Abdul

“ O, yes, Abdul had it at last. He promised to aid and abet Cora in a delightful escapade. She was going alone and incognito on Thursday to a fancy dress ball at Covent Garden. Abdul had received minute instructions as to what she was going to wear. She would go unmasked, and then——
A look from the luminous eyes filled the hiatus. Would Abdul try and be there? Might dogs defile the grave of his revered grandmother if he failed. To put it plainly, no lunatic on the right side of Bedlam was ever more helplessly lost in love than Abdul at that moment. ”

“ The two boys flung themselves at Abdul, striking at him with their primitive weapons. Dan had only a flint knife which he tried to use dagger-fashion, but as he strained upward Abdul raised his scimiter to slash at his head.
But Dick Oakwood was quick to defend his friend. With the long Arab gun, clutched in both hands, he swung at Abdul, delivering a blow that half stunned the Bedouin. Abdul reeled in his saddle, releasing his hold on Ray and like a flash she slipped to the ground, her dark hair tumbled, her cheeks reddened with anger and her black eyes flashing. ”

“ Ahead was the Zaire, a trim, white steamer, alive with Houssas.
"It is God's will," said Abdul. "These things are ordained."
He said no more until he stood before Sanders, and the Commissioner was not especially communicative.
"What will you do with me?" asked Abdul.
"I will tell you when I have seen your stores," said Sanders. "If I find rifles such as the foolish Lobolo people buy, I shall hang you according to law."
The Arab looked at the shaking Arachi. The borrower's knees wobbled fearfully.
"I see," said Abdul thoughtfully, "that this man whom I made rich has betrayed me." ”

“ Carew stared at him for a moment in puzzled astonishment, then he smiled a trifle grimly. Hosein too! This was becoming monotonous. He was fully conversant with the rapidity with which reports spread in a land of rumour and intrigue, but Abdul, who had unorthodox proclivities, must have been drunk indeed to boast so openly of his intentions. ”

“ In like manner the recollection of a thing is frequently more pleasing than the actuality; what is harsh is dropped in the space between. There is in Abdul a nobility of soul on which I often have reflected with admiration. I have seen many of the highest rank and distinction, in whom I could find nothing of the great man, excepting a fondness for low company, and an aptitude to shy and start at every spark of genius or virtue that sprang up above or before them. ”

“ He would not hurt him. That would be to betray himself; but he would cautiously feel about him to see if he had valuables concealed in his sash or turban. If he had not, no harm was done. If he had, and if Abdul purloined them, then Abdul would be so much the richer, and the high-born youth, who would not venture, surrounded as he was by hostile strangers, to make any ado about his loss, would be the poorer. And that would be all.
Thinking thus he crept closer to Tom, and, having softly drawn his chuddah aside began to finger his fine satin tunic. ”

“ The King made the camel kneel down, and with his own hands undid the cruel bonds.
Then with tears running down his face, Abdul knelt before the King and pleaded for his dear ones, saying: "If thou slay me, at least let these innocent ones go free!" ”

“ There was nothing to be gained and probably a good deal to be risked by putting temptation in his way a second time. After all, the quarrel was Abdul’s, not his. Let Abdul then make the first move—if, indeed, he intended to move at all. To Carew it seemed almost that his enemy had talked too much to be really dangerous. Babblers were seldom doers, he reflected, and dismissing the outlaw from his mind he rode on, leaving the road for a rough mule track by which he could skirt El Biar and reach Bouzaréa from where he meant to return to Mustapha. ”

“ He would start just before dawn on Abdul’s shikar camel, be well away from Kot Ghazi by daylight and reach the old deserted dak-bungalow, that no one ever used, by evening. There Abdul would come to him with his bhoja-oont [31] bringing the usual supplies, and on receipt of them he would dismiss Abdul altogether and disappear again into the desert, this time for good. Criminal lunatics and homicidal maniacs are better dead, especially when they are tempted beyond their strength to marry innocent, beautiful girls who do not understand the position. ”

“ Abdul, fearful of danger to Zuleika because of the discovery of the ring, was for instant action—the hiring of bravoes, and a bold attack on the zemindar's [Pg 28] person, taking him unawares, carrying him off and holding him to ransom, deliverance of the captive maid of the Turkmans being the price of his freedom. ”

“ In the caravanserai at Miandasht, Abdul's failure to appreciate our whilom and egotistical friend, the la-de-da telegraph-jee, at his own valuation comes near resulting in a serious fracas. One of Abdul's most valued services is keeping at a respectful distance the crowds of villagers that invariably swarm about us when we halt. In doing this he sometimes flogs about him pretty lively with the whip. As a general thing the natives take this sort of thing in the greatest good humor ”

“ The ablest of these sons, Abdul-Aziz, had been left in chief command over Spain. Thither the caliph sent orders for his death. Much as the young ruler was esteemed, wisely as he had ruled, no one thought of questioning an order of the Commander of the Faithful, the mighty autocrat of the great Arabian empire, and the innocent Abdul was assassinated by some who had been among his chief friends. His head was then cut off, embalmed, and sent to Soliman, before whom it was laid, enclosed in a casket of precious wood. ”

“ So Abdul died and was buried, and we all went to the funeral feast at which we ate more roast meat than one naturally cares about at five in the afternoon on a June day, in consequence of which Weston and I, not requiring dinner, stopped at home after our return from the ride into the desert, and talked to Mohamed, Abdul’s son, and Hussein, Abdul’s youngest grandson, a boy of about twenty, who is also our valