_The Adventure of Achmed Ben Daoud._
Being curious to hear of the young ladies who had inquired concerningthe emir in the restaurant, and to learn what their connection withthat prince might be, Mr. Middleton repaired to the bazaar on ClarkStreet on the succeeding night. But the emir was not in. Mesrourapparently having experienced one of those curious mental lesions notunknown in the annals of medicine, where a linguist loses all memoryof one or more of the languages he speaks, while retaining fullcommand of the others--Mesrour having experienced such a lesion, whichhad, at least temporarily, deprived him of his command of the Englishlanguage, Mr. Middleton was unable to learn anything that he desiredto know, until bethinking himself of the fact that alcohol loosens thethought centers and that by its agency Mesrour's atrophied brain cellsmight be stimulated, revivified, and the coma dispelled, he madecertain signs intelligible to all races of men in every part of theworld and took the blackamore into a neighboring saloon, where, afterregaling him with several beers, he learned that only an hour beforean elegant turnout containing two young women, beautiful as houris,had called for the emir and taken him away.
"He done tole me that if I tole anybody whar he was gwine, he'dbowstring me and feed mah flesh to the dawgs."
Mr. Middleton shuddered as he heard this threat, so characteristicallyOriental.
"Where _was_ he going?" he inquired with an air of profoundindifference and irrelevance, signalling for another bottle of beer.
The blackamore silently drank the beer, a gin fizz, and two Scotchhigh-balls, his countenance the while bearing evidence that he wasstruggling with a recalcitrant memory.
"'Deed, I doan' know, suh," said Mesrour finally. "He never done toleme."
Though Mr. Middleton called three times during the next week, he didnot find the emir in. Nor could Mesrour give any informationconcerning his master's whereabouts. However, in the society news ofthe Sunday papers, appeared at the head of several lists of personsattendant upon functions, one A. B. D. Alyam, and this individual wasincluded among those at a small dinner given by Misses Mildred andGladys Decatur. As Mildred was the name of one of the young ladies whohad accosted him in the restaurant, Mr. Middleton felt quite certainthat this A. B. D. Alyam was none other than Achmed Ben Daoud, emir ofthe tribe of Al-Yam.
On the tenth day, Mesrour informed Mr. Middleton that the emir hadleft word to make an appointment with him for seven o'clock on thefollowing evening, at which time Mr. Middleton came, to find theaccomplished prince sitting at a small desk made in Grand Rapids,Michigan, engaged in the composition of a note which he was inscribingupon delicate blue stationery with a gold mounted fountain pen.Arising somewhat abruptly and offering his hand at an elevation incontinuity of the extension of his shoulder, the emir begged theindulgence of a few moments and resumed his writing. He was arrayed ina black frock coat and gray trousers and encircling his brow was amoist red line that told of a silk hat but lately doffed. "Give thegentleman a cup of tea," said he to Mesrour, looking up from the note,which now completed, he was perusing with an air that indicatedsatisfaction with its chirography, orthography, and literary style. Atlast, placing it in an envelope and affixing thereto a seal, he turnedand ordering Mesrour to give Mr. Middleton another cup of tea, helighted a cigarette and began as follows:
"This is the last time you will see me here. My lease expiresto-morrow and my experience as a retail merchant, in fact, as any sortof merchant, is over. On this, the last evening that we shall meet inthe old familiar way, the story I have to relate to your indulgentears is of some adventures of my own, adventures which have had theirfinal culmination in a manner most delightful to me, and in whichconsummation you have been an agent. Indeed, but for your friendship Ishould not now be the happy man I am. Without further consuming timeby a preamble which the progress of the tale will render unnecessary,I will proceed.
"Last summer, I spent a portion of the heated term at Green Lake,Wisconsin. I know that sentiment in this city is somewhat unequallydivided upon the question of the comparative charms of Green Lake andLake Geneva and that the former resort has not acquired a vogue equalto that of the latter, but I must say I greatly prefer Green Lake. Ihave never been at Lake Geneva, it is true, but nevertheless, I preferGreen Lake.
