a firm voice, ‘The Salt Tax,’ and all, including the King himself,
murmured approval.

“Then did I learn that for many generations past the people of
this wealthy and fortunate realm had paid to the State a fixed tax
upon salt, which amounted yearly, upon the average, to the sum I
had demanded. It was regularly received; for all the salt of this
land came over sea and the toll was levied at the ports of entry. A
Charter was drawn up by the Council in simple terms. It was agreed
by my own wish that my name should not be published to the people,
lest, perhaps, the odium of receiving tribute should attach to one so
recently come among them. But the King assured me, as he signed, that
not odium, but gratitude, was my due: he for his part would never
cease to believe that I had been moved to make so generous an offer
by some particular affection for himself and his people.

“Rooms within the palace were set at my disposal until I should have
time to choose some house in the city, and through the importance of
my connexion with the State I was sworn of the Council with the rest.

“As I read my Charter through all alone in the privacy of my room
I noted with pleasure the short and simple phrasing of this great
commercial people:

  “‘_To Mahmoud, his assignees and heirs for ever and ever, so long
  as the State shall last, and the Salt Tax be gathered_’

ran the what is called among the mighty ‘The Operative Clause: the
Words of Power.’ I had them by heart in a moment. I could not forbear
to write them down in my own hand more than once, for the pleasure it
gave me.

“Here then was my every wish fulfilled! Here was the best of company,
the most dignified of position, the most charming of climates,
surroundings of wealth, luxury and ease; the culture of a thousand
years; all that our religion permits in art and entertainment. Books
of every language and climate. Stores of good from every sky under
heaven, from every people and of every age. Here, indeed, might I
live my life without further adventure or negotiation. What pleased
me most was to think that I would be able to escape some little
strains I might have to put upon my honour--though not I am glad to
say upon my conscience--in the rude struggle of the outer world.
No one here knew my humble beginnings, or in too much detail the
particular abilities whereby I had so rapidly enriched myself.

“I was now one of the great lords, and very soon the foundation of my
fortune would be lost in the mists of time. Men would easily come to
believe that my fathers had acquired it, sword in hand, when first
the banner of the Prophet was seen upon those hills three hundred
years before.

“I will not detain you with the happy disposition of my time, nor
with more than the statement of my supreme enjoyment. Scrolls from
every land I accumulated in my library, I had about me the most
costly stuffs and upon my person and upon those of my attendants the
rarest gems. My chief delight was to gather at my table a small,
but various, band of intimates; chief of whom was that earnest,
intelligent young man of the Council whom I noted on my first
arrival. Tarib, as I have told you, was his simple name; and I
learned how his father had been no more than a respected merchant
in offal. Dying, he had left his son a sufficient income, and that
son had so added to it by occasions of public service that he had
now risen to one of the highest offices of State. It was his special
function in the Council to represent and to retail to the King
whatever popular movement was abroad, for he was known to every
class in the city. He was the intermediary between King and people,
was regarded in some way as a Tribune: or, as his title went, ‘The
Doubler,’ which term, already centuries old, some derived from his
double function, others from the attitude which etiquette demanded
him to assume to Monarch and subjects alike. Others again put it down
to the emoluments of his post.

“Through him I learned to understand this kindly, industrious and
most loyal people. In my walks with him, and by my regular attendance
at his public addresses, I grew intimate with that character in the
people of Izmat which had led to their great reputation throughout
the world.

“It was their pride that they never shook the State by violent
change, but with gradual and well-weighed reforms adapted themselves
generation by generation to the movement of the world. They thought
disdainfully of nationalities controlled by less powerful traditions;
for a man of great fortune like myself, it was therefore an
ever-pleasing thought--the foundation I might say of my happiness--to
consider the peace and solidity all about me. That portion of the
populace (about one half) which lay upon the verge of starvation were
manfully content with their lot, or, if they showed some beginning of
complaint, were at once appeased when they had pointed out to them
their superiority over the miserable foreigners of the Mainland;
while those who (like myself) were possessed of vast revenues and
lived in great palaces were far too devoted to the Commonwealth to
dream of grumbling at their lot. They would, upon the contrary,
frequently express their devotion to State and King, and prove it by
doing for the common weal, unpaid, as much as three hours’ work in a
day; or even four when there was a press of business.

“Thus, one would maintain the magnificent breed of horses by his
devotion to the chase; another would support the industry of the
goldsmith by his frequent purchase of ornaments; another would, as
a local magistrate, condemn the poorest of his district to various
terms of imprisonment; another, though in no way bound to do so,
would write a book--the description, perhaps, of his tastes in food,
or a recollection of those men and women of the wealthier sort whom
he had met in the course of his useful life. Yet another would
contribute to the health of the State by the continual practice of
commerce, to which these people were very much devoted. There was
hardly one of this rich class in which I now mixed, but had his
chosen work thoroughly accomplished. The content of the poor, the
public spirit of the rich, welded the whole of that society into
a sort of paradise; but most noble of all and most worthy of this
people was this young Tribune Tarib.

“He it was who talked most incessantly and before the largest
gatherings, thus creating a taste for public discussion. He it was
who discussed practical remedies whenever discontent appeared, and
he who worked out every detail in the interesting reports upon the
condition of the starving. To the thousands whom he addressed his
manner never grew stale. His eloquence was sober, his speeches with
praise of Izmat and quotations from the Sacred Books, as also with
known jests--things which this practical people infinitely preferred
to empty theories of the Mainland. So all went well; and I (blind to
the future, alas!) went down that path of statesmanship along which
my friend led me, little knowing whither it would lead me.

“I did not often speak myself at the public meetings so frequently
held (they were indeed the noble pastime of this patriot folk),
lest my foreign accent should hurt my dignity. For I had not yet a
complete command of the language, though it was now two years since
I had become a citizen and subject of the Monarch to whom we were
all so devoted. But I would sit by the side of my friend Tarib and
others as they harangued the populace in the open places of the
city or, upon occasions, in the mosques. On such occasions I would
show by my smiles and applause my approval of all that was said for
the betterment of the poor or the rich, as the case might be, and I
always laughed at the ritual jests, sometimes even before they were
delivered. In this way I grew familiar with most of those in the
capital and with many of the provincial towns, and hoped to conquer
general favour.

“I was present when Ibn Rashn delivered his great harangue to a
vast assembly, denouncing the foreign practice of marrying a fifth
wife--which abomination there was some danger of seeing introduced
into his beloved land. I was present also when the same great and
eloquent man gave his second great harangue, insisting upon the
necessity of fifth wives and carrying that reform by acclamation as
a law. Seated with others on the raised platform which surrounded
the orator I applauded the Grand Vizier in his solemn declaration
against shaving, a thing (said he) abhorrent to every true believer,
and heard the sway of argument for and against the custom; which (I
am glad to say) was afterwards put down with the utmost severity of
the law. But my happiest memories are still of those numerous days
when my intimate the Tribune Tarib--who could never be accused of any
petty thing--poured forth his soul upon the poverty of the commons
and extolled to them the national pride and glory of doing nothing
to change it: in which principles he was applauded with frenzy. This
spirit was peculiar to this happy land and no one expressed it in
wiser or more memorable terms than he who was now my bosom friend.

“But there came a time--I had been in Izmat about three years--when
it was clearly necessary to strike a new note.

“There was at the moment of which I speak some little commotion in
the city on account of a dearth of rice, the diet of the poorer
classes, or at least the diet of the poorer classes when they could
obtain it; for there was a custom deeply rooted in this conservative
people that when the poorer classes could not obtain rice, they
should do without it.

“At this juncture the difficulty had risen to the middle classes, and
these joined with the populace. Ill ease grew general. A complaint of
stringency was abroad, from the ranks of those who starved to death
up to the merchants and the lords themselves. Even the moderately
rich could no longer afford the services of more than a dozen
dancing girls.

“The whole Island was in a ferment and the capital was so disturbed
that one might have thought oneself at times among the degraded
tribes of the Mainland.

“Processions had appeared in the streets, sometimes actually
accompanied by musical instruments of a loud and distressing order.
Banners had been carried, and upon one occasion the litter of no less
a person than the Lord Executioner had been detained for half an hour
in a block caused by the multitudes proceeding to hear a favourite
orator. The Council had taken note of these things and my friend the
Tribune Tarib, the Lord Doubler, was naturally deputed to deal with
them in his own inimitable way.

“He went on foot to the vast meeting that had been convened in the
Mosque of Nasr-ed-din the founder of the Dynasty. We also went with
him thus humbly, the better to please the public eye. With some dozen
others of my rank I sat upon a rug immediately at the foot of the
orator and listened entranced to his impassioned words.

“Never had I heard him more inspired! It was a great volume of sound,
the words in which followed each other in quick succession, often
meaningless but never pedantic, and throughout the speech he was
careful to interpolate short passages which the meanest intellect
could clearly follow and which exactly corresponded to the desires
of his hearers. ‘Why should you starve?’ cried he, ‘while all around
you is wealth? Which the wealthy will be the first to forego.’
Murmurs of applause burst from the lips of the Treasurer and the
Grand Vizier, while I myself--I am not ashamed to say--cried aloud in
my enthusiasm for the sentiment. ‘Why,’ said he, ‘do you lack your
poor pittance of rice while the bloated rich’--and he looked round
at the galleries as though to find them there--‘have their fill of
the tenderest lamb stuffed with pistachio nuts? And who shall blame
them?’ Again there rose a wave of applause in which I joined more
heartily than ever, for the words reminded me of that delicious
viand, which I had, but an hour before, very plentifully consumed.
‘Why,’--he shouted in louder tones--‘Why do you permit yourselves to
be loaded with an intolerable burden of taxation? Which our wealthier
classes bear also in an immoderate degree?’

“At this phrase the exultation of the Lord Chief Treasurer knew
no bounds, and he led the stream of cheering which it so richly
deserved. ‘How long are we to wait for that reform which our
fathers--especially among the gentry--demanded and so nearly
obtained?’ He looked round upon them for a moment in a dramatic
pause, and then said in solemn tones, ‘A tax upon the _worthless
rich_, and more especially’ (yet louder) ‘upon the _alien_ rich
and more especially still’ (his voice now booming like a hammering
of drums) ‘upon the alien rich who stand _idle_ fattening upon
the revenues of the State, this I say....’ But the delirium of
acquiescence aroused by this noble sentiment cut off the rest of
his phrase and drowned his voice for the space in which a man might
recite the prayer for the Caliph.

“Used as I was to this style of public eloquence and the expression
of opinions universal to this happy people (bound up, as I thought,
with the very atmosphere of their race) I naturally expected that
when the dying down of the applause should have allowed him to be
heard we should have that second part of which his speeches had
always consisted--an appeal to the conservative instincts of our
race, to their noble patience and to their dogged tenacity in doing
nothing which had made them the envy of their less-gifted neighbours.

“Bitterly was I undeceived!

“For what were his very next words? I could hardly believe my ears as
those words fell upon me. ‘Why,’ said he in grave and tragic tones,
slowly separating them syllable by syllable, ‘why do you thus remain
ground down by such an iniquity as the tax upon SALT?’

“My heart stood still. I ventured discreetly to touch his foot with
that one of my own which was nearest. He replied by treading heavily
upon my toe, which I interpreted as a signal of secret friendship.
But I was terribly concerned to note that the native Lords around,
squatted upon the same platform as myself, wagged their heads in
unison when this monstrous suggestion was made, and by their murmurs
of agreement interrupted the awful silence which followed.

“That silence did not last for long. Once more, but with stronger
decision, with larger hope, there arose from the vast assembly the
same tumult of applause. Every man rose to his feet. Someone began
to sing, then all sang in unison their famous hymn, which asks in
stirring words and air whether one Hussein shall die and asserts
with the utmost vehemence that if this most unfortunate event
should come to pass no less than twenty thousand inhabitants of the
peninsula province of Bar-el-sul would demand a full explanation of
the occurrence. The words might not seem apposite to a stranger, but
in the dignified and strongly national atmosphere of Izmat their
purport is well understood. They can be suited to almost any occasion
of popular passion, and at this moment most undoubtedly might be
interpreted to mean ‘_To Eblis with the Salt Tax_.’

“I was by this time frozen to my marrow. I was bewildered. I could
hardly doubt the friendship between Tarib and myself. I had shown
him so many favours. Even now, as I looked at him, I found him very
sympathetic--and so familiar! I could not doubt the force of familiar
converse, I could not doubt my hosts and colleagues, the Councillors,
who had for now three years sat with me round His Majesty in Divan
and worked with me as one of the Chief Ministers there.

“The next words slightly, but only slightly, reassured me. They were
more after the style I knew so well, when, in the past, the national
glory in doing nothing had been expressed with peculiar skill. The
Lord Doubler assumed a piteous expression and his mouth, the shape
of which might now be compared to that of a horseshoe, opened. ‘Let
me not stir you up, my friends,’ said he, ‘to a violent anger. We
can leave froth and vindictive folly to the pitiful peoples of the
mainland. We in Izmat, thanks be to Allah, will never lose our
dignity in mere brawling. Let us confine ourselves to constitutional
means, the only ones whereby anything practical can be accomplished.’
Applause also met these sentiments, more subdued, indeed, than that
which we had first heard, but sincere. ‘My friends around me,’ and he
smiled on all the Councillors, including myself, ‘will deliberate,
as we always do, for the public good, and you will find that our
recommendations thus laid before His Majesty, with the ensuing
Proclamation, will be the beginning of better things. We cannot say
that all this evil shall be redressed at once. We are a practical
people, as I think I have remarked before. You have indeed cried to
me for redress; but we are, I say it again, a practical people. We do
not attempt the impossible or tear up the ancient framework of our
State. Step by step is our motto. One thing at a time. The advance
of His Majesty’s subjects in freedom and happiness has increased
in breadth by imperceptible degrees from one decision in the past
to another, as our great poet has so admirably put it; and again,
not once or twice in the far from smooth sequence of our insular
activities has the mere fulfilment of our daily tasks proved an
approach to distinction.’ These verses (which in the original form
noble lines of poetry) made a fitting conclusion to one of those
great speeches which from time to time determined the fate of Izmat.

