Affair in Araby - Talbot Mundy
Of course, the obvious question is, why didn't Narayan Singh shoot? I
had a pistol too; why didn't I use it? Well, I'll tell you. None but
the irresponsible criminal shoots a man except in obedience to orders or
in self-defence.
You may argue that those three night-prowlers might have shot Ticknor
and his wife and Grim through the window while we aired our superior
virtue. The answer to that is, that they didn't, although that was
their intention. Narayan Singh, already once that night in danger of
his life, and a "godless, heathen Sikh," as I have heard a missionary
call him, pocketed the pistol I had given him before proceeding to
engage, he being also a white man by the proper way of estimating such
things.
Jeremy was first on the scene of action, with Narayan Singh close behind
him, and I was quite a bit behind, for I tripped against the top step in
my hurry. The noise I made gave the alarm, and the three Arabs twisted
round like cornered scorpions. I guess they couldn't see us well at
first, having been staring through the torn shade into the lighted room.
Their pistols were cocked, but Jeremy's fist landed in the nearest man's
face before he could shoot, and he went crashing backwards into his
friend behind, whose head disappeared for a moment through the
window-pane, and the only blood shed on that occasion came from the
first man's nose and the back of the second man's neck where the smashed
glass slit a gash in it.
The third man fired wildly at me, and missed, a fraction of a second
before Narayan Singh landed on him with hands and feet; whereat the man
in the street emptied his pistol at me and ran away. I was in two minds
whether to give chase to him, but made the wrong decision, being heavy
on my feet and none too fond of running, so the big fish got away.
But even with my help added, the three less important fish still gave a
lot of trouble, for they fought like wild cats, using teeth and finger-
nails; and the doctor and his wife and grim were all out lending a hand
before we had them finally convinced that the game was up. Mabel
trussed up the worst man with a clothes line, while I sat on him.
I expected to see a crowd around the house by that time, but Jerusalem
works otherwise than some cities. The sound of a pistol-shot sends
everybody hurrying for cover, lest some enemy accuse them afterwards of
having had a hand in the disturbance. And the nearest police post was a
mile away. So we had our little outrage all to ourselves, although
strange tales went the rounds of the Holy City that night, and two weeks
later several European newspapers printed a beautiful account of a
midnight massacre of Jews.
We dragged our prisoners into the sitting-room, and stood them up in
front of Grim after the doctor and Mabel had attended to their hurts,
which weren't especially serious; although nobody need expect to get in
the way of Jeremy's fist and feel comfortable for several hours
afterwards. The cut made in the second man's neck by broken glass
needed several stitches, but the third man was only winded from having
been sat on, and of course he was much more sorry for himself than
either of the other two--a fact that Grim noted.
There was another noticeable circumstance that shed light on human
nature and Grim's knowledge of it. They were all three eager to tell
their story, although not necessarily the same story; whereas Narayan
Singh, who knew that every word he might say would be believed
implicitly, was in no hurry to tell his at all.
Now when you're dealing with Eastern and near-Eastern people of the sort
who lie instinctively (and it may be that this applies to the West as
well) it's a good plan to establish, if you can, a basis of truth for
them to build their tale on; because the truth acts like acid on
untruth. They're going to lie in any case; but lies told without any
reference to truth knit better than when invented at a moment's notice
to explain away another's straightforward statement. There's a
plausible theory that culprits taken in the act are best examined in
secret, one by one, in ignorance of all the evidence against them.
The wise method is to let them hear the evidence against themselves.
Nine times out of ten they will accept that as unanswerable, and strive
to twist its meaning or smother it under a mass of lies. But the truth
they have accepted, as I have said, works just like acid and destroys
their argument almost as fast as they build it up. In the few cases
when that doesn't happen, they break down altogether and confess.
Anyhow, Grim, who taught me what I have just written, refused to listen
to their bleating until Narayan Singh first told in their hearing all
that he knew about the night's events. They were forced to sit down on
the floor and listen to him like three coffee-shop loungers being told a
story; and I don't doubt that the effect was strengthened by the Sikh's
standing facing them, for the contrast was as between jackals and a
lion.
