and
hauled up from the yard in time for them to go straight to bed in it.
Frequently their trip was postponed, and an omniscient sergeant-major
would indicate the car to the judiciously friendly, who could then enjoy a
solid night's sleep. The run took anywhere from eight to twelve hours; but
when sitting among the grain-bags on an open car, or comfortably ensconced
in a chair in a "covered goods," with _Vingt Ans Apres_, the time passed
pleasantly enough in spite of the withering heat.

While still a good number of miles away from Samarra we would catch sight
of the sun glinting on the golden dome of the mosque, built over the cleft
where the twelfth Imam, the Imam Mahdi, is supposed to have disappeared,
and from which he is one day to reappear to establish the true faith upon
earth. Many Arabs have appeared claiming to be the Mahdi, and caused
trouble in a greater or less degree according to the extent of their
following. The most troublous one in our day was the man who besieged
Kharthoum and captured General "Chinese" Gordon and his men. Twenty-five
years later, when I passed through the Sudan, there were scarcely any men
of middle age left, for they had been wiped out almost to a man under the
fearful rule of the Mahdi, a rule which might have served as prototype to
the Germans in Belgium.

[Illustration: Golden Dome of Samarra]

[Illustration: Rafting down from Tekrit]

Samarra is very ancient, and has passed through periods of great
depression and equally great expansion. It was here in A.D. 363 that the
Roman Emperor Julian died from wounds received in the defeat of his forces
at Ctesiphon. The golden age lasted about forty years, beginning in 836,
when the Caliph Hutasim transferred his capital thither from Baghdad.
During that time the city extended for twenty-one miles along the
river-bank, with glorious palaces, the ruins of some of which still stand.
The present-day town has sadly shrunk from its former grandeur, but still
has an impressive look with its great walls and massive gateways. The
houses nearest the walls are in ruins or uninhabited; but in peacetime the
great reputation that the climate of Samarra possesses for salubrity draws
to it many Baghdad families who come to pass the summer months. A good
percentage of the inhabitants are Persians, for the eleventh and twelfth
Shiah Imams are buried on the site of the largest mosque. The two main
sects of Moslems are the Sunnis and the Shiahs; the for