The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1915-12-02

ain all the damage that was possible.
The Ottoman government had never
forgiven us for the occupation OF
Egypt, although Turkeys predomi+
nance was recognized, her suzerainty
upheld, and an annual tribute of 3d.
100000 was paid her for her shadowy
claims upon the land Of the pyramids.
Fehmet Effendi was q Copt, one or
the same race that fourished in the
days or Rameses and proliferated I'M
der the whip 1t was not until Eng
land laid hands upon Egypt that the
harassed Egyptian knew the meaning
of liberty and education. Having ac-
CURED these advantages, he naturally
looked longingly back upon the days
when the Turk scourged him and
harassed him with taxes. "A whole
generation of educated men had grown
up, native Egyptians whose hatred
of their British benefactors was great
er than their hate Of anything else.
Take one of the lower races, edu-
cate it, place in it's hands all the adj
vantages of modern science, and you
have raised up a power for evil that
you will have great difficulty in subdu-
ing again. The case of Fehmet Ell
fendi is an opposite one. He had been
trained at the medical department OF
the Constantinople university, which
was created by British enterprise and
for long time subsidized by men and
women eager to bring the knowledge
OF medical science to the Turkish en-
pire and to promote the development
of hygiene among the people of that
nation.
After the Balkan war, when the
rumbles Of the coming storm in Eu-
rope began to raise hopes In Con-
stantinople that the restoration OF
Turkish predominance was approach
ing, Fehmet Effendi received a mis-
sion from the Ottoman government.
| had known of him as dangerous
man: he had been forbidden to re-
turn to Egypt, and he was one of the
suspects" on whom the eyes or a
number of secret service men were
directed.
It was quite by chance | learned
that he was going to the Island OF
Socotra, a wild, barren, and barbar-
bus British dependency off the east
coast of Africa. Nominally under
British control, actually Socotra is
inhabited by mongrel race OF Arabs,
who live under their own laws, or
lack of laws, and are kept In whole
some restraint only by the periodical
visits of British warships.
NV informant was a colleague or
the professor who had frequently per-
formed valuable services for my gov
eminent. He confided to me that Doc
tor Fehmet's mission was for the pur-
pose of making certain experiments
which, IL successful, were to be re-
peated in Great Britain or India; and
that these experiments were to be
Of g startling character.
.elegraphed at once in cipher to
the foreign office in London, and,
within a few hours, received instruc-
tions to follow Fehmet to Socotra on
board the "Nymph," which would
touch at that island on her way to
India and would sail from Southamp-
ton in a couple of weeks.
This gave Fehmet plenty Of leeway;
nevertheless, as he was to travel ny
private yacht, and the British gov
eminent did not attach sufficient i'm
portance to the matter to supply me
with similar means of making the
Journey. I was forced to wait patient.
w. In due course we sailed, and the
"Nymph" dropped me at Mussuk. the
little port OF call, with the promise
of picking me up in months time
when she returned from Calcutta with
a battalion OF British regulars.
had thought out my plans during
the voyage. Whatever the Doctors In
tentions might be. it was necessary
To win his confidence in order to OBJ
tain information. l had assured my
self that the German government was
backing him in his enterprise. and
had provided myself with certain
forged credentials purporting to eman-
ATE from Herr Won Martin, one of the
permanent under-secretaries for for
eign affairs. On reaching Mussuk
installed myself in the local hotel. as
1t can be called in courtesy, and then
set forth to gain the acquaintance CT
Doctor Fehmet In his small house on
the hill. which he had rented from
Europeanized sheik.
It was a hot walk up the hill, and
my first view of the man, as he stood
in his tropical uniform at the door
of his cottage, was by no means an
inviting one. The mans face was fas-
cinating In its brutality. 1t was the
face that appears so constantly on the
old Egyptian monuments. the face not
of the slave but of the slave-driver
enormously strong. with sensual
and repulsiye physiognomy. a bald
mead. and a corpulent frame which
seemed to fiow-there is no other
word within the limitations Of his
silk tussore coat and trousers, Feb
raeex.~ ,aou.nI ~ ka tho iuN4rn9-