Not that they were small men, for they weren't, or mere ten-dollar
assassins picked up in the suk. They looked well fed, and wore fine
linen, whereas Narayan Singh was in rags and had lost weight in our
recent desert marching, so that his cheek-bones stood out and he looked
superficially much more like a man at bay than they did.
But their well-cared-for faces were lean in the wrong place, and puffy
under the eyes. In place of courage they flaunted an insolent leer, and
the smile intended to convey self-confidence betrayed to a close
observer anxiety bordering on panic.
The most offensive part about them really was their feet, which are
indices of character too often overlooked. They had come to their task
in slippers, which they had kicked off before reaching the veranda, and
instead of the firm, tough feet that a real man stands on, what they
displayed as they squatted were subtle, soft things, not exactly flabby,
but even more suggestive of treachery than their thin beaks and shifty
eyes.
To sum them up, they were dandies, of the kind who join the Young Turk
Party and believe the New Era can be distilled of talk and tricks; and
they looked like mean animals compared to that staunch conservative
Narayan Singh, who, nevertheless, is not without his own degree of
subtlety.
CHAPTER IV
"I call this awful!"
Sahib, in accordance with instructions I proceeded to Christian Street
to the place you spoke of, where I found Yussuf Dakmar drinking coffee
and smoking in company with these men and others. They did not see me in
the beginning, because I entered by the door of a house threescore and
five paces farther down the street; and having by that means gained the
roof I descended to a gallery built of stone above one end of the
coffee-shop, and there lay concealed among evil-smelling bags.
"They conversed in Arabic; and presently when other men had entered,
some of whose names I overheard and wrote down on this slip of paper,
Yussuf Dakmar locked the outer door, turning the great key twice and
setting a chain in place as well. Then he stood on a red stool having
four short legs, with his back to the door that he had locked, and spoke
in the manner of one who stirs a multitude, gesticulating greatly.
"The argument he made was thus: He said that Jerusalem is a holy city,
and Palestine a holy land; and that promises are all the more sacred if
given in connection with religious matters; whereat they all applauded
greatly. Nevertheless, a little later on he mocked at all religion, and
they applauded that too. He said that the Allies, persuaded thereto by
the British, had made a promise to the Emir Feisul on the strength of
which the Arabs made common war with the Allies against the Turks and
Germans, losing of their own a hundred thousand men and untold money.
"So, sahib. Next he asked them how much of that promise made by the
Allies to Emir Feisul as the leader of the Arabs had been kept, or was
likely to be kept; and they answered in one voice, 'None of it!'
Whereat he nodded, as a teacher nods gravely when the pupils have their
lesson well by heart, and said presently in a voice like that of a Guru
denouncing sin: 'A woman's promise is a little matter; who believes
it? When it is broken all men laugh. A promise extorted under threat
or torture is not binding, since he who made the promise was not free to
govern his own conduct; that is law. A promise made in business,' said
he, 'is a contract contingent on circumstances and subject to
litigation. But a promise made in wartime by a nation is a pledge set
down in letters of blood. Whoever breaks it is guilty of blood; and
whoever fails to smite dead the breaker of that oath, commits treason
against Allah!'
"They applauded that speech greatly, sahib, and when they grew silent he
bade them look about and judge for themselves at whose door the breaking
of that sacred promise really lay. 'Show me,' said he, 'one trace of
Arab government in all Palestine. Who owns the land?' he asked them.
'Arabs!' said they. 'Yet to whom has the country been given?' he
shouted. 'To the Jews!' they answered; and he grew silent for a while,
like a teacher whose class has only given half the answer to a question
until presently one man growled out, 'To the sword with the Jews in the
name of Allah!' and the others echoed that which satisfied him, for he
smiled, nevertheless not using those words himself. And presently he
continued:
"'We in this room are men of enlightenment. We are satisfied to leave
past and future to speculations of idle dreamers. For us the present.
So we attach no value to the fact that Feisul is descended in a straight
line from the founder of the Moslem faith; for that is a superstition
as foolish in its way as Christianity or any other creed. But who is
there like Feisul who can unite all Arabs under one banner?'
"They answered, sahib, that Feisul is the only living man who can
accomplish that, making many assertions in his praise, Yussuf Dakmar
nodding approval as each spoke. 'Yet,' said he when they had finished,
'Feisul is also fallible. In certain ways he is a fool, and principally
in this: That he insists on keeping his own promises to men who have
broken their own promises to him.' And like pupils in a class who recite
their lesson, they all murmured that such a course as that is madness.
