The Mule on the Minaret

by Alec Waugh

  Folio 15 was a report by Abdul Hamid:

  ‘Alexis is popular; generous, a spendthrift. He is having a romance with the thirty-four year old wife of an elderly merchant, I will call her Freida, who contributes to his support. He is also involved with a dancer at the Kit-Cat, who must be exceedingly expensive. Freída knows about the dancer and is intensely jealous. Alexis has persuaded her that it is to her advantage that he should have this public liaison. It disarms suspicion. Her husband’s jealousy can thus be kept asleep. Alexis is clever; he got a good degree at the A.U.B. He is ambitious and he is industrious, but he is burning the candle at both ends. He is reputed to be unscrupulous, but not blatantly dishonest. He has no political affiliations but he has probably an hereditary hatred of the Turks. He has a respect for the law, but he would do almost anything for money.’

  Folio 16. A report from Farrar:

  ‘I have asked Annabelle about Alexis. He has for her the attraction of the black sheep of the family. She is glad that she is not too closely related to him, but is rather proud that he is a relative. He is often discussed by people who do not know that there is a relationship. He is always discussed with raised eyebrows. Annabelle encourages them to say the worst they know; then when they have been thoroughly disapproving she will say: “I can’t deny the half of what you say, but there is another side to him. I see the other side because he is a rather distant cousin. There’s a great deal that’s very sound about him. One day he’ll marry a nice girl and settle down.” ’

  In the margin Farrar had pencilled: ‘Is it not extraordinary how women continue to believe that a man has only to marry to reform? They fall in love with a man because he’s different, then they try to make him like everybody else. They then grumble either because he stays himself or because he is no longer the man they fell in love with.’

  Folio 17 was also a report from Farrar:

  ‘I suggested to Annabelle that she should bring round Alexis as a chaperone instead of Jacques. She twinkled. “I will bring Alexis as well as Jacques, but do you think Alexis could be trusted to stay with me if she saw a pretty girl across the room?” ’

  ‘ “Could we not run that risk?”

  ‘ “Now, Nigel, you are no better than Alexis.”

  ‘She brought Alexis round. It was not the first time that I had met him, by any means, but it was the first time I had had an opportunity of a real talk with him. He is certainly an amusing creature, with a cosmopolitan attitude, although he has not travelled much. He is noticeably but not ostentatiously well dressed. He is slight, slim, moustached, with a pale complexion. His hair is thick and has a wave in it. He gesticulates as he talks. He has a highly masculine manner. He talks a lot but is prepared to listen. I asked him about the Dashnaks, a secret society organized to establish an Armenian state. I told him that I had read a reference to it in one of Michael Arlen’s stories and also in one of William Saroyan’s. I supposed that he must have met a certain number of them. He laughed. “I used to hear them talking together when I was a boy. They split into two groups, you know, in the way that the Russian émigrés did. They had Bolsheviks and Menshe-viks. We had Dashnaks and Henshaks.” I asked if they really amounted to anything. He shrugged. “I suppose they had a chance after the Russian revolution, but even if they had set up on their own they’d have been absorbed into one of the Soviet republics. They wouldn’t have been any better off.”

  ‘ “What was their programme, then?” I asked.

  ‘ “They had an idea that the White Russians would drive out the Bolsheviks. What a hope.”

  ‘ “Do you know what’s happened to them now?” I asked.

  ‘ “I’ve no idea.”

  ‘I let the matter drop. I knew that the Dashnaks had had their headquarters in Paris and that when the Germans had occupied Paris their files and records had been taken over. I decided to bring this point up later when, if ever, we discussed solid business. I instructed Abdul Hamid to approach Alexis on our behalf. He was to be asked, I explained, whether he would be prepared to assist the Allies in the propaganda field; it would be secret work, but it would not be dangerous. It would involve trips to Istanbul which we would finance. He would receive reasonable recompense for his cooperation.’

  Folio 18 was from Abdul Hamid:

  ‘I interviewed Alexis. He is the adventurous type of playboy. He is ready to engage in anything lively and lucrative that is not criminal. He has no political affiliations. He is the buccaneer type.’ In the margin Farrar had pencilled: ‘And that is the boy for cloak-and-dagger.’

  Folio 19 recorded that a meeting had been arranged in the apartment in Rue Jeanne d’Arc for the 12th April.

  Reid closed the file and carried it down the passage to Diana. He found her reading a February copy of The Times.

  ‘Do you remember,’ she said, ‘that story of Maugham’s about the man in the jungle who insisted on having a fresh copy of The Times by his breakfast table every morning? They arrived in a batch, numbered, once a month, and he rationed himself to one a day. Ordinarily he did not mind a paper being three weeks old because he did not know what had been happening in the meantime. But he found it very tantalizing during the war; he would read about the beginning of a battle, and there under that pile, would be the paper that could have told him how it had turned out. He had the strength of character to control his impatience. We’re in a different position. We get The Times five weeks late, but we know what has happened. I’m reading a leader about the impregnability of Rangoon.’

  She was alone; he sat on her desk swinging his leg over its side.