"The hotel where I stayed was very well filled and the manager wasenjoying a highly prosperous season. Yet though there were so manypeople there I made no acquaintances in the first week of my sojourn.Nor in the second week did I come to know more than three or four, andthey but slightly. I was, in truth, treated somewhat as an object ofsuspicion, the cause of which I could not at first imagine. I wasnewer to this country and its customs and costumes there a year ago.Previous to starting for the lake, I had purchased of a firm ofclothiers farther up this street, Poppenheimer and Pappenheimer, afull outfit for all occasions and sports incident upon a vacation at afashionable resort. I had not then learned that one can seldom make amore fatal mistake than to allow a clothier or tailor to choose foryou. It is true that these gentry have in stock what persons ofrefinement demand, but they also have fabrics and garments bizarre incolor and cut, in which they revel and carry for apparently no otherreason than the delectation of their own perverted taste, since theyseldom or never sell them. But at times they light upon some one whoseignorance or easy-going disposition makes him a prey, and they sendhim forth an example of what they call a well-dressed man. Moreexecrably dressed men than Poppenheimer and Pappenheimer and most ofthe other parties in the clothing business, are seldom to be found inother walks of life. In my ignorance of American customs, I entrustedmyself to their hands with the result that my garments wereexaggerated in pattern and style and altogether unsuited to my darkcomplexion and slim figure. But in the wearing of these garments Iaggravated the original sartorial offence into a sartorial crime. Withmy golf trousers and white ducks I wore a derby hat. For nearly a weekI wore with a shirt waist a pair of very broad blue silk suspendersembroidered in red. All at once I awoke to a realization that theothers did not wear their clothes as I did and set myself to imitatethem with the result that my clothes were at least worn correctly. Themischief was largely done, however, before this reform, and nothing Icould do would alter the cut and fabric.
"My clothes were not the only drawbacks to my making acquaintances. Iwas entirely debarred from a participation in the sports of the place.I knew nothing of golf. A son of the desert, I could no more swim thanfly, and so far from being able to sail a boat, I cannot even manage apair of oars. I could only watch the others indulge in theirdivertissements, a lonely and wistful outsider.
"Yet despite all this, I could perceive that I was not withoutinterest to the young ladies. Partially as an object of amusement atfirst, but not entirely that, even at first, for the sympathetic eyesof some of them betrayed a gentle compassion.
"Among the twenty or so young ladies at our hotel, were two who wouldattract the attention and excite the admiration of any assemblage, twosisters from Chicago, beautiful as houris. In face and figure I havenever seen their equal. Their cheeks were like the roses of Shiraz,their teeth like the pearls of Ormuz, their eyes like the eyes ofgazelles of Hedjaz. Before beholding these damosels, I had neverrealized what love was, but at last I knew, I fell violently in lovewith them both. Never in my wildest moments had I thought to fall inlove with a daughter of the Franks. Nor had I contemplated an extendedstay in this land, and before my departure from Arabia I had begun tonegotiate for the formation of a harem to be in readiness against myreturn.
"But I soon began to entertain all these thoughts and to dally withthe idea of changing my religion, abhorrent as that idea was. At firstI had been comforted by the thought that I was in love with both girlsin orthodox Moslem style. But reflecting that I could never have both,that they would never come to me, that I must go to them, becomingrenegade to my creed, I tried to decide which I loved best. I came toa decision without any extended thinking. I was in love with MissMildred, the elder of the two sisters Decatur, daughters of one ofChi
cago's wealthy men, and this question settled, there remained thestupendous difficulty of winning her. For I did not even possess theright to lift my hat to these young ladies. My affair certainlyappeared quite hopeless.
"In the last week of August, an Italian and his wife encamped upon thesouth shore of the lake with a small menagerie, if a camel, a bear,and two monkeys can be dignified by so large a title. He wasaccustomed to make the rounds of the hotels and cottages on alternatedays, one day mounted on the dromedary and strumming an Oriental lute,on the others playing a Basque bagpipe while his bear danced, orproceeding with hand-organ and monkeys. He had been a soldier in theItalian colony of Massowah on the Red Sea, where he had acquired thedromedary--which was the most gigantic one I have ever seen--and asmattering of Arabic. English he had none, his wife serving as hisinterpreter in that tongue.
