paid to him from India. Ben Saoud also receives a subsidy from
the British, who must continue to pay it, because otherwise ben
Saoud will attack Hussein and overwhelm him. That, it is
believed, would mean a rising of all the Moslem world against
their rulers--in Africa--Asia--India--Java--everywhere. It began
as a religious movement. It is now political--although it is
held together by religious zeal. You might say that the Ichwans
are the modern Protestants of Islam. They are fanatical. The
world has never seen such fanaticism, and the movement spreads
day by day."

"You don't look like a fanatic," I said, and he laughed again.

"I? God forbid! But I am a politician; and to succeed a
politician must have friends among all parties. My one ambition
is to see all Arabs united in an independent state reaching from
this coast to the Persian Gulf. To that end I devote my energy.
I use all means available--including money paid me by the French,
who have no intention of permitting any such development if they
can help it."

"And the British?"

"For the present we must make use of them also. But their yoke
must go, eventually."

"Then if America had accepted the Near East mandate, you would
have used us in the same way?"

"Certainly. That would have been the easiest way, because