“We all rose; the audience and the Councillors and the orator himself
united in chanting that portion of the Koran which details Mahomet’s
visit to the moon (a religious exercise dear to this folk). We then
sang an invocation to Allah that he might protect His Majesty the
King and throw any hypothetical enemies of that monarch into the
utmost confusion. Then we filed out of the Mosque in our thousands to
the coolness of the declining day. That great, that historic, that
fatal meeting had occupied four hours!

“The Council was immediately summoned, and their first action, after
their obeisance to the King upon his throne, was to assure me,
individual by individual, that no idea of any attack upon me had been
for one moment intended.

“‘It is, my dear Mahmoud,’ said the Grand Vizier, placing his hand
familiarly upon mine as it lay listless upon my knee, ‘it is the
_principle_ of the matter which we must consider. That is it.’
He pressed my hand on the other side. ‘For yourself, Mahmoud, as
you know, we have a respect which exceeds all bounds, but we must
move with the times. Things are not what they were. Evolution is
better than revolution. If we do not reform ourselves, things will
reform us. Mend it or end it. What did the Sultan Omar say in the
thirty-seventh year of the Flight of the Prophet?’

“These commonplaces fell mournfully upon my ears. I made no attempt
to reply. His Majesty was pleased to say a few sympathetic words. The
Tribune Tarib, who evidently felt embarrassed by my position and by
his memories of our past friendship, most earnestly protested that
his whole object had been to stem the growing dangerous demand--nay,
he would go so far as to say perilous demand; nay more, a minatory
demand; yea, a threatening demand. Had he not stemmed the demand
as he had it would have had tremendous consequences in the way of
demand. The great lord whose special function on the Council was
solemnity and who was known by the title of His Impressiveness,
opened his mouth in the midst of his prodigious beard to say that he
thoroughly agreed with these sentiments.

“For my part I said nothing, but sat mournfully, seeing no issue
and attending the pleasure of those who could do what they would
with me and mine. I heard their debate: I was asked to sign their
conclusions. I did so with a reluctant, unwilling hand; and as I
signed my name in its place and affixed my seal I glanced at the
wording of the Proclamation and felt some relief to discover that
the Salt Tax was not abolished, but only halved, while the loss so
occasioned was to be made good by a tax upon revenue of one dinar in
each hundred--a very moderate amount.

“After this dreadful session (the date will remain engraved upon my
soul to my dying day!--it was the anniversary of the day upon which
my grandfather, your great grandfather, dear boys, had been hanged)
I paced up and down in my courtyard alone, no longer soothed by the
ceaseless whisper of my beloved fountains, in no mood for taking down
any one of my famous scrolls, nor even for toying with the numerous
Circassians whom I had imported at vast expense during the preceding
months. My bosom and my brow were contracted and I was weary of life.

“But after some hours of these mournful reflections some
considerations of hope occurred to me. ‘After all,’ said I to
myself, ‘there must be ups and downs. Many a man has lost a fortune
and recovered it. My income is halved, but what remains is still
ample.’ I could yet call myself an extremely wealthy man--among the
wealthiest in the State. The small tax put upon my revenue I could
not grudge, since it fell also upon the revenues of others.

“But I was to learn what bitter truth there lay behind the
oft-repeated boast of these people that they proceeded step by step,
slowly, one thing at a time, etc., etc., etc. Not a month had passed
but a modification was issued to the first regulation and it was
ordained, in view of certain rumours which had been heard in the
market-place, that the tax on revenue should be of a more complicated
kind. It was to _begin_, indeed, at one dinar in the hundred, but
since it was harsh to apply even this small burden to the poorer
citizens, only those receiving at least one thousand dinars should
pay, and the proportion was to rise rapidly with the larger fortunes
until, for such a man as myself, the proportion reached one quarter
of the total! But worse was to come.

“Yielding to the vigorous popular clamour, the tax was doubled for
those of alien birth. For those whose income was derived in any way
from the revenues of State the tax was doubled again. Exception
was made for the Councillors, for (so ran the Proclamation) their
salaries are paid by his Majesty, and a diminution of them would
but take money with one hand to give it back to the other. I hoped
for one wild moment that I should come within so clear a category.
But no! In a further clause it was specially indicated that this
should apply only to salaries actually paid by the Treasury and not
to annuities guaranteed by, or derived from, the public revenue
directly--and my payment alone was of this kind in all the Council!

“Still more was to follow. An infamous new regulation appeared
whereby a man should pay, not upon that which he actually received,
but upon that which he had received in the course of three years--a
space of time exactly corresponding to my presence in the island
and attaching to my vast income of the past. It was clear that I
was ruined. I made a brief calculation on the night after the last
of these official Acts had been published. After taking this survey
of my remaining wealth (I had already sold the most part of my
movables, and had removed from my great palace to a humble lodging)
I discovered that I had left in my hands, all told, less than one
thousand dinars.

“I knew not how to look upon the world. My whole being seemed to have
departed. I watched the day fading, and with it faded my spirit.
I returned to my poor room and, very late, lost, or half-lost, my
miseries in an imperfect slumber.”

The old man concluded and bowed his head in a solemn silence. His
young nephews appreciating how sacred a thing is death, especially
the death of Money, glided on tiptoe out of the room and vanished.

  الوكلاء

  AL-WUKALÁ

  That is:
  THE LAWYERS

CHAPTER VI

ENTITLED _AL-WUKALÁ_, OR THE LAWYERS

When the nephews next entered their uncle’s presence at the Hour of
Public Executions, it was in a subdued manner, as to a funeral, for
their thoughts were full of that Great Loss, the story of which was
in progress. They sat upon the floor before him in due order, and
Mahmoud began:

“Upon the dawn that followed that hopeless night, my hopes were again
raised, only for my further bitterness and disappointment. I had
risen before day and gone out of doors. A chance acquaintance ran
across me as I paced aimlessly in the narrow streets of the city,
watching the shadows shortening under the rising sun, listening
to the clear voices of the water-sellers and to the cries of the
mariners at their calling.

“This acquaintance was one learned in the law. Not that he was
himself a scrivener, or pleader, still less a judge--on the contrary,
he was born wealthy, and those so circumstanced are (in Izmat)
very much averse to the tedium of a profession. But in youth he
had been compelled by his grandfather to read whole libraries of
books upon the legal system of his beloved country, and had further
been compelled to pay considerable sums to one of the most renowned
pleaders of the day in whose office he had passed three miserable
years. Seeing he was so educated, and knowing well my misfortunes,
he kindly took me by the arm (I could not help suspecting a certain
patronage) and said:

“‘Alas, my poor Mahmoud! How we do all feel for you! And how we
respect the way in which you have borne inevitable misfortune!
But though I praise you as much as any other for your conduct
and resignation, do you not push it a little too far? We, the
free inhabitants of this our beloved Izmat, have a most glorious
privilege, which is, that not the King himself (the glory of Allah be
upon him) has any privilege as against the humblest of his subjects,
when it comes to the issue of law. Our judges, as you know, stand
above all mortal frailty and are, as we devoutly and firmly believe,
filled with the spirit of God Himself. Though His Majesty and his
Ministers be your opponents in a case, that case will be decided
with serene indifference to the position or wealth or power of the
parties. You believe this, do you not?’ he insisted earnestly, for
doubts upon so final a doctrine of religion are horrible to the
imperial race of Izmat.

“‘Yes, I believe it,’ said I with a sigh, though I confess that my
short acquaintance with misfortune had shaken me in many points of
loyalty to my new country.

“‘Why, then,’ said he, ‘do you not come into Court with your plaint?
Our lawyers have the skill to discover a claim in anything, and you
may be sure that all that can be said in your favour would be allowed
in the freest manner, and if there is a single loophole, the whole or
part of your former fortunes may be restored at whatever cost. For
it is a maxim peculiar to our island law that if a case is decided in
favour of the plaintiff, then the plaintiff has the decision in his
favour.’

“I confess that my acquaintance with the manners and habits of the
foreign people among whom I had had the wretched luck to be born
had made me think it futile indeed to approach the august judges in
a matter where a king was concerned, or to ask relief from State
officials for what the State had done to me. He stoutly denied the
idea I had that the judges were State officials. Said he: ‘Have you
never read the famous oath which every judge makes on taking office?
Do you not know how we elect him?’

“‘Yes,’ said I, in tones which betrayed no enthusiasm, ‘I know
indeed how the judges are appointed and the oath they take. They are
appointed--(how often have I not seen the Firman signed in Council!
How often have I not affixed my own poor name to it!)--they are
appointed, as the rule goes, “_by his Sacred Majesty, that is, by
the familiars, the wives, and the secretaries of the Richest Men,
indifferently_.” Such are the very words of the Statute.’

“‘You answer rightly,’ said my friend, with a noble carriage of his
head. ‘Surely so impartial a source of office must make you feel
secure! On the odious Mainland the king appoints his own judges: it
is a tyranny to which we in Izmat have long refused to submit. _Our_
Monarch is the ruler of free men! He would disdain to influence an
appointment. He leaves that to his gentry, and they, in turn, leave
it to their women and other dependents. Thus we alone of all nations
secure a Bench of judges wholly independent! But there is more: Have
you forgotten the oath they take, my friend--the oath they take on
appointment?’

“‘No,’ said I, still wearily. ‘I remember it well enough. Indeed, I
have it all by heart, for I have read it a hundred times:--“_I swear
by the Almighty God and by the contents of this book that I will
not depart from justice in anything, either for orders, or favours,
or personal advantage, or any consideration whatsoever, save in the
political interests of my class or family, of the Lawyers’ Guild to
which I belong, or for such other considerations as may occur to
me._”’

“‘That is right!’ said my friend in triumphant tones. ‘Well, can you
want a better guarantee?’

“‘No,’ said I, ‘I suppose not.’

“‘Well, then,’ he cried, rising, ‘let me take you to a friend of
mine among the most able Scriveners of the city, and be assured that
whatever can be done for you will be done.’

“‘I have no great part of my fortune left,’ said I timidly, rising as
he did, but unwilling to follow him.

“‘Fear nothing,’ he returned heartily. ‘Justice in Izmat is not
bought and sold. There are, of course, certain necessary fees. But
the law compels you to hire no pleader. You can appear yourself in
Court. That freedom is one of our great privileges; and, believe me,
you will be heard as patiently and directed as honestly as though you
were one of the greatest pleaders in the city.’

“Half persuaded by such insistence, I followed my friend to a house
where, seated in the midst of commentaries upon the law, of metal
boxes containing the shameful secrets of great families and the
record of their indebtedness, sat an elderly man, whose face reminded
me, I know not why, of a vulture.

“‘I have brought you, Kazib,’ said he, ‘a client. You will recognize
him, I think.’

“‘I do, indeed,’ said the Scrivener, rising gravely and bowing to me.
‘He is no less than My Lord the Councillor Mahmoud.’

“‘The title is superfluous now,’ said I a little sadly.

“The Scrivener, however, continued to give it to me in his great
courtesy, and when my friend had left us together, I poured out my
story. As the more important details fell from my lips my host jotted
them down upon a small tablet with a fine quill that he carried. When
I had concluded he spoke as follows:

“‘Such a case as yours would appear first in the Court of Sweetmeats.’

“‘Of Sweetmeats?’ said I.

“‘It is an old term,’ said he. ‘We love these historic traditions.’

“‘Exactly,’ I answered humbly.

“‘Well, it would appear, I say, in the Court of Sweetmeats.’

“‘Yes,’ said I.

“‘After it had gone to the Court of Sweetmeats, it would almost
certainly be transferred to the Court of Wrecks, Lighthouses and
Divorce, or to the Department of Wills.’

“‘Indeed?’ said I.

“‘It is so,’ said the Scrivener. ‘Whichever of these dealt with
it, an appeal would lie, of course, to a superior court, which is
generally known as the Court of Mules.’

“‘Why is...’ I began.

“‘Oh, sir!’ interrupted the Scrivener, with some impatience, ‘these
things are immaterial! We must use such historic names.... From
this Court again the appeal would lie, of course, to His Majesty in
Council, which is the supreme authority of the land.’

“‘What,’ said I, ‘to His Majesty in Council--the very authors of the
injustice?’

“‘Of course,’ said the Scrivener.

“‘But,’ said I, ‘if the verdict is in my favour, what reason should I
have for appealing?’

“‘None,’ said he, simply. ‘But your opponents would.’

“‘My opponents are the King and his Council,’ said I.

“‘In quite another aspect,’ said the Scrivener, looking on the ground
and falling silent. ‘Under these circumstances,’ said he, after a
pause, ‘you will do very well to proceed.’

“‘But,’ said I, ‘in case these appeals...’

