"He was the most extraordinary man I ever knew." " Did you know him well?" " I knew him." " Well, nil nisi bonum." " But did he really deserve a place in here?" " Lord Allenby, could you give a few words about Lawrence?" " What, more words?" " The revolt in the desert played a decisive part in the Middle Eastern campaign." " Yes, sir, but about Colonel Lawrence himself." " No, no." " I didn't know him well, you know." " Mr. Bentley, you know as much about Lawrence as anybody." " Yes, it was my privilege to know him." " And to make him known to the world." " He was a poet, a scholar and a mighty warrior." " Thank you." " He was also the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum and Bailey." " You, sir." " Who are you?" " My name is Jackson Bentley." " I overheard your last remark and take the gravest exception." "  He was a great man." "  Did you know him?" " No, I can't claim to have known him." " I had the honour to shake his hand in Damascus." " Knew him?" " I never knew him." " He had some minor function on my staff in Cairo." " Michael George Hartley this is a nasty, dark little room." " That's right." " We are not happy in it." " I am." " It's better than a nasty, dark little trench." "  Then you're a big noble fellow." "  That's right." " Here is William Potter with my newspaper." "  Here you are, tosh." "  Thanks." " Would you care for one of Corporal Hartley's cigarettes?" "  Is it there?" "  Of course." " Headlines." " But I bet it isn't mentioned in the Times." "" Bedouin tribes attack Turkish stronghold."" " I bet that no one in this headquarters even knows it happened." " Or would care if it did." " Allow me to ignite your cigarette." "  Mr. Lawrence?" "  Yes." "  Flimsy, sir." "  Thank you." " You'll do that once too often." " It's only flesh and blood." " Michael George Hartley, you're a philosopher." " And you're balmy!" "  It damn well hurts!" "  Certainly, it hurts." " What's the trick, then?" " The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts." " By the way, if Captain Gibbon should enquire for me tell him I've gone for a chat with the general." "  He's balmy." "  He's all right." " Lawrence." " Yes?" " You're supposed to be..." "Do you usually wear your cap in the mess?" " Always." " You should be on duty." " Where are you going?" " Mustn't talk shop, Freddie, not in the mess." " I'm going for a powwow with the general." " I'm not asking as your superior, but as the secretary of this mess." " We don't want chaps in here who should be on duty." " Where are you going?" " I must say, Lawrence!" "  Sorry." "  You're a clown, Lawrence." " Ah, well, we can't all be lion tamers." " Sorry." " It's an intrigue, Dryden." " I do not propose to let an overweening, crass lieutenant thumb his nose at his commander and get away with it." " It doesn't sound as though he'd be any great loss, sir." " Don't try that, Dryden." " There's a principle involved." " There is, indeed." " He's of no use here in Cairo." " He might be in Arabia." " He knows his stuff, sir." " Knows the books, you mean." " I've already sent out Colonel Brighton, who's a soldier." " If Brighton thinks we should send some arms, we will." " Well, what more do you want?" " That there would be no question of Lieutenant Lawrence giving military advice." " By God, I should hope not." " It's just that the Arab Bureau would like its own man on the spot to..." "To what?" " To make our own appraisal of the situation." " I'll tell you, it's my considered opinion and that of my staff that time spent on the Bedouin will be time wasted." " They're a nation of sheep-stealers." " They did attack Medina." " And the Turks made mincemeat of them." " We don't know that." " We know that they didn't take it." " A storm in a teacup, a sideshow." " In my opinion, this whole theatre of operations is a sideshow." " The real war's being fought against Germans, not Turks." " Not here, but on the Western front in the trenches." " Your Bedouin Army, or whatever it calls itself would be a sideshow of a sideshow." " Big things have small beginnings, sir." " Does the Arab Bureau want a big thing in Arabia?" " Does the bureau think they'll sit down under us when this war is over?" " The bureau thinks the job of the moment, sir, is to win the war." " Don't tell me my duty, Mr. Dryden." "  Lawrence, sir." "  Send him in." " Good morning, sir." " Salute." " If you're insubordinate, I shall put you under arrest." "  It's my manner." "  Your what?" " My manner." " It looks insubordinate, but it isn't." " I can't make out whether you're bad-mannered or just half-witted." "  I have the same problem, sir." "  Shut up." " The Arab Bureau thinks you would be of use to them in Arabia." " Why, I can't imagine." " You can't perform your present duties properly." "" I cannot fiddle, but I can make a great state from a little city."" "  What?" "  Themistocles, sir." "  A Greek philosopher." "  I know you've been well-educated." " It says so in your dossier." " You're the kind of creature I can't stand, Lawrence." " But I suppose I could be wrong." " All right, Dryden." " You can have him for six weeks." " Who knows?" " It might even make a man of him." " Come in!" " Yes, what is it?" " The convoy will be in Port Said tomorrow night." "  Is that certain?" "  Yes, sir." " There doesn't seem to be any artillery." " But there must be artillery!" " Sir, this is something of an expedition." " He has to get to Yenbo, find a guide, find the Arabs and then get back." " He can't do that in six weeks." "  Two months, then." "  Three." " All right, three." " Now, will you let me do some work, Mr. Dryden?" " Thank you, sir." " I'd like to say, sir, that I am grateful for this." " Shut up and get out." " Sir?" " How can I fight a bloody war without bloody artillery?" "  How did you do it?" "  Might better ask why I bothered to." "  Because I'm the man for the job." "  I just wonder about that." " Of course I am." " What is the job, by the way?" " Find Prince Feisal." " Good." " And when I've found him?" " Find out what kind of a man he is." " Find out what his intentions are." " Not his immediate intentions." " That is Colonel Brighton's business, not yours." " I mean, his intentions in Arabia altogether." " That's new." " Where are they now?" " Anywhere within 300 miles of Medina." " They're Hashemite Bedouins." " They can cross 60 miles of desert in a day." " Thanks." " This is going to be fun." " Lawrence, only two kinds of creature get fun in the desert:" "Bedouins and gods, and you're neither." " Take it from me." " For ordinary men, it's a burning fiery furnace." " No, Dryden." " It's going to be fun." " It is recognised that you have a funny sense of fun." " Here you may drink." " One cup." " You do not drink?" " No." " I'll drink when you do." " I am Bed..." "Truly, now, you are a British officer?" " Yes." " From Cairo?" " Yes." "  You did not ride from Cairo?" "  No." " Thank heaven." " It's 900 miles." " I came by boat." " And before?" " From Britain?" " Yes." " Truly?" " From Oxfordshire." " Is that a desert country?" " No." " A fat country." " Fat people." " You are not fat?" " No." " I'm different." " Here take it." " First I take you to Lord Feisal, then you give it to me." " Take it now." " Bedu food." " Good." " More?" "  Bedu." "  Where?" " From here to Lord Feisal's camp is Harith country." " Yes, I know." "  I am not Harith." "  No." " Hazimi, of the Beni Salem." " Put the right foot in tight." " Lock it with your left foot." " When you are ready to go hit her on the shoulder and say, "Hut-hut-hut."" " Today will be difficult, but tomorrow, good riding." " I think we reach Masturah Well tomorrow." " Yes." " And from Masturah Well to Lord Feisal's camp, one day more." " Now!" " Good?" " It's all right." " This is a Harith well." " The Harith are a dirty people." " Turks?" " Bed..." "Who is he?" " He is dead." " Yes." " Why?" " This is my well." " I have drunk from it." " You are welcome." " He was my friend." "  That?" "  Yes, that." "  This pistol yours?" "  No, his." " His?" " Mine." " Then I will use it." " Your friend was a Hazimi of the Beni Salem." " I