a, dividing his time like a schoolboy in chapel
between staring about him and attending by fits and starts,
nudged me in the ribs and whispered:

"See that Christian! He would not dare do that, only on this
occasion they like to think that Moslems and Christians are
agreeing together."

The man who was reading to himself from the Bible looked up and
caught my eye. He tapped the book with his finger and nodded, as
much as to ask why I did not join him. At once I pulled my own
from my pocket. He smiled acknowledgment as I opened it at
random. Certainly he thought I did it to support his tactlessly
ill-timed assertion of his own religion. Very likely my action,
since I was a guest and therefore not to be insulted, saved
him from violence. Incipient snarls of fanatical indignation
died away.

But as a matter of fact my eye was on Jim Suliman ben Saoud Grim.
As the reading from the Koran came to an end amid a murmur of
responses from all the sheikhs, the crooked-faced Ichwan sat
upright. In his sullen, indifferent way, he stared leisurely
along the line until his eyes rested on me.

As his eyes met mine I marked the place where the Bible was open
with a pencil, and closed the book, suspecting that he might be
glad to know where a pencil could be found in a contingency.

He did not smile. The expression of his face barely changed.
Just for a second I thought I saw a flicker of amused approval
pass over the corners of his eyes and mouth.

So I left the book lying where it was with the pencil folded
in it.

Chapter Eight

"He will say next that it was he who set the stars in the sky
over El-Kerak, and makes the moon rise!"

Ali Shah al Khassib was the first to speak. He was heard to the
end respectfully, none interrupting. But it seemed obvious from
their faces that not a few sheikhs were disposed to question both
his leadership and most of what he said. Mahommed ben Hamza kept
up a running whisper of interpretation, breathing into my ear
until it was wet with condensed breath. I had to use a
handkerchief repeatedly.

Ali Shah al Khassib made no definite proposal. He said that a
man whom they all knew well had brought news to the effect that
Emir Feisul was ready to make war on the French in order to drive
them out of Syria. That in a case like that, of Moslems against
kafirs,* there could be no question on which side their hearts or
their interests lay. That several dependable men had br