunderstand me, great Captain. Here is my hand, and I can know
no greater honor than that of grasping yours, of wielding my sword under
your command, of wearing it out in your service and in that of my lord
the Khaliff; but I cannot be untrue to my faith.”
“Then be crushed by Benjamin--you and all your people!” cried Armu,
disappointed and angry. He waved his hand with a gesture of disgust and
dismissal, and then turned to the Vekeel with a shrug, to answer the
man’s scornful exclamation.
Orion looked at them in dumb indecision; but he quickly collected
himself, and said in a tone of modest but urgent entreaty:
“Nay; hear me and do not reject my petition. It could only be to my
advantage to go over to you; and yet I can resist so great a temptation;
but for that very reason I shall keep faith with you as I do to my
religion.”
“Until the priests compel you to break it,” interrupted the Arab
roughly.
“No, no!” cried Orion. “I know that Benjamin is my foe; but I have lost
a beloved parent, and I believe in a meeting beyond the grave.”
“So do I,” replied the Moslem. “And there is but one Paradise and one
Hell, as there is but one God.”
“What gives you this conviction?”
“My faith.”
“Then forgive me if I cling to mine, and hope to see my father once more
in that Heaven....”
“The heaven to which, as you fools believe, no souls but your own are
admitted! But supposing that it is open only to the immortal spirit
of Moslems and closed against Christians?--What do you know of that
Paradise? I know your sacred Scriptures--Is it described in them? But
the All-merciful allowed our Prophet to look in, and what he saw he
has described as though the Most High himself had guided his reed. The
Moslem knows what Heaven has to offer him,--but you? Your Hell, you do
know; your priests are more readier to curse than to bless. If one of
you deviates by one hair’s breadth from their teaching they thrust
him out forthwith to the abode of the damned.--Me and mine, the Greek
Christians, and--take my word for it boy--first and foremost you and
your father!”
“If only I were sure of finding him there!” cried Orion striking his
breast. “I really should not fear to follow him. I must meet him, must
see him again, were it in Hell itself!”
At these words the Vekeel burst into loud laughter, and when Amru
reproved him sharply the negro retorted and a vehement dialogue ensued.
Obada’s contumely had roused Orion’s wrath; he was longing, burning
to reduce this insolent antagonist to silence. However, he contained
himself by a supreme effort of will, till Amru turned to him once more
and said in a reserved tone, but not unkindly:
“This clear-sighted man has mentioned a suspicion which I myself had
already felt. A worldly-minded young Christian of your rank is not so
ready to give up earthly joys and happiness for the doubtful bliss of
your Paradise and when you do so and are prepared to forego all that
a man holds most dear: Honor, temporal possessions, a wide field of
action, and revenge on your enemies, to meet the spirit of the departed
once more after death, there must be some special reason in the
background. Try to compose yourself, and believe my assurances that I
like you and that you will find in me a zealous protector and a discreet
friend if you will but tell me candidly and fully what are the motives
of your conduct. I myself really desire that our interview should be
fruitful of advantages on both sides. So put your trust in a man so much
your senior and your father’s friend, and speak.”
“On no consideration in the presence of that man!” said Orion in a
tremulous voice. “Though he is supposed not to understand Greek, he
follows every word I say with malicious watchfulness; he dared to laugh
at me, he...”
“He is as discreet as he is brave, and my Vekeel,” interrupted Amru
reprovingly. “If you join us you will have to obey him; and remember
this, young man. I sent for you to impose conditions on you, not to
have them dictated to me. I grant you an audience as the ruler of this
country, as the Vicar of Omar, your Khaliff and mine.”
“Then I entreat you to dismiss me, for in the presence of that man my
heart and lips are sealed; I feel that he is my enemy.”
“Beware of his becoming so!” cried the governor, while Obada shrugged
his shoulders scornfully.
Orion understood this gesture, and although he again succeeded in
keeping cool he felt that he could no longer be sure of himself; he
bowed low, without paying any heed to the Vekeel, and begged Amru to
excuse him for the present.
Amru, who had not failed to observe Obada’s demeanor and who keenly
sympathized with what was going on in the young man’s mind, did not
detain him; but his manner changed once more; he again became the
pressing host and invited his guest, as it was growing late, to pass
the night under his roof. Orion politely declined, and when at length
he quitted the room--without deigning even to look at the Negro--Amru
accompanied him into the anteroom. There he grasped the young man’s
hand, and said in a low voice full of sincere and fatherly interest:
“Beware of the Negro; you let him perceive that you saw through him--it
was brave but rash. For my part I honestly wish you well.”
“I believe it, I know it,” replied Orion, on whose perturbed soul the
noble Arab’s warm, deep accents fell like balm. “And now we are alone I
will gladly confide in you. I, my Lord, I--my father--you knew him. In
cruel wrath, before he closed his eyes, he withdrew his blessing from
his only son.”
The memory of the most fearful hour of his life choked his voice for a
moment, but he soon went on: “One single act of criminal folly roused
his anger; but afterwards, in grief and penitence, I thought over my
whole life, and I saw how useless it had been; and now, when I came
hither with a heart full of glad expectancy to place all I have to offer
of mind and gifts at your disposal, I did so, my Lord, because I long
to achieve great and noble, and difficult or, if it might be, impossible
deeds--to be active, to be doing...”