know." " I am Ali ibn el Kharish." " I have heard of you." " So what was a Hazimi doing here?" " He was taking me to help Prince Feisal." "  You've been sent from Cairo." "  Yes." " I have been in Cairo for my schooling." " I can both read and write." " My Lord Feisal already has an Englishman." " What is your name?" " My name is for my friends." " None of my friends is a murderer." " You are angry, English." " He was nothing." " The well is everything." " The Hazimi may not drink at our wells." " He knew that." " Salaam." " Sherif Ali." " So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe so long will they be a little people a silly people" "Greedy, barbarous and cruel, as you are." " Come." " I will take you to Feisal." " I do not want your company, sherif." " Wadi Safra is another day from here." " You will not find it, and you will die." " I Will find it With this." " Good army compass." " How if I take it?" " Then you would be a thief." " Have you no fear, English?" " My fear is my concern." " Truly." " God be with you, English." " Hey, you!" "  I've been waiting for you." "  Did you know I was coming?" " I knew someone was coming." " Feisal told me." " How did he know?" " Not much happens within 50 miles of Feisal that he doesn't know." " I'll give him that." " No escort?" " My guide was killed at the Masturah Well." "  Turks?" "  No, an Arab." " Bloody savages." "  This is Wadi Safra, isn't it?" "  Yes, they're over there." " Just a minute." " What's your name and who sent you?" " Lawrence." " I've been seconded to the Arab Bureau." " What are you to do for the Arab Bureau?" " Well, it's rather vague, sir." " I'm to appreciate the situation." " Well, that won't be difficult." " The situation's bloody awful." " Their morale, if they ever had any, which I doubt the Turks knocked out of them in front of Medina, with howitzers." " They're fading away by dozens every night." " What I want to say is this:" "Wherever you are and whoever you are with you're a British officer." " Here's an order." " When we get into that camp, you're to keep your mouth shut." "  Do you understand what I'm saying?" "  I understand what you're saying." " You'll make your appreciation and get back to" "Oh, my God." " Not again." " I've told him!" " God knows I've told him." "" Move South," I've said." "" You're still in range."" " They simply will not understand what modern weapons do!" " Stand and fight." " Stand and fight." " Fire back at them." "  Who are you?" "  Lieutenant Lawrence, sir." " Seconded to the Arab Bureau." " This is a bloody mess, sir." " We'll have to move south." " Yes, colonel, 50 miles south." " You were right and I was wrong." " We must take some thought for the wounded." "  We can take care of them at Yenbo." "  If they can get to Yenbo." " They can hardly come with us." " No." " They must try to reach Yenbo." " Lieutenant...?" " Lawrence." " You understand, Lieutenant Lawrence my people are unused to explosives and machines." " First the guns, and now this." " Cigarette?" " I'm sorry." " Cigarette, Your Excellency?" " Umph off." " Please, Your Excellency." " Just one for two?" " Hold it, Jenkins!" " Jenkins!" " Lawrence?" " You have no servant." "  I don't need a servant." "  No?" " We can do everything." " Light fires, cook food, wash clothes." "  Yes, everything." "  I don't doubt it." "  It will be very nice for you." "  I can't afford it." " Recite, then, as much of the Koran as may be easy to you." " God knoweth that there be some among you sick while others travel through the Earth in quest for the bounties of God." " Others do battle in his cause." " Recite, therefore, as much as may be easy." " And observe the prayers." " This will be best and richest in the recompense." " Seek ye the forgiveness of God." " Verily, God is forgiving, merciful" "Greetings, Ali." "  My lord." "  Sherif Ali." " Lieutenant Lawrence, you have met Sherif Ali, I think." " Yes, my lord." " And now, Selim, "The Brightness."" "" By the noonday brightness and by the night when it darkeneth thy Lord hath not forsaken thee neither hath He been displeased." " And surely the future shall be better for thee than the past."" "" And in the end shall your Lord be bounteous to thee and thou be satisfied."" " $0?" " Yes, colonel." "  I want a decision, sir." "  You want me to fall back on Yenbo." " Well, you're not doing much good here, sir." " I'm sorry to rub it in, sir, but we can't supply you here." " You could supply us through Aqaba!" " Aqaba!" " If you can get a hold of Aqaba, we can supply you." "  But you can't!" "  You could." " You mean, the navy?" " The Turks have 12-inch guns at Aqaba, sir." " Can you imagine what that means?" " Yes, I can imagine." " Put that out of your mind, sir." " The navy's got other things to do." " Oh, yes." " Protecting the Suez Canal." " The one essential sector of this front is and must be the canal." " You can see that, sir, surely." " I see that the canal is an essential British interest." " It is of little consequence to us." " I must ask you not to speak like that." " British and Arab interests are one and the same." " Possibly." " Upon my word, sir, you're ungrateful." " Fall back on Yenbo and we will give you equipment." " Give you arms, advice, training, everything." "  Guns?" "  A modern riﬂe for every man." " No." " Guns." " Artillery." " Guns like the Turkish guns at Medina." " Yes, give us guns and keep the training." " Your men need training far more than guns, sir." " English will teach Bedu to fight?" " We will teach them, Sherif Ali, to fight a modern mechanised army." " Yes, lieutenant?" " What do you think about Yenbo?" " I think it is far from Damascus." " We'll have you in Damascus, sir." " Never fear." " Have you been in Damascus, Mr. Lawrence?" " Yes, my lord." " It is beautiful, is it not?" "  Very." "  That will do, Lawrence." " Dreaming won't get you to Damascus, but discipline will." " Look, Great Britain is a small country, much smaller than yours." " Small population compared with some." " It's small, but it's great." " And why?" "  Because it has guns." "  Because it has discipline." " Because it has a navy, because of this the English go where they please and strike where they please." " This makes them great." "  Right." "  Mr. Lawrence, that will do!" " Lawrence is not your military adviser." " But I would like to hear his opinion." " Damn it!" " Who do you take your orders from?" " From Lord Feisal, in Feisal's tent." " Old fool!" " Why turn from him to him?" " They are master and man." " My lord, I think..." "I think your book is right." " The desert is an ocean in which no oar is dipped." " On this ocean, the Bedu go where they please and strike where they please." " This is the way the Bedu has always fought." " You're famed through the world for fighting this way." " And this is the way you should fight now." " I don't know." " I'm sorry, sir, but you're wrong." " Fall back on Yenbo, the Arab Rising becomes one unit in the British army." "  What is this to you?" "  You're a traitor." " No, colonel." " He is a young man, and young men are passionate." " They must say their say." " But wiser people must decide." " I know you are right." " Very well." " When shall we move?" " The sooner the better." " You'll lose another 50 men tonight." " You tread heavily but you speak the truth." " I will give you my answer tomorrow." " And now it is late." " Colonel Brighton means to put my men under European officers, does he not?" " In effect, my lord, yes." " And I must do it because the Turks have European guns." " But I fear to do it upon my soul I do." " The English have a great hunger for desolate places." " I fear they hunger for Arabia." " Then you must deny it to them." " You are an Englishman." " Are you not loyal to England?" " To England and to other things." " To England and Arabia both?" " And is that possible?" " I think you are another of these desert-loving English." " Doughty, Stanhope Gordon of Khartoum." " No Arab loves the desert." " We love water and green trees." " There is nothing in the desert." " And no man needs nothing." " Or is it that you think