“He waved his hands. ‘We will not talk of appeals yet,’ he said
quickly. ‘After all, you lose nothing by first instance. Have you
your Charter with you?’

“I said I had, and brought it out for him. He read it slowly,
consulted a book for a moment, and then said:

“‘An excellent case!’ (you may judge, my dear nephews, how my heart
leapt at these words!) ‘An excellent case!... You have your Charter
and its terms are clear. By it there is bound to be paid to you and
your heirs for ever the revenue from the Salt Tax, and the issue will
lie, I think, upon whether the clause implies payment undiminished
and perpetual, or whether the recent Proclamations make a gumbo-rumbo
of the original.’

“‘A what?’ said I.

“‘It is a legal term,’ said he, a little wearily, ‘and signifies a
mixalum-malory or general contortation.... But let us not at this
stage go into technicalities of that sort. We must first state our
case.’

“‘Precisely,’ said I.

“‘My own fee,’ said he, ‘is fixed by statute, and I must ask you for
ten dinars--a nominal matter.’ With this, before I could stop him, he
seized a large metal disc, wet a corner of a parchment, put the disc
upon it, struck it with a hammer, and then held out his hand for the
fee. Luckily I had my pouch with me, and so, very reluctantly, paid
over this first drop of my disastrous leakage.

“‘Good!’ said the Scrivener. ‘We must next ask the opinion of two
eminent Pleaders.’

“‘Why?’ said I.

“‘The law demands it,’ said the Scrivener.

“‘But you have already given me yours, and told me it is worth my
while to proceed.’

“‘My opinion,’ said the Scrivener, shaking his head vigorously, ‘may
serve to guide you, indeed; but it would be altogether irregular to
go into court upon that alone. So, I will draw up a statement, as we
call it, and have it put before two men of the first standing--it is
always better in these cases to use the highest talent. In the long
run it is worth while.’

“I asked timidly how much this further step would cost, and was
somewhat relieved to learn that fifty dinars to each of these eminent
men would be sufficient. He asked me to return on the third day when
he would give me the responses; and he particularly reminded me that
I should upon that occasion not forget to bring with me at least 150
dinars.

“‘But why the other fifty?’ said I.

“‘Stamps and fees,’ said the Scrivener shortly, and then, with
infinite courtesy, dismissed me from his presence.

“On the third day I returned, bearing with me the 150 dinars from
my little hoard, which I put upon the Scrivener’s table to save all
further difficulties in the matter. He poured the money meditatively
into a little metal case, beautifully engraved, and dating, I should
say, from the second century of the Flight of the Prophet; it was
probably (to my practised eye) of Syrian workmanship.

“‘Here,’ said he, ‘are the responses.’

“‘Have you them written?’ said I.

“‘No,’ said he. ‘We must wait for that. The first Pleader, by name
the Most Noble Ghadder, is of the opinion that you have a case
founded upon the great principle of our Common Law, of which you,
perhaps, as a foreigner, have not heard--it is the principle that
“The subjects of the King can suffer no wrong.” But he warns you
against relying upon the Statute passed in the first year of His
Majesty’s father’s reign, called “A Statute for the Prevention of
the Loss of Money by the Rich.” For this has been the subject of
so many contradictory decisions that it is a very poor ground. He
says, further, that there are certain case precedents which are
interesting, and two of which, at least, in his judgment, could be
urged upon your side. In one of these it was decided that if a man
had more than a certain income no Order or Proclamation should be
regarded as capable of prejudicing him or reducing his wealth. The
question would thus lie as to whether or no at the time when the
first change took place you fell within these limits. The second
Pleader is of an exactly opposite opinion. He says ...’

“‘It is enough!’ said I. ‘The first learned Pleader shall be my
guide. I am content to hear from him that I have a good case, which
doubtless he will continue for me in court.’

“‘What?’ said the Scrivener, in astonishment, ‘do you suppose that
such men lend their valuable services in court for fifty dinars?’

“‘Evidently,’ said I, ‘as they have been so kind as to give opinions
with such nicety!’

“The Scrivener laughed as heartily as such men can, and begged me
to be disabused. ‘These are but the formal stages. The hiring of
pleaders is quite another matter. Let me proceed to the second
response. The second Pleader, the Most Noble Makhar--who, it may
interest you to know, is a negro by descent--we have many such at
our Bar, they have marvellous abilities, that strange race--is of
an opinion, I say, exactly contrary to the other. He thinks your
chance under the Common Law very doubtful. But he thinks you are
secure under the Statute passed for the Prevention of Cruelty to the
Important--that is its general title--dated from the first year of
the reign of His Majesty’s late father. All the cases, he says, are
against you; but the general principle of the Statute stands.’

“When I had heard all this I said, ‘Oh!’

“The old Scrivener gazed down at the floor between his feet, where he
sat upon his rug, and I gazed down at mine, not knowing what next to
say.

“‘My fee for this second interview,’ said he pleasantly, after what
he thought was a sufficient interval, ‘is the same as for the first,
ten dinars.’

“‘I have not brought them with me,’ I said, having only brought the
150 dinars previously asked for.

“‘It is nothing, My Lord,’ he answered, waving his hand majestically
(and again, I thought, as in the case of my friend, with a touch
of patronage). ‘We all know and respect your position of late
Councillor, and I should be the last to press you.’

“I begged him to wait a moment until I should return. I hurried to
my wretched lodgings and quickly came back with the sum which he
required. He put it into the little metal box. I thought he was ready
to dismiss me, and I was about to ask on what date the case might
first be tried, when he said, to my surprise:

“‘But we must first have Pleader’s Opinion.’

“‘But, Great Heavens!’ said I, ‘have we not got it?’

“‘Why, no,’ said he. ‘We have not yet a Pleader’s Opinion. We have,
so far, only the Opinion of Pleaders.’

“‘And what in the name of Fatimeh and Katisha is the difference?’

“‘Surely,’ said he, ‘you have heard of the distinction? The Opinion
of Pleaders is the verbal response to the Scrivener, but the law
requires that another response shall be added in writing, and this we
call Pleader’s Opinion.’

“Once more I could find no other commentary but a cry.

“‘And at what cost?’ I moaned in a hollow voice.

“He turned to a written list of fees, then to a special memorandum
of his own. He made a short calculation upon an abacus and answered,
‘three hundred dinars.’

“I kept my mouth from blasphemy and asked him when the sum would be
required.

“‘It is a mere formality,’ said he, ‘this written opinion, but we
must have a record.’

“‘Yes, yes,’ said I.

“‘And I will,’ said he, ‘take the opportunity of obtaining the same
before you come again.’

“Once more I returned to my disgusting rooms, took money from my
secret hoard and, returning, put into the Scrivener’s hands a little
parcel of 300 dinars. He dropped them thoughtfully through his
fingers in little streams till they nearly filled his metal box.

“‘It is a pretty box, is it not?’ he said. ‘I took it for a bad debt
from one of my clients, who most unfortunately died by his own hand
in a fit of melancholy after the most distressing disappointments in
his suits at law.’

“‘And as to the date?’ I said.

“‘The date?’ Once more he consulted another document, then clapped
his hands for the slave who sat in his outer apartment, and having
asked him a question in some incomprehensible jargon, received an
answer no less mysterious. Then he turned to me and said: ‘It will
come on at some date after the next New Moon but one.’

“‘Cannot I have a precise date?’ said I, for I was thinking anxiously
of my diminishing capital and wondering how long I could maintain my
poor life before my cash should be completely exhausted.

“‘That is obviously impossible,’ he answered with a touch of
indignation, which he evidently thought merited. ‘No man can say
how long the cases before yours will last, nor in what order it may
please His Holiness the Judge to take them. It will probably come,
by the way,’ said he, peering at another list, ‘before His Holiness
Benshaitan.’

“With that I left him and waited my call to the Court.

“The time dragged wearily enough. I ate most sparingly and bought
no raiment, nor even any game to pass my time, but my little stock
dwindled day by day. My hours were spent gazing upon the busy life of
the port, or sometimes standing on the edge of the pier and staring
out to sea, as though I could read in the distant mainland beyond the
horizon some hopes of a better fortune and a life restored. Daily,
as the time approached for my case to be heard, as the second New
Moon grew with every evening brighter in the last of its crescent,
I consulted officials of the Court. I discovered it was customary
to give each some small sum of five or six dinars before they would
answer a question. It was upon the twelfth day, the moon being
nearly full, that the case before mine (which turned upon whether a
man without means should owe for a debt or should postpone payment,
and had lasted five exciting days,) was concluded. I heard that the
precedent created was of the first importance, but would be subject
to appeal.

“The sun sank. It was with the morrow that my case was to be called.

“I rose on that eventful day long before dawn. I put on my raiment
with the utmost care, after having cleansed it with my own hands to
make it as presentable as possible, lest the poverty of my appearance
should in some way prejudice me. I had already given notice that I
would appear myself; for the fees asked by the Pleaders were quite
beyond the poor remnant of my purse. I must confess that I had been
strongly dissuaded from such action, but I had no choice. I found a
great crowd assembled, for my name was familiar to all through the
position I had enjoyed in the past; and it is ever of an absorbing
interest to watch the miseries of another.

“I took my seat at a place reserved for me immediately opposite the
bench. I noted on my right the Pleaders chosen by the Council, and
beyond, among the spectators, not a few of my former colleagues.

“The Pleaders were arranged in the vestments proper to their great
function, resembling the priests of a religion, and bearing upon
their heads, I noticed, what they never showed outside, a strange
headgear of mule skin with twisted hair and long, furry ears. The
Judge, I saw, was clothed in the most magnificent cloth of gold,
inscribed with the sacred texts and loaded with furs of such rare
animals as the sacred Rat, the white Jackal of Thibet, and the Skunk,
and bore upon his head a crown, which he lifted three times as a
salute to the Court, while all fell prostrate before him, murmuring
in a buzz of low, prayerful whispers their praise and incantation to
him as the representative of God.

“These ceremonies concluded, there was a bustle of men rising and
taking their seats upon the rugs of the court, the Judge himself upon
a sort of throne overlooking the whole, and the proceedings began.

“A short man stood in front of the Judge’s throne, who rose and
piped in a shrill voice, ‘Mahmoud claims against the King.’ He then
sat down, and from sundry pushes and jerks which I received from my
friends, including the Scrivener, who was kind enough to accompany me
to the Court, I saw that I was expected to rise from my carpet and
put my case.

“I said: ‘Your Holiness and Voice of God’ (for such is the formula
required, as a kind friend had warned me: and if one word be omitted
the culprit is not only forbidden to plead but is thrust into a
dungeon of the most noisome kind). ‘Your Holiness,’ I opened, ‘and
Voice of God. I had from the King and his Councillors a Charter.
It was given me as against one million dinars paid to them in gold
by me on such and such a date. I shall show the Charter to you, and
you will see there the promise that I am to receive, as against the
payment I made, the revenue from the Salt Tax for ever and ever, so
long as the State shall endure and the tax be levied. This tax has
been in great part remitted, and by special imposts the remaining
part has been wiped out. I claim that this Charter gives me the right
to the original revenue from the State in full.’ And I then concluded
with the magic formula with which my friends had very kindly provided
me, ‘_and that, Divine One, is my case_.’ This formality completed, I
sat down.

“I flattered myself I had done well, for all had been told with
perfect ease, and, after all, there was nothing more to be said. But
before I took my place, cross-legged upon my carpet, I handed up to
those who served the Bench my original of the Charter, signed and
sealed, the which I had consulted. The Judge rose from the throne
where he was seated, put the Charter down carefully upon his throne,
sat upon it, and ordered the case to proceed.

“In the chief of the Pleaders upon the other side, I was pleased
to see an old guest of mine. He nodded to me familiarly, rose, and
opened his statement, beginning, as I did, with the ritual phrase.
‘Your Holiness and Voice of God,’ said he, ‘His Majesty and Council
have instructed me. I admit that this is a case of peculiar subtlety
and difficulty, nor do I doubt that it will employ many of my
colleagues, not only in this Court but in superior courts, for many
months to come. Indeed, to my certain knowledge, one of them has
recently purchased a marvellous vehicle which travels rapidly of its
own act without horses, a foreign invention, in which he would not
have invested had he not foreseen the lengthy and lucrative nature of
the case. But that is by the way. I only mention it in order to make
Your Holiness understand that we have here to settle an issue which
indeed could hardly have been brought before any Judge less divine
than yourself.’

“There followed for about a quarter of an hour a fine passage upon
the majesty of the law and the peculiar gifts and virtues of the
Judges. But through the whole of it he insisted in every second
sentence upon the gravity of the case and its difficulty. I was
flattered and surprised. I had not thought that my opponents would
make so much of me; but, on the other hand, I remembered that their
payment was at the charge of the public and that every day added to
the sum they received. He next touched upon the folly of the Salt
Tax, its iniquity, its old-fashionedness, its absurdity, and after an
hour of this paused a moment to pull down and smooth the long furry
ears of his headgear.

