Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-24

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the crossing Of the desert from below
the pirate coast al the port of Dinir
10 the oasis of El Hasa and there.
with promises nf rich reward. per
sua,le ihr Arabs to conduct me- across
the peninsula.
Cant. prideauN. the British resident.
said he could give me no official help:
should the Turks take me prisoner. or
even hold me mp, political question
would arise il had an official permit
from the consulate. saw the point
and readily agreed. When asked
the Father II Peace If he We're pre-.
pared To go with me. Abu Salaam re
piled as at Alden. though in less con
ndent tones. that man could die only
once" but adding that he desired. II ii
MAS convenient To me. I" postpone
death.
He said it would he adrisabl. and
necessary Ia take notorious rogue.
Tvho knew the fatal country. and he
engaged q peck marked Arab. Said.
who was as turbulent and unpleasant
As the sirocco. Through this criminal
| | hired dhow for number Of Maria
Teresa dollars and went ah"ar I'd her.
THE cIamor from the Arab boats
sounded boulder than that Of nest
Ing gulls. Once aboard | discovered
that she was crammed with black hu.
ma nifty: the frugal. crafty Arabs knew
~ the foreigners journey. and ! had
unconscinusiy and most unwillingly
paid half the fare for every man. WON
an and child on board.
| The smell and noise aboard this
Idhowbungalow. or merkab. were
abominable She was a boat of few
tons. dra wing perhaps feet of water
/ The deck WAS on one level. The cover
Ing above the poop was open fore and
aft. SO that the helmsman could steer
and also help TO reef the sails by a
rope passing over the straw roof
through An opening.
II Is n marvel he was ever able To
! steer at all. There WAS constantly n
crowd In front OF him and an open fire
was lighted on An iron frame couple
of yards away. for cooking rice and
/ boiling water the smoke of which
burned ones balls and made the
wind seem a lotion Of relief. Az we
| left AT dawn. the whole world OF air
WAS stirred by storm OF sunlight
which swept the mist away
When storm came up In the course
Of the voyage. the captain called out
orders from the helm. and these were
repeated. not only by himself. but
again and again by all the passengers
u nd the crew. in hoarse shouts. One
morning Arabia lay before US, Il long
: low line OF yellow sand above the
varia bic blue and green OF the sea. 1t
was bitterly cold | woke up TWO hours
| before dawn. to hear the Arabs dis
cussing the possibility OF taking all I
| had from me. But I fell asleep again.
We moved down the Goa II with the
/ help of swift breeze and arrived in
I the afternoon At Ojair. A soldier came
to meet the dhow. dressed in Turk.
j ish.Arabic uniform. On q bench out
side the fort. hundred yards away
and beside its archway. sat all the
local officials: the Yuzba shi. or cap
tain. Tewfik Effendi, rose up AZ I said
! howdo- you-do in Turkish He said
| that without an I'm permission |
could not 60 to FL Hasa. | gave him
my passport. They promised. and sat
down and wrote three letters. which
! they read to me. all Of them very IA.
vorable, and which they promised 10
send that night. The guardian of the
customs looked a poisonous weed.
thought there was little chance Of he.
ing able to get away.
The fort was big quadra nsle: 1t had
a courtyard inside which resembled a n
| inhabited graveyard. where camels
rested | noticed the Beda win women
did all the work. even to the load ding OF
| these camels. | was given one cell to
myself; my servants had another. My
cell had bolt on the inside and on the
out side of the door. and four windows
well barred, hYa IN up out OF reach In
the very thick wall.
| My hope was to be bile to reach a
| well some five miles distant from the
| Turkish fort. to which Arabs frequent
! " came to water their camels. and
these Arabs l proposed to induce with
fair words and Maria Teresas. In which
my faith grew. to conduct me to E.
Hasa. The Turks made no objection
to my walking about close to the fort
and provided me with a soldier to keeI
on the pariah dogs.
ION the second day the Turks pro-
! posed hunting expedition. which
filled me with keen anticipation until
found that It's limit was to be SOC
yards from the fort. and that our safe
ty was to be secured by advance, flank
and rear guards. These guards effect
lively insured not only our safety, bu,
the safety Of any possible game. Pres
entity the party sat down and began tt
drink native spirits. After an interval
during which the ca plain and smoked
apart. they began wrestling for q
revolver. which went off in the middle
Of a group which scattered, laughing
heartily.
Gradually life began to grow un
pleasant. The soldiers were Arabs
and disconnected: there was no towr
Of any kind: the land was sha dowy
nullity by night and fury of vino
and light by day. The Bedawin some
times camp Just out of range 81
the fort and at night hostile country
began q hundred yards from the door;
sentries on the roof called to each
other all night long.
At length through surreptitious ar
arrangements with one Gabriel, Greek
and Miriam, his sister in law. 1t wal
settled that / was to meet some
Sheikhs five miles away at the we'll
when I was to be put on camel and
carried to FL Hasa after which al
would go well.
One evening, after my prepa ra tioni
were completed. the chief of the Gus.
toms called upon me and talked In @
very friendly way. | said 1t wa,
impossible for me to give present,
until I had successfully ended my
journey. The only presents that coult
be given were Maria Teresa dollars
and t. man was going to be u a