“O my beloved,” she pleaded, “thou wilt go to the fountain of which Saïd speaks. Thou canst find a neighbour or two to go with thee: and thou wilt bring hither the body of Mustafa! Saïd, as thou seest, is broken with fatigue, else he would bear thee company. I shall be very grateful to thee, O my soul, and I shall await thee here. … Say not ‘Nay’!” she cried impetuously, discounting his scandalised stare by a pout and a girlish gesture. “I beseech thee, cross me not in this matter. He was a rich man, remember; and thou wilt not only oblige me, that am a woman and of no account, but also confer a favour upon Saïd Effendi, heir to all his wealth, who will henceforth rank with the great ones of Es-Shâm. … What sayest thou?”
Abu Khalìl, greatly perturbed, pushed his turban awry the better to scratch his head. He glanced furtively from Nûr to Saïd, and from Saïd back again to Nûr.
“Now, by Allah, this is no light thing you require of me. Nevertheless, since it is the case of an old friend … and to serve Saïd Effendi whom, I call Allah to witness, I have ever regarded as a favourite son … I say not that I will not go. For all that, it is a hard thing for an old man, the father of a family, to go out by night into the gardens where, as all men know, gipsies and other children of sin do abound; not to speak of those who are more than men—jin, I mean, and afaereet; and the uncleanness I shall incur, and the tedious purification to follow. …”
Saïd broke in coaxingly—
“Be assured, O Abu Khalìl, O lord of kindness, thou shalt have a large reward; may Allah increase thy property!”
“Good. I go!”
Abu Khalìl shuffled to the place where the ass stood swishing its tail, and bestrode it so earnestly that he nearly fell over on the other side. Then, remembering that his steed was tethered, he leaned over its head to untie the rope. Nûr led the staggering beast up the steps and out into the alley, which the beams of a rising moon were beginning to silver.
“I will seek out Zeid the carpenter and Abbâs the Nubian who sells sweet stuff!” said the taverner, bowing his head to avoid contact with the lintel as he rode out. “Both are young men, strong and fearless. Both have donkeys belonging to them, so that we shall seem a goodly company riding together. Moreover, Abbâs has a rare whip he showed me yesterday, being a strip of the hide of a crocodile or other monster common in Masr where he bought it. By Allah, it is a fine thong! Two strokes of it would flay a dog. … In your grace!”
“With my peace. Allah guard thee in safety!” cried Saïd and Nûr in one breath as the doughty taverner ambled away in moonlight and shadow, thwacking his steed bravely on the hindmost part. The clip-clap of the donkey’s hoofs and its thousand mocking echoes soon died away.
Nûr stood in the doorway looking after him. She stepped forth into the street and listened towards the Christian quarter.
“The tumult still continues,” she said, returning. “It is thin now and feeble—the shadow of that I heard during the day. With the dawn it will revive; and so it will be for many days till every Nazarene is either slain or escaped far away. There is a redness of fire on the sky yonder, where all day long there was a cloud of smoke. They have slain Allah knows how many hundred Christians; and Mustafa is dead.
“My heart is very sad, O Saïd, light of my eyes! Hadst thou seen him as he was when first I knew him, thou wouldst grieve for the days of a man which are as steps hewn in the rock leading downward to a sepulchre. He was a fine man, I tell thee—straight as a Bedawi’s lance, strong and healthy even as thou art. As the breath of winter tears leaves from a mulberry-tree, so does the length of years strip the beauty and the majesty from a man. At last the tree falls and only the bitter wind remains. … Allah is greatest!”
Saïd groaned aloud—
“Allah is merciful! But, by my beard, it was a cruel word thou spakest, that I must go sleep without the city. Only let me abide here and I swear I will not go near the girl to trouble her.”
“It cannot be,” said Nûr, firmly. “My house is thy house, and thou art ever welcome to that which is mine. But Abu Khalìl has heard a rumour that search is made secretly for the leaders in rebellion. It is true, what I told thee, that no wise man sleeps within the city this night. Tomorrow, in the daytime, thou mayst show thyself without fear; the slaves of power will then be fast within doors for terror of their lives. I will care for the girl and order all things seemly for the burial of Mustafa. Go quickly, with my peace!”
Saïd, who, for all his freedom of address, stood greatly in awe of the old woman, rose grumbling from the floor, and, holding up the pouch of his trousers like a sack, stumbled up the steps into the moonshine. His nether limbs were very sore and stiff with bruises. In walking he was careful to keep his feet wide apart. He cut such a queer figure, seen from behind, that Nûr called after him to know what ailed him.
“I am happy—in the extremity of good health!” he cried back with affected cheerfulness. “I did but trip over a stone as