"The sight of the camel was balm to my eyes. Not only was it agreeableto me to see one of that race of animals so characteristic of mynative land, but here at last was a form of recreation opened to me. Ihired the camel on the days when the Italian was not using him andwent flying about all over the country. Little did I suspect that Ithereby became associated with the Italian in the minds of the publicand that presently they began to believe that I, too, was an Italianand the real owner of the menagerie, employing Baldissano to manage itfor me while I lived at my ease at the hotel. I was heard conversingwith the Italian, and of course nobody suspected that I was talking tohim in Arabic. It was a tongue unknown to them all and they chose toconsider it Italian. Moreover, one Ashton Hanks, a member of theChicago board of trade, at the hotel for the season, had said to themenagerie, jerking his thumb interrogatively at me, as I was busied inthe background with the camel, 'Italiano? Italiano?' To whichBaldissano replied, 'Si, signor,' meaning 'yes,' thinking of coursethat Hanks meant him. 'Boss? Padrone?' said Hanks again, and again theanswer was, 'Si, signor.'
"So here I was, made out to be an Italian and the owner of a miserablelittle menagerie which I employed a minion to direct, while myselfposing as a man of substance and elegant leisure. Here I was, alreadyproven a person of atrocious taste in dress, clearly proclaimed of nosocial standing, of unknown and suspicious antecedents, a vulgarianpretender and interloper. But of course I didn't know this at thetime.
"I was riding past the front of the hotel on the camel one day at alittle before the noon hour, when I beheld her whom I loved overcomeby keen distress and as she was talking rather loudly, I could not butbe privy to what she said.
"'Oh, dear,' she exclaimed, clasping her hands in great worriment,'what shall I do, what shall I do! Here I am, invited to go on a sailand fish-fry on Mr. Gannett's yacht, and I have no white yachtingshoes to wear with my white yachting dress. I've just got to wear thatdress, for I brought only two yachting dresses and the blue one is atthe laundry. I thought I put a pair of white shoes in my trunk, but Ididn't; I haven't time to send to Ripon for a pair. I won't wear blackshoes with that dress. But how will I get white ones?'
"'Through my agency,' said I from where I sat on the back of thecamel.
"'Oh,' said she, with a little start at my unexpected intrusion, herface lighting with a sudden hope, nevertheless. 'Were you going toRipon and will you be back before one-thirty? Are you perfectlywilling to do this errand for me?'
"'I am going to Ripon,' I said, 'and nothing will please me more thanto execute any commission you may entrust to me. This good steed willcarry me the six miles and back before it is time to sail. They seldomsail on the time set, I have observed.'
"She brought me a patent-leather dancing shoe to indicate the desiredsize, and away I went, secured the shoes, and turned homeward. Whileskirting a large hill that arises athwart the sky to the westward ofthe city of Ripon, I was startled by a weird, portentous, moaning cryfrom my mount. Ah, its import was only too well known to me. Full manya time had I heard it in the desert. It was the cry by which thecamels give warning of the coming of a storm. While yet the eye andear of man can detect no signs whatever of the impending outburst ofnature's forces and the earth is bathed in the smiles of the sky, thecamels, by some subtle, unerring instinct, prognosticate the storm.
"I looked over the whole firmament. Not a cloud in sight. A softzephyr and a mellow sun glowing genially through a slight autumnalhaze. Not a sign of a storm, but the camel had spoken. I dismounted atonce. I undid the package of shoes. From my pocket I took a smallsquare bit of stone of the cubical contents of a small pea. It was cutfrom the side of the cave where Mohammed rested during the Hegira, orflight of Mohammed, with which date we begin our calendar. This bit ofstone was reputed to be an efficacious amulet against dangers ofstorms, and also a charm against suddenly falling in love. I placed itin the toe of the right shoe. Unbeknownst to her, Mildred would beprotected against these dangers. I could not hope to dissuade her fromthe voyage by telling her of the camel's forewarning. Ashton Hanks wasto be one of the yachting party and he had shown evidences of a tenderregard for her. Retying the package, it was not long before I hadplaced it in the hands of Mildred. With a most winsome smile shethanked me and ran in to don the new purchases.
"The boat set sail and I watched it glide westward over the sparklingwaves, toward the lower end of the lake, watching for an hour until ithad slipped behind some point and was lost to sight. Then I scannedthe heavens to see if the storm I knew must come would break before itwas time for the yachting party to return. Low on the northern horizonclouds were mustering, their heads barely discernible above the rim ofthe world. But for the camel's warning I would not have seen them. Thestorm was surely coming. By six o'clock, or thereabouts, it wouldburst. The party was to have its fish-fry at six, at some point on thesouth shore. On the south shore would be the wreck, if wreck there wasto be.
