genuine Arabs that is the most binding relation there is.

He was no longer in blue serge and patent-leather boots, but
magnificent in Arab finery, and he was tricked out in a puzzling
snowy-white head-dress that suggested politics without your
knowing why. He had told me, when I met him at the American
Colony, that he had made the pilgrimage to Mecca more than once;
but that white linen thing had nothing to do with his being a
haji, any more than the expensive rings on the fingers of both
hands had anything to do with his Arab nationality.

After he had flattered and questioned me sufficiently about the
journey to comply with etiquette I asked him whether Ahmed might
not be untied. The thong cutting the man's wrists. Sheikh hen
Nazir gave the necessary order and it was obeyed at once. The
liquid-eyed rascal with the priceless amber necklace then led
away the escort, Ahmed included, to some place where they could
stall the horses, and--side-by-side, lest any question of
precedence should be involved, Anazeh and I followed ben Nazir
into the house.

We were not the only guests there. He ushered us into a square
room, in which outrageous imported furniture, with gilt and
tassels on it, stood out like loathsome sores against rugs and
cushions fit for the great Haroun-al-Raschid's throne room. Any
good museum in the world would have competed to possess the rugs,
but the furniture was the sort that France sends eastward in the
name of "culture"--stuff for "savages" to sit on and be civilized
while the white man bears the burden and collects the money.

There were half-a-dozen Arabs reclining on two bastard Louis-
something-or-other settees, who rose to their feet as we entered.
There was another man, sitting on a cushion in a corner by
himself, who did not get up. He wore a white head-dress exactly
like our host's, and seemed to consider himself somebody very
important indeed. After one swift searching glance at us he went
into a brown study, as if a mere sheikh and a Christian alien
were beneath his notice.

We were introduced first of all to the men who had stood up to
greet us, and that ceremony took about five minutes. The Arab
believes he ought to know all about how you feel physically, and
expects you to reciprocate. When that was over ben Nazir took us
to the corner and presented, first me, then Anazeh to the
solitary man in the white head-dress, who seemed to think himself
too important to trouble a