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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. 'That is the best of counsel, said Rashîd. And, having nothing else in mind, we acted on it.

"He had," continued the Saracen, "a rashid, or observatory, of great height, contrived to view the heavenly bodies, and particularly the planetary system by whose movements and influences, as both Christian and Moslem believed, the course of human events was regulated, and might be predicted."

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.

But nothing could be too ill-omened for that hypocrite. '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. 'In that case, said Rashîd, 'all is not said. Our darling shall enjoy his bath to-day.

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. 'Your right hand! called Rashîd; and, bearing to the right, I found the gateway.

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.

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. It was, for once, a real hotel with table d'hôte, hall-porter, and a palm-lounge everything, in fact, excepting drains.

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. A public writer was brought in.

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. And after more than twenty years' experience of Eastern matters, I know now that he was right.

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.