"With no definite plan, no definite purpose, save to be near my lovein the threatening peril, I set out for the south shore. By water, itis from a mile and a half to three miles across Green Lake. By land,it is many times farther. From road to road of those parallel with themajor axis of the lake, it is four miles at the narrowest, and it isthree miles from the end of the lake before you reach the first northand south road connecting the parallels. Ten miles, then, after youleave the end of the lake on the side where the hotels are, before youare at the end on the other side. And then thirteen miles of shore.
"So what with the distance and the time I had spent watching theshallop that contained my love pass from my field of vision theafternoon had far waned when I had reached the opposite shore, andwhen I had descended to the beach at a point where I had thought Imight command the most extensive view and discover the yacht, if ithad begun to make its way homeward, the light of day had given placeto twilight. But not the twilight of imminent night, the twilight ofthe coming tempest. For the brewing of a fearful storm had now sometime been apparent. A hush lay on the land. A candle flame would haveshot straight upward. Nature waited, silently cowering.
"To the northward advanced, in serried columns of black, the beetlingclouds that were turning the day into night, the distant booming ofaerial artillery thundering forth the preluding cannonade of thecharge. Higher and higher into the firmament shot the front of theadvancing ranks in twisting curls of inky smoke, yet all the while themass dropped nearer and nearer to the earth and the light of daydeparted, save where low down in the west a band of pale gold layagainst the horizon, color and nothing more, as unglowing as a yellowstreak in a painted sunset. Against this weird, cold light, I saw anaked mast, and then a sail went creaking up and I heard voices. Theyhad been shortening sail. By some unspent impulse of the vanishedwind, or the impact of the waves still rolling heavily and glassilyfrom a recent blow, the yacht was still progressing and came movingpast me fifty or sixty feet from shore.
"I heard the voices of women expressing terror, begging the men to dosomething. Danger that comes in the dark is far more fearsome thandanger which comes in the light. I heard the men explaining theimpossibility of getting ashore. For two miles on this coast, a lineof low, b
ut unscalable cliffs rose sheer from the water's edge,overhanging it, in fact, for the waves had eaten several feet into thebase of the cliffs. To get out and stand in front of these cliffs wasto court death. The waves of the coming storm would either beat a manto death against the rocks, or drown him, for the water was four feetdeep at the edge of the cliffs and the waves would wash over his head.For two miles, I have said, there was a line of cliffs on this coast,for two miles save just where I stood, the only break, a narrow riftwhich, coinciding with a section line, was the end of a road comingdown to the water. They could not see this rift in the dusk, perhapswere ignorant of its existence and so not looking for it.
"The voices I had heard were all unfamiliar and it was not until theyacht had drifted past me that I was apprised it was indeed the craftI sought by hearing the voice of Mildred saying, with an assumedjocularity that could not hide the note of fear:
"'What will _I_ do? All the other girls have a man to save them. I amthe extra girl.'
"I drove my long-legged steed into the water after the boat none toosoon, for the whistling of a premonitory gust filled the air. Quicklythrough the water strode the camel, and, with his lariat in my hand, Iplumped down upon the stern overhang just as the mainsail wentslatting back and forth across the boat and everybody was ducking hishead. In the confusion, nobody observed my arrival.
"'She's coming about,' cried the voice of the skipper, Gannett. 'A fewof these gusts would get us far enough across to be out of danger fromthe main storm.'
"But she did not come about. I could feel the camel tugging at thelariat as the swerving of the boat jerked him along, but presently thestrain ceased, for the boat lay wallowing as before. Again a fitfulgust, again the slatting of the sail, the skipper put his helm downhard, the boat put her nose into the wind, hung there, and fell back.
"'She won't mind her helm!'
"'She won't come about!'
"'She acts as if she were towing something, were tied to something!'
"'What's that big rock behind there? Who the devil is this? And howthe devil did he get here?'
"In the midst of these excited and alarmed exclamations came thesolemn, portentous voice of the camel tolling out in the unnaturalnight the tocsin of the approaching hurricane.