“In the second hour he brought in the very words of the Charter.
He first recited them, ‘_for ever and for ever, so long as the
State shall endure and the salt tax be paid_.’ He insisted, with
repeated emphasis, upon the word ‘_and_’. In the third and fourth
hours he quoted 150 instances of cases in which this word had
completely changed the character of a document, as, for instance,
in the famous case known as Abraham’s Will, where the testator left
all his property to his beloved wife, Fatimah, _and_ the remainder
to her mother. Next, he quoted the case known as the ‘Degree of
Dignity,’ when it was ordered that all those apprehended for speaking
disrespectfully of the Grand Mufti should be brought into his
presence _and_ decapitated. Again (what interested me very much, for
it was connected with Money), the terms of the statute, now over
one hundred years old, by which the Councillors of the King receive
one dinar per day _and_ whatever other sum they see fit to vote
themselves out of the taxes.

“It was the word ‘_and_,’ said he, that made the difference in all
these cases. He might call witnesses to show that the word was
inserted in the Charter to render the phrase abortive, absurd,
nonsensical and altogether of no effect. But, alternatively,
supposing that the word ‘_and_’ but confirmed my case in the decision
of His Holiness, then he pleaded that the Charter, having been
obtained by a stranger, not a subject of the King, was null and void.
Supposing that it were upheld in spite of this, then, alternatively,
that I, Mahmoud, was a subject of the King, a native born, and
therefore subject to the King’s decisions in Council. Finally, he
concluded that in any case I must not win because, if I did, it would
make His Majesty’s Council and members thereof look like a fool
severally and collectively, than which no more deplorable thing could
happen to the State. Further, even if His Holiness should decide that
it mattered not a rusty nail whether the Council were made to look
fools or no, there was, anyhow, no money to pay me. This established
a default contumax and a discharge in alias of the second degree. I
give his exact words, for I noted them at the time, and could guess
vaguely that they must be of grave import. When he got so far I
noticed a great commotion among his colleagues. Every man in court
wore an expression of strained attention mixed with admiration,
and the Judge himself could not withhold from his august features
something of the same tribute to this Genius of Debate.

“‘Note also, Your Holiness,’ continued the Pleader, wagging his
arched forefinger (which was long and pointed) very significantly
in the air, ‘the contumax in advert to subvert ... and the same
regardant.’ He added in a sort of sneering tone: ‘I will not weary
the Court with that’ (I could see that the Judge nodded), ‘but even
the plaintiff, learned as he is in the law, will admit,’ and here
he turned and addressed me with a very contemptuous expression,
‘that plevin would not obtain in the case of recognisance, or at any
rate in the defection thereof would be docketed as an endorsement
pursuant. An endorsement pursuant would stand void,’ he continued,
with a renewed interest in his tone (he now excited a feverish
attention in his audience), ‘for that is in the very foundation, I
take it, of our law of terce and perinomy and has been upheld by a
long succession of your Holiness’s predecessors from the origins of
our Sacred Lawyers’ Guild.’

“Here again I thought I noticed the trace of an uncertain nod from
the august figure upon the bench. ‘It comes, therefore,’ concluded
this eloquent man, ‘in plain words, to this: we rely on the terms
general, and the reference particular, each interconnected, and
certainly maintain that guaranty lies overt.’ Here he stopped dead,
and then added in simple and lower tones: ‘That is my case.’ Then he
sat down. I am told it was one of the most marvellous efforts in all
the history of the Lawyers’ Guild.

“Applause may be permitted even in the Mosque or the most sacred of
Shrines, but not in the august presence of the law. Yet it was with
difficulty that the enraptured pleaders present, the scriveners and
their attendants, could forbear from open praise. A man whom I did
not know and who sat next to me, cross-legged, upon his mat, one of
the pleaders, I think (for he also wore the mule skin with long,
furry ears upon his head), muttered to me that it was the finest
opening he had heard since Achmet had opened for the Sheik-ul-Musrim
in the Oyster Case, and that was saying a great deal.

“When this great Pleader had sat down there was a complete silence
in court, which lasted for some time and seemed to me a little
embarrassing. At last I perceived that I was in some way the object
of too much attention, and my friend the Scrivener leant over with
the suggestion that I should call my witnesses. ‘But I have none,’
whispered I over my shoulder in great trepidation. ‘I have my
Charter. That is enough, is it not?’

“The Scrivener shrugged his shoulders as though in despair, and left
me to my fate.

“Then was it that I heard the voice of the great Judge booming into
my ears. ‘What evidence is there for the plaintiff?’

“I rose trembling. ‘I have given you all I have, Your Holiness.’

“‘You have given me none,’ thundered that tremendous personage. ‘All
you have done is to make an opening plea.’

“‘I thought,’ stammered I, ‘that I had stated all that I had to
state.’

“The Judge glanced round at his fellow lawyers with a look of
despair, then leaning forward, with a sort of tenderness in his tone,
he said: ‘Be good enough to mount the Sacred Stool reserved for the
witnesses.’ With that a little block of wood was brought forward,
and upon it I mounted, and so stood conscious and foolish before the
Court.

“His Holiness the Judge leaned back on his throne and surveyed me
with the contempt I deserved, nor did he repress the little titter
that ran through the assembly. An official squatted in front of the
throne put a scroll into my hand, bade me put it to my forehead and
repeat after him certain words, the sense of which I lost in my
perturbation. But I did as I was bidden. After that I remained dumb.
‘Well,’ said His Holiness, sharply, after a long pause, ‘how much
longer are we to wait?’

“‘Pray, your Godship, what would you have?’ said I.

“‘I would have your evidence,’ said the Judge.

“‘I have no evidence to give,’ I tremblingly replied, ‘save what you
have already heard.’

“‘I have heard none,’ said he, and again the titter went round the
court.

“Moved to action, I repeated exactly what I had said before, that the
words were what they were in the Charter, the clause was what it was.
I repeated it point by point.

“The Judge turned to the Pleader who had just sat down and said:
‘Now, brother Selim,’ whereupon my former friend and guest rose,
looked me up and down in a very offensive manner from head to foot
three or four times, and cried:

“‘You drunken scoundrel! Do you still maintain the abominable
falsehood which you have had the insolence to lay before the Court?’

“I said there was no falsehood, but the truth.

“‘The truth!’ he sneered. ‘Remember, pray, that you have taken an
oath in the name of the Scroll, and trivial as this may seem to a man
of your depraved character, others take the matter more seriously.’

“I stood silent under the rebuke and waited his further words.

“‘Well, well,’ said he suddenly, ‘where were you half an hour after
sunrise on the fourth day of the Fast of Ramadan in the three hundred
and seventh year from the Flight of the Prophet?’

“As I stood aghast at the question, he touched one hand significantly
with the finger of the other and said, ‘I do not wish to press you.’

“‘I have not the least idea,’ said I.

“The Pleader glanced significantly at the Judge and then continued:

“‘You haven’t the least idea? Can you tell me approximately where you
were?’

“‘No, I cannot,’ said I. ‘It is very long ago, and I was but a young
and innocent child.’

“Here the Judge interrupted me sharply: ‘We are not concerned with
your young and innocent childhood. Answer the question, if you
please, and make no speeches.’

“The Pleader consulted his notes, looked up to me again and said:
‘You have told us the Charter was signed in your presence and
delivered over to you.’

“‘Yes,’ said I.

“‘Don’t answer,’ interrupted His Holiness, sharply, ‘until you are
asked a question.’

“‘No,’ said I.

“‘Take great care, witness,’ said His Holiness in a menacing voice.
‘Take very great care!’

“‘Thank You, your Holiness,’ said the Pleader. ‘And now, sir,’ said
he, addressing me in a very firm tone indeed, as though he had caught
red-handed some thief creeping in to his household, ‘will you please
tell us where is that Charter now? Can you produce it?’

“‘His Holiness is sitting on it,’ said I, simply.

“Here the Judge almost rose from his throne, so strongly was he moved.

“‘Were you not a layman and naturally ignorant of the forms of the
Court, I should condemn you to some very severe penalty,’ said he. ‘I
make allowance for your lack of custom; but I warn you, you may go
too far.’

“‘I will pass over the last remark, witness,’ continued the Pleader
in dignified tones. ‘I think you were not quite yourself when you
made it. Will you be good enough to answer my question? Where is the
Charter now?’

“‘Well,’ said I, all bewildered, ‘I handed it up for His Holiness to
see what my case was, and to the best of my belief he----’

“‘Silence,’ thundered the Judge. ‘Brother Selim, I am afraid we shall
get no further on this tack. The witness evidently does not or will
not understand your drift. Allow me to ask him a question.’ He then
turned with a sort of false kindness upon his face and said to me in
measured tones: ‘What we want to know is, where is the Charter upon
which you claim?’

“‘I put it into Court...’ I began.

“At this the Judge gave a little gesture of despair and sighed. Then
he spoke.

“‘It is a principle of the law of this country,’ said His Holiness,
leaning back in apparent weariness as though he were instructing a
child, ‘I should have thought a principle known even to the meanest
of His Majesty’s subjects, that a document must be proved. Have you
proved the Charter of which you speak?’

“‘I don’t know what you mean, Your Holiness,’ said I, in very genuine
fear.

“The Judge leaned forward towards me and said in measured tones:
‘Remember that I am treating you leniently. I am doing what I can for
you, I understand the difficulty of your position. Take care! Take
very great care! Brother Selim, have you any other questions to ask?’

“‘I have one or two of some consequence, if I may be allowed, Your
Holiness?’

“‘Certainly, brother Selim. Pray continue. We are all ears.’

“The Pleader cleared his throat, again consulted his notes, looked up
to me and said: ‘What were your earnings in games of hazard during
the year concluding with the opening of the last Feast of Ramadan?’

“I answered that I had no exact calculation, but that I had small
stomach for such pastimes, and might have won or lost anything
between one hundred and two hundred dinars.

“‘Take care, take very great care!’ said His Holiness, addressing me
again.

“‘Between one or two hundred dinars,’ said the Pleader, in a musing
sort of voice, and I noticed that the Judge was taking a note of my
reply. ‘Now be good enough, you base fellow, to answer me this--and
remember you are upon your oath--have you been in the habit of
cheating at cards, loading dice, stacking packs, palming coins, and
in other ways overreaching those who joined you in what they thought
to be an innocent amusement?’

“I was about to reply when he again thundered at me: ‘Remember you
are upon your oath,’ and His Holiness was moved to add:

“‘Take care, witness, take very great care!’

“‘No,’ said I.

“At this moment I was astonished to see everybody, including the
Pleader, sit down suddenly, cross-legged, upon the floor, while I
stood there upon my little block of wood, most terribly conspicuous.
It was due to a gesture from the Judge.

“‘So far,’ said he, in a solemn and majestic manner, ‘I have allowed
things to take their course, because, as I have said, every latitude
must be allowed to one who is foolish enough to plead his own case.
But the dignity of His Majesty’s Court forbids me to be silent
upon hearing this last reply to a question of the most profound
and searching kind, requiring an adequate reply. The witness has
insolently answered “No”.’ He then turned to me and said, with a
severity that thrilled me to the marrow: ‘This is a Civil Court;
but remember, sir,’ and here he raised his voice in a very terrible
manner, ‘I can impound documents and present all that you have said
to the Lord Prosecutor.’

“‘Yes, Your Holiness,’ said I, now thoroughly at sea.

“‘Proceed,’ said the Judge, simply, to the Pleader.

“‘I have only one more question to ask,’ said the Pleader.

“‘Proceed, proceed, brother Selim,’ said the Judge with geniality.

“‘Do you or do you not suffer from the itch?’

“‘My lord,’ said I, ‘am I really to reply to----’

“His Holiness interrupted me with a violence which I little expected
from one in so exalted a position. ‘Answer the question!’ he shouted,
‘answer the question at once!’

“‘Well,’ said I, ‘to tell the truth, I have some little affection of
the sole of my left foot, but I conceive that with careful attention
and proper medical advice----’

“‘That will do,’ said the Pleader, putting up his hand. ‘We have
heard all we need to hear,’ and he sat down again upon his mat.

“‘Any rebulgence?’ said His Holiness, looking round with a pleasant
smile upon all assembled.

“I had no idea what was meant, but my friend the Scrivener passed me
up a little note, saying, ‘Do you carefully re-examine yourself so as
to undo the effect of this terrible cross-examination.’

“It was all Greek to me, but grasping at a straw I addressed His
Holiness, and said:

“‘Oh, Voice of God and Justice upon earth! I would like to ask myself
certain questions.’

“‘By all means,’ said he graciously. ‘Let me inform you what is the
custom of the Court. You have first to stand and ask yourself the
question; you shall then stand up again and reply to it.’

“Kneeling, I struck the pavement of the court three times with my
forehead as is the custom, and rising again turned towards the empty
space upon the little block of wood and said:

“‘Now, witness, remember you are upon your oath; did you or did you
not receive the Charter from the King and his Council in the terms
you have mentioned?’

“I then leapt upon the little block of wood and turning to the place
I had just occupied, I said:

“‘I did.’

“I then jumped down again (luckily I was still a young man and the
exercise did not affect me or cause me loss of breath) and I asked:

“‘What did you do with that document?’

“I leapt upon the little block of wood again and turned to the place
I had just occupied and answered:

“‘I brought it into court.’

“Once more did I take up my place on the floor, standing beneath the
little block of wood.

“‘Having brought it into court, what did you do with it?’

“I returned to my little block of wood, faced the place I had just
occupied and said:

“‘I handed it up to His Holiness.’

“The Judge then spoke. ‘I have had enough of this and I refuse to
waste the time of the Court longer. It is in my power to condemn
you to the King’s dungeons for ever, and I may say that never in my
long experience of our august Courts have I come across anything to
parallel your repeated insolence. I have already told you that you
have not proved your document and therefore for the purposes of this
Court it does not exist. Stand down.’

