Jimgrim and Allah's Peace by Talbot Mundy
page 56 of 325 (17%)
page 56 of 325 (17%)
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father's honour, and in the name of God, that I will not give
evidence against them, I shall have to swear." "An oath given under compulsion--" I began. But he laughed cynically. "Ah! You do not know this land--these folk, effendi. If I were to break such an oath as that, they would burn my house, steal my cattle, ravish my wife, and hunt me to the death. If I ran away to America, Arabs in Chicago and New York would continue the hunt. This is a land where an oath is binding, unless you are the stronger. I am weak--an unimportant person." "What is your business?" I asked. "There is no business for a man like me. The regulations forbid commerce in the only goods for which there is a real demand among Bedouins." "So you're a smuggler, eh?" He laughed, between pride and caution, and changed the subject. "I shall do what they order me, effendi. I think they will keep my boat over there to bring you back again. But when I get back the Sikhs will arrest me. So I ask you to bear me witness that I was compelled by threats and force to go with these people. In that way, with a little ingenuity--that is to say, the ingenious use of piastras--perhaps I can contrive to get out of the difficulty without being punished by both Arabs and British." |
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