we are something you can play with because we are a little people, a silly people greedy, barbarous and cruel?" " Or do you know, lieutenant, in the Arab city of Cordoba were two miles of lighting in the streets when London was a village." " Yes, you were great." " Nine centuries ago." " Time to be great again, my lord." " Which is why my father made this war upon the Turks." " My father, Mr. Lawrence, not the English." " But my father is old and I I long for the vanished gardens of Cordoba." " However, before the gardens must come the fighting." " To be great again, it seems that we need the English OI'..." "Ur?" " What no man can provide, Mr. Lawrence." " We need a miracle." " Aqaba." " Aqaba." " From the land." " You are mad." " To come to Aqaba by land we should have to cross the Nefud Desert." " That's right." " The Nefud cannot be crossed." " I'll cross it if you will." " You?" " It takes more than a compass, Englishman." " The Nefud is the worst place God created." " I can't answer for the place." " Only for myself." " Fifty men?" " Fifty?" " Against Aqaba?" " If 50 men came out of the Nefud... .they would be 50 men other men might join." " The Howeitat are there, I hear." " The Howeitat are brigands." " They'll sell themselves to anyone." "  Good fighters, though." "  Good" "Yes." " There are guns at Aqaba." " They face the sea, Sherif Ali, and cannot be turned around." " From the landward side, there are no guns at Aqaba." " With good reason." " It cannot be approached from the landward side." " Certainly the Turks don't dream of it." " Aqaba's over there." " It's only a matter of going." " You are mad." " And where are you going, lieutenant?" " With 50 of my men." " To work your miracle." " Blasphemy is a bad beginning for such a journey." "  Who told you?" "  Ali did." " Why not you?" " You are falling back from Yenbo, sir?" " Yes, I must." " But I will spare these to you." " Did Ali break confidence to tell me?" " Sherif Ali owes you his allegiance, my lord." " Yet you did not tell Colonel Brighton." " No." " Since you do know we can claim to arrive in the name of Feisal of Mecca." " Yes, Lieutenant Lawrence, you may claim it." " But in whose name do you ride?" " Sherif, I caught them." " They have tracked us." " They were here." " I caught them." " Why are you here?" " Boy!" " To serve Lord Lawrence, sherif." " This is true, Lawrence." " They do wish it." " You have been tracking us." "  You were told to stay." "  No, sherif." " Our camel strayed." " We followed her." " She led us here to be Lord Lawrence's servants." "  It is the will of Allah." "  Blasphemy." " Don't do that." " No, Lawrence, these are not servants These are outcasts, parent-less." " Be warned." " They are not suitable." " They sound very suitable." " You can ride with the baggage." " These are not servants." " These are worshippers." " One shilling, every week?" " That is fair." "  Each?" "  No." "  That is too much." "  All right." " They will be lucky for you." " Allah favours the compassionate." " There is the railway." " And that is the desert." " From here until the other side, no water but what we carry." " For the camels, no water at all." " If the camels die we die." " And in 20 days they will start to die." " There's no time to waste, then, is there?" " I was thinking." " You were drifting." " Yes." " It will not happen again." " Be warned, you were drifting." " It will not happen again." " That water is wasted." " From now on, we must travel by night and rest while it is too hot to travel." " A few hours each day." " Why don't we start now?" " No." " We will rest now." " Three hours." " Fine." " I'll wake you." " Do we rest here?" " There is no rest now short of water." " The other side of that." " And how much of that is there?" " I'm not sure." " But however much, it must be crossed before tomorrow's sun gets up." " This is the sun's anvil." " Have we done it?" " No, but we're off the anvil." " Thank God for that anyway." " Yes, thank him." " Lawrence, I do not think you know how you have tempted him." " I know." " We've done it." " God willing." " When do we reach the wells?" " God willing, midday." "  Then we've done it." "  Thank him, Lawrence." " Thank him." " Gasim's." " What's happened to him?" " God knows." " Why don't you stop?" " For what?" " He will be dead by midday." " We must go back." " What for, to die with Gasim?" " In one hour comes the sun." " In God's name, understand!" " We cannot go back!" " I can." " Take the boys." " If you go back, you kill yourself, is all." " Gasim you have killed already." " Get out of my way." " Gasim's time is come, Lawrence." " It is written." " Nothing is written!" " Go back, then!" " What did you bring us here for with your blasphemous conceit?" " English blasphemer!" " Aqaba?" " Was it Aqaba?" " You will not be at Aqaba, English!" " Go back, blasphemer but you will not be at Aqaba." " I shall be at Aqaba." " That is written." " In here." " English!" " English!" " Lawrence!" " Daud!" " Nothing is written." " AI Lawrence." " Farraj." " Wash." "AI Lawrence." " Truly, for some men nothing is written unless they write it." " Not AI Lawrence." " Just Lawrence." "  AI Lawrence is better." "  True." " Your father too, just Mr. Lawrence?" " My father is Sir Thomas Chapman." "  Is that a lord?" "  A kind of lord." " Then when he dies, you too will be a lord." " No." " You have an elder brother." " No." " But then, I do not understand this." " Your father's name is Chapman." " He didn't marry my mother." " I see." " I'm sorry." " It seems to me that you are free to choose your own name, then." " Yes, I suppose I am." " AI Lawrence is best." " All right, I'll settle for AI Lawrence." " They are the robes of a sherif of the Beni Wejh." " Very fine." "  Great honour." "  The honour is to us." " Salaam, sherif." "  Is it permitted?" "  Surely." " He for whom nothing is written may write himself a clan." " They are good for riding." " Try." " What are you doing, Englishman?" " As you see." " Are you alone?" " Almost." " Are you with those dogs drinking at my well?" " Yours?" " I am Auda Abu Tayi." " I've heard of another man of that name." " Other?" " What other?" " The Auda I'd heard of wouldn't need to summon help to look after his wells." " He must be a great hero." " He is." " He wouldn't refuse water to men coming out of Nefud Desert." " Now, would he not?" " No, that must be some other man." " Here is my help." " Son, what fashion is this?" "  Harith, Father." "  What manner of Harith?" " A Beni Wejh sherif." " And is he Harith?" " No, Father, English." " Son they are stealing our water." " Tell them we are coming." " Tell them." "  Empty that!" "  Do not!" " It is Auda of the Howeitat who speaks." " It is Ali of the Harith who answers." " Harith." " Ali." " Does your father still steal?" " No." " Does Auda take me for one of his own bastards?" " No." " There is no resemblance." " Alas, you resemble your father." "  Auda flatters me." "  You are easily flattered." " I knew your father well." " Did you know your own'?" " We are 50, you are two." " How if we shot you down?" " Why, then you have a blood feud with the Howeitat." "  Do you desire it?" "  Not the generals in Cairo nor the sultan himself desire that." " Call off your men." " This honours the unworthy." " I've only just begun to teach him." " And what are you teaching him today?" " Howeitat hospitality?" " Be not clever with me, English." "  Who is he?" "  A friend of Prince Feisal's." "  So you desire my hospitality?" "  Yes." " Is he your tongue?" " We do desire it." " Then it is given, if you will take it." " I'm at my summer camp, a poor place." " Well, to me it seems a poor place." " Some men find it marvellous." " Tomorrow, maybe I will allow the Turks to buy you, friends of Feisal." " But dine with me." " Dine with Auda, English." " Dine with the Howeitat, Harith." " It is my pleasure that you dine with me in Wadi Rumm!" " This thing you work against Aqaba what profit do you hope from it?" " We work it for Feisal of Mecca." " The Harith do not work for profit." " Well, if it is in a man to be a servant, Sherif