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I hated him instinctively, for he was like a schoolmaster; and yet his words had weight, for I was young to judge, and schoolmasters, though hateful, have a knack of being in the right. At last we three went up on to the roof to sleep. We had lain down and said 'good night' to one another, when Suleymân remarked, as if soliloquising: 'Things will never be the same.
Though I had known Suleymân for nearly two years, and had had him with me for some six months of that time, I had never seen him in his function of a dragoman, by which he earned enough in two months of the year to keep a wife and children in a village of the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, of which he spoke with heart-moving affection, though he seldom went there.
Suleymân shrugged up his shoulders and replied: 'I had to pay the proper fees, since you yourself showed not a sign of doing so, to save our carefully established honour and good name. 'You don't mean that you gave them to the Caïmmacâm? 'Allah forbid! Consider, O beloved, my position in this matter.
'It is also possible to find a better, I suggested. 'Be not so sure of that! said Suleymân. 'There are three several kinds of women in the world, who all make claim to be descended from our father Noah.
We were returning to the camp in time for tea, when a crowd of fellâhîn came hurrying from the direction of our tents, waving their arms and shouting, seeming very angry. Suleymân called out to them to learn the matter. 'Zandîq! Zandîq! 'Where? I asked, eagerly. 'There, in yonder tent, an old white-bearded man informed me, with wide eyes of horror.
When he returned he seized the woman by the shoulders, and, gazing straight into her eyes, said grimly: "Allah keep thee! I am going to walk this world until I find one filthier than thou art. And if I fail to find one filthier than thou art, I shall go on walking I have sworn it to the end." Suleymân broke off there suddenly, to the surprise of all.
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.
But Suleymân would not allow me to decry it. 'Your Honour is as yet too young, he said severely, 'to understand the mystic value of men's acts and words. A word may be well meant and innocent, and yet the cause of much disaster, possessing in itself some special virtue of malignity.
'The Lord preserve thee ever! sighed Suleymân. 'Thou art the leader of the party. Give command. A streak of light grew on the far horizon, enabling us to see the outlines of the rugged landscape. A half-awakened wild-bird cried among the rocks below us. And suddenly my mind grew clear. I cared no longer for the missionary's warning.
'Before the missionary is afoot towards the East. For a moment he sat motionless, unable to believe his ears. Then suddenly he swooped and kissed my hand, exclaiming: 'Praise be to Allah! 'Praise be to Allah! echoed Suleymân, with vast relief. 'The tiger in thee has not triumphed. We shall still know joy. 'I resign myself to be the pigeon of the mosque, I answered, laughing happily.
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