Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1913-01-23

BILE through the native town and the
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
nor 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
lOW ClIy 0SlS, udu AOICu IuO Ia
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 infidel's throat.
But, patience. Did not the Koran
teach patience among the higher laws?
Patience. He 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 MAI 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 F%renchman, 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!" bawlet
a donkey-boy to the old crone ped
ding matches.
"Backsheesh! Backsheesh!" in thu
eight tones of the human voice. From
the beggar, his brother, his uncle
his grandfather, his children and hi
children's children. "Blacksheesh
backsheesh!"
ITO the right" was shrilled int
, Ryanne's ear; and he lodged. 4
troop of donkeys passed, laden will
tourists, unhappy, f~retful, self-con
| scious. A w~ater-carrier brushed
} 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 @
the m~onkey-like hand Of a toddlin
t child, carried a terra-cotta water-ja
> upon her head. The grace with whic
: she moved, the abruptness Of the CO
t exchanges, caught Ryanne's rovin
eye and filled 1t with pleasure.
Dust rose and subsidized, eddied an
I cnff1od. hnUuoro Hind onI ana aun
squatted in 1t, children tossed it |
play, and beasts of burden shuttle
through 1t.
The roar in front of the shops, tn
r pressing and crowding Of customer
the high cries Of the merchants; th
p gurgle of the water.pipes, the pleasaI
fumes Of coffee, the hardy loafel
lolling before the khans or carava,
%saries; a yelled face at a lattice-wi,
d dow; the violet shadows In a doorway
d the sunshine upon the soarir
e mosques; a true believer, rocking ar
m%umbling over his tattered Koran
gold and silver and jewels; amber ar
copper and brass; embroideries ar
Is rugs and carpets; and the pest of flea
y the plague Of flies, the insidiol
Is smells.
d Ryanne found hims elf inspectir
"the largest emerald in the worl
worth twelve thousand pounds" Whit
looked more like a fine hexagonal
b. onyx than a gem. 1t was one Of Il
cuFiosities of the bazaars, howevC
is and tourists were generally round
n in force. To his experienced eye
d. was no more than a fine specimen
IL emerald quartz, worth what any fo
of a collector vas willing to pay for
y. From this bazaar he passed on in
|; the next, and there he saw Fortune.
es And as Mahomed, always close
Id hand, saw the hard lines in Ryann'
as face soften, the cynical smile becol
Tx tender, he believed he saw his way
IA strike.