is he withered from our eyes.
His friendship, it was like a shady wood
Whither has he gone?--Who shall speak for us?
Who shall save us from the kourbash and the stripes?
Who shall proclaim us in the palace?
Who shall contend for us in the gate?
The sakkia turneth no more; the oxen they are gone;
The young go forth in chains, the old waken in the night,
They waken and weep, for the wheel turns backward,
And the dark days are come again upon us--
Will he return no more?
His friendship was like a shady wood,
O Nile that floweth deeply, hast thou not heard his voice?
Hast thou covered up his footsteps with thy flood?
The core of my heart, the mildew findeth it!"

Another-an old man-took up the strain, as the drum kept time to the beat
of the voice with its undulating call and refrain:

"When his footsteps were among us there was peace; War entered not the
village, nor the call of war. Now our homes are as those that have
no roofs. As a nest decayed, as a cave forsaken, As a ship that lieth
broken on the beach, Is the house where we were born. Out in the desert
did we bury our gold, We buried it where no man robbed us, for his arm
was strong. Now are the jars empty, gold did not avail To save our young
men, to keep them from the chains. God hath swallowed his voice, or the
sea hath drowned it, Or the Nile hath covered him with its flood; Else
would he come when our voices call. His word was honey in the prince's
ear Will he return no more?"

And now the sheikh-el-beled spoke. "It hath been so since Nahoum Pasha
passed this way four months agone. He hath changed all. War will not
avail. David Pasha, he will come again. His word is as the centre of
the world. Ye have no hope, because ye see the hawks among the starving
sheep. But the shepherd will return from behind the hill, and the hawks
will flee away.

"... Behold, once was I in the desert. Listen, for mine are the words
of one who hath travelled far--was I not at Damascus and Palmyra and
Bagdad, and at Medina by the tomb of Mahomet?"

Reverently he touched the green turban on his head, evidence of his
journey to Mahomet's tomb. "Once in the desert I saw afar off an oasis
of wood and water, and flying things, and houses where a man might rest.
And I got me down from my camel, and knelt upon my sheepskin, and gave
thanks in the name of Allah. Thereupon I mounted again and rode on
towards that go