"'It's the Dago!' cried Gannett, examining me by the fleeting flash ofa match. 'It's his damned camel towing behind that won't let us comeabout. Pitch him overboard!'
"'Oh, save me!' appealed Mildred.
"There she had been, sitting just in front of me and I hadn't known itwas she. It was not strange that she had faith that I who had arrivedcould also depart.
"'Selim,' I called, pulling the camel to the boat. I had never had aname for him before, but it was high time he had one, so now I namedhim. 'Selim,' and there the faithful beast was and with Mildred in myarms, I scrambled on to his back and urged him toward the rift in thewall of cliff.
"As if I had spurned it with my foot, the boat sprang away behind us,a sudden rushing blast filling her sails and laying her almost over,and then she was out of our sight, into the teeth of the tempest,yelling, screaming, howling with a hundred voices as it darted fromthe sky and laid flat the waves and then hurled them up in a mass ofstinging spray.
"In fond anticipation, I had dwelt upon the homeward ride withMildred. A-camelback, I was, as it were, upon my native heath, masterof myself, assured, and at ease. I had planned to tell her of my love,plead my cause with Oriental fervor and imagery, but before we reachedshore the tempest was so loud that she could not have heard me unlessI had shouted, and I had no mind to bawl my love. Worse still, whenonce we were going across the wind and later into it, I could not openmy mouth at all. We reached the hotel and on its lee side I lifted herdown to the topmost of the piazza steps. I determined not be delayedlonger. If ever there was to be a propitious occasion, it was now whenI had rescued her from encompassing peril. I retained hold of herhand. She gave me a glance in which was at least gratitude, and Idared hope, something more, and I was about to make my declaration,when she made a little step, her right foot almost sunk under her andshe gave an agonized cry and hobbling, limping, hopping on one foot,passed from me across the piazza to the stairs leading to the secondstory, whither she ascended upon her hands and knees.
"That wretched stone from the cavern where Mahommed slept in theHegira! How many times during the day had she wanted to take her shoeoff? She would ascertain the cause of her torment, she would lay it tome. It had indeed been an amulet against sudden love. I was the manwhose love it had forefended.
"'Gannett's yacht went down and all aboard of her were drowned,' saidone of the bellboys to me. 'Everybody in the hotel is feelingdreadful.'
"'How do you know they are drowned?'
"'Everybody in the hotel says so. I don't know how they found out.'
"'What's that at the pier?' said I.
"The lights at the end of the pier shone against a white expanse ofsail and there was a yacht slowly making a landing.
"Someone came and stood for a moment in an open window above me andthere floated out the voice of one of the sisters Decatur, but whichone, I could not tell. Their voices were much alike and I had notheard either of them speak very often.
"'Do you think that one ought to marry a person who rescues her fromdeath, when he happens to be a Dago and cheap circus man into thebargain? I certainly do not.'
"Which one was it? Which one was it? Imagine my feelings, torn withdoubt, perplexity, and sorrow. Was it Mildred, replying scornfully tosome opinion of her sister, or was it the sister taking Mildred totask for saying she wished or ought to marry me? How was I to know?Could I run the risk of asking the girls themselves?"
The emir paused, and it was plain to be seen from the workings of hiscountenance that once more he was living over this unhappy episode.
"I can well imagine your feelings and sympathize with them," said Mr.Middleton. "There you sat in the encircling darkness, asking yourselfwith no hope of an answer, 'Was it Mildred? Was it her sister? Was itMildred contemptuously repudiating the idea of marriage with me, orthe sister haughtily scoffing at some sentiments just professed byMildred? But I should not have spent too long a time asking how I wasto know. I should put the matter to the test and had it out withMildred, Miss Mildred, I should say."
The emir looked steadily at Mr. Middleton. There was surprise,annoyance, perhaps even vexation in his gaze. With incisive tones, hesaid:
"How could you so mistake me? Ours is a line whose lineage goes backtwelve hundred years, a noble and unsullied line. Could I, sir, thinkof making my wife, making a princess of my race, a woman who couldentertain the thought of stooping to marry a Dago cheap circus man?Suppose I had gone to Mildred and had asked her if she had expressedherself of such a demeaning declaration? Suppose she had said, 'Yes,'then there I would have been, compromised, caught in an entanglementfrom which as a man of honor, I could not withdraw. The only thing todo was to keep silence. The risk was too great, I resolved to leave onthe morrow. For the first time did I learn that I was believed to be aDago and the proprietor of the little menagerie. This strengthened myresolve to leave.
