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The day before, which was the third day of the great hunting party at Canobia, Fakredeen and Tancred had found themselves alone with Hamood Abuneked, and the lord of Canobia had thought it a good occasion to sound this powerful Sheikh of the Druses. Hamood was rough, but frank and sincere.
'We may have a sole prince and a single government, continued Hamood, 'and the houses of the two nations may be brothers, but every now and then the Osmanli will enter the mountain, and we shall eat sand. 'And who holds the northern passes, noble Sheikh? inquired Tancred.
'A woman! exclaimed Tancred and Fakredeen. 'They say as much, said Sheikh Hamood; 'perhaps it is only a coffee-house tale. 'I never heard it before, said Fakredeen. 'In the time of my uncle, Elderidis was Sheikh. I have heard indeed that the Ansarey worship a woman. 'Then they would be Christians, said Sheikh Hamood, 'and I never heard that. The Laurellas
'He made many efforts to win them, though, said Sheikh Hamood, 'and so did the Emir Yousef. 'And you think without them, noble Sheikh, said Tancred, 'that Syria is not secure? 'I think, with them and peace with the desert, that Syria might defy Turk and Egyptian. 'And carry the war into the enemy's quarters, if necessary? said Fakredeen.
'If they would let us alone, I am content to leave them, said Hamood. 'Hem! said the Emir Fakredeen. 'Do you see that gazelle, noble Sheikh? How she bounds along! What if we follow her, and the pursuit should lead us into the lands of the Ansarey? 'It would be a long ride, said Sheikh Hamood. 'Nor should I care much to trust my head in a country governed by a woman.
The head of the House of Talhook was asleep with the tube of his nargileh in his mouth; the Yezbek had unwound his turban, cast off his sandals, wrapped himself in his pelisses, and fairly turned in; Bishop Nicodemus was kneeling in a corner and kissing a silver cross; and Hamood Abu-neked had rolled himself up in a carpet, and was snoring as if he were blowing through one of the horns of the Maronites.
Fakredeen had his carpet spread on the marble floor of his principal saloon, and the two Caimacams, Tancred and Bishop Nicodemus, Said Djinblat, the heads of the Houses of Djezbek, Talhook, and Abdel-Malek, Hamood Abune-ked, and five Maronite chieftains of equal consideration, the Emirs of the House of Shehaab, the Habeish, and the Eldadah, were invited to sit with him.
'Shall it ever be said that I am of the same nation as Hamood Abuneked? said Butros. 'Ah! it is very dreadful, said Rafael; 'a man who has burned convents! 'And who has five hundred Maronite horns in his castle, said Butros. 'But suppose he restores them? said Francis El Kazin. 'That would make a difference, said Rafael Farah. 'There can be no difference while he lives, said Butros.
'Truly, I believe, replied Hamood, 'very sons of Eblis, for the whole of that country is in the hands of Ansarey, and there never has been evil in the mountain that they have not been against us. 'They never would draw with the Shehaabs, said Fakredeen; 'and I have heard the Emir Bescheer say that, if the Ansarey had acted with him, he would have baffled, in '40, both the Porte and the Pasha.
'It was the same in the time of the Emir Yousef, said Sheikh Hamood. 'They can bring twenty-five thousand picked men into the plain. 'And I suppose, if it were necessary, would not be afraid to meet the Osmanli in Anatoly? said Fakredeen. 'If the Turkmans or the Kurds would join them, said Sheikh Hamood, 'there is nothing to prevent their washing their horses' feet in the Bosphorus.
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