"'So,' said he, 'we are clear on that point. We are not altruists, nor
religious fanatics, nor slaves, but men of common sense who have a
business in view. We are not Feisul's servants, but he ours. We make
use of him, not he of us. If he persists in a wrong course, we must
force him into the right one, for the day of autocratic government is
past and the hour has come when those who truly represent the people
have the first right to direct all policy. If the right is still
withheld from them, they must take it. And it is we in this room who
truly represent the Arab cause, on whom lies the responsibility of
forcing Feisul's hand!'
"Well, sahib, these three prisoners who sit here offered, at once to go
to Damascus and kill the men who are advising Feisul wrongly. They said
that if they were given money they could easily hire Damascenes to do
the dagger work, there being, as the sahib doubtless knows, a common
saying in these parts about Damascus folk and sharp steel. Whereat
Yussuf Dakmar suddenly assumed a sneering tone of voice, saying that he
preferred men for his part with spunk enough to do such work themselves,
and there was an argument, they protesting and he mocking them, until at
last this man, whose neck the glass cut, demanded of him whether he,
Yussuf Dakmar, was not in truth an empty boaster who would flinch at
bloodshed.
"He seemed to have been waiting for just that, sahib, for he smirked and
threw a chest. 'I am a man,' said he, 'of example as well as precept.
I have done what I saw fit to do! I make no boasts,' said he, 'for a
man who talks about himself sets others talking, and there are deeds
creditable to the doer that are best not spoken of. But I will tell you
other things, and you may draw your own conclusions.
"'Because Feisul refuses to attack the French, having promised those
promise-breakers that he will not; and because Feisul has promised to
protect the Jews and is likely to try to keep that promise to the
promise-breaking English, certain of his intimates in Damascus, in whose
confidence I am, have determined to force both issues, taking steps in
his name that will commit him finally. Feisul's army of fifty thousand
men is as ready as it will ever be. There is no money in the Damascus
treasury, and therefore every moment of delay is now a moment lost. The
time has come for action!'"
Our three prisoners were listening to the recitation spellbound, and so
were we all for that matter. The mere memory feat was amazing enough.
Few men could listen in hiding to a stranger's words, and report them
exactly after an interval of more than an hour; but Narayan Singh did
better than that, for he reproduced the speaker's gesture and inflexion,
so that we had a mental picture of the scene that he described. Mabel
offered him stewed tannic acid in the name of tea, and Ticknor suggested
a chair, but he waved both offers aside and continued as if the picture
before his mind and the words he was remembering might escape him if he
took things easy.
"Sahib, they were very much excited when he spoke of action. First one
man and then another stood up and boasted of having made all things
ready; how this one had supervised the hiding of sharp swords; how
another had kept men at work collecting cartridges on battlefields; how
this and that one had continued spreading talk against the Jews, so that
they swore that at least ten thousand Moslems in Jerusalem are fretting
to begin a massacre. 'Let Feisul only strike the first blow from
Damascus,' said they, 'and Palestine will run blood instantly!'"
"And we sit here drinking tea," exclaimed Mabel, "while up at
headquarters they're dancing and playing bridge! I call this awful! We
all ought to be..."
Grim smiled and shook his head for silence.
"We've known all this for some time," he said. "Don't worry. There'll be
no massacre; the troops are sleeping by their arms, and every possible
contingency has been provided for. Go on, Narayan Singh."
"Well, sahib; when they had done babbling and boasting this Yussuf
Dakmar got back on his stool and spoke sternly, as one who gives final
judgment and intends to be obeyed. 'It is we who must make the first
move,' said he; 'and we shall force Feisul to move after us by moving
in his name.' Whereat this man here, whose nose was broken on the fist
of Jeremy sahib, said that a letter bearing Feisul's seal would make the
matter easier. 'For the men,' said he, 'who are to slit Jews' throats
will ask first for proof of our authority to bid them begin the
business.'
"And at that speech Yussuf Dakmar laughed with great delight. 'Better
late than never!' said he. 'Better to think of a wise precaution now
than not at all! But oh, ye are an empty-headed crew!' he told them.