Ali he could find worse masters than Feisal." " But I..." "I cannot serve." " You permit the Turks to stay in Aqaba." " Yes, it is my pleasure." " We do not work this thing for Feisal." " No?" "  For the English, then?" "  For the Arabs." " The Arabs?" " The Howeitat, Ageyil, Ruala, Beni Sahkr, these I know." " I have even heard of the Harith." " But the Arabs?" " What tribe is that?" " They're a tribe of slaves." " They serve the Turks." " Well, they are nothing to me." " My tribe is the Howeitat." " Who work only for profit." " Who work at Auda's pleasure." " And Auda's pleasure is to serve the Turks." " Serve?" " I serve?" " It is the servant who takes money." " I am Auda Abu Tayi." "  Does Auda serve?" "  No!" "  Does Auda Abu Tayi serve?" "  No!" " I carry 23 great wounds, all got in battle." " 75 men have I killed with my own hands, in battle." " I scatter, I burn my enemies tents." " I take away their flocks and herds." " The Turks pay me a golden treasure, yet I am poor!" " Because I am a river to my people." " Is that service?" " No." " And yet now it seems Auda has grown old." " And lost his taste for fighting." " It is well you say it in my tent, thou old tulip." " Yet this is a tulip that the Turks could not buy." " Why should they wish to?" " Now..." "I will tell you what they pay me, and you will tell me if this is... a servant's wages" "They pay me, month by month 1O0 golden guineas." " 150, Auda." "  Who told you that?" "  I have long ears." " And a long tongue between them." " 100, 150, what matters?" " It's a trifle." " A trifle which they take from a great box they have." " In Aqaba." "  In Aqaba?" "  Where else?" " You trouble me like women." " Friends, we've been foolish." " Auda will not come to Aqaba." "  For money?" "  No." "  For Feisal?" "  No!" " Nor to drive away the Turks." " He will come because it is his pleasure." " Thy mother mated with a scorpion." " Make God your agent!" " Aqaba!" " Aqaba!" " God be with you." " God be with you." " God be with you." " God be with you." " Yes." " Aqaba." " Tomorrow we will go and get it." "  Do you think we shall?" "  Yes." " If you are right about the guns." " He killed." " He dies." " This is the end of Aqaba." " One of our men murdered Auda's man." " Why?" " Theft?" " Blood feud?" " It makes no matter why." " Ali!" " It is an ancient wound." " I didn't come here to watch a tribal bloodbath." " It is the law, Lawrence." " The law says the man must die." " If he dies, will that content the Howeitat?" " Yes." " Sherif Ali!" " If none of Lord Auda's men harms any of yours will that content the Harith?" "  Yes." " Then I will execute the law." " I have no tribe." " And no one is offended." " Gasim." " Did you do it?" " Well, Lawrence..." "What ails the Englishman?" " That that he killed was the man he brought out of the Nefud." " It was written, then." " Better to have left him." " It was execution, Lawrence." " No shame in that." " Besides, it was necessary." " You gave life and you took it." " The writing is still yours." " Auda Abu Tayi!" " The miracle is accomplished." " Garlands for the conqueror." " Tribute for the prince." " Flowers for the man." " I'm none of those things, Ali." "  What, then?" "  Don't know." " Thanks." " My God, I love this country." " What!" " No gold in Aqaba!" " Auda, I found it!" " That's a pity." " Ali, get a message down the coast to Yenbo." " Tell Feisal to find boats, any boats and bring the Arab army here to Aqaba, quickly." " And you?" " I'm going to tell the generals in Cairo." " Yes, cross Sinai." " Come on!" " Sinai?" " Yes." "  With these?" "  They'll be all right with me." " Look, Ali." " If any of your Bedouin arrived in Cairo and said:" ""We've taken Aqaba," the generals would laugh." " I see." " In Cairo you will put off these funny clothes." " You'll wear trousers and tell stories of our quaintness and barbarity and then they will believe you." " You're an ignorant man." " Paper" "There is no gold in Aqaba." " No gold" "No great box!" " Did Auda come to Aqaba for gold?" " For my pleasure, as you said." " But gold is honourable and Lawrence promised gold." " Lawrence lied." " See, Auda." "" The Crown of England promises to pay 5000 golden guineas to Auda Abu Tayi."" " Signed in His Majesty's absence..." "by--- ...me." " In 10 days I'll be back with the gold." " With gold, with guns, with everything." " Ten days." " You'll cross Sinai?" " Why not?" " Moses did." " And you will take the children?" " Moses did." " Moses was a prophet and beloved of God." " He said there was gold here." " He lied." " He is not perfect." " Lord, can we not rest?" " I told you, no rest till they know that I have Aqaba." " Have you two slept in beds?" " Farraj?" " Daud?" " With sheets?" " Tomorrow the finest sheets in the finest room and hotel in Cairo." " I promise." " Then it shall be so, lord." " Look!" " Pillar of fire." " No, lord." " Dust." " My compass." " No matter." " If we ride west, we must strike the canal." " Due west." " Come on!" " Lawrence!" " Farraj!" " Farraj, don't!" " Don't!" " Don't!" " Why do you walk?" " But why, lord?" " But why, lord?" " There is room for both." " It serves no purpose." " Lawrence, look!" " It's all right, Farraj." " It's all right." " Who are you?" " Who are you?" "  Daud!" "  We're here, sir." " You taking him in there?" " Yes." " Here!" " Here." " You!" " And where the hell do you think you're going to, Mustapha?" " We are thirsty." "  Mr. Lawrence, is it?" "  Yes." "  Are you going to the officers' bar?" "  Yes." " You can't take him in there, sir." " What do you think you look like?" " No, no." " You must go." " No, no." " Go, effendi, go!" " Get out!" " You must get out!" " Get out!" " We want two large glasses of lemonade." "  This is a bar for British officers." "  We are not particular." "  Are you off your head?" "  No." " Oddly enough I'm not." "  Just clear out of here, will you?" "  Get that boy out of here." " Corporal, we'll have this one out anyway." "  Get that wog out of here." "  Clear oh'." " What's going on?" "  It's Lawrence, sir." "  Lemonade with ice." " Explain yourself." " We've taken Aqaba." "  Taken Aqaba?" " Who has?" "  We have." " Our side in this war has." " The wogs have." " We have." " He likes your lemonade." " You mean the Turks have gone?" " No, they're still there but they've no boots." " Prisoners, sir." " We took them prisoners." " The entire garrison." " That's not true." " We killed some." " Too many, really." " I'll manage it better next time." " There's been a lot of killing one way or another." " Cross my heart and hope to die, it's all perfectly true." "  It isn't possible." "  Yes, it is." " I did it." " You'd better talk to Allenby." "  General Allenby?" "  He's in command." " Murray's gone." " That's a step in the right direction." " First I want a room." " With a bed, with sheets." "  Yes, of course." "  It's for him." " Right." " You want a bed yourself, don't you?" " See Allenby first, though." " Will he see me?" " I think so." " Do that, then." "  I'd better shave." "  Yes, you had." " You'd better get into some trousers too." "" Undisciplined." " Unpunctual." " Untidy." " Several languages." " Knowledge of music literature." " Knowledge of..." "You're an interesting man, there's no doubt about it." "  Who told you to take Aqaba?" "  Nobody." "  Sir." "  Sir." " Then why did you?" "  Aqaba's important." "  Why is it important?" "  It's the Turkish route to the canal." "  Not any more." "  They're coming through Beersheba." "  I know, but we've gone to Gaza." "  So?" "  So that left Aqaba behind your right." " True." " And it will be further behind your right when you go for Jerusalem." " Am I going for Jerusalem?" " Yes." " Very well." " Aqaba behind my right." " It threatened El' ArTsh and Gaza." " Anything else?" " Yes." " Aqaba's linked with Medina." " Do you think we should shift them out of Medina now?" " No." " I think you should leave them there." " You acted without orders, you know." " Shouldn't officers use their initiative at all times?" " Not really." " It's awfully dangerous." " Yes, I know." " Already?" " Yes." " I'm