If I had not listened to equally childish political maneuvers in
the States, and seen them succeed for the reason that people who
want something want also to be fooled into getting it by special
arguments, it would have seemed incredible that a man, who had
recently boasted of statesmanship, should dare to make such a
public ass of himself. Yet, for fifteen minutes he carried the
whole meeting with him, and the warmth of his self-satisfied
emotion made him ooze resplendent sweat.

"Now he speaks of you, effendi," Mahommed ben Hamza whispered;
and in confirmation of it Anazeh clutched my arm, as if to keep
the tide of eloquence from washing me away.

Had the British done anything for the country this side of
Jordan? Anything for the people's education, for instance? No!
Instead, they had taken away the missionaries. Better than
nothing were those missionaries. They had their faults. They
undermined religion. But they taught. And the British had
called them in, giving some ridiculous excuse about danger. It
had remained then for him--Abdul Ali of Damascus and of El-Kerak
--the same individual who was now urging them to strike for their
own advantage--to take the first step for the establishment in
El-Kerak of a school that should be independent of the British.
He, Abdul Ali, greatly daring because he had the interest of El-
Kerak at heart, had introduced that day into the mejlis a
distinguished guest from the United States, whose sole desire--
whose only object in life--whose altruistic and divine ambition
was to establish an American secular school in El-Kerak!

He sat down, glowing with super-virtue. And then the fur flew.
Anazeh was first on his feet.

"Princes!" he shouted. "That Damascene is a father of lies! It
was I, Anazeh, who brought this man hither! That corrupter of
honesty, who doles out other people's gold for bidden purposes,
seeks to appear as your benefactor!" (It was fairly obvious that
Anazeh had not received any of the gold.) "He will say next that
it was he who set the stars in the sky over El-Kerak, and makes
the moon rise! He is a foreigner, a father of snakes, and a
born liar!"

Anazeh refused to sit down again, but stood with rifle on his
arm, daring any one to challenge his statements. Abdul Ali
flushed angrily, but laughed aloud. The next man on his feet was
ben Nazir, my erstwhile host, who had repudiated me. And he
repudiated me all over again, accusing me of abus