'I pity the conspiracy that had no better planning than ye would make
for it without my fore thought! I thought of this long ago! I sent a
message to Damascus, begging that a date be set and just such a letter
sent to us. Feisul, I knew, would sign no such letter; but the paper
he uses lies on an open desk, and there are men about him who have
access to his seal. And because my appeal was well-timed it met with
approval. A letter such as I asked for was written on Feisul's paper,
sealed with his seal, and sent!'
"'But does it bear his signature?' a man asked.
"'How could it, since he never saw the letter?' Yussuf Dakmar answered.
"'Then few will pay heed to it,' said the other.
"'Perhaps if we were all such fools as you that might be so,' Yussuf
Dakmar retorted. 'However, fortunately the rest of us have readier
wits! This letter is signed with a number, and the number is that of
Feisul's generation in descent from the Prophet Mohammed. Let men be
told that this is his secret signature, and when they see his seal
beside it, will they not believe? Every hour in Jerusalem, and in all
the world, men believe things less credible than that!'
"But at that, sahib, another man asked him how they might know that the
letter really came from Damascus. 'It well might be,' said that one, 'a
forgery contrived by Yussuf Dakmar himself, in which case though they
might stir many Moslems into action by showing it, the men in Damascus
would fail to follow up the massacre by striking at the French. And if
they do not strike at the French,' said he, 'the French will not appeal
to the British for aid; and so the British troops will be free to
protect the Jews and butcher us, by which means we shall be worse off
than before.'
"Whereat Yussuf Dakmar laughed again. 'If ye will go to the Sikh
hospital,' said he, 'ye will find there the man who brought the letter.
He lies in a cot in the upper storey with a knife-wound between his
shoulder-blades. It was a mistaken accident unfortunate for him; the
letter was intended for me, but I did not know that. What does the life
of one fool matter? He gave out that Jews stabbed him, and it may be he
believes that; yet I have the letter in my pocket here!' And he
touched with one hand the portion of his coat beneath which was the
pocket that contained the letter. I was watching, sahib, from where I
lay hidden.
"He was about, I think, to show them the letter, when another thought
occurred to him. He wrinkled his brow, as if seeking words in which to
make his meaning clear, and they seemed willing enough to wait for him,
but not so I, for I now knew where the letter was. So I sprang into
their midst, falling less dangerously than I might have done by reason
of a man's shoulders that served for a cushion. It may be that his
bones broke under my weight. I can give no accurate report as to that,
for I was in great haste. But as he gave way under me, I pitched
forward, and, kicking Yussuf Dakmar in the belly with my boot, I fell on
him, they falling on me in turn and we all writhing together in one mass
on the floor. So I secured the letter."
"Good man!" Grim nodded.
"Wish I'd been there!" mourned Jeremy.
"And, having what I came for, I broke free; and taking the red stool I
hurled it at the lamp, so that we were in total darkness, which made it
a simple matter to unlock the door, and proceed about my business.
Nevertheless, I heard them strike matches behind me, and it seemed
unwise to take to my heels at once, it being easy to pursue a man who
runs.
"As the sahib doubtless remembers, between that coffee shop and the next
house is a stone buttress jutting out into the street, forming on its
side farthest from the coffee-shop a dark corner, for whose filth and
stink the street cleaners ought to be punished. Therein I lurked, while
those who pursued ran past me up the street, I counting them; and among
them I did not count Yussuf Dakmar and three more. It happened that a
man was running up the street and the pursuers supposed him to be me.
So I was left with only four to deal with; and it entered my head that
no doubt Jimgrim sahib would be pleased to interview Yussuf Dakmar.
"And after a few moments Yussuf Dakmar came forth, and I heard him speak
to these three fellows.
"'Those fools,' said he, 'hunt like street dogs at the sound of rubbish
tossed out of a window. But I think that Indian soldier is less foolish
than they. If I were he,' said Yussuf Dakmar, 'I think I wouldn't run
far, with all these shadows to right and left and all the hours from now
until dawn in which to act the fox. I suspect he is not far away at
this minute. Nevertheless,' said he, 'those Indians are dangerous
fellows. It is highly important that we get that letter from him; but
it is almost equally important that we stop his mouth, which would be
impossible if he should escape alive. If we wait here,' said he, 'we
shall see him emerge from a shadow, if I am not much mistaken.'
