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East of them were the Druses, heterodox Moslem followers of a mad anddead
Sultan of Egypt.
In areal sense maximum disorder was our equilibrium. Stokes
supposed that if we did it, he could.
His inquiring nature took interest in the
shore, and sawthe comic side even of our petty disasters. The critical centre
of Syria in allages had been the Yarmuk Valley, Hauran, and Deraa. Beyond them
were the strange sights of villages of Christian tribalArabs, under sheikhs.
The Englishmen in theMiddle East divided into two classes.
It was good for the
Arab Revolt that so early in its growth this changeimposed itself.
They
believed him to be a great and wonderfulsovereign, honouring the English with
his friendship. These were points of character, which all showed in their
degree. Others of the Howeitat came in, and there was gay talk about the war.
Treachery hadnot been taken into account when Nasir and I had built our plan
for thetowns defence.
When I came on deckthe ship was rushing grandly down the
narrow gulf under full steam forEgypt. We could not so knit man to man, for
ourtribesmen were in arms willingly. In manoeuvre war one long-range
gunoutweighed ninety-nine short. A farcicalstory, and we laughed richly over
it: but there was more behind.
CHAPTER LIXThe tale of Syria was not ended in
this count of odd races andreligions.
Another distinguishing feature might be
high explosives. The distribution of the raiding parties was unorthodox. I went
below, bathed, and slept till mid-morning.
The Turk had replied gladly,
promising great rewards. Wadi Musa village was our first peasantrecruit.
Such
verbal scorn seemed to salve theirconsciousness of inbred inferiority.
Moslems
whose mother tongue was Arabic lookedupon themselves for that reason as a
chosen people. The wire was heavy rubber-insulated cable. Of water we would not
want to carry more than a pint each.
At Wejh the Hejaz war was won: after Akaba
it was ended. I went below, bathed, and slept till mid-morning. Auda was
ambitious totake advantage of our dependence on his help to assort the
tribes.
That afternoon they patched the machines, and after dark slept
undertheir wings. They lived as the Sunni aboutthem, dressed like them, and
were on the best terms with them.
It was good for the Arab Revolt that so early
in its growth this changeimposed itself.
The exploder was in a formidable
locked white box, very heavy. The Turks, alwayssomnolent at noon, were taken
completely by surprise.
That would be an achievement, for its deep well was the
onlyone in the dry sector below Maan.
Such verbal scorn seemed to salve
theirconsciousness of inbred inferiority. The southernmost, Jerusalem, was
asqualid town, which every Semitic religion had made holy.
Within these limits
the land was muchparcelled up by natural divisions.
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