promoting you major." " I don't think that's a very good idea." " I didn't ask you." " I want you to go back and carry on the good work." " No." " Thank you, sir." "  Why not?" "  Well, I, it's..." "Let me see now..." "I killed two people." " I mean, two Arabs." " One was a boy." " That was yesterday." " I led him into a quicksand." " The other was a man." " That was before Aqaba, anyway." " I had to execute him with my pistol." " There was something about it I didn't like." "  Well, naturally." "  No." " Something else." " That's all right." " Let it be a warning." " No." " Something else." " What, then?" " I enjoyed it." " Rubbish." " Rubbish and nerves." " You're tired." " What do you mean coming dressed like that?" " Amateur theatricals?" " Yes." " Entirely." " Let me see that hat thing or whatever it is." " Fascinating gear they wear." " How would I look in this, Harry?" "  Damn ridiculous, sir." "  Here, you keep it." " What I'm trying to say is I don't think I'm fit for it." " Really?" " What do you think, Dryden?" " Before he did it, sir, I'd have said it couldn't be done." "  Brighton?" "  I know what he thinks." " I think you should recommend a decoration, sir." " I don't think it matters what his motives were." " It was a brilliant bit of soldiering." "  Mr. Perkins!" "  Sir!" " Let's have a drink, gentlemen." "  You've heard about this, Mr. Perkins?" "  Yes, sir." "  What do you think about it?" "  Bloody marvellous, sir." " Well done." "  Thank you, Mr. Perkins." "  Sir!" " Come on, then." " You're a clever man, sir." " No, but I know a good thing when I see one." " That's fair, surely?" " If I need a breakthrough to Jerusalem, I must concentrate, not dissipate." "  Bravo." "  You know better?" " I fight like Clausewitz, then you fight like Saxe." " We should do very well indeed, shouldn't we?" " Easy, gentlemen, please." "  Give us something to drink." "  Of course, sir." " I'm here at the invitation of Major Lawrence." " Tracy." " Shall we go outside?" " So you hold bound the Turkish desert army?" " Yes." " With 1000 Arabs?" " 1000 Arabs means 1000 knives." " Delivered anywhere, day or night." " It means 1000 camels." " That means 1000 packs of high explosives and 1000 crack rifles." " We can cross Arabia while Johnny Turk is still turning round." " I'll smash his railways." " While he mends, I'll smash them somewhere else." " In 13 weeks I can have Arabia in chaos." " You are going back, then?" " Yes." " Of course I'm going back." " Well, if we can see it, so can the Turk." " If he finds he's using four divisions to fend off a handful of bandits he'll withdraw." " He daren't withdraw." " Arabia's part of his empire." " If he gets out now, he'll never get back again." "  I wonder who will." "  No one will." " Arabia's for the Arabs now." " That's what I've told them anyway." " That's what they think." "  That's why they're fighting." "  Oh, surely." " They've only one suspicion." " That we'll let them drive the Turks out and then move in ourselves." " I've told them that that's false, that we have no ambitions in Arabia." " Have we?" " I'm not a politician, thank God." " Have we any ambition in Arabia, Dryden?" " Difficult question, sir." " I want to know, sir, if I can tell them in your name that we've no ambitions in Arabia." " Certainly." " 2000 small arms, not enough." " I need five." " Right." " Money." " It'll have to be sovereigns." " They don't like paper." "  Instructors for the Lewis guns." "  Right." " More money." "  How much more?" " 25,000 now." " A lot more later." "  Dryden?" "  It can be done, sir." " A couple of armoured cars." " Right." " Field artillery." " Right." " I'll give you every blessed thing I can because I know you'll use it." " Congratulations." " Thank you for your hospitality, gentlemen." " Congratulations!" " Are you really going to give them artillery, sir?" " I was wondering that, sir." " Might be difficult to get it back." " Give them artillery and you've made them independent." " Then I can't give it to them, can I?" "  For you to say." "  No, it's not." " I've got orders to obey, thank God." " Not like that poor devil." " He's riding the whirlwind." " Let's hope we're not." " Excuse me, friend." " Who do these bags belong to?" " To Prince Feisal." "  You're not Prince Feisal?" "  No." " You know him though?" " He is my master." " I am his servant." " Can you read?" " Chicago Courier is my paper, but my work is syndicated in America." " I understood so from your letter, Mr. Bentley." " Now..." " Where can I find Major Lawrence?" "  Is that what you have come for?" " Not altogether, sir, no." " Well, Mr. Bentley, you will find Major Lawrence with my army." " That's what I meant, sir." " Where can I find your army?" " I don't know." "  Last week they were near El Ghira." "  Ghira?" " Yes, I fear you have a long journey." " Can you ride a camel?" "  I've never tried." "  Take a mule." " Avoid Mellaha, the Turks are there." " In Mellaha now?" " They move fast." " They do." " But not so fast as we do, you will find." " Myself I am going to Cairo." "  As you know." "  Yes." " There's work for me there of a different kind." " Yes." " I understand you've been given no artillery." "  That is so." "  You're handicapped?" " It restricts us to small things." " It's intended to." " Do you know General Allenby?" " Watch out for Allenby." " He's a slim customer." "  Excuse me?" "  A clever man." " Slim customer." " It's very good." " I'll certainly watch out for him." " You're being very sympathetic." " Your Highness, we Americans were once a colonial people." " We naturally feel sympathetic to any people who struggle for their freedom." " Very gratifying." " Also, my interests are the same as yours." " You want your story told." " I badly want a story to tell." " Ah, now you are talking turkey, are you not?" " I will give you a guide and a letter." " And before I leave here which must be presently I will have some facts and figures put on paper for you." " You know that we are destroying the Turkish railways." " I do, sir." " Major Lawrence is in charge of all this, is he?" " My army is made up of tribes." " The tribes are led by the tribal leaders." " Your people do think very highly of Major Lawrence?" " Oh, yes." " And the rightly." " In this country, Mr. Bentley the man who gives victory in battle is prized beyond every other man." " One figure I can give you from my head because it never leaves my head." " Since starting this campaign four months ago, we have lost 37 wounded 156 dead." " You remark the disproportion between our dead and wounded." " Yeah." " Four times as many." " That's because those too wounded to bring away, we ourselves kill." " We leave no wounded for the Turks." "  You mean...?" "  We leave no wounded for the Turks." " In their eyes, we are not soldiers but rebels." " Rebels, wounded or whole, are not protected by the Geneva Code and are treated harshly." " How harshly?" " More harshly than I hope you can imagine." " I see." " Our own prisoners are taken care of until the British can relieve us of them, according to the Code." "  I should like you to notice that." "  Yes, sir." " Is that the influence of Major Lawrence?" " WW should you suppose?" " It's just that I heard in Cairo that Major Lawrence has a horror of bloodshed." " That is exactly so." " With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion." " With me, it is merely good manners." " You may judge which motive is the more reliable." "  And now, perhaps..." " Oh, sure, sure." " Thank you, sir." " Can you manage the letter--?" " I'll do everything I have said if you will tell me truly the nature of your interest in my people and Major Lawrence." " It's very simple, sir." " I'm looking for a hero." " Indeed." " You do not seem a romantic man." " Oh, no." " But influential men back home believe it's time for America to lend her weight to the struggle against Germany." " And Turkey." " I've been sent to find material to show our people that this war is..." " Enjoyable?" "  Hardly that, sir." " But to show it in its more adventurous aspects." " You look for a figure who will draw