Here he was interrupted by Amru, who said, laying his sinewy arm across
the youth’s shoulders:
“And because you long to let the spirit of your dead father, that
righteous man, see that a heedless act of youthful recklessness has not
made you unworthy of his blessing; because you hope by valiant deeds to
compel his wrath to turn to approval, his scorn to esteem...”
“Yes, yes, that is the thing, the very thing!” Orion broke in with fiery
enthusiasm; but the Arab eagerly signed to him to lower his voice, as
though to cheat some listener, and whispered hastily, but with warm
kindliness:
“And I, I will help you in this praiseworthy endeavor. Oh, how much
you remind me of the son of my heart who, like you, erred, and who was
permitted to atone for all, for more than all by dying like a hero for
his faith on the field of battle!--Count on me, and let your purpose
become deed. In me you have found a friend.--Now, go. You shall hear
from me before long. But, once more: Do not provoke the Negro; beware of
him; and the next time you meet him subdue your pride and make as though
you had never seen him before.”
He looked sadly at Orion, as though the sight of him revived some loved
image in his mind, kissed his brow, and as soon as the youth had left
the anteroom he hastily drew open the curtain that hung across the door
into the dining-room.--A few steps behind it stood the Vekeel, who was
arranging the straps of his sword-belt.
“Listener!” exclaimed the Arab with intense scorn, “you, a man of gifts,
a man of deeds! A hero in battle and in council; lion, serpent, and toad
in one! When will you cast out of your soul all that is contemptible
and base? Be what you have made yourself, not what you were; do not
constantly remind the man who helped you to rise that you were born of a
slave!”
“My Lord!” began the Moor, and the whites of his rolling eyes were
ominously conspicuous in his black face. But Amru took the words out of
his mouth and went on in stern and determined reproof:
“You behaved to that noble youth like an idiot, like a buffoon at a
fair, like a madman.”
“To Hell with him!” cried Obada, “I hate the gilded upstart.”
“Envious wretch! Do not provoke him! Times change, and the day may come
when you will have reason to fear him.”
“Him?” shrieked the other. “I could crush the puppet like a fly! And he
shall live to know it.”
“Your turn first and then his!” said Amru. “To us he is the more
important of the two--yes, he, the up start, the puppet. Do you hear? Do
you understand? If you touch a hair of his head, it will cost you your
nose and ears! Never for an hour forget that you live--and ought not to
live--only so long as two pairs of lips are sealed. You know whose. That
clever head remains on your shoulders only as long as they choose. Cling
to it, man; you have only one to lose! It was necessary, my lord Vekeel,
to remind you of that once more!”
The Negro groaned like a wounded beast and sullenly panted out: “This
is the reward of past services; these are the thanks of Moslem to
Moslem!--And all for the sake of a Christian dog.”
“You have had thanks, and more than are your due,” replied Amru more
calmly. “You know what you pledged yourself to before I raised you to be
my Vekeel for the sake of your brains and your sword, and what I had to
overlook before I did so--not on your behalf, but for the great cause
of Islam. And, if you wish to remain where you are, you will do well to
sacrifice your wild ambition. If you cannot, I will send you back to
the army, and to-day rather than to-morrow; and if you carry it with
too high a hand you will find yourself at Medina in fetters, with your
death-warrant stuck in your girdle.”
The Negro again groaned sullenly; but his master was not to be checked.
“Why should you hate this youth? Why, a child could see through it! In
the son and heir of George you see the future Mukaukas, while you are
cherishing the insane wish to become the Mukaukas yourself.”
“And why should such a wish be insane?” cried the other in a harsh
voice. “Putting you out of the question, who is there here that is
shrewder or stronger than I?”
“No Moslem, perhaps. But neither you nor any other true believer will
succeed to the dead man’s office, but an Egyptian and a Christian.
Prudence requires it, and the Khaliff commands it.”
“And does he also command that this curled ape shall be left in
possession of his millions?”
“So that is what you covet, you greedy curmudgeon--that is it? Do not
all the crimes you have committed out of avarice weigh upon you heavily
enough? Gold, and yet more gold--that is the end, the foul end, of all
your desires. A fat morsel, no doubt: the Mukaukas’ estates, his talents
of gold, his gems, slaves, and horses; I admit that. But thank God the
All-merciful, we are not thieves and robbers!”
“And who was it that dug out the hidden millions from beneath the
reservoir of Peter the Egyptian, and who made him bite the dust?”
“I--I. But--as you know--only to send the money to Medina. Peter had
hidden it before we killed him. The Mukaukas and his son have declared
all their possessions to the uttermost dinar and hide of land; they have
faithfully paid the taxes, and consequently their property belongs to
them as our swords, our horses, our wives belong to you or me. What
will not your grasping spirit lead you to!--Take your hand from your
dagger!--Not a copper coin from them shall fall into your hungry maw, so
help me God! Do not again cast an evil eye on the Mukaukas’ son! Do
not try my patience too far, man, or else--Hold your head tight on your
shoulders or you will have to seek it at your feet; and what I say
I mean!--Now, good-night! To-morrow morning in the divan you are to
explain your scheme for the new distribution of the land; it will not
suit me in any way, and I shall have other projects to propose for
discussion.”
With this the Arab turned his back on the Vekeel; but no sooner had the
door closed on him than Obada clenched his fist in fury at his lord
and master, who had hitherto said nothing of his having had purloined a
portion of the consignment of gold which Amru had charged him to escort
to Medina. Then he rushed up and down the room, snorting and foaming
till slaves came in to clear the tables.