"So they waited, sahib. And after a few minutes, when my breath had
returned to me, I let him have credit as a wise one by emerging as he
had said. And those four stalked me through the streets, not daring to
come close until I should lead them to a lonely place; and I led them
with discretion to this house, where happened what the sahib knows.
"That is all I know about this matter, except that being absent from
duty on sick-leave there may be difficulty in the matter of my tunic,
which is badly torn."
Having finished his story Narayan Singh stood at attention like one of
those wooden images they used to keep on the sidewalk outside tobacco
stores.
Grim smiled at the prisoners and asked whether they had any remarks to
make--a totally lawless proceeding, for he did not caution them, and had
no jurisdiction as a magistrate. They were three men caught red-handed
attempting murder and burglary, and entitled accordingly to protection
that the law doesn't always accord to honest men. But, as I have said,
a true tale in the ears of criminals acts like a chemical reagent. It
sets them to work lying, and the lie burns off, disclosing naked truth
again. But, mother of me, they were daring liars! The fellow who had
come out of the scrap more or less unscathed piped up for the three, the
other two nodding and prompting him in whispers.
"What that Indian says in the main is true. He did jump down from the
gallery and surprise a meeting summoned by Yussuf Dakmar. And it is
true that Yussuf Dakmar's purpose is to bring about a massacre of Jews,
which is to be simultaneous with an attack by Feisul's forces on the
French in Syria. But we three men are not in favour of it. We have had
no part in the preparations, although we know all details. We are
honest men, who have the public interest at heart, and accordingly we
have spied on Yussuf Dakmar, purposing to expose all his plans to the
authorities."
Jeremy began humming to himself. Mabel tittered, and little Doctor
Ticknor swore under his breath. But Grim looked as if he believed them
--looked pleasantly surprised--and nodded gravely.
"But that hardly explains your following this Indian through the streets
and attacking him on the veranda," he suggested, as if sure they could
explain that too--as sure enough they did.
"We did not attack him. He attacked us. It was obvious to us from the
first that he must be an agent of the Government. So when Yussuf Dakmar
told us to follow and murder him we decided it was time to expose Yussuf
Dakmar, and that this was our opportunity. We knew surely that this
Indian would take that letter straight to some official of the
Government; it was only necessary to pretend to hunt him and in that
manner inveigle Yussuf Dakmar into the toils.
"But when we reached this house Yussuf Dakmar was afraid and refused to
approach nearer than the street. He insisted on keeping watch outside
the garden gate while we should draw near and shoot everyone who might
be in the house and recover the letter. He is a coward, and we could
not persuade him.
"So we decided to pretend to do his bidding, and to whisper through the
window to the people within to pass out to the street by some back way
and capture him, after which we would give all our evidence to the
authorities.
"It was while we were looking through the window, seeking to call the
attention of those within for that purpose and no other, that we were
attacked and submitted to much unnecessary violence. That is the whole
truth, as Allah is our witness! We are honest men, who seek to uphold
the law, and we claim the protection of the Government. We are ready to
tell all we know, including the names of those connected with this
plot."
CHAPTER V
"Nobody will know, no bouquets"
There followed a tedious hour or two, during which Grim cross-examined
the three "honest men," and took down lists of names from their
dictation, getting Doctor Ticknor meanwhile to go for the police because
Yussuf Dakmar might still be lurking in the neighbourhood for a chance
to murder Narayan Singh. It was only after the police had carried off
the prisoners to jail (where they repudiated their entire confession
next morning) that Grim showed us the letter which, like a spark, had
fired a powder magazine--although a smaller one than its writer
intended.
"It isn't in Feisul's handwriting," he said, holding the feathery Arab
script up to the lamplight; "and it's no more like his phraseology than
a camel resembles a locomotive. Listen to this:
To the Pan-Arab Committee in Jerusalem, by favour of Yussuf Dakmar Bey
its District President, Greeting in the name of God:
Ye know that on former occasions the foes of our land and race were
overwhelmed when, relying on the aid of the Most High, and raising the
green banner of the Prophet--on whom be peace--we launched our squadrons
in a cause held sacred by us all.