your country towards war." " All right." " Yes." " Lawrence is your man." " Stop!" " Stop it!" " Stop it!" " Come on, men!" " Lawrence!" " Good God!" " God!" " Jiminy!" " Never seen a man killed with a sword before." " Why don't you take a picture?" " Wish I had." " How is it with thee, Lawrence?" " Am I in this?" " Did you take his picture?" " Yeah." " You are using up your nine lives very quickly." " Charming company you keep." " Auda?" " He's a bit old-fashioned." " He thinks these things will steal his virtue." " He thinks you're a kind of thief." " It's all right to take your picture?" "  All right." "  Okay." " Just walk." " Major Lawrence!" " Yes, sir, that's my baby." " This looting has got to stop!" " It is customary." " It's theft." " And theft makes thieves." " I would not say that to Auda." "  It is their payment, colonel." "  Payment." " Truly." " Are not British soldiers paid?" "  They don't go home when being paid." "  They are not free to." " Well, there's another lot you've seen the last of." " They'll come back." " He says they'll come back." " Will they?" " Not this year, Lawrence." " Look, Lawrence, how many men do you think you'll have left?" " 200?" "  Less." "  Well, then?" " I said, they'll come back." " You badly mm?" " Not hurt at all." " Didn't you know?" " They can only kill me with a golden bullet." " It is for children." " I have set myself to learn again." "  What are you learning from this?" "  Politics." " You'll be a democracy in this country?" " You gonna have a parliament?" " I will tell you that when I have a country." " Did I answer well?" " You answered without saying anything." " That's politics." " You learn quickly." " I have a good teacher." " Yeah." "  How's your hurt?" "  Fine." " Before I return to the fleshpots, which I shall be very glad to do may I put two questions to you, straight?" " I'd be interested to hear you put a question straight." " One." " What, in your opinion, do these people hope to gain from this war?" " They hope to gain their freedom." " Freedom." "" They hope to gain their freedom."" "  There's one born every minute." "  They're going to get it." " I'm going to give it to them." "  The second question?" "  Well, I was going to ask what is it that attracts you personally to the desert?" " It's clean." " Well, now that's a very illuminating answer." " May I take one farewell picture?" " I gave Math Budad two lamps for it." " One clock for two lamps." " A fair bargain." " Fair?" " I robbed him." " Trash." " I must find something honourable." " Honourable?" " The year is running out, Brighton." " I must find something honourable." " Now you may blow up my train." " And what will you do now?" " Now I go home." " They will carry my toys." " They will carry my toys too, see?" " Major Lawrence will campaign this winter." " But you got what you wanted, so you're going home, is that it'?" " Of course." " When Lawrence has got what he wants, he will go home." " When you've got what you want, you will go home." " No, I shan't, Auda." " Then you are a fool." " Maybe." " But I am not a deserter." " Give thanks to God, Brighton that when he made you a fool, he gave you a fool's face." " You are an impudent rascal." " I must go, Lawrence, before I soil myself with a fool's blood." " Like talking to a brick wall." " So what will you do now?" " What can you do?" " I'll go north." " That's what Allenby wants." " Allenby wanted the Arab army behind Deraa." " Then that's where I'll take it." " Tell Allenby to hurry up, or we'll be in Deraa before he's in Jerusalem." " Won't we?" " Train, Farraj." " Yeah, Lawrence." " Hide yourself, my friend." " Detonator." " All right, fetch another." "  Pardon, Lawrence." " I put" " Plenty of time." " Fetch another." " Farraj?" "  What happened?" "  Detonator." " A detonator!" " He cannot ride, Lawrence." " Look." " If they take him alive, you know what they'll do to him." " Daud will be angry with you." " Salute him for me." " What will you do now?" " Go north." " With twenty?" " What would you recommend me to do?" " What would you recommend?" " He hasn't 1/10 so many men, sir." " He's lied, in fact." " Yes and no." " He doesn't claim to have done anything he hasn't done." " Then there is an Arab north army." "  No, sir, he has lied about that." "  Any idea why?" "  It's his army, I suppose." "  It's Prince Feisal's army." " Do you think he's gone native, Harry?" " No." " He would if he could, I think." "  Not my line of country." "  It doesn't matter." " Just curious." " What matters is I believed it." " The Turks believe it." " They are offering 20,000 pounds for him." " Good heavens." "  Shouldn't say he had long to live." "  Whatever else, he's a brave man" "Surely, surely." " If he's still going north with 50 men, he doesn't lack guts." " I wonder if they'd offer that much for me." " What about next year?" " Will they still come back?" " I wouldn't be surprised." "  They think he's a kind of prophet." "  They do or he does?" "  Now may I speak?" "  Yes." " One more failure and you will find yourself alone." "  I do not include myself." "  I do not include the others." " So say they love you." " The more reason to be thrifty with them." " Give them something to do that can be done." " But you, no." " They must move mountains, walk on water." " That's right." " That's right." " Who are you to know what can be done?" " If we'd done what you thought could be done, we'd be in Yenbo now." " Whatever I ask them to do can be done." " They know that if you don't." " Do you think I'm just anybody?" " Do you?" " My friends, who will walk on water with me?" "  Who will come with me into Deraa?" "  Deraa is garrisoned." " Will you take 20 against 2000?" "  I'll go by myself if I have to." "  Why?" " Because I told the English generals the Arab revolt would be in Deraa when they'd be in Jerusalem." " Or perhaps you are here for the English generals." " Who says this?" " Rumour." " That is not an argument." " Oh, argument." " This afternoon I will take the Arab revolt into Deraa while the Arabs argue." " Can you pass for an Arab in an Arab town?" " Yes." " If one of you would lend me some dirty clothes." " It's madness." " What are you looking for?" " Some way to announce myself." " Be patient with him, God." "  Do you not see how they look at you?" "  Peace, Ali, I am invisible." " Halt!" " Walk on." "  Halt!" "  Walk on." " You and you." " You." " You have blue eyes." "  I say you have blue eyes." "  Yes, effendi." "  Are you Circassian?" "  Yes, effendi." " How old are you?" " Twenty-seven, effendi." " I think." " You look older." " You have had a lot of experience." " It's an interesting face." " I am surrounded by cattle." " He wouldn't know an interesting face from a sow's belly." " I have been is Deraa now for three and a half years." " If they posted me to the dark side of the moon, I could not be more isolated." " You haven't the least idea what I'm talking about." " No, effendi." " Have you?" " No." " That would be too... lucky" "Where did you get that?" "  It's old, effendi." "  No, this is recent." "  You are a deserter." "  No, effendi." " Yes, you are a deserter." " But from which army?" " Not that it matters at all." " A man cannot be always in uniform." " Your skin is very fair." " Beat him." " To me!" " Sleep." " Sleep." " Eat." " Eat." " You have a body, like other men." " Good." " Then sleep." " Better?" " Much better." " You were right." " Rest, rest." " Can you not learn?" " Oh, I've learned all right." " I'm going, Ali." "  Why?" "  Why?" " Heavens." " Why?" " I've come to the end of myself, I suppose." " And the end of the Arab revolt?" " I'm not the Arab revolt, Ali." " I'm not even Arab." " A man can be whatever he wants." " You said." " I'm sorry." " I thought it was true." " You proved it." " Look, Ali." " Look." " That's me." " What colour is it?" " That's me." " And there's nothing I can do about it." " A man can do whatever he wants." " You said." " He can but he can't want what he wants." " This is the stuff that decides what he wants." " You may as well know." " I would've told them anything." " I would've