The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-14

Die through the NdtlNe LOWn anu IuS
bazaars. He might pick up some little
curio to give to Fortune. So he
beckoned to an idle driver, climbed in
to the carriage, and was driven off as
If empires hung upon minutes.
Ryanne never wearied Of the ba-
zaars of Cairo. They were to him no
less enchanting than the circus-pa-
rades of his youth. In certain ways,
they were not to be compared with
those in Constantinople and Smyrna;
but, on the other hand, there was
more light. more charm, more color.
Perhaps the magic nearness of the
desert had something to do with it,
the rainless skies, the ever-recurring
suggestions of antiquity. His lively
observation, his sense of the pictur-
esque and the humorous, always close
to the surface. gave him that singular
impetus which makes man a prowler
This gift had made possible his sue
cess in old Bagdad. Some years be-
fore he had prowled through the mar
row city streets, had noted the wind
ings, the blind-alleys, and had never
forgotten. Faces and localities were
written indelibly upon his memory.
One rode to the bazaars, but walk
| ed through them or mounted donkeys.
Ryanne preferred his own legs. So
did Mahomed. Once, so close did he
come that he could have put his two
| brown hands round the infldel's throat.
| But, patience. Did not the Koran
teach patience among the higher laws
| Patience. Tfe could not, madly as he
had dreamed, throttle the white liar
here in the bazaars. That would not
bring the Holy Yhiordes to his hands.
He must wait. He must plan to lure
the man out at night, then to hurry
him into the desert. Out into the des-
ert, where no man might be his mas
ter. Oh. the Holy Yhiordes should be
his again; 1t was written.
| The cries, the shouts, the tower of
Babel reclaimed; the intermingling OF
the races of the world the English.
man, the American, the German, the
Italian, the Frenchman, the Greek, the
Levantine, the purple-black Ethiopian
the bronze Nubian; the yelled women
the naked children; all the color-tones
known to art. but predominating, that
marvellous faded tint of blue, the
Cairene blue, in the heavens, in the
waters, in the dyes.
Make way, o my mother" bawled
donkey-boy to the old crone ped
ding matches.
'Backsheesh. Backsheesh!" in the
eight tones of the human voice. From
the beggar, his brother, his uncle
his grandfather. his children and hi:
children's children. "Blacksheesh
backsheesh."
''To the right" was shrilled int
Ryanne's ear; and he lodged. 4
troop Of donkeys passed. laden will
tourists, unhappy, fretful, self-con
scious. A water-carrier brushet
against him, and he whitfield the fresl
dampness of the bullying goat-skin. /
woman, the long. black head-vei
streaming out behind in the clutch o
the monkey-like hand Of toddlinj
child. carried a terra-cotta water-ja
} upon her head. The grace with whicl
she moved, the abruptness of the CO.
exchanges, caught Ryannes rovin,
eye and filled 1t with pleasure.
, Dust rose and subsidized, eddied an
settled; beggars blind and one-eye
squatted in 1t, children tossed 1t Il
} play, and beasts Of burden shuttle
through II.
| The roar In front of the shops, tn
: pressing and crowding Of customers
the high cries of the merchants; tn
, gurgle of the water-pipes, the pleasan
fumes of coffee, the hardy loafer
: lolling before the khans or caravan
, saries; a yelled face at a lattice wiz
dow; the violet shadows In doorway
the sunshine upon the soarin
, mosques; a true believer. rocking an
mumbling over his tattered Koran
, gold and silver and jewels; amber an
copper and brass; embroideries an
3 rugs and carpets; and the pest OF flea.
, the plague OF flies, the insidiou
} smells.
l Ryanne found himself inspectin
. "the largest emerald in the world
3 worth twelve thousand pounds" whic
!, looked more like a fine hexagonal G
onyx than gem. 1t was one Of tn
/, curiosities of the bazaars, however
J and tourists were generally round
|. In force. To his experienced eye
: was no more than fine specimen c
: emerald quartz. worth what any foo
z of collector was willing to pay for 1
;. From this bazaar he passed on int
the next, and there he saw Fortune.
8 And as Mahomed, always close 9
1 hand, saw the hard lines in Ryanne
q face soften, the cynical smile becom
k tender, he believed he saw his way
8 strike.
4 CHAPTER TX.