“It has always surprised me how exact such men are in judgment and yet how little they use their talent to their own advantage. He was anxious. He was certain that beginning on too small a sum was dangerous. But I persuaded him; for no more (said I) could possibly be obtained.
“What made all smooth was my proposal for articles between us. These generously proposed that, though I had found the money, yet of the resultant profit we should take equal shares. ‘I propose that your own salary during the work,’ said I, ‘should be small; indeed, no more than your bare maintenance. For we have no margin, nay, less than we need. But if you are not agreeable, pray name your terms.’ He could find no words for my generosity! Of course he would live on the least possible sum and work to an extreme! He had no right (said he) to claim a half! It was achievement, not fortune, that he desired.
“I insisted. He gratefully yielded. We drew up the document in duplicate. He was especially gratified to find that I had left the whole direction to him. ‘I know nothing of such things,’ I said. ‘I am only the business man. You are the creator, the artist: I am but the base mercantile instrument, and I shall be proud to share in your triumph.’ As I said this I put into my eyes the expression of inspired admiration which we of the commercial world very properly assume when we are dealing with this kind of fodder.
“The next morning, in the cool, before the sun had power, our deeds were attested. I warned him to be utterly silent upon the source of this capital. I said I would be responsible for a rumour that a small saving of his own was engaged. He saw my point, and, though still scrupulous, consented. The work went forward.
“My next step I had already planned. I had privately set aside for it a fixed sum, the equal of what I had given my partner. I hired a pleasant little house and garden in the city, with a fountain of clear water in its shaded court. I purchased a stock of good clothes and even one or two not over-violent jewels—and I began to entertain.
“I bought—at a price which gave me pause—a really wonderful cook; I learnt the games of hazard to which the wealthier of the place were devoted. The headmen of the various quarters of the city, the principal councillors and magistrates learned one from another of the excellence of my table and the interest of my play. I became their intimate. From time to time I spoke of my friendship with the enthusiast and of my regret at his wasting his poor savings upon the dreadful mess outside the walls. They agreed—and all the while that fervid young man redoubled his ardour, himself worked side by side with his men, planned, urged them on, and effected prodigies of labour. Indeed, I feared for his health—a natural anxiety for one in my situation—but by the Mercy of Allah it remained perfect.
“He now, however, came to me more and more frequently and in a greater and greater anxiety. There were but fifty gold pieces remaining, but forty, but twenty! … It was a matter of a few days! … Already he had had to keep back wages, to devise half-shifts, even to discharge men! … Could I not, oh! could I not raise some further sum? … As he had said, the work needed another month at least, and its present state was appalling, no visible security for a loan, all mud and confusion! … I could only reply that I would do my best, but that I was not sanguine, and my long face increased his fears.
“Perturbed as he was he had the generosity to regret my loss in the unfortunate enterprise.
“I showed a strong indifference and told him that I was used to the rubs of this sad world and that my trust was in Allah!
“At last, as the day when his funds would be exhausted was at hand, I gave a feast of special importance to the treasurer and the chief magistrates of the city, and there led the talk on to the works still continuing. I heard the usual grumble that the sum originally advanced out of the taxes was sunk in a morass, that the young man had, apparently, funds of his own for continuing the nonsense and that yet the city could recover nothing from him. I approved a threat that, out of sheer annoyance, they might stop the whole thing and put him in gaol till he should pay, or at any rate suffer for, his unsettled debt to his fellow-townsmen.
“Then it was that I struck, for the hour was ripe! I pleaded for him as a friend. I let them feel my influence, I waited for the suggestion—and I was not disappointed. The treasurer after a little solemn hesitation said to me: ‘Sir, since you know this young fellow and seem to be in his councils, can you not discover what remains to him and perhaps make him reimburse the gold pieces he owes to our town-fund? We should be beholden to you.’ I answered that my intimacy with the enthusiast hardly went so far, but that I would do my best. Only I begged them for the interval of a week.
“The day after the morrow of that feast the young man came to me in an excessive perturbation. The mud of his travail was still on his hands, and I was concerned to see him limping from the effect (as he told me) of a heavy barrow which had