"I left. Your happy encounter with the young ladies in the restaurantchanged all. They learned from you that I was their social equal. Theylooked me up and apologized for their apparent lack of appreciation ofmy services and explained that they thought me a Dago circus man. Ilearned that neither of them believed in a mesalliance, that thequestion I had heard was a rhetorical question merely, one notexpecting an answer, much used by orators to express a strong negationof the sentiments apparently contained in the question. But I have notyet learned which girl it was who asked the question. It is entirelyimmaterial and I don't think I shall try to find out, even after I ammarried, for of course you have surmised I am to be married, to bemarried to Mildred."
"Yes, another American heiress marries a foreign nobleman," said Mr.Middleton, with a bitterness that did not escape the emir.
"Permit me to correct a pop
ular fallacy," said the emir. "Nothingcould be more erroneous than the prevalent idea that American girlsmarry foreign noblemen because attracted by the glitter of rank,holding their own plain republican citizens in despite. Sir, it takesa title to make a foreigner equal to American men in the eyes ofAmerican women. A British knight may compete with the American mister,but when you cross the channel, nothing less than a count will do in aFrenchman, a baron in the line of a German, while, for a Russian toreceive any consideration, he must be a prince.
"And now," said the emir, "my little establishment here being about tobe broken up, I am going to ask you to accept certain of my effectswhich for sundry reasons I cannot take with me to my new abode. Myjewels, hangings, and costumes, my wife will like, of course. But asshe is opposed to smoking, there are six narghilehs and fourchibouques which I will never use again. As I am about to unite withthe Presbyterian church this coming Sunday, it might cause my wifesome disquietude and fear of backsliding, were I to retain possessionof my eight copies of the Koran. She may be wise there," said the emirwith a sigh. "If perchance you should embrace the true faith andthereby make compensation for the loss of a member occasioned by mywithdrawal----"
"That would not even matters up," interrupted Mr. Middleton, "for I amnot a Presbyterian, but a Methodist."
"Oh," said the emir. "Well, there are five small whips of rhinoceroshide and two gags. My wife will not wish me to keep those, nor acrystal casket containing twenty-seven varieties of poisons. Thenthere are other things that you might have use for and I have not. Ihave sent for a cab and Mesrour will stow the things in it."
At that moment the cab was heard without and Mesrour began to load itwith the gifts of the emir. At length he ceased his carrying and stoodlooking expectantly. With an air of embarrassment, and clearing histhroat hesitatingly, the emir addressed Mr. Middleton.
"There is one last thing I am going to ask you to take. I cannot callit a gift. I can look upon your acceptance of it in no other lightthan a very great service. Some time ago, when marriage in thiscountry was something too remote to be even dreamed of, I sent homefor an odalisque."
The emir paused and looked obliquely at Mr. Middleton, as if toobserve the effect of this announcement. That excellent young man hadnot the faintest idea what an odalisque might be, but he had ever madeit a point when strange and unknown terms came up, to wait forsubsequent conversation to enlighten him directly or by inference asto their meaning. In this way he saved the trouble of asking questionsand, avoiding the reputation of being inquisitive and curious, gainedthat of being well informed upon and conversant with a wide range ofsubjects. So he looked understandingly at the emir and remarkingapprovingly, "good eye," the emir continued, much encouraged.
"To a lonely man such as I then was, the thought of having anodalisque about, was very comforting. Lonely as I then was, anodalisque would have afforded a great deal of company."
"That's right," said Mr. Middleton. "Why, even cats are company. Thesummer I was eighteen, everybody in our family went out to mygrandfather's in Massachusetts, and I stayed home and took care of thehouse. I tell you, I'd been pretty lonely if it hadn't been for ourtwo cats."
"But now I am going to be married and my wife would not think oftolerating an odalisque about the house. She simply would not have it.The odalisque arrived last night, and I am in a great quandary. Icould not think of turning the poor creature out perhaps to starve."
