The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-07-20

listing, they must ne prepared 10 Stand
the consequences. You'll remember
the orders I've given you. If Pm
wanted, you'll say l shall probably be
back by tea
Captain Kettle went off then in
shore boat. past small fleet of pearl
ing dhows which rolled at their an
chors and after a long pull, for the sea
was shallow and the anchorage lay five
miles out, stepped on to the back of
burly Arab and was carried the last
mile dry shod. Parallel to him We're
lines of men carrying out cargo to the
lighters, which would transship it to
the Paralleet. ard Kettle looked upon
these with a fine complacency. His
tramping for cargo had been phenom-
enally successful. He was filling his
holds at astonshingly heavy freights.
And not only would this bring him
credit with his owners, which meant
promotion in due course to larger
ship, but in the meantime, as he drew
his 21a per cent on the profits, it rep
resented Il very comfortable matter
of solid cash for that much needing
person himself. He Rugged himself
with pleasure when he thought Of this
new found prosperity. That represent
ed so many things which he would be
able to do for his wife and family,
which, through so many years, narrow
circumstances had made impossible.
The burly Arab on whom he rode
pickaback stepped out of the water
at last, and Kettle jumped down from
his perch and picked his way daintily
among the litter of the fore shore to-
ward the white houses of the town
which lay beyond.
1t was the first time he had set foot
there. So great was his luck at the
time that be had not been forced to
go ashore in the usual way drumming
up cargo. The shippers had come off
begging him to become their carrier
and he had mulcted them in heavy
freights accordingly. SO he stepped
into the town with many of the feel
ings OF a conqueror and demanded to
be led to the office of man with
whom he had done profitable business
that very morning.
Ut COURSE office" in the western
meaning of the term. there was none.
The worthy Rad ell Moussa transacted
affairs on the floor of his general sit
ting room and stored his merchandise
in the bedchambers OF wherever it
would be out of reach of pilfering fin
gers. But he received the little sailor
with fine protestations of regard and,
after some CYCLES and shutting as the
women withdrew, indicted him into
the dark interior of his house and set
before him delicious coffee and some
doubtful sweetmeats.
Kettle knew enough about oriental
etiquette not to introduce the matter
on which he had come at the outset Of
the conversation. He passed and re-
ceived the necessary compliments first,
endured a discussion of local trade
prospects and then by an easy grada-
ton led up to the powers of the local
cadi He did not speak Arabic him
self, and Rad ell Moussa had no Eng
lish But they had both served a life's
apprenticeship to sea trading, and the
curse of the tower of Babel had very
little power over them. In the memo
ries of each there We're garnered scraps
from a score of spoken languages, and
when these failed they could always
draw on the unlimited vocabulary OF
the gestures and the eyes. and fol
points that We're really abtruse OF
which required definite understanding
there always remained the charcoal
stick and the explanatory drawing OF
, the face of whitewashed wall.
When the conversation had LASTED
, some half an hour by the clock and {
slave brought in second relay O.
= sweetmeats and thick coffee the sailo
mentioned, as it We're incidentally tina
one of his officers had got into trouble
in the town. It's quite small thing,
. he said lightly, but l want him bacl
! as soon as possible, because there
!. work for him to do on the steamer. Sc
n what mean?"
e Rad ell Moussa nodded gravely
Il "Savey plenty" said he.
O Now, Kettle knew that the machiner
e of the law in these small Arabian coaS
t. towns was concentrated in the perso
of the cadi, who, for practical pu
poses, must be made to move by tht
e lubricant known as palm oil, and so h
e produced some coins from his pockt
lie and lifted his eyebrows inquirngly.
d Rad ell Moussa nodded again an
made careful inspection of the coin
ID turning them one by one with his lor
is brown fingers and biting those he fa
TX cied most as test of their qualit
N Finally he selected gold 20 fran
If piece and two sovereigns, balanced AZ
ID chinked them carefully in his hand al
o. then slipped them into some private I
ceptacle in his wearing apparel
If II say" remarked Kettle, that's II
lie for you personally, old tintacks. Thai
m for the cadi."
/" Rad pointed maiestically to his ov
TO breast. "El cadi," he said.
ot ''Oh, you are his worship, are you
said Kettle. "Why didn't you say
al before? l don't think it was qul
it straight of you, tintacks, but perha
es that's your gentle Arab way. But,