The news, when Elias did at last reveal it, was simply another of his
wondrous stories. The Frank, however, listened to it with some
interest as the three walked out together.
In the watches of the night Elias had remembered how years ago a
muleteer, by name Mansur, had brought a piece of gold to show him
secretly. This man had been upon a journey to the Wady Mûsa with some
English gentlemen of the kind who seek adventure in wild places. Out
in the desert, far away from any house, he had the misfortune to be
separated from his company, and wandered alone for three days in vain
attempts to rejoin them. At dusk one evening he found himself in a
wild ravine, its cliff-walls honeycombed with caves, in one of which he
chose to pass the night. No sooner had he lain down than he imagined
that he heard unearthly music; but by dint of repeating the name of
Allah the trouble left him, and he went to sleep.
In the middle of the night he woke with a start, to find the cavern
lighted up, and full of people talking angrily. By their pointed ears,
domed heads, and slanting eyes he knew them for the dwellers
underground. Fear paralysed and kept him silent; which was lucky, for
he learnt presently that their wrath concerned him. They were there,
it seemed, to guard a treasure-ground against intruders; and were
debating in what manner they should kill him, when Mansur, who was a
Christian, lifted up his voice and cried:
"In the name of Allah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!" They vanished
instantly with horrid yells.
In the morning, when Mansur arose and went to the cave-mouth, he saw
that the bottom of the ravine was strewn with lumps of gold. In
delight he ran and gathered of the stuff as much as his bags would
hold, and then set forth. But he had forgotten to give thanks to Allah
for the burden; and in consequence of the omission it was not made
light to him. For relief he was forced to thrust a hand into his
placket, to pull out lump after lump and drop it on the road, till
there remained but one piece, small as compared with the rest, but
still enough to make his fortune in the world of common men.
Allah blessed his journey, and he reached his home at last. There,
after a consultation with his wife, he resolved to submit the nugget to
some man renowned for probity and wisdom. He brought it, therefore, to
Elias, who believed it to be gold, but, loth to trust his judgment,
advised Mansur to show it to a certain jeweller of high repute, as well
for virtue as for craftsmanship; and Mansur did so. The jeweller asked
Mansur to leave it with him for a day or two, that he might apply
certain tests, and when asked for a receipt, appeared so hurt, called
so loudly upon Allah and the neighbourhood to attest his honesty, and
in all respects bore himself so nobly, that Mansur retired convinced
that he had left his treasure in clean hands.
But when he returned after two days, that jeweller informed him that it
was not gold. Mansur then asked for it to be returned, saying that if
it were only brass it would be worth preserving. The merchant replied
that he had thrown it away, and told the muleteer to go and hunt for it
upon the rubbish-heaps outside the city gate. Mansur then called him
thief. The jeweller cried "Ya Muslimin!" and roused the neighbours,
who fell upon Mansur, and beat him soundly, leaving him for dead. But
before he lost consciousness he heard the jeweller exhorting the
multitude not to spare him, for that he had stolen a lump of fine gold
from the Sultan's treasury.
"What you think of that?" said Elias, when he had made an end.
"A truly wonderful story," rejoined the Emîr.
Their walk had ended on the sea-beach, where they now, all three, lay
stretched upon the sand. The Emîr, with his straw hat tipped over his
eyes, threw a stone from time to time into the azure ripples, as dark
in contrast with their foam as ink on paper. There was a moment's
silence. Iskender whispered in his lord's ear:
"It is all a lie. He made it up last night."
"There may be some truth in it; you never know!" replied the Emîr in
the same tone. He added aloud for Elias, who was staring fixedly out
on the sea, still entranced by the vision he had just related:
"If the place is guarded by nothing more terrible than your genis, I
should like to go there."
"Ha, ha!" laughed Elias. "That's all tommy-rot about the jinnis."
Nevertheless he glanced around in haste, and muttered an exorcist
formula beneath his breath. "The Bedouins they're more real to be
afraid of. But neffer say die; you square them easy with a few
dollars. Iskender, he know the way there, so all serene!"
"I told Elias all about it, sir, last night," said Iskender sheepishly,
in reply to a glance of surprise.
"Yes, sir, he tell me, and I'm goin' to helb you all I can. Trust
Elias, sir, he knows his way about!"