"That's right," said Mr. Middleton. "Some persons desiring to disposeof a cat, will carry it off somewhere and drop it, thinking that morehumane than drowning it. But I say, always drown a cat, if you wish toget rid of it."
"Now I have thought that you, being without a wife to object, mighttake this burden off my hands. I will hand you a sum sufficient formaintenance during a considerable period and doubtless you can, astime goes on, find someone else who wants an odalisque, or discoversome other way of disposal, in case you tire----"
"Send her along," said Mr. Middleton, cordially and heartily. "Ifworst comes to worst, there's an old fellow I know who sells parrotsand cockatoos and marmosets, and perhaps he'd like an odalisque."
"I will send her," said the emir.
"So it's a she," quoth Mr. Middleton to himself. He had used thefeminine in the broad way that it is applied indefinitely to ships,railways trains, political parties etc., etc., with no thought offitting a fact.
"I will give you fifteen hundred dollars for her maintenance. Havingbrought her so far, I feel a responsibility----"
"But that is such a large sum. I really wouldn't need so much----"
"That is none too large," rejoined the emir. "I wish her to be treatedwell and I believe you will do it. At first, she will not understandanything you say to her, of course, but she will soon learn what youmean. The tone, as much as the words, enlightens, and I think you willhave very little trouble in managing her."
"Is there a cage?" hazarded Mr. Middleton, "or won't I need one?"
"Lock her in a room, if you are afraid she will run away, though sucha fear is groundless. Or if you wish to punish her, the rhinoceroswhips would do better than a cage. A cage is so large and I couldnever see any advantage in it. But you will probably never haveoccasion to use even a whip. You will have but this one odalisque. Hadyou two or three, they might get to quarreling among themselves andyou might have use for a whip. But toward you, she will be allgentleness, all submission."
Mr. Middleton and the emir then turned to the counting and accountingof the fifteen hundred dollars, and so occupied, the lawyer missedseeing Mesrour pass with the odalisque and did not know she had beenput in the hack until the emir had so apprised him.
"She is in a big coffee sack," said the emir. "The meshes of thefabric are sufficiently open to afford her ample facility forbreathing, and yet she can't get out. Then, too, it will simplifymatters when you get to your lodgings. You will not have to lead herand urge her, frightened and bewildered by so much moving about, butpack her upon your back in the bag and carry her to your room withlittle trouble.
"And now," continued the emir, grasping Mr. Middleton's hands warmly,"for the last time do I give you God-speed from this door. I will notdisguise my belief that our intimacy has in a measure come to an end.As a married man, I shall not be so free as I have been. I am nolonger in need of seeking out knowledge of strange adventures. Thetyrannical imam of Oman, who imprisoned my brother, is dead, and hissuccessor, commiserating the poor youth's sorrows, has not onlyliberated him, but given him the vermillion edifice of hisincarceration. This my brother intends to transmute into gold, for hehas hit upon the happy expedient of grinding it up into a face powder,a rouge, beautiful in tint and harmless in composition, for the rockwas quarried in one of the most salubrious locations upon the upperwaters of the great river Euphrates. I trust I shall sometimes see youat our place, where I am sure I shall be joined in welcoming you byMrs.--Mrs.--well, to tell the truth," said the emir in some slightconfusion, "I don't know what her name will be, for it is obviouslyout of the question to call her Mrs. Achmed Ben Daoud, and she objectsto the tribal designation of Alyam, which I had temporarily adoptedfor convenience's sake, as ineuphonious."
"Sir, friend and benefactor, guiding lamp of my life, instructor of myyouth and moral exemplar," said Mr. Middleton, in the emotion of themoment allowing his speech an Oriental warmth which the coldself-consciousness of the Puritan would have forbade, had he beenaddressing a fellow American, "I cannot tell you the advantages thathave flowed from my acquaintance with you. It was indeed the turningpoint of my life. The pleasure I will leave untouched upon, as I mustalike on the present occasion, the profits. Let me briefly state thatthey foot up to $3760. A full accounting of how they accrued, wouldconsume the rest of the night, and so it must be good-bye."
As Mr. Middleton looked back for the last time upon that hospitabledoorway, he saw the gigantic figure of Mesrour silhouetted against thedim glow beyond and there solemnly boomed on the night air, the Arabicsalutation, "Salaam aleikoom."
The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton Page 14