rifles.

We were admitted into a room that faced on the street, furnished
entirely in the eastern style, except for two gilt chairs against
the wall. The walls were hung with carpets and the floor was
covered with Bokhara rugs three deep.

No doubt in order to emphasize his own importance, Abdul Ali kept
us waiting in that room for ten minutes before he condescended to
enter. But when he did come at last he was at pains to seem
agreeable, which was not quite his natural attitude.

I had never seen a more offensive personality, although at the
first glance he did not arouse actual dislike. Distaste for him
dawned, and grew. He was certainly not physically attractive,
although the Syrian Arab costume made him picturesque. The first
thing I noticed was the fatness of his hands--those of a giver of
dishonest gifts. When he shook hands you felt in some subtle way
that he was sure your conscience was for sale, that he would
purchase it for any reasonable figure, and that he believed he
had plenty of money with which to buy you and all your relatives.

He was a little puffy under the eyes, had a firm mouth, rather
thick lips, and his small black moustache was turned up like the
Kaiser's, which gave him a cockily self-assured appearance. For
the rest, he was a rather military-looking person, although his
flowing robe partly concealed that; stockily rather than heavily
built; and of rather more than middle height. He wore one ring--a
sapphire of extraordinary brilliance, of which he was immensely
proud. When I noticed it he said at once that it had been given
him by the late Sultan Abdul Hamid.

He spoke German from choice, so we conversed in German, which
annoyed ben Nazir, who could not understand a word of it. And
from first to last throughout that interview, and subsequently to
the point where Jimgrim out-maneuvered and out-played him, he
relied on the German philosophy of self-assertion that teaches
how to get and keep the upper hand by making yourself believe in
your own super-intelligence and then speaking, acting, making
plans in logical accord with that belief. It works finely until
somebody spoils the whole thing by pricking the super-intelligence
bladder and letting out all the wind.

Although he spoke German, he was not by any means pro-German in
his motives. He was at pains to make that clear. Evidently he
had been pro-German once, until he saw the writing on the wall.
He was conscious of th