told them who I am." " I would've told them where you were." "  I tried to." "  So would any man." " Well, any man is what I am." " And I'm going back to Allenby to ask him for a job that any man can do." " Allenby's in Jerusalem." "  I'll make easy stages." "  You?" " Oh, yes." " Easy stages." " Look, Ali, I think I see a way of being just ordinarily... happy" "Can I take this?" " It is not clean." " No, but it's warm." " And these having led them here, have you no care for them?" " You lead them." " They're yours." " Trust your own people." " And let me go back to mine." "  I say, don't forget those form fives." "  All right." " Mind if I join you?" " Honoured, sir." "  Good to be back." "  We heard you were, sir." "  What's doing out there?" "  Where?" "  Arabia?" "  Well, yes, sir." " Nothing much." " Wrong time of year." " What's doing here?" " We're settling in." " We built a squash court." " Jolly good." " Well, I have to go up there." " It's borrowed." " Someone pinched mine." " Bloody wogs." " Yes, probably." " Jolly good about the squash court." " Lays it on a bit thick, doesn't he?" " Morning." "  Good morning, sir." "  Good to be back." "  I'll believe you, sir." "  No, really it is." " Hello." " Morning." " You're to go right in." " Lawrence." " Or is it Major Lawrence?" " Sir." " Well, general, I will leave you." " Major Lawrence doubtless has reports to make about my people and their weakness and the need to keep them in the British interest." " And the French interest too." " We must not forget the French." " I told you, sir, no such treaty exists." " Yes, general, you have lied most bravely, but not convincingly." " I know this treaty does exist." " Treaty, sir?" " He does it better than you, general." " But then, of course, he is almost an Arab." " You really don't know?" " Then what the devil's this?" " It's my request for release from Arabia, sir." " For what reason?" " You sure you haven't heard of the Sykes-Picot Treaty?" " No." "  I can guess." "  Don't guess." " Tell him." " Well, now..." "Mr. Sykes is an English civil servant" "Monsieur Picot is a French civil servant." " Mr. Sykes and Monsieur Picot met, and they agreed that after the war France and England should share the Turkish Empire." " Including Arabia." " They signed an agreement, not a treaty, sir." " An agreement to that effect." " There may be honour among thieves, but there's none in politicians." " And let's have no displays of indignation." " You may not have known, but you certainly had suspicions." " If we've told lies, you've told half-lies." " And a man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth." " But a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it." " The truth is I'm an ordinary man." " You might have told me that, Dryden." " And I want an ordinary job, sir" "That's my reason for resigning." " It's personal." "  Personal?" "  Yes, sir." " Personal?" " You're a serving officer in the field." " And as it happens, a damned important one." " Are you mad?" " No, and if you don't mind, I'd rather not go mad." " That's my reason too." " Look, I'm making my big push on Damascus the 16th of next month and you are part of it." " Can you understand that?" " You're an important part of the big push!" " I don't want to be part of your big push!" " What about your Arab friends?" " I have no Arab friends!" " I don't want Arab friends!" " What in hell do you want, Lawrence?" " I've told you, I just want my ration of common humanity." "  Lawrence." "  Yes?" " Nothing." " Sorry I interrupted, sir." " That's all right." " Thank you, Mr. Dryden." " Thank you, sir." " Why don't we...?" " There's blood on your back." "  Do you want a doctor?" "  No." " Tell me what happened." " Say, what goes on in there?" "  Nothing." "  Oh, come on!" "  No, really." " Nothing at all." " ls the man in trouble?" " I expect so." " We all have troubles." " Life's a vale of troubles." " Let me know if the man's in trouble." " I've got a claim in that man." "  What claim?" "  I've made that boy a hero." " When the war's over, he can be anything he wants." " Yes." " Well, at the moment he wants to be somebody else." " Will you kindly allow me to pass?" " Walk away, Dryden, walk away." " Always walking away, aren't you?" " Well, I'll tell you." " It's a clash of temperament that's going on in there." " Inevitably, one of them's half-mad and the other, wholly unscrupulous." " I believe your name will be a household word when you'd have to go to the war museum to find who Allenby was." " You're the most extraordinary man I ever met." " Leave me alone." "  Leave me alone." "  That's a feeble thing to say." "  I know I'm not ordinary." "  That's not what I'm saying." " All right, I'm extraordinary." " What of it'?" " Not many people have a destiny, Lawrence." " It's a terrible thing for a man to flunk it if he has." " Are you speaking from experience?" " No." " You're guessing, then." " Suppose you're wrong." " Why suppose that?" " We both know I'm right." "  Yes." " I said, yes." "  After all" " The 16th?" "  Can you do it?" " I'll give you a lot of money." "  Artillery?" "  I can't." " They won't be coming for money, not the best of them." " They'll be coming for Damascus." " Which I'm going to give them." " That's all I want." " All you want is someone holding down the Turkish Right." " But I'm going to give them Damascus." " We'll get there before you do." " And when we've got it, we'll keep it." " Tell the politicians to burn their paper now." " Fair enough." " Fair?" " What's fair got to do with it?" " It's going to happen." " I shall want quite a lot of money." " All there is." " Not that much." " The best of them won't come for money." " They'll come for me." " No pictures!" " It's not for you, it's for Major Lawrence." " He doesn't mind having his picture taken." " He doesn't mind at all." " Well, there's only one Lawrence." " Have you met Major Lawrence since he's come back?" " Yes." "  Changed, hasn't he?" "  No." " Oh, I'd say he had." " Different man, I'd say." " What did that Turkish general do to him in Deraa?" " He was the same man after Deraa." " The same man, humbled." " What did the English general do to him in Jerusalem?" " Search me." " Ask Lawrence." "  I did." "  What did he say?" " He laughed." " He told me to gather the Harith here." " He offered me money." " Did you take it?" " No." " But many did." "  What is this?" "  This is my bodyguard." " There is not a man without a price on his head." "  There's a price on my head too." "  But these are murderers." " The sheiks will hang these men." " These men are mine." " Lawrence, these things know nothing of the Arab revolt." "  You, Ghitan of Aleppo." "  Sherif?" "  Where do we ride?" "  Damascus, sherif." " Aye, but for what?" " Sherif, for Lawrence." "  You have bought these things." "  I bought half the men here, Ali." " That is different." " These are not ordinary men." " I don't want ordinary men." " Hut!" " Damascus!" " Damascus!" " Damascus!" " Damascus!" " Damascus!" " Very well, gentlemen." " The cavalry's gone through Mazril and Deraa." " Very good, by the way." " Very good indeed." " Now your turn." " If the enemy's retreating in any order, which we'll assume" "Certainly." " He can't be far from Mallud in which case I can have him within range by 0900 hours tomorrow." " Splendid." " Philip." " These are the last infantry supports going up now." " But Mallud, we could have the fusiliers there by Wednesday." " That'll do for now." " The guns are what matter." " Any questions?" " This Arab army on the right, sir, what's it consist of?" " Irregular cavalry, sir." " About 2000." " Where are they now?" "  Can only know by being with them." "  Then get with them." " I want to know." " Pound them, Charley." " Pound them." " God help the men who lie under that." " They're Turks." " God help them." " Well, he's got the bit between his teeth all right." " Cocky?" " More than cocky, sir." " He's got the bit between his teeth all right." " I tell you, sir, I think he'll get to Damascus before we do." "  Unless..." " Unless?" " Well, there's a Turkish column in front of