  ‘Do you think,’ he said, ‘that in six weeks time we shall be evacuees in Malta, reading a bland editorial about the loyal Arab states?’

  ‘It gives a zest to the good times we’re having now.’

  ‘I don’t need any added zest.’

  * * *

  The meeting with Alexis took place in Reid’s flat, instead of in the Rue Jeanne d’Arc.

  ‘We’ll centre this operation here,’ said Farrar. ‘The more centres that we have the better. Scatter ourselves, that’s the programme and we don’t want Alexis to associate us with the M.E.S.C. Not yet, anyhow.’

  The meeting was fixed for six o’clock. Alexis was to be brought by Abdul Hamid. Farrar and Reid were to arrive there earlier and independently.

  ‘We don’t want to be seen together in this part of town,’ said Farrar. It was the first time that Farrar had been inside Reid’s flat. He looked round him approvingly.

  ‘You’ve made yourself comfortable in here,’ he said. He noted the rugs, the pictures and the screen that Reid had hired.

  ‘It doesn’t look like a bedroom. Yet it looks as though the stage has been set for an assignation. Prof., I’ve an idea that you’re one of those still waters that run deep.’

  He winked. Reid wondered if Farrar had any idea how much he and Diana were seeing of each other. Farrar had made no reference to it, but then he was not the kind of man who would.

  The doorbell rang. ‘Now let’s see if he starts,’ said Farrar. ‘It’ll be a test of his self-control.’

  Reid opened the door. The stairway was dark, and Alexis blinked as he came into the lighted room. Then he raised his eyebrows. ‘This is certainly a pleasure that I did not expect.’

  ‘I’m glad it is a pleasure,’ Farrar said.

  ‘It is not only a pleasure, it is a relief. I prefer to do business with those whom I can trust.’

  He was completely calm. He did not wait to be offered a seat; nor did he take the nearest one. He looked round, decided which would be the most comfortable and brought it forward. Abdul Hamid looked inquiringly at Farrar. Farrar nodded. ‘That’ll be all, thank you.’ As the door closed, Alexis looked round him brightly.

  ‘Now, what is all this about?’ he said.

  Farrar smiled. ‘You had no idea that you would be meeting the Professor and myself?’

  ‘How could I have?’

  ‘You did not know we worked in
the same office?’

  ‘I only knew that you were friends.’

  ‘What did you think we did?’

  ‘I hadn’t thought about it.’

  ‘Surely your cousin Annabelle must have told you something?’

  ‘I did not ask her; was there any reason why I should?’

  ‘There was no reason, you are very right. I only asked you because I was curious to know how much is known about us. I told your cousin that I was engaged in propaganda. I am. We both are. But propaganda has many angles. Some of it is public. Some of it is obscure. The most effective propaganda is that which is not presented as propaganda. You know, for instance, that a full page advertisement of a new brand of soap is less important than a paragraph in the news section of a paper stating that a well-known personality uses it. Again, there are certain angles of propaganda that are so discreet that it becomes a branch of the secret service. Part of my work, of our work, I should say, consists in spreading rumours. It is in that connection that we want your assistance. You told Abdul Hamid that you would be prepared to help us.’

  ‘Under certain conditions.’

  ‘Exactly; and very sensible conditions. It must not be criminal, it must be lively and it must be lucrative. We can certainly meet those conditions; and there is another thing, too, which I can promise; it will not be dangerous. We want you to present yourself to the Germans in Istanbul as a man who wants Germany to win the war and is anxious to help them by sending information about movements of troops, and about political and social trends. Some of the information that you will send up will be accurate; a part of it will be only fairly accurate. We have to give them a certain amount of correct information so that they will believe the inaccurate information, that we shall give them from time to time. As you know, we shall be soon opening a second front; we do not know where, we do not know when. It is very important that we should mislead the Germans as to our intentions. If they do not know where the blow or blows will fall, they will have to guard every vulnerable point. If they think we have more forces here than we actually have they will anticipate an attack across the Turkish frontier or through the Balkans and will have to maintain a large body of troops in this theatre. In consequence the places where the attack will fall will be thinly held. On the other hand, if we do decide to attack through Turkey, it is important that the Germans should not know that we are massing a large body of troops; they must not suspect that attack; we want the Turkish frontier to be thinly held. The Germans must be misled. We are hoping that you will help us to mislead them.’

  ‘But how shall I contact the Germans?’

  ‘Leave that to us. We will lead the Germans to believe that you are a man who would be ready to help them. They will contact you when you are in Istanbul, and arrange for you to send them answers to the questions that they send you; they will also give you instructions as to the kind of information they require. We will give you the reports that we want sent up there.’

  ‘But how are you going to lead the Germans to expect that of me?’