“The words ‘stand down’ signify in the technical language of this
great people ‘sit down,’ and can only be disobeyed under the most
fearful penalties. I at once obeyed and resumed my place cross-legged
upon the mat.

“The Judge was now free to give his decision, but first he turned to
the Pleader who had opposed me and said in the most genial tones:

“‘Brother Selim, you have, I take it, proved your document,
especially the word “and”?’

“‘Oh, yes, my lord,’ answered he, in a satisfied manner. ‘I have
further interpleaded for secondary and excised the four principal
terminants, all of which are duly stamped, passed, filed, recorded,
exuded, denoted, permuted, polluted and redeemed.’ To each of these
words the Judge nodded with greater and greater content, and then
asked:

“‘Do you call any further witnesses, brother Selim?’

“‘I call none,’ replied the eminent man, ‘for if I do the vile
plaintiff would have an opportunity of cross-examining them and that
would give away my whole case.’

“‘I think you have done wisely,’ said His Holiness, by way of an
obiter dictum. ‘Things shall therefore turn upon the Charter alone.’
With these words I perceived by the rustle all about me that the last
phase of the trial had come and that my fate was sealed. I thought
I had observed in the manner of its conduct I will not say a bias,
but a sort of atmosphere unfavourable to my claims; for though it
was impossible to conceive that any personal or other feeling could
affect His Holiness’s mind, yet I dreaded his decision. None the less
I awaited that decision with some interest, for, after all, nothing
is certain until it is concluded.

“The judge put down his crown, assumed a headgear which resembled
that of the Special Pleaders but gilded, and with the interior of the
long furry ears carefully painted in silver by way of contrast; for
such the Custom of the Law demands when a decision is about to be
delivered.

“He spoke:

“‘From the evidence that has been laid before me it is clear that
there exists, or has existed, will exist, or may exist, or can exist
or at some other time existed, demurrer notwithstanding, some Charter
wherein the word AND is the point at issue. That form was admitted
by the defence, I think?’ All the Pleaders rose and bowed and then
again were seated upon their carpets. ‘But I gather’ (and here he
looked sternly at me) ‘that there was no acceptance by the Plaintiff.
We have, I take it, an operative clause wherein the operative word
is AND. “AND so long as the salt tax endures.” Many points brought
forward in defence of the Crown I am compelled to overlook. It is
the glory of our courts of justice that they exercise an absolutely
even-handed dealing between man and man, and that His Majesty himself
is bound by their decisions.’ (Here there was a murmur of applause
which was instantly suppressed.) ‘I make therefore so bold as to say
that the Counsel engaged by his Majesty on this occasion have said
many things with which I do not agree and others which I shall not
take into account. It is equally clear that the case presented by
the Plaintiff is, as he put it, no case at all, and that were I to
rely, as I shall not, upon the strict forms of law, he is already out
of Court.’ At this all looked severely on me and I felt my stature
singularly diminished, and crouched lower upon my mat. His Holiness
continued:

“‘I shall treat this matter as though I had heard no pleadings upon
either side, for this I take to be the true attitude of a judge
concerned with justice alone. We have, then, this operative “AND
...” this decisive word “AND.”’ Here His Holiness leaned back on his
throne, cast his eyes upwards towards the rich arabesques of the
ceiling, sighed and continued:

“‘The word AND is among the most significant of our ancient,
glorious language. It has been used upon innumerable occasions. Our
industrial classes, our nobility and even our middle classes, as well
as the poor in their humble station, are compelled to its continual
expression. It is, if I may so express myself, part of the heritage
of our race. He would indeed be poor in spirit, and weak in his
allegiance to the imperial traditions of this island,’ continued His
Holiness, warming to his subject, ‘did he not appreciate the majesty,
the significance, the grandeur upon occasions, the full effect and
indeed the awful weight of this little word,’ and here he dropped his
voice, AND ‘“AND so long as the salt tax ...” etc. That is the point.
AND ... I trust I have made myself clear.’

“All heads nodded in unison, while a song in adoration of His
Holiness was sung by an acolyte who entered at this stage of the
proceedings (as is customary in courts of law), and a hidden chorus,
distant, but just heard, added a short canticle of praise. His
Holiness waited for the conclusion of these ceremonies, which are
invariably interpolated during any important judgment, and then
continued:

“‘AND so long,’ ‘What is the significance of that word “AND”? I take
it that it is affirmative, negative, copulative and restrictive; but
that is--not all. I think it is also constructive, instructive, and
destructive. It is only by using it in all these ways that we can
fully appreciate its preponderant significance in the issue before
us.’ Once more all heads nodded and even I was constrained to follow
the custom, although, in my ignorance, I could make neither head nor
tail of the learned argument. The lawyers present bore a look of such
intense absorption that one would have thought their lives depended
on what was to come.

“‘The Plaintiff in reciting the clause,’ said His Holiness quite
suddenly, ‘emphasized a very singular phrase “for ever and for ever,”
and also those other words, “so long as the state endures,” but I
noticed a curious hesitation upon his part when he came to this word
AND.’

“Here some one in the back of the court yawned in so audible a manner
that there was a sudden interruption signalling an ejection, and I
learned later that the unfortunate man had perished as he deserved.

“‘I appreciate fully,’ continued the Judge, ‘that my decision will,
subject to appeal, determine in great part the future of this ancient
State. Since we are destined soon to acquire and administer the
whole world it may be said that my humble remarks upon this occasion
will deflect the history of the human race itself. No one can be
insensitive to such a responsibility. My duty is clear. The word
“AND,” standing as it does between the first and second parts of
the phrase on which is based Plaintiff’s claim under the Charter,
clearly determines that claim. But to determine is to terminate.
The Plaintiff has therefore no rights here, in the sense of the
word “rights” as used by the august body of our Statute and Common
Law. He is at the mercy of the Crown, and his claim is disallowed.
He may think himself lucky that I have not taken advantage of my
full powers and had him whipped at the cart’s tail or thrown down a
well. Let record be made and all adjudged as decided.’ With this His
Holiness majestically rose, granted a benediction to the kneeling
multitude, and was about to leave the Court when the Pleader Selim
interrupted with the words:

“‘What about costs, your Godship?’

“‘With the Judgment,’ said the judge wearily over his shoulder; and I
noticed to my dismay ten pens busily scribbling and wondered what was
coming next.

“Indeed I was weary of the whole affair and desired nothing better
than to hide my humble head in my poor lodging and on the morrow with
what was left of my poor little hoard--at the most 400 dinars--to
leave for the mainland, and there with this tiny capital attempt to
reconstruct my fortunes.

“It was not to be as I imagined. Even as I approached the door of the
Court I was approached by the Pleader Selim, who repeated that phrase
hitherto meaningless, ‘What about costs?’ and found I might not
depart from the building till I had provided 350 dinars, leaving me
with exactly fifty to face the world! Luckily I had my pouch upon me.
I hurriedly counted out this last poor remainder of my wealth; then,
fearing to return to my lodging (the rent of which I could no longer
discharge) I paced hopelessly along the quays through the evening and
on through the darkness, until, about midnight, I espied a master
mariner about to board his vessel.

“‘For what sum,’ I asked him, ‘will you take me on deck to the
mainland?’

“‘It is a hundred dinars,’ he said roughly.

“‘I have it not,’ I answered. My stomach was already clamouring for
food. ‘I have but fifty dinars, and some part of that I must reserve
for my nourishment lest I perish before reaching land.’

“‘Well,’ said he a little less roughly but with no humanity in his
tone, ‘you may crawl up forward among the cordage if you like and
give me forty-five of your coins; the five you shall keep to feed
yourself with when you land.’

“I thanked him humbly for his unexpected kindness. I tried to find
some warmth in the chilly night, huddled amid coils of rope on the
little deck forward. At dawn the last of the crew came aboard, two
great sails were hoisted and we passed out upon the sea.

“Before the sun was high we had dropped over the horizon, and left
behind us the palaces of the land where I had thought to find
security and repose. There I was, I who had so lately had the world
at my disposal, a beggar, hopeless for the coming days, and wondering
where on my landing I should find food to keep me living for a week
together.”

As Mahmoud was concluding there rose a loud wail, piercing and
prolonged which startled him and all the file of boys aligned
cross-legged before him upon the floor. It proceeded from the
youngest of the nephews.

“What is it, my little fellow?” said his uncle in real alarm.

“Ah! Ah!” sobbed out the poor infant. “Lost! lost! All lost! All that
lovely money lost! I cannot bear it, uncle. I cannot bear it!” and he
burst into floods of tears.

“For heaven’s sake,” said the old man, rolling upon his seat in his
concern for the child, “do not take on so! There is no cause for
such a bother. You make too much of it. It is but part of a tale. Do
you not see how I have been restored to great fortune? Are you not
in this palace of mine with all my slaves around you? and splendid
hangings upon the wall? Come, look about you and do not mix up these
words of the past with real things that you can touch and see to-day.”

The little boy tried to stifle his sobs, but they returned with
increased violence.

“Oh, uncle, to think that you, who had been so rich, should become
so poor; to think that those who gain great wealth cannot keep it
for ever! Consider all your wealth! Oh, it is terrible, the death
and destruction of it!” Throwing himself down upon the marble floor
he buried his face in his crossed arms and kicked either foot
alternately in the air, in the violent paroxysm of his grief.

His uncle was so moved that he knelt beside the child to soothe him.

“Pray, pray, restrain yourself,” he said. “You will do yourself some
hurt. I admire you, my dear boy, I perceive your singular gifts.
More than all your elder brothers do you seem to know that which the
young should seek in life. You understand indeed what others do not
always, all that money means. But it is terrible to see one of your
age suffering such agonies from a mere recital of its loss. Indeed,
I am moved to console you,” here the old man was tempted to put his
hand into his pouch and offer some small coin in consolation to the
child, but he recollected himself and continued, “to console you
with a pleasant draft of cold water, which I am afraid I forgot to
tender to you and your brothers when I last had the pleasure of your
attendance.”

The little fellow sat up, still sobbing, but attempting to dry his
eyes and moaning from time to time “All that money! All that lovely
money!”

Pure, cold, crystal water was brought round and gratefully sipped
by the boys, who when they had thus refreshed themselves at their
uncle’s expense, thanked him warmly and disappeared with reverence
from his presence just at the moment when the voice of the Muezzin
was heard from a neighbouring minaret boring the Faithful to tears
with its repeated call to prayer.

  الغنم

  AL-GHANAMAT

  That is:
  THE SHEEP

CHAPTER VII

ENTITLED _AL-GHANAMAT_, OR THE SHEEP

As Mahmoud’s nephews filed in just after the hour of public
executions to hear the continuation of their uncle’s absorbing tale,
they wore an expression different from that which he had observed
on their faces during so many days. The thought of this great man
subjected to misfortune like any other, and passing through the
trials of actual poverty, had shocked their young and sensitive
souls. They had been trained indeed, even in their short experience,
to the idea that they and their poor father must suffer contempt;
but that the head of the family should ever have passed through such
things shook their faith in the world.

The aged merchant, a little concerned with their appearance, warned
them that what he had to tell them, not only upon that day but
later too, would be concerned with no happy relation. “These were,
my children,” said he, “the days of my dereliction. They served to
humble me, and often when I have occasion to turn a poor man out
of his house or to prosecute some starving widow for debt, or to
see to the imprisonment of one who has failed to keep some contract
I may have imposed upon him, I sigh and chasten myself with the
thought that I myself might (but for the infinite goodness of my God)
have been in his or her position. Though, frankly, I cannot say,
considering the ineptitude of such people, that I can ever imagine
them in mine.” Having so prefaced what he had to tell, the merchant
proceeded:

“I sat down, then, in the bows of the boat on that miserable night
watching for land. I tried to make some plan, as is the habit of men
of my temper, but none would form itself in my fatigued and unhappy
brain. One asset I had and one only (over and above the few coins
which could hardly last me for more than a day) and that was the
dress I wore; for I still carried the fine clothes of my former rank.
I had worn them on the occasion of the trial; indeed, I now had no
others.

“This accoutrement and a certain proud manner of bearing which I had
acquired during the past years of my affluence saved me from insult;
though I am not sure that if I had been asked to carry some package
for the wealthier of the passengers I should not have accepted the
opportunity of reward. I spent about half my poor handful of cash on
a meal; with the remainder I purchased provision for the evening.

“The town in which I found myself was--happily--too busy and
populous a mart to pay attention to a chance wanderer. Lacking all
direction, trusting as I had trusted long ago to fortune or rather
to Providence, I betook myself after the worst heat of the day had
passed, to a chance track which led first along the river side, above
the harbour, and afterwards climbed through the gardens of the city
to the hills beyond.

“The countryside was here of a nature more fertile than the
countries through which I had hitherto passed. The dense trees of
the woods made a grateful shade for me in that silent afternoon, and
when I had passed beyond these on my upward journey I came to a great
rolling land of sparse grass, feed for cattle.

