Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

22 “You’ve got to lead Jews, not Arabs,” Grim answered. “Me? In this place? It can’t be eae Bre. They’ re all Orthodox here. There isn’t one of ’em would listen to me.’ “We'll see,” Grim =e and he would ——- not say another word on the subject all through dinner. It was not an easy meal. There were constant interruptions by mysterious men from the city who sought word with de _Crespigny. Most of them were men who feared for their property in case of an out- break of violence—for the Moslems loot pretty indiscriminately when the game be- gins, and he who has an enemy does well to watch him. But two or three of them were on the official list of spies and their reports were not reassuring. However, we reached the stage of nuts and port wine without having been fired at through the window, which was something, and although there was an atmosphere of overhanging danger, not lessened by. the smoky oil lamps and the shadows they cast -on the wall, or by the dead silence of the street outside, broken only at intervals by the cough of the solitary sentry I, for one, cx ees did not feel like a doomed man; and I sus- - pected Cohen of feeling less afraid than he pretended. I think he was actually more fag - ° * a - a . ge than creepy about Arab knives, AFTER dinner the house was ran- sacked for Arab garments that zo) AS vould fit him, and in half an hour he was. trigged out well enough to deceive any one. The Jewish are not unlike Arab features, in the dark especially, and there was less risk of. his being detected than of - my making some bad break that would give - under Grim’s tuition I had learned how to “act an Arab part pretty well, provided I held my tongue. Cohen could talk Arabic as easily as English, being a linguist like most Jews, as against my. mere beginner’s efforts. But Grim would not hear of leaving me behind. I am convinced that over and over again if he had left me out of things he could have accomplished his ‘purpose more easily, but _he has a sort of showman instinct under his mask of indifference to side-issues, coupled to a most saenacie cave: devotion to his _ friends. - -* nervous about what Grim had in store for the three of us away; although by that time’ Adventure . I should say that his weakest point is that. He is inclined to run absurd risks to do a friend a favor, and takes a child’s delight in springing a weird surprize on you, often for his purpose treating regulations and such encumbrances as if they never existed. And his friends are strictly of his own choosing. Nationality, creed, social standing, even morality, mean nothing to him when it comes to likes and dislikes, so that you often find yourself in strange com- pany if you-are lucky enough to stumble into his astonishing circle, as I did. He and Cohen and I left the house by the front door— _ I with strict instructions to keep silent and much occupied with the difficulty of walking like a native. We went past the jail, where the man on duty did not recognize us, for he challenged gruffly and cautioned us to go home; then straight on down the empty street toward the city, where hardly a light hinted that more than twenty thousand people dwelt. Parts of the ancient wall are Standing, but there are no gates left and it was only as the street grew narrower and crooked | that we knew we were within. There was no moon so, although the purple sky was powdered with blazing jewels, the shadows were black as pitch and it was more by watching the roof-line than the pavement that we found our way. Now and then we passed under tunnels where ancient houses with six-foot-thick walls were built over the street; but those were generally lighted by dim oil lamps that flickered wanly, suggesting stealthy move- ments in the dark ten feet away. It was clean enough underfoot, for those _ two boys had set at naught the Palestinian obsession for saving water that is as old as the tanks they preserve the rain in; but-as the camel-load-wide street shut in on us the smells of ancientry awoke, until we came to the ghetto and a stench like rotting fish put all other sensations for the moment out of mind. You can get a suggestion of the same smell in New York in the small streets where the immigrants live awhile before they begin to absorb America. There an iron lamp hung on a bracket and shed gold on the flanks and floor of a plain stone arch. There had been a great gate, for the hinges were there, but the gate was gone. Under the arch, beyond the farthest rays of lamplight was the night —" ~ (EO MMIC NCKe) () (CO) im Ss a a Ee We