"Well," said the Emîr after a little meditation, "I feel inclined for
the adventure, provided always that it doesn't cost too much."
"We soon see what that's a-going to cost."
In a trice Elias whipped out from his breast a greasy pocket-book,
stuffed with testimonials from travellers, which, by the violence of
their owner's haste to begin calculations, were scattered on the sand.
As there was no wind, Elias let them lie there for the present, and
holding the pocket-book close to his nose, fell to dotting down Arabic
numerals on the tablet allotted to memoranda.
Iskender glared at him. The wretch who yesterday had been crushed and
all-submissive, to-day aspired to take command of an expedition the
very idea of which was all Iskender's.
"This was gif me by one American gentleman," Elias remarked of the
pocket-book. "Well, come along then! You take camels or mules?
Camels hold the most, but mules much nicer. We say fifty mules. Then
you want a cook, and a waiter, and 'bout ten muleteers, and five--six
big tents. I think you do it easy, grub an' all, sir, for 'bout five
hundred bound."
"Good Lord!" ejaculated the Emîr.
"Well, I do it for less, much less, but you be uncomfortable."
Iskender, then awaking from his trance of horror, grasped the
dragoman's arm and shook it angrily.
"What do we want with fifty mules, O ass?" he asked in Arabic. "One
mule would carry enough to make us all as rich as Mûsa el Barûdi."
"By Allah, thou art an ass thyself! Is it not well to bring away the
most we can," returned the visionary, sore dismayed; when, seeing how
their talk apart made the Frank suspicious, he relapsed into English
with a genial smile:
"Yes, fifty too dam' many; we take ten. A friend of mine got three
nice tents--a bit old, but neffer mind! He let you haf 'em cheab,
because he luf me. Then three horses for you and me and 'Skender. How
far you say it is?" He turned to Iskender. "You know the way."
"About nine days from here, accordin' to the baber which my father
wrote. My mother kebt it to this day."
"Well, sir, I think you get there under one hundred bound, and once you
got the gold you not care a dam' what it coss comin' back."
"No," said the Frank firmly. "I want to know the expenses there and
back, and I can't afford more than fifty pounds for the whole
expedition."
At this unlooked-for ultimatum Elias opened his eyes very wide and
sucked his pencil, staring ruefully at his scattered testimonials. He
declared it to be "no go."
But Iskender, seeing the opportunity for self-assertion, stood by the
Frank, undertaking recklessly to arrange the whole expedition, on a
smaller scale, for the sum stipulated.
Elias shrugged to the ears.
"Be careful to keep this secret," he said sullenly in Arabic. "By
Allah, if the others, who dislike thee already, get to know of it, they
will go mad with rage and probably take thy life. Abdullah, thy uncle,
himself would wish to slay thee. For a missionary or a resident in the
country, and out of season, it might pass. But this is a lord of
wealth, a prince, the best sort of traveller!"
"Canst thou not perceive, O my dear, that the desire of his Honour is
for rough adventure, and not luxury? And verily, to travel in the
style of thy proposal would simply be to invite every bravo of the
wilds to come and rob us."
This Iskender uttered in a tone of high impatience, and he was pleased
to observe, out of the corners of his eyes, that his patron approved of
that tone being used towards one who had designed to overcharge him.
"Well, Allah reward thee; for thou canst make no profit on it, that is
certain," said Elias with another shrug, and after that kept silence
for some minutes, resigning all part in the discussion. But soon, as
that discussion grew more animated, and the vision of the sea of gold
came dazzlingly before his eyes, he forgot his dudgeon and chimed in
once more, thus tacitly accepting the leadership of Iskender, who was
satisfied.
"When shall we start?" asked the Emîr at last.
"Wheneffer you blease, dear sir," replied Iskender.
But Elias thought profoundly, visibly, with finger laid to brow.
"I think you better wait a bit, Iskender," he said presently. "I tell
you why. Just now there's no trafellers comin' to the country, so the
dragomans just stand around and jolly well watch all what you do. We
go now, it make a talk. Wait a month or two, in the name o' Moses,
then there's lots o' trafellers; they think about makin' money, and go
hang! I shan't want no trafellers this year. No jolly fear, by
George! I stick to you. Like that they think you got a brober
dragoman and all serene!"
This was sound advice, and, as it was proffered with the right
humility, Iskender commended it to his beloved.