“It was hired out, it would seem, to graziers; for I saw some little
way off standing in the attitude of a shepherd and holding his bent
staff beside his vigorous old frame, a very remarkable figure. I
approached him without any set idea of what my adventure might
lead to. I only knew that things could not be worse. Perhaps I had
somewhere in my mind a guess, half-formed, that I could be of some
service at some small wage. At any rate I accosted him. I have seldom
seen an expression more haughty and vigorous and marvelled that it
should be that of a hired man. He was perhaps sixty years of age with
a strong bearing, eyes luminous and almost fierce, and a face in
outline that of a hawk, or better, that of an eagle. And as he stood
there he watched, grazing before him, a great flock of sheep, well
fed, and fat; of a high breed, excellent to behold. There were at
least a thousand of these and it would seem that the religion of this
part (for they also were true believers) did not forbid the use of
bells. For I heard a multitudinous tinkling come up from the flock as
it moved. Very far away the plateau made an edge against the sky, and
between that horizon and the summit to which I had reached, folds,
with water pools concealed in them, diversified the great sweep. But
there were no trees. All was bare and majestic under the sky as the
light melted towards evening.

“The shepherd returned my salutation, accepted my offer to share the
very scanty food which I had purchased and so sat down before me on
the ground to eat.

“As we ate we grew acquainted. I told him frankly enough of my
misfortune, though not in detail. ‘I was,’ said I, ‘only the day
before yesterday a rich man. To-day I am what you see, and my last
piece of silver is gone.’ He looked at me gravely and said that
there was One Who gave and Who took away. His Name be exalted.
‘These sheep, for instance,’ said he, ‘are the property of a man
contemptible in every way, foolish, irascible, a bad master and (one
would have thought) an unwise merchant. Yet he prospers while I, the
shepherd, remain upon a hire too small to permit me to save. And so
it has been for years!’

“‘I have not,’ added he a little bitterly, ‘the faculties for that
sort of life which my master pursues. At any rate I am quite certain
of this: that by any common judgment of men he is the inferior and I
the lord. Yet here I am!... The world deals harshly by poor men.’ He
looked at me to see if the words sank in.

“As he thus spoke (his sadness seemed to relieve my own with a sense
of our common dependence) the sun now near the horizon warned us of
prayer and I was glad indeed to see that this new chance companion
was as much alive as I to the duties we owe our Maker. He fell upon
his knees and bowed to the evening prayer as I did beside him, and
for some moments, as we recited the sacred formula, all worldly
thoughts passed from my mind and I think from his also. We rose
at the same moment from this exercise, each filled, I felt, with
brotherhood. I was the first to break the consecrated silence.

“I did so by asking him whether he had never thought, in the course
of his long years as a shepherd, how money might be made by the
stealing of his master’s sheep, or by some trick with them? Whether
he had never had the opportunity to blackmail his master, or in some
other way to increase his fortune? For it seemed intolerable to me
that a man such as he described his employer to be, should be wealthy
while he were poor. He shrugged his shoulders as though in despair
and answered simply:

“‘In the distant past I often attempted such things; but invariably
have I failed. Indeed, the master graziers of this part know me well
for one who has attempted at their expense every kind of bold chance,
and I would never have employment from them were it not for my skill
in lambing and in every other part of the trade. As it is they watch
me rigorously. Their spies are everywhere. I could not, I fear, make
one dinar by any one of the methods you suggest. I have in my time
tried them all. I have forged receipts; I have sold sheep which
afterwards I entered as dead from accident; I have falsified the
returns of the lambing; I have sometimes raised a sum of money upon
the flock under pretence that it was my own. My only reward has been
fine and imprisonment and cruel torture. But the truth is that I
have not the faculties of the merchant. They are, I take it, granted
to some and withheld from others. For my part I have despaired of
their exercise and shall never turn to them again.’

“His words filled me at once with pity and with hope, and (since
ingenuity is never long absent from men of my temper) a scheme
suddenly appeared.

“‘Why should not we,’ I said, after I had gathered wood and lit a
fire to meet the approaching darkness, ‘enter into partnership? I
think I may say without boasting that I possess in a singular degree
those faculties which you say you lack. God made me in every part
for a merchant. I can conceal, distort, forestall, outdo, bully,
terrify and even boldly snatch, far better than any other man I have
come across. Only once in my life have I fallen into the weakness
of trusting others and as you see I have paid bitterly for that
weakness.’ So I spoke, not noticing that I was yet again committing
the same error in suggesting partnership to a mere stranger. But in
truth Allah had blinded me; purposing to make me taste misfortune to
the full that I might the better adore His later beneficence.

“‘All these talents I have in abundance and more also,’ I continued,
‘for God has been very good to me. You, on the other hand, have
what I lack; that is, a knowledge of the towns round about and of
their markets; of the value of sheep; of the system which has been
organized for the catching of ingenious men; and of how that system
may be avoided. Between us, then, we have all the things needed for
our success. Come, let us determine with the very next breaking of
the light to try our fortunes together.’

“After I had thus spoken the shepherd looked at me long and anxiously
over the fire, the reflection of which shone in his piercing eyes.
I wondered whether he were wavering and to what conclusion he would
come. At last he spoke, slowly enough.

“‘I am not willing,’ said he, ‘I am not willing ... but I will take
the risk. The worst that can come to me I have already suffered. At
the best’--and he pointed towards the vast flock of sheep now a mass
of glimmering white as they lay in the darkness--‘at the best we
should each acquire provision for many years.’

“‘Oh! fool!’ thought I, ‘provision for many years! Does he not know
how money breeds?’ But in open speech I said, ‘Yes, we will divide
the spoil and go our ways. I with my share and you with yours.’

“‘Precisely,’ he answered with a curious smile which, for the moment,
intrigued me. ‘You with your share and I with mine.’

“As the night passed I entertained him with the details of my plan.
Since it was I who had to do the work while he would have to command
(from his knowledge of the trade), I proposed that he should be the
master and I the man. To all this he nodded assent. He was also
prepared to meet me in my suggestion that he should put on my fine
clothes and I his rags, the better to carry out our parts. ‘This
will,’ said I, ‘seem strange while you are driving the sheep, but as
we approach the town and market to which you shall direct me, if
there be one nearby, I will attempt to take over your task and under
your direction I may at least complete it by bringing the flock to
the place of sale. I will speak of you as the owner. My fine dress
which you wear will carry out that deception and deceive all into
thinking that it is an honest transaction. The sum upon which we
shall agree with the purchaser shall be paid to _you_; and not until
the whole transaction is over, and we well out of the gate, shall I
ask for the division, which I take it should be in equal halves.’

“To all this also he agreed; only asking whether I would not like
(as, after all, I had only just met him) to have the money paid to
both?

“I urged him to keep to my plan. His receiving the money as master
would seem natural and excite no surprise. We could divide in private
at our leisure.

“To my surprise he made me a low bow at this; but I put it down to
custom, and went on with my plan.

“For the sake of a rough calculation I asked him what sheep were
fetching, and he said that in the neighbouring Ksar, which might be
called a straggling market town or a large village, there was to be
held, it so happened, the very next day a sheep market, where we must
find ourselves shortly after sunrise. It was distant less than an
hour across the uplands. The purchasers came from all parts, and as
the bidding was likely to be brisk we might expect for the flock as a
whole not less than 1,800 or even 2,000 pieces of gold. As he spoke
I already felt that capital in my possession, or, at least, half of
it, and I thought things would go hard with me if after our first
successful transaction I could not carry on my partner to another and
another, until at last I had manipulated him out of his share also.

“We discussed all further details through the night, rehearsed our
parts, and had the whole perfect when the first glimmer of dawn
showed in the East beyond the edges of the hills beneath a waning
moon.

“We rose; the flock was gathered; our garments exchanged; and I could
not but admire my companion, now that he was dressed in what seemed a
manner so much more suitable to his carriage and features. He looked
a very Master, a prosperous lord of men, and I congratulated him upon
the effect, which, I assured him would allay all suspicion, since all
would take him for a very great lord indeed.

“Again he smiled that intriguing smile and bowed too low. But I was
a little nettled at his affecting to play the part thoroughly by
addressing me in sharp tones and with the air of a superior. I, for
my part, shivered in the dawn in the miserable rags which I had taken
from him, and holding his staff awkwardly enough tramped on in my
character of the servant.

“Soon, just as the sun rose, the dusty hedges and the cracked
yellowish walls of the Ksar appeared in a hollow through which ran a
muddy stream. From the enclosures within, rose the bleating of many
sheep which had been driven to the same market, and we observed upon
the folds of land beyond several flocks arriving in convergence upon
the same place.

“My companion told me while we were still out of earshot that an
early arrival would allow us to watch the movement of prices and,
what was of more value to us, might enable us to get away before
opportunity for pursuit should arise.

“He gave me my last instructions, recalling all that we had arranged
in the night. ‘I, for my part,’ said he, as the first sheep of our
great flock entered the narrow streets, ‘shall fall behind you and
take my way to the Pavement outside the Mosque reserved for the
principal merchants, and there with all due dignity and honour await
your report, while you go forward to the market place beyond the
Mosque: when you have got a purchaser, come back and find me. For
such is here the custom. It is the servant who negotiates, the master
who confirms. The servant leads the purchaser to his superior, and
that superior takes the purchase money. Do you, for your part, cast
around until you hear the conversation of the bidders and see that
you sell at a price not less than 2,000 pieces of gold.’ He then gave
the number of our flock all told, which he made me repeat to a single
point in ewes and in lambs. When he had said this he fell behind me
and went up a street which led to the Mosque; while I, in some doubt
of my capacity, but putting what bold face I could upon the matter,
went straight before me along the broad way toward the market beyond.
There I drove all the flock into a great pen, of which certain were
reserved for the vendors in that mart.

“The market soon filled with buyers. They came in little groups,
prodding the sheep, feeling the wool and sometimes looking into
their mouths; and the flock which I had the honour of commanding was
the most admired of all. I was asked by several if I would not sell
singly; but estimating the eagerness of the buyers I shook my head
and said I could not sell for less than a reserve sum of two thousand
pieces of gold, nor could I break the flock. I added that it was a
pity to do so as it was a pedigree flock, every single animal being
descended from the famous ram which had spoken in a human voice to
the Holy Hassan three hundred years ago by order of the Most High. I
admitted that this origin made little difference to the mutton, but I
pointed out its extraordinary effect upon the wool.

“With that the bidding began and I noticed with great pleasure one
tall, dark, very thin man among the rest, slow of gesture, fixed
of eye, who never took his looks from my face and who, just after
each last bid, would raise it by fifty pieces of gold. He was not to
be beaten. One competitor after another dropped out. At last when
the magnificent sum of 2,832 pieces of gold had been bid by the
mysterious stranger I clapped my hands together as the signal and
used the formula ‘Heaven has decided.’ The stranger approached me,
drawing from his girdle a reed and a small horn of ink. I thought we
were about to sign the transfer--it seemed to me an odd formality,
seeing that he had but to drive the beasts away and leave me the bag
of gold. I was undeceived. He presented me no charter of transfer,
no deed, but a strange piece of writing such as I had not seen
before and asked me for its counterpart. I was startled and a little
confused. ‘What counterpart?’ said I.

“‘Do you mean,’ said he in clear tones, so that the curious
bystanders should overhear, ‘that you have no permit?’

“At this the audience tittered, and others, scenting amusement,
crowded round to gaze and follow.

“‘Have you no permit?’ he repeated severely.

“I felt myself growing hot and confused under the laughter which
followed; and even alarmed when I heard one buyer say contemptuously
to his neighbour, ‘They’ve caught another of ’em!’

“I confessed that I had never even heard of such an instrument.

“‘Follow me,’ said the stranger grimly, and whether from curiosity
or from a conviction growing in me that he had authority, I followed
humbly enough, leaving my large flock bleating in its pen.

“The stranger (for he now showed that he had upon him the keys of the
market) locked the gate of the pen, appointed (another proof of his
authority) a slave to stand by and see that no one interfered with
the property I had transferred to him, and motioned to others to fall
in behind us. He then led me away, and I was more concerned than ever
to notice the strange smiles of those who saw the little procession
which we made, he going first with his great staff, I treading behind.

“He led me to where the Sheiks of the neighbourhood, the principal
sheep owners and magistrates, sat in solemnity before the Mosque; an
awe-inspiring company. Grand and splendid among them, in their very
centre and clearly the most revered of them all, I perceived my late
companion the shepherd, all dressed up in my own fine clothes, but
having now added ornaments reserved for him, and looking for all the
world like the king of the place.

“At our approach he turned an indignant glance upon me, rose to his
feet, and addressing the stranger who had captured me, cried in a
terrible voice:

“‘Officer! Do you bring me yet another of these evildoers? Whose
sheep had he driven off? And is it a case of a forged permit or what?’

“I already saw how the land lay, and I quailed to think what was
before me. The owners--I rightly guessed--had suffered from sheep
stealing; had established permits, signed by them, in order to check
fraudulent sales; had plotted to catch the thief culprits, and this
perfidious man had disguised himself as a servant in order to catch
such, and had caught _me_. The officer who had arrested me spoke:

“‘My lord,’ he said, ‘we have caught this ruffian’--pointing to
me--‘selling _your_ sheep without any permit at all! He must have
driven them through the night. By the law which your Council
proclaimed last year, just after the Fast, his punishment lies in
your hands. The owner has the determination of it.’

“To my astonishment and horror my former companion looked on me with
a dreadful face of scorn and said: ‘Tell me all, that I may apportion
the punishment due to him. I had had him in my employ for but a
short time. I mistrusted him from the first. Tell me all!’