him, out of Mazril." "  What do the Turks have in Mazril?" "  A brigade, sir." " I wonder where they are now." " No prisoners." " Damascus, Lawrence." " Lawrence, not this." " Go round." " Damascus, Lawrence, Damascus." " No prisoners." " This was Talaal's village." " Talaal!" " Talaal!" " No prisoners!" " No prisoners!" " God." " God." " God!" " Enough." " Enough!" " Make them stop!" " Major!" " Major Lawrence!" " Jesus wept." " Jesus wept." " Does it surprise you, Mr. Bentley?" " Surely you know the Arabs are a barbarous people." " Barbarous and cruel." " Who but they?" " Who but they?" " Oh, you rotten man." " Here, let me take your rotten bloody picture." " For the rotten bloody newspapers." " These were cut last night, Lawrence, in Damascus." " Damascus!" " Take them to Sherif Ali." " Tell him." " Remind him." "  Is Allenby in Damascus?" "  Near." " Tell Sherif Ali that." " They are not ripe." " General salute!" " Present arms!" " Port arms!" " Lawrence is behind it, sir." " The whole town is plastered with the Arab flag." "  When?" "  A day and a night, sir." " They've been here a day and a night." " They've occupied the town." " They've done it." " He's set up his own headquarters in the town hall." " What else beside the town hall?" " Telephone exchange, post office, powerhouse hospitals, fire station." " Everything, sir." " They call themselves the Arab National Council and they're in the town hall." " Well, they're your pigeon, Harry." " What should we do about it?" " Get them out of it, sir, quick time." " How about that, Dryden?" " Not unless you want a full-scale rising." "  What, then?" "  When will Feisal be in Damascus?" " By special train in two days' time." " Two days." " Two days is what you asked for." " I can't keep him out any longer." "  Isn't it enough?" "  Yes." "  Ample, I should think." "  We can't just do nothing." " Why not?" " It's usually best." " Get us something to drink, Tracey." " And Tracey, all troops to remain quartered until further orders." " Does that apply to technical units?" " Technical units particularly." " Yes, sir." " Medicals too, sir?" " I'm afraid so, Harry." " Medicals too." " We here are neither Harith nor Howeitat nor any other tribe, but Arabs of the Arab Council, acting for Prince Feisal." " He insulted me." " Sherif Ali said that the telephones are in the care of the Howeitat and they have ceased to work." " And this is true." " They will not work because they are given no electricity." " The electricity is in the care of the Harith." " If you answer, there will be bloodshed." " You speak to me of bloodshed?" " I ask pardon of Auda Abu Tayi." " Humbly?" " Humbly, Harith?" " Yes, humbly." " This is a new trick." " Why is there no electricity?" " I have been to that electrical house, Lawrence." " There are three large machines." " He means generators!" " So." " One of them is burning." " They are of an incredible size, but helpless." " It is so of all machines." " Let them burn." " What need of telephones?" "  The need is absolute." "  Then we need English engineers." " No." " Take English engineers and you take English government." " Take" "Fire has broken out." "  Where?" "  The Jinsibi district." "  It is not a district that matters." "  It will spread!" " Then use the fire brigade!" " We have tried, but there is no force in the water." " Then you must carry it." "  The Ruala do not carry water." "  What else are they good for?" " We will hear petitions this afternoon." " This afternoon!" "  I'll take this up after the war." "  Surely we should do something, sir." "  It's an old man's sport." "  Are you an old man, sir?" " All I can say is, sir, it's a heavy responsibility." " Sorry, sir." " Maybe it's the bulb." " No, sir." " It's the power." " They're leaving." " That's it, then." " Marvellous-looking beggars, aren't they?" " Leave it, Lawrence." " Come with me." "  Come where?" "  Back." " I know your heart." " What is it?" " Is it this?" " I tell you, this is nothing." " Is it the blood?" " The desert has dried up more blood than you could think of." " I pray that I may never see the desert again." " Hear me, God." " You will come." " There is only the desert for you." " What about you?" " No, I shall stay here and learn politics." " A very low occupation." " I had not thought of it when I met you." " You have tried very hard to give us Damascus." " It's what I came for." " And then it would be something." " Yes." " Much." "  He is your friend?" "  Take your hand away." "  You love him." "  I fear him." " Then why do you weep?" " If I fear him, who love him how must he fear himself, who hates himself?" " Take your hand away, Howeitat!" " So you are not yet entirely politician." " Not yet." " Well, these are new tricks, and I am an old dog." " And Allah be thanked." " I'll tell thee what being an Arab will be thornier than you suppose, Harith." " In all my years, I've never seen anything like it." " It comes within the jurisdiction of the Arab Council." " Under the circumstances, I think I must take over." " Immediately." " Under any circumstances at all, you must obey your orders." " No, sir, I will not." " Control yourself." " Now, go over to the town hall and see what they say." " We did what we could in the civic hospitals." " But you forgot the Turkish Military Hospital." " It has 600 beds." " There are about 2000 Turkish wounded in it." " All of whom are the responsibility of your precious Arab Council." " What's it like?" " This is outrageous!" " Outrageous!" " Outrageous!" " You filthy little wog!" " My friend Lawrence, if I may call him that." "" My friend Lawrence."" " How many men will claim the right to use that phrase?" " How proudly." " He longs for the greenness of his native land." " He pines for the Gothic cottages of Surrey, is it not?" " Already in imagination, he catches trout and all the activities of the English gentleman." " That's me you're describing, sir, not Colonel Lawrence." " You're promoted colonel." " Yes." " What for?" " Take the honour, colonel." " Be a little kind." " As a colonel, you'll have a cabin to yourself on the boat home." " Then, thank you." " Well, then Godspeed." " There's nothing further here for a warrior." " We drive bargains." " Old men's work." " Young men make wars, and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men." " Courage and hope for the future." " Then old men make the peace." " And the vices of peace are the vices of old men." " Mistrust and caution." " It must be so." " What I owe you is beyond evaluation." " The powerhouse, the telephone exchange, these I concede." " The pumping plant I must retain." " If you retain it, there will be no water." "  I shall be glad of assistance." "  Then you must bring down your flag." " I shall not, and if your men attempt it, my men will resist it." "  Have you men?" "  Enough for that." " It's a thing that makes an ugly incident." " I'm sure your government does not wish to appear at the peace conference as an aggressor." " I say!" " It's Lawrence, isn't it?" " May I shake your hand, sir?" " Just want to be able to say I'd done it, sir." " Haven't we met before?" " Don't think so, sir." " No, no, sir, I should remember that." " It is widely known the Arab Council took power in my name." " They have no power." " It's illusory." " Illusions can be very powerful." " Particularly when they take this form." " The world is delighted at the picture of Damascus liberated by the Arab army." " Led, may I remind you, by a British-serving officer." " Ah, yes." " But then Lawrence is a sword with two edges." " We are equally glad to be rid of him, are we not?" " I thought I was a hard man, sir." " You are merely a general." " I must be a king." " Excuse me, sir." " Well?" " Well it seems we're to have a British waterworks with an Arab flag on it." " Do you think it was worth it?" " Not my business." " Thank God I'm a soldier." " Yes, sir." " So you keep saying." " You, I suspect are chief architect of this compromise." "  What do you think?" "  Me, Your Highness?" " On the whole, I wish I'd stayed in Tunbridge Wells." " Well, sir." " Going home." " Home, sir."