  ‘That is what I am going to explain. The Germans have their agents in Beirut who are looking for anti-British Lebanese. We know who some of them are. It is not necessary for you to know who they are; in fact it will be much better for you not to know. But we are going to arrange for you to meet some of them. We will warn you of the occasions when they will be present. I shall then want you to pose as being anti-British. There is every reason for an Armenian to be anti-British. The British did not intervene during the Armenian massacres at the end of the nineteenth century. Britain has always been pro-Turkish. The Turks consider that they made a great mistake in fighting on the German side in the last war. It cost them their empire. As an Armenian you could easily feel that you are likely to profit by a German victory, particularly as this involves a defeat of the Russians. I gather you did not know this, but the Germans have decided to sponsor the Dashnaks. They took over all the Dashnak records when they captured Paris. They had approached the leaders of the movement. They have promised them that after the war they will establish an independent Armenian state, at the expense of Russia. No such promise could be made by Britain. She is Russia’s ally. An Armenian has every reason to be pro-German. Have any of your family been Dashnaks?’

  ‘Some of them must have been.’

  ‘Then find out which of them have. Find out any details that you can. Concentrate on the Dashnaks; they are your reason for being pro-German. It is our belief that if you indulge during the next few weeks in a certain amount of anti-British talk you will find yourself approached by a German agent, either here or on your next visit to Istanbul.’

  ‘But you can’t expect me suddenly to become violently political when all my life I have been saying that politics were for the professional politician.’

  ‘You have not got to be violent. You have only to indulge in this kind of talk on special occasions. We will tell you when.’

  ‘It all seems improbable to me.’

  ‘So does everything else in this kind of work. We are all of us working in the dark, but sometimes we get glimpses of the light.’

  ‘But mightn’t I get into trouble with the authorities here if they found I was working for the Germans? I’ve always read that the spy is always disowned by his own people if he gets into trouble.’

  ‘I have thought of that. I will give you a document, stating that you are doing secret work for the British Government. Keep that document in a strong box and you will be safe.’

  ‘That sounds fair enough. And what about my salary?’

  Farrar smiled. ‘To some extent payment is by results. You will have to trust us. But I am ready to make you an advance of one thousand Syrian pounds. I do not think that you will find we are ungenerous. I have the money ready for you in notes, and here is a receipt, a matter of book-keeping. And don’t, by the way, attempt to correspond with us. We will find ways of reaching you. I know we can rely on your discretion. It is very much in your own interests after all.’

  When he had left Reid looked inquiringly at Farrar. ‘I know that I’m only a new boy in this game, but it seems to me that we’ve told our new friend too much.’

  ‘How could he do us damage?’

  ‘He could double-cross us with the Germans.’

  ‘What good would that do him? He is in this for money. He wouldn’t get any more money that way. If he were a stout patriot that would be another matter. He might change his allegiance. But he is a child of no-man’s-land. And that receipt gives us a whip hold over him. He is not breaking any laws, but he would be a watched man in the Lebanon if the police ever learnt that he had been employed by us. We’re batting on a pretty wicket.’

  ‘The plot thickens,’ was Eve’s comment when the report of this meeting reached her. It excited her, but at the same time it raised qualms. Aziz was getting in very deep. She felt again imperiously the need to cherish him, to make amends. The new term ended in early June, but he might not come back here right away. Istanbul was intolerably hot in the summer. He might prefer to stay on in the Lebanon, going back into the cool of the hills, to Aley or Brumana. The next term did not start until October. He might wait until September. It was a long time to wait.

  The green light was showing over Sedgwick’s door. She handed him the file. ‘From Beirut,’ she said. He nodded, pointed to the in-tray.

  ‘I’ll take that when I’ve an hour clear,’ he said. ‘It’ll need thinking over.’ She hesitated. He raised his eyebrows interrogatively.

  ‘Yes?’ he said.

  ‘I was wondering. Perhaps this isn’t the right way to bring it up, but I’ve been abroad solidly for two years now.’

  ‘Oh, yes, well, so you have . . . I suppose,’ he deliberated. ‘I should hate to lose you. You’re the most valuable member of the staff, to me at least. And you know what is going on; it takes three months to train a secretary. But you are entitled to repatriation...’

  ‘Oh, no, I don’t mean that. I like it here.’r />
  ‘In that case . . .’ He paused, that familiar look of interrogation in his eyebrows.

  ‘I like it here,’ she said. ‘The last thing I want is to leave this office, but I was wondering . . . you see, I haven’t had a holiday in all this time. If I could have a little local leave . . .’

  The look of relief in Sedgwick’s face was highly flattering to her vanity.

  ‘But of course, of course, I should have thought of it before. Careless of me. I get so wrapped up in our work here that I forget that my staff have personal problems. Where would you like to go: Ismir, Bursa?’

  ‘I thought Beirut?’

  ‘Why not? It’s very pleasant at this time of year. The real heat comes later. We can call it a liaison visit, so that you won’t have to pay your fare; and the office there can find you accommodation. You could actually turn the trip to very good account. It’s always easier to do business with somebody one knows. When you get their letters, you can read between the lines. And you can see that Turk of yours at the same time.’

  Was there a twinkle in Sedgwick’s eyes when he said that? If there was it was a fleeting one. He looked a stuffed shirt, but he had a sense of humour.

  When the news reached Beirut, Farrar said to Reid, ‘Prof., this is a good chance for you to take a breather. Why don’t you and Diana drive up to Aleppo and meet her?’

  There was no flicker of a smile when he said that. He might be a fine poker player, the Professor thought. He must know. Yet there was never any suggestion in his manner.