“‘I have so found him selling your lordship’s sheep. They fetched
nearly 3,000 pieces of gold,’ answered the officer grimly. ‘He shall
make an excellent example for, my lord, he is the first whom we have
caught in this market trying to sell without a permit. There can
be no doubt (I have witnesses to it) that he proposed to take the
purchase money and (perhaps with some accomplice whom I have not
traced) to fly.’

“On hearing this my former companion, clenching his hands and showing
as intense a passion as his dignity would allow--a magnificent
figure in those clothes of his (my clothes)--cried, ‘What? Is it
possible that one whom I have nourished, tended and befriended should
be guilty of so abominable a crime? How wise we were to make the
regulation! How excellent and zealous are you in your office thus
to have found the first culprit who attempted theft in this place!
How admirable that he should be brought to justice before he could
consummate his crime! How marked is the work of Providence’--here
he lifted his eyes to heaven--‘which has given him up to us for an
example! Come, let us cut off his head with a blunt saw.’

“The officer who had thus traitorously caught me bowed low and said,
‘Hearing and obedience! But if my lord will take council I would
speak.’

“‘What is it you would say?’ said my companion, who resumed his seat
but slowly and seemed displeased at the interruption.

“‘My lord,’ said the official, ‘I suggest that if you cut off his
miserable head with a blunt saw, though doubtless it would have a
good effect for the moment and strike terror into the hearts of those
here who see it, so that never more shall sheep be stolen from this
market, nor ever more shall we suffer as we have suffered in the
past, yet it would be of slighter effect than what I shall propose.
For to hear of a man’s execution is one thing, but to hear his own
relation of his sufferings is another. I propose therefore that he
shall be beaten at great length but not to the point of death; on the
approaching of that consummation let him be released to crawl away
and tell his story throughout our countries to whoever will listen.
Such an example would be of far more service to the owners, my lord,
than his death would be, and I promise that he shall be beaten in the
most expert manner to the advantage of all posterity.’

“Even as he advised so was it done. I was given the bastinado without
mercy until I thought I should have expired, and then under every
circumstance of ignominy I was turned loose with a week’s provision
of coarse meal into that deserted country, to spread terror among the
servants of the wealthy owners and by my example to deter them from
ever attempting to play tricks with their masters’ goods.

“I, who from my youth have abhorred the ill use of servants, I who
had founded once so great a fortune and proved so kind a master to
hosts of dependents, I in my ingenuousness and simple heart could not
have believed that such trickery existed in the world! I had been
wholly duped!

“As I limped from village to village, begging my bread, I heard the
whole story and it exactly confirmed the conclusion I had reached
when I first stood trembling before the Sheiks at the Mosque.

“The shepherd in his poor clothes was the richest sheep owner in the
country. He and his fellow lords had for some years past suffered
from surreptitious sales, they had appointed officers to watch the
markets and even so had not always been able to recover the purchase
money from their agents. They had therefore--as I guessed--instituted
a system of Permits so that no man could sell in the market without
their signed licences and so that each man so selling could be
detected as a thief by the officers of the markets. But how should I,
a poor stranger from over-sea, know anything of this? The blackness
of the treason wounded me even more than the sufferings of my
bastinado. I almost lost my faith in man; by the Everlasting Mercy I
did not lose my faith in Heaven!... Nothing, my boys,” said the old
man, his voice trembling, as he remembered this terrible passage of
the past, “nothing but Religion supported me during the fearful days
that followed. I think I can say with humility that one less founded
in a firm reliance upon his Maker would have grown embittered. I
might have turned into one of those useless people who, as the result
of misfortune, become railers, nourishing a perpetual quarrel against
mankind. But our Holy Religion stood me in good stead, and as my
wounds healed and as my wanderings led me further from the scene of
my torture I recovered so much of my spirits as once more to attempt
what might have seemed impossible; I faced the world again. It would
seem that those for whom Heaven has high designs, those for whom,
like myself, it intends the highest positions among men, must in the
divine scheme pass first through the fire and the ordeal. Happy the
men who (like myself) profit by such visitations and retain unclouded
their childlike trust in God.”

“Amen,” murmured the eldest of the nephews.

“What was that you said?” cried Mahmoud sharply?

“I said ‘Amen,’ Uncle,” answered the lad in humble tones. His uncle
scanned him narrowly.

“Well,” he muttered, “I suppose you are too much of a fool to have
meant it ill....”

At this the strident nasals of the Muezzin suddenly shrieked from the
neighbouring minaret and the young lads with unaccustomed rapidity
vacated the great merchant’s apartment.

  الْبُستان

  AL-BUSTÁN

  That is:
  THE ORCHARD

CHAPTER VIII

ENTITLED _AL-BUSTÁN_, OR THE ORCHARD

When Mahmoud’s nephews reappeared before him at the hour of public
executions it was in a certain weariness of spirit; for though they
knew that the fortunes of their uncle must subsequently be recovered
in the narrative (since there he was before them, rolling, or, as the
phrase went in Bagdad, “dripping” with it) yet the blows of fate had
fallen upon him with such violence in the recent tale that something
of his then despair had entered their own souls. They sat down
therefore with hanging heads to listen, as they feared, to little
better than the further advance of intolerable things.

The old man began in a subdued voice of lamentable recollection:

“I wandered on through the bare uplands, miserable, weak, penniless
and in rags. So far had my soul fallen that on the seventh day I came
near to omitting my prayer at even ... but I thank Heaven that this
temptation was conquered! I knelt down painfully upon the little
carpet which was my last possession and submitted myself to the will
of Allah.

“As though in answer to my prayer, and while I still knelt there,
I saw afar off the figure of one who moved, as I could see from
that distance, with a carriage of leisure, and I hoped--I dared to
hope--that in answer to my prayer, I will not say a victim, but, at
any rate, some provender was to be afforded me.

“I hastened my steps to catch up the stranger, and as I approached
him remarked with pleasure his fine clothes and stately manner. ‘I
have here,’ said I to myself, ‘some Important Man, some one doubtless
unused to the base necessities of commerce; simple, noble in mind,
straightforward, generous, amply provided: the very companion whom
I should desire.’ I turned over in my mind (as I slackened my steps
for a moment, so that he should not yet observe my arrival) various
schemes whereby I might excuse my intrusion upon his solitary walk.
At last I hit on that which seemed to me the most agreeable to his
supposed circumstances and to my appearance. I strode up to him and
bowing low asked him whether his Greatness could direct a poor wretch
to a certain village the name of which I had heard and which lay more
or less in the direction I had taken.

“The stranger turned to salute me and with that I felt an added
delight. For he was the very thing I had prayed. Young, simple in
manner, courteous, probably, by his dress, independent and wealthy;
probably, as our language has it, ‘his own father.’

“He wore rare ornaments; his cloak was of the finest wool and the
cord that bound his headdress was interspersed with silver.

“By way of reply to my request, he told me in a pleasant, deep voice,
speaking after the fashion of the rich, that he was himself strolling
towards it so far as his own house and farm, which lay between, and
that there he would put me upon my way. I expressed my gratitude, and
my fear lest so bedraggled a companion might be distasteful to him.
He smiled and assured me that he loved nothing better than converse.
He had visited a neighbour that morning to ask advice on a certain
set of pear trees of his which had not been doing well. He had left
his servant to follow him with his mount, preferring this hour’s
stroll back homewards in the cool of the sunset hour which had now
descended.

“As we went we talked of many things and I frankly told him the story
of my life; for I have discovered that nothing is more pleasing to
men of his station than the account of how another has been reduced
from wealth to poverty.

“‘I was not always,’ said I, as I strolled by his side, ‘the
deplorable figure you now see me. Indeed, but a very few months ago I
was the over-manager of a great fruit plantation some hundred miles
to the north of this place. I had come with good recommendations
from my former employers, planters of the Gulf. I had left these
my original masters with the best of characters and the kindest
of recommendations, and only because the eldest son of one of the
partners had to be put into the business and there was no room for
both of us. I had accumulated in some years of useful service a
sufficient little capital which my kind masters were so exceedingly
generous as to double, and I was able to put the total sum into
the new business to which I had been recommended. For it is always
better,’ I added, ‘to have some stake in the firm.’

“‘You are right,’ said my new friend in hearty approval. ‘There is no
greater error than to offer a firm such intangible things as talent,
honesty and the rest. Valuable as they are, if they are unaccompanied
by metal they are without substance and void.’

“With an expression of great humility I applauded his reply and told
him how flattered I was to find that my judgment had jumped with his.
‘But, alas, Sir!’ I continued deferentially, ‘There is no controlling
the current of our destinies! For there is One above----’

“‘I know, I know!’ agreed my companion hurriedly, in the tones of one
to whom the sentiment was familiar and at the same time doubtful, and
I continued:

“‘By that Divine Will,’ I went on, ‘was I visited. Heaven saw fit
to try its servant. In the course of my management I was sent to
negotiate the purchase of a cargo of lime-dressing at the nearest
port, for use upon the plantation. On my way I had the misfortune to
be robbed at an inn of the pouch of gold that had been confided to
me. I ought, of course, to have returned at once and told my partners
and employers what had happened, and to have offered, perhaps, to
repair out of my own property what might look like the result of my
own negligence; but I was afraid lest I should not be believed, and
again lest, if I were believed, the loss should prejudice me in their
eyes as an incompetent. What I did was to go forward to the port that
very day, penniless, and trust to the credit of my firm to complete
the transaction I had in hand.

“‘But once again I was unfortunate! I carried through the
negotiations with success and purchased the cargo upon very
reasonable terms. I delayed to the last moment the payment of earnest
money and then, when delay would no longer serve, I said carelessly,
that full payment would follow by messenger within two days. The
merchant’s face darkened. He told me that he had been led on by false
pretences, roughly bade me begone and would hear no more of the
transaction. He refused to sign, and indeed left me abruptly, saying
that he was off to seek another purchaser and telling me at the same
time that he was seriously considering whether or no to summon me
before the magistrate for having thus lost him a whole day upon a
false pretence.

“‘He was as good as his word, and I received a summons from the
magistrate that very evening to attend his court the next day.

“‘It was unfortunate that during the night another theft took place
in the inn where I lay. The bundles of those staying at the place
were searched. My own alone contained no valuables of any kind. One
would have thought that such a circumstance would have spoken in my
favour. It was exactly the other way. It was argued that a man who
will stay in an inn without the means of paying must be a thief of
some sort and that since the sum stolen was not to be found elsewhere
it was probably I, thus manifestly suspect of trickery, who was the
culprit. In my fright I attempted to escape. I was caught and roughly
handled, with the final result that I appeared in the magistrate’s
court covered with blood, my garments torn and in such a posture
subjected to a double accusation upon the part of the innkeeper and
also upon the part of the foreign merchant who appeared upon the
original charge.

“‘In such distress I had no avenue of escape save a reference to my
honoured firm, the name of which, though distant, was familiar to the
Court. The magistrate expressed his doubt that I had any connection
with such important people, and asked me if I would risk the sending
of a messenger to my so-called partners. I said I would do so gladly,
but during the two days’ interval of the messenger’s absence I was
closely confined in the public prison, where I regret to say the
foreign merchant had the heartlessness to come and make faces at me
through the bars, and where, having no money to give my gaolers, I
was treated with the utmost harshness.

“‘My misfortunes were not at an end. As luck would have it the firm
to which I belonged and of whose books I had the sole management,
undertook a surprise audit on the very day of my departure, and
discovered a most serious deficit in one item which the partners, in
their ignorance, could not account for. Had I been present I could
easily have explained what had happened. It was but an advance which
I had made to a customer whose transactions with us were of the
highest value. As much in my own interests as in those of my partners
I was well justified in risking the money. I had acted foolishly
perhaps in refusing to take a receipt or to enter the matter in the
books, but the thing was only for a week and after so many years
of prosperity I could not dream of so small a thing turning out
untowardly. However, there it was. My partners hurriedly sent after
me and learned to their dismay that I had left the first inn upon the
road without payment, and giving no account of my future movements.
They had sent a man post-haste on a swift horse. He had covered the
distance to the port in twelve hours, but (as I was now in prison),
could discover nothing of me in the town nor find any cargo I had
bought or, indeed, any trace of me. He returned to my partners, as
they had instructed him, upon another beast as swift (having sold
his spent mount) and it was just as they received this grave news
of my apparent absconding, just while my partners grew more and
more convinced of my supposed guilt, that the messenger from the
magistrate arrived and completed the accusation. They answered, not
by coming in person, but by sending a letter of the most violent
kind, calling me a notorious thief, expressing their pleasure that
I had been laid by the heels and begging that, so far as they were
concerned, the magistrate would not spare me in any punishment he
might see fit to inflict for my other escapades. Meanwhile (they
said) they would not trouble him to enter judgment for the sum I had
taken, since they had replaced it out of my capital in the firm,
which nearly, or exactly, made good the deficit.

“‘You may imagine, my Lord, the result of all this! The magistrate
read the Court a sermon on the justice of the law which spared no man
for his rank or commerce, and concluded, “You have before you the
sad spectacle of a man of substance fallen through temptation into
poverty and disgrace.” The foreign merchant contemptuously waived his
action, the innkeeper with equal contempt expressed himself satisfied
with the punishment I had already undergone, claiming only my clothes
by way of payment, giving me these few rags in exchange. With yet
another admonition the magistrate dismissed me. I went out from the
court a broken man, wandered aimlessly southward, doing a little work
here and there upon the farms, and I am now seeking the next village
with the object of offering my services.

“‘Such, Sir,’ I concluded, ‘is my tale.... Here am I, with every
commercial aptitude, and full training in the various transactions
of business (but especially in the management of plantations) for no
fault of my own unable to exercise these talents, rehabilitate my
character, and recover my position in society.’

“The rich young man was deeply touched by my story, every word of
which, I am glad to say, he seemed to believe; for I was not deceived
in my reading of character and I had rightly guessed that a man under
thirty, honest-faced and clearly enjoying leisure and wealth would be
singularly open to the reception of any romantic tale that might be
offered to him.

“‘It is indeed fortunate,’ he answered, ‘that you understand
plantations. It is a matter in which I am for the moment interested.
I have an orchard which is not doing well.’ He had evidently
forgotten his first sentence on our meeting which had given me my
clue. But rich and generous natures are like that in early youth:
hence, also, are they bad players in games of skill.

“‘Come with me,’ he continued, ‘and pass the night in my house
yonder’ (it already lay before us in the hollow); ‘the conversation
on your past life, which is doubtless full of adventures, will
entertain me at my meal. To-morrow I will see that you have
occupation upon my farm, and after a short experiment I think
we shall get along very well indeed together, particularly as I
have recently planted by way of experiment a number of pear trees
which--as I think I just told you--are not doing well. I thought
myself able from my general knowledge to conduct this orchard, but
I regret to say that some of the trees have died, and that the rest
are in a poor way. I evidently lack the special experience required.
Since plantations are your special line you may be of the greatest
service to me in this little matter.’

“Here, my dear nephews, I was in something of a quandary. This, I am
told, is a difficulty we men of affairs come across often enough in
the conduct of our negotiations. It is our duty, as I need hardly
tell you, to add details of a corroborative kind to the statements we
have to make in affairs. To omit any detail is to court suspicion. On
the other hand, one never knows where the most necessary fictions may
lead one. Here I was confronted by the task of bringing to fruition
an orchard ... an orchard of pears ... and I knew nothing whatever of
orchards and of pears far less.

“I replied, therefore, with the greatest enthusiasm that the
opportunity was exactly what I should have desired. Orchards were the
_one_ kind of plantation I had most carefully studied, and of all
fruits _pears_ were those upon which I had specialised most. Once I
had seen the kind of tree my kind host had planted I should certainly
be able to tell him what was the matter.

“It was almost dark when we came to his enclosure, but so eager was
he on his new idea that he led me at once to the back of the house
where the trees were planted. Very sickly indeed did their gaunt
twigs look in the gloaming. A good third of them were shrivelled and
dead, the rest drooped in various degrees, one only gave a promise of
fruit out of some three hundred stems. The rich man surveyed the ruin
and gazed at me anxiously while I held my chin in my hand as though
meditating upon the best course for him to pursue, but in reality
considering my own.

“Then it was, my dear infants, that I received from on High one of
those illuminations which have always been, with me, the forerunners
of great things. I deliberately kept the rich young man waiting
for the space of a long prayer and then said suddenly and with
determination, ‘Scrap the lot!... Excuse me,’ I added, ‘I have used a
phrase current in the barbaric cities of the north, which is somewhat
corrupt in speech. My intention was to express to your Highness my
conviction, formed upon this rapid survey in gathering darkness, that
the orchard can no longer be saved, for I am sure my judgment will be
confirmed when I make a more thorough examination to-morrow morning
in broad day. I see also, even in this light, that the type of tree
you have planted is wholly unsuited to the climate. May I be so bold
as to ask where you purchased the stock?’

“‘I was assured,’ answered my new friend a little shamefacedly, ‘that
it was stock grown within this very region and peculiarly adapted for
our dry climate: for the drought of our position which, as you know,
stands too high for waterways.’

“I shook my head. ‘You were deceived,’ said I. ‘Who sold you this
unsuitable stock?’

“He told me that it was a sound friend of his who had gone off for
a while upon a journey, that he was quite sure he had not intended
to deceive. ‘Perhaps there was some error in the consignment shipped
to you,’ I answered cheerfully as we turned towards the house.
‘This kind does admirably in the River Lowlands, and I take it your
friend’s servants by some mistake sent your consignment to some
lowland client and _his_ to _you_ in these uplands. Anyhow, the
orchard is manifestly doomed, as you can see, and for my part I make
no doubt that the trouble has come from the use of a wrong species.
Now what you want here,’ I continued rapidly, turning over my chances
well in my mind, and plumping for technical terms, ‘is a pear
neither palinate nor sublongate, nor, for that matter perforate, but
daxullic, or, as we sometimes call it in the trade “retarded”--at any
rate in the second and third stirp.’

“‘I see; I understand; I apprehend,’ said the rich young man. For
thus, have I discovered, do rich young men carry on a conversation
which leaves them entirely at sea.

“‘I do not,’ I hastened to add, ‘insist, of course, upon the Persian
stock, though that is the best. It might be difficult to procure and
it is _very_ expensive. What I mean is something of the same family.
I should advise, as a stock more easily purchased in the local
markets, the pear called by the merchants “The Glory of Heaven.”

“‘It was introduced some few years ago by my friend Nasredin and is
now a favourite stock on the Plateau of Reshed where the climate
is very similar to yours. It bears a large, luscious fruit, highly
marketable, and maturing early; and it can be purchased at a moderate
expense. I will, if you like, go for you to the nearest provider of
such things and see what I can do.’

“My host thanked me profusely. He remarked how small the world was
and at the same time how manifest were the workings of Providence. He
blessed the day when he had met me. For though (he said), the matter
of expense did not weigh upon him, he had made a particular point of
success in the matter of pear trees, and but for my advice he really
did not know what he should have done.

“He was so keen upon the affair that he pressed me to start for the
nearest nurseryman the very next morning. There was an excellent
nursery plantation, he said, not more than half a day’s ride away
to the West. It stood, with the owner’s house in the midst, just
outside the gates of the town to which he would direct me, either
going himself or sending his bailiff with me. He would also send
a wagon for the conveyance of the young shoots. Indeed, as the
meal progressed (for we were now dining), he grew more and more
enthusiastic on the matter and could hardly bear the delay of the
night. I saw which way the land lay and saw fit to increase his
keenness. I therefore told him it was quite impossible to act with
such speed. ‘The young shoots,’ said I, ‘must not be left to lie
untended and unplanted. We must first of all prepare the ground. The
old trees must be dug up, the pits enlarged. It is the narrowness
of the earthing that has been half your trouble, for the smaller
root tendrils which we call “trips” are easily estopped in hard
groundings.’ ‘I see!’ said he, sapiently. ‘The ground must be well
soaked,’ I continued, ‘and manured with a full dressing of lime, and
only when all this has been completed could I think of advising you
to plant.’

“I paused to concoct something new, and the amiable youth filled the
gap for me by murmuring: ‘Precisely! Exactly! Now I understand.’

“I resumed: ‘Further we must underpin the runners and work up the
earth herring-wise. And then there is the daubing.... It will be a
matter of full three days’ work. On the fourth day I can set out
before sunrise. You may take it that I will be back by evening, and
we will, if you please, plant the very next morning--that is on the
fifth day--lest the stock should suffer; for I have always found it,’
I added profoundly, ‘of invariable service to plant immediately.
I have indeed lost in the past one or two most valuable sets of
trees--_pear_ trees--by delaying at this season of the year so much
as twenty-four hours before putting them in the ground.’

“As I thus spoke he nodded frequently, admiring my talent and
knowledge of these affairs, and I took occasion, as evening wore on,
to ground him yet more deeply in this fascinating subject, which I
had already begun to feel was mine.

“The next day with the first of the light we both of us set out to
the orchard. He summoned his workmen and our labours engrossed us
for many hours during which I fed his enthusiasm with renewed tales
of marvels in the way of fruit-growing--and especially of pear
trees. That particular pear called ‘The Glory of Heaven’ increased
wonderfully as I proceeded until at last it had grown to such a size
that each individual fruit was as large as a child’s head, and half a
dozen of them would fetch a piece of gold ‘if’ (I was careful to add)
‘if they are properly packed! For I regret to say that, simple as
the detail is, the neglect of good packing has been the ruin of most
speculators in this line.’

“During the second day of our labours I dilated upon other details of
the trade which occurred to me as I went along. I especially insisted
upon what I called the _maximum point_, and for this he was all ears.

“‘There is a limit,’ I said, ‘to your plantation, after which the
expenses of management begin to eat into the profits earned. A
first small speculation of 300 trees, such as you have here, is,
of course, a mere bagatelle. It would provide you with amusement,
but no appreciable income. The most profitable size of orchard is
far larger.... In such a situation as yours,’ said I, looking round
with an air of a connoisseur, ‘and with such soil as this,’ and
with that I took up a clod and carefully crumbled it in my fingers,
‘possessing acidulated properties of this type, but corrected by
some slow exhaust of porphyritic matter, it would need but a top
dressing of bardulm and an occasional picketing of charcoal to make
some 3,000 trees produce a regular annual profit of not less than
200 pieces of gold--and that upon an original expenditure less than
double the amount. I would estimate your return with care and good
fortune at quite fifty per cent., but at any rate you could calculate
upon thirty per cent. But _more_ than 3,000 trees,’ said I, musing,
‘would, I fear, be an error; the earnings after that get eaten into
by expenses.’

“He interrupted me with the eager words: ‘I should be happy----’ I
lifted my hand to check him and said, ‘No! I assure you, that even
such a number as 3,500 would be just beyond the line, and as you
approach 5,000 you would find the expense absorbing nearly all your
profit. It is as great an error to over-do these things as to starve
them. Let us fix the number at 3,000 and the capital expenditure at
400 pieces of gold. Then I think you will not be disappointed.’

“The third day I spent overlooking the levelling of the ground and
its last preparation, as also in making mysterious marks with little
pegs and jotting down notes in a book: all of which excited the owner
to the last degree, and left him (as the phrase goes) with his tongue
hanging out for the new trees.

“That evening my kind host after some little embarrassment made me
an offer. Would I, he asked, share in the profits of the enterprise?
I at once refused. My decision surprised him: but, as he pressed
the project upon me, I told him that gratitude was only a part of my
decision. I owed him everything; he had found me--it seemed a month
ago indeed, though it was but three days--in rags; he had clothed
me, fed me and, what was more, trusted me. His trust, I assured him,
would not be deceived. ‘I shall be content,’ I concluded, ‘with the
salary proper to my position’ (he at once mentioned a sum, which I
halved), ‘but I will go so far as this; if, upon the opening of the
fourth year, your profits shall be found to have _exceeded_ what I
have suggested, if you make in the three years more than 600 pieces
of gold, at 200 pieces a year, which I suggest as the probable
result, I will accept, though reluctantly, one half of the excess.
For I am confident,’ and here I put an especially serious tone into
my voice, ‘that we shall do better than I have said. I have ever
held it my duty to give a conservative estimate and to avoid the
disappointment of those who employ me. To this, among other things,
do I ascribe the great success which attended me during my earlier
years, and which only failed me through the deplorable accidents I
related to you on our first meeting.’

“My host appeared a little confused at my probity, or rather, at my
scruples; but he told me that he had always found such errors to be
upon the right side, and assured me that I should not lose by the
austerity of my temper. Nor did I....

“We spent the rest of the evening looking at the illuminations in his
fine library. I expressed myself enthralled by them all. I lingered
with especial care over every representation of an orchard in these
pictures, and spoke in the most learned manner of the various fruits
therein displayed. As luck would have it we came to one particularly
fine painting in which were delineated the most enormous pears of a
brilliant golden hue interspersed with soft leaves. ‘This,’ I cried
delightedly, ‘is the very fruit of which I have been speaking! How
interesting! How exciting!’

“‘Is that so?’ said my host, transported at the coincidence, ‘Once
more I must say it: how small is the world!’

“‘Yes,’ said I, ‘it is that pear “Glory of Heaven,” of which I have
been speaking and which you may see, by comparison with the insects
here portrayed and of the trellis work, to be most enormous fruit. Of
its succulence I must leave you to judge when you shall gather your
first harvest. Of its highly saleable quality in the markets of the
north you will, I trust, soon have satisfactory experience.’

“‘I shall indeed!’ said my host, now quite beside himself with the
combined emotions of the collector and the man of property. He
blessed again and again the day he had the good fortune to meet such
a man as myself. Summoning his bailiff he gave orders for the wagon
to be prepared over night and the horses to be ready by sunrise. ‘No,
no,’ said I, ‘an hour before sunrise, if you please! I am determined,
at whatever inconvenience to myself, to have the plants back here,
at your house, on the night of the same day. I will risk no failure
in this great affair!’ Again he blessed and thanked me, and when his
dependents were dismissed took me aside and prepared to count out
the money which would be required for my expenditure.

“‘You said 400 pieces of gold,’ said he, as he disposed the coins
in little heaps of ten upon the table. ‘You had better make it 500,
for there may have been fluctuations in the market since you last
purchased, and it is good that you should have a margin.’

“I told him I thought the provision a wise one, but that I would
account for every penny when he should next see me. And this,
curiously enough, was my true intention, though I could not have
given him any very exact date for our next meeting. I wrote him out
a formal receipt in spite of his protests, remarking that business
was business; and so that every formality should be accomplished
I signed the document in the name of an old friend of mine, one
Daoud-ben-Yacoub. I said I would further have affixed my seal had I
possessed one, but placed as I was, no such instrument was available.