Khaled, F. Marion Crawford [pdf ebook reader txt] 📗

true and that his blood was as good as any from Ajman to El Kara, for a Bedouin of the same tribe as Abdullah, the husband of Almasta, came to see him not less than once every year, and called him brother and filled his sack with barley. This Bedouin was a person of consideration, also, as the beggars saw from his having a mare of his own, provided with a good saddle, and from his weapons. In the course of time therefore the blind man grew great in the eyes of his fellows, until they called him Sheikh respectfully, and waited on him when he performed his ablutions, and he obtained over them a supremacy as great as was Khaled’s over the kingdom he governed. He was very wise also, acquainted with the interpretation of dreams, and able to recite various chapters of the Koran. It was even said that he was able to distinguish a good man from a bad by the sound of his tread, though some thought that he only heard the jingling of coins in the girdle, and judged by this, having a finer hearing than other men. At all events he was often aware that a person able to give alms was approaching, while his companions were talking among themselves and noticed nothing, though they had eyes to see, being mostly only cripples and lepers.

On a certain day in the spring, when the sun was beginning to be hot and not long after Khaled had told Zehowah his story, many of the beggars were sitting in the eastern gate, by which the great road issues out of the city towards Hasa. They expected the coming of the first pilgrims every day, for the season was advancing. And now they sat talking together of the good prospects before them, and rejoicing that the winter was over so that they would not suffer any more from the cold.

“There is a horseman on the road,” said the Sheikh of the beggars, interrupting the conversation. “O you to whom Allah has preserved the light of day, look forth and tell me who the rider is.”

“It is undoubtedly a pilgrim,” answered a young beggar, who was a stranger but had found his way to Riad without legs, no man knew how.

“Ass of Egypt,” replied the Sheikh reprovingly, “do pilgrims ride at a full gallop upon steeds of pure blood? But though your eyes are open your ears are deaf with the sleep of stupidity from which there is no awakening. That is a good horse, ridden by a light rider. Truly a man must itch to be called Haji who gallops thus on the road to Mecca.”

Then the others looked, and at last one of them spoke, a hunchback having but one eye, but that one was keen.

“O Sheikh,” he said, “rejoice and praise Allah, for I think it is he whom you call your brother, who comes in from the desert to visit you.”

“If that is the case, I will indeed give thanks,” answered the blind man, “for there is little in my barley-sack, less in my wallet and nothing at all in my stomach. Allah is gracious and compassionate!”

The hunchback’s eye had not deceived him, and before long the Bedouin dismounted at the gate and looked about until he saw the Sheikh of the beggars, who indeed had already risen to welcome him. When they had embraced the Bedouin led the blind man along in the shadow of the eastern wall until they were so far from the rest that they might freely talk without being overheard. Then they sat down together, and the mare stood waiting before them.

“O my brother,” the Bedouin began, “was not my mother the adopted daughter of your uncle, upon whom be peace? And have I not called you brother and filled your barley-sack from time to time these many years?”

“This is true,” answered the Sheikh of the beggars. “Allah will requite you with seventy thousand days of unspeakable bliss for every grain of barley you have caused to pass my teeth. ‘Be constant in prayer and in giving alms,’ says the holy book, ‘and you shall find with Allah all the good which you have sent before you, for your souls.’ And it is also said, ‘Give alms to your kindred, and to the poor and to orphans.’ I am also grateful for all you have done, and my gratitude grows as a palm tree in the garden of my soul which is irrigated by your charity.”

“It is well, my brother, it is well. I know the uprightness of your heart, and I have not ridden hither from the desert to count the treasure which may be in store for me in paradise. Allah knows the good, as well as the evil. I have come for another purpose. But tell me first, what is the news in the city? Are there no strange rumours afloat of late concerning Khaled the Sultan?”

“In each man’s soul there are two wells,” said the blind man. “The one is the spring of truth, the other is the fountain of lies.”

“You are wise and full of years,” said the Bedouin, “and I understand your caution, for I also am not very young. But here we must speak plainly, for the time is short in which to act. A sandstorm has darkened the eyes of the men of the desert and they are saying that Khaled is a Shiyah, a Persian and a robber, and that he must be overthrown and a man of our own people made king in his stead.”

“I have indeed heard such a rumour.”

“It is more than a rumour. The tribes are even now assembling towards Riad, and before many days are past the end will come. Abdullah is the chief mover in this. But with your help, my brother, we will make his plotting empty and his scheming fruitless as a twig of ghada stuck into the sand, which will