The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1915-12-02
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Copyright. 1915. by w. G. Chapmano


among whom, / had learned, he had
already distributed presents with the
purpose of ingratiating himself.
He glowered at me and greeted me
surlily with the Arabic salutation.
Extracting my documents from my
pocket, / presented them to him,
together with my card. which read:
Herr Arthur Won Elsmer, foreign of
fee, Berlin"
He glanced at it and invited me
| inside. He waved me to chair and
stood before me, reading the papers.
The cottage contained four rooms.
One of them, facing the living room
across the hall, seemed to be labora-
| tory. The two others. l presumed,
were bedrooms. 1t was comfortable
little place, and the Europeanized
sheik who had owned it had line,
though somewhat rococo taste in fur
nishing. I took all in during those
moments OF suspense. Everything de-
| pended on whether my surmise was
| true, and Fehmet was in the German
| governments employment. II he were
not / stood self-convicted as spy
| and a forger.
To my immense relief Fehmet Eff
fendi handed me back my papers with
low bow.
Il am delighted to meet you, Herr
Won Elsmer," he said 80 Herr Won
Martin has placed you in charge of
my work, understand"
| There was note Of resentment IN
the words, and fastened to explain.
Hardly that, Hakim. / am, in fact,
nominally your coadjutor in this work.
Of course we place implicit confidence
in you, but you will readily realize
that, if anything happened to you, the
benefits to humanity which are to re-
suit from your investigations may be-
come lost or-public."
AS l spoke could see the suspicion
and distrust die out Of his face.
Where are you staying, Herr Won
| Elsmer?' he asked.
"At the hotel"
But you must take up your quar-
| ters with me-" he cried. "A man
| gets lonely here-a white man among
| these niggers." In color he was a
pale lemon. You must move this af-
| ternoon. Stay with me and I will
send a man to the hotel for your bag
gage. Ayesha!"
He clapped his hands, and a good
looking Arab girl entered the room.
She was perhaps seventeen years OF
age; she was clothed in flowing robe
of white, overlaid with bright yell
| low silk shawl Upon her wrist were
| bracelets of hammered copper.
| Bring raki!" he ordered, and added
in Arabic instructions for certain
man to get my. baggage from the
| wharf.
mo. from the hotel,' blurted out
Then, as he corrected himself, /
cursed my impudent tongue. Our con-
] versation had been carried on in Ger
man, and / saw at once that Fehmet
had been trying to discover whether
| I understood Arabic. However, 1t was
too late to offer any explanations, and
after all it was not of the highest
| significance.
| The baggage arrived, and by that
| time Fehmet had drunk himself into
a condition Of amiability upon raki.
| He showed me my room, he insisted
| that I should remain his guest until
the work was completed. and his
| tongue. Embossed. betrayed the man
| to be what his aspect proclaimed him.
I cannot set down the things he
| told me. or his manner OF life in So
cotra. I gathered that he had lived
| in many tropical parts of the world,
and that it was his hobby to visit such
! places where he could give free vent
to his uncivilized instincts. He told
| me that Mohammedanism was a sham
and Christianity delusion, that there
was no life beyond the body. and that
| the "master-man," as he phrased 1t,
lived solely for pleasure. He pointed
q thumb at Ayesha as she entered
with the dinner.
mo matter where a man goes. he
is not too old or ugly to find asWeet-
| heart" he said with leer. That
man MOudmACu, NliO UAON6AS ny J00A
baggage, had agreed to buy her from
her father. He was saving up for a
flock of goats when persuaded her
father to let her work for me. | be-
lieve Mohammed hates me on that
account. 1t is a great happiness, Herr
Won Elsmer, to have for servant a
man who hates you and is afraid OF
you. Mohammed would kill me like
dog If he dared, but before ! go 1t
is / who am going to kill Mohammed
like dog. That is what | calllthe fas-
! cination of life-to feel yourself free
from all restraint, to impose your will
upon the slavish lesser minds. such
as Mohammed's."
I saw the Arab man. who came IN
| to clear away the dishes, cast glance
| of malignant hate upon Fehmet, and
it occurred to me that. if anything
went wrong with my plans, might
1 e eexn