doubt
on every point as it arose; it was only to remove all ground for doubt
concerning it.

"Merciful Allah!" he exclaimed again, in tones of horror. "May their
fathers be destroyed, their mothers ravished. Wait till I catch thee,
O thou pig Iskender! The good Emir will perish of discomfort; for that
treacherous boy is ignorant of all things that pertain to travel. Y'
Allah! Let us make all speed to overtake those wretched ones!"

But his companions, Aflatun the cook and Faris the waiter, were in no
such hurry. They were hungry from much riding on an empty stomach, and
flatly refused to proceed another step until replenished. Cursing
their greed, Elias was forced to resign himself. He indulged in
eating, as he told himself, to pass the time; but afterwards, when it
came to coffee and narghilehs, he squandered more than an hour in
boasting with what speed he would catch up the fugitives, how suddenly
and effectually he would repay the beast Iskender. It was Aflatun the
cook who reminded him at length that time wore on. Once on horseback,
his eagerness again became active, and, in a measure, practical. He
knew the direction Iskender had proposed to take, and, stopping before
the hotel for a minute, he learnt from the sons of Musa the name of the
first halting-place.

Amused by his indignation at the start without him, those old friends
mocked him, crying:

"They have fled from thee. Sooner than endure thy converse any longer,
they have thrown themselves on the mercy of Allah. They would rather
face wild beasts and savage warriors than have thy sweet voice always
at their ears."

Cursing the ancestry of such heartless jokers, Elias rowelled his
horse's flanks with the sharp corners of his stirrups, and went off at
a furious gallop. Through the orange-gardens, out on to the plain, he
sped like the wind, until his steed gave signs of fainting and he had
to stop. Looking back along the way he had come, he could not see his
companions and their string of mules, though the ground was open and
the air quite clear. Evidently they had not yet left the gardens.
With horrid malediction of their religion and parentage he rode on at a
foot's pace.

At the third hour after noon he reached the spot where Iskender and the
Frank had passed the night, and stood staring at the ashes of their
fire with teeth and hands tightly clenched. A fellah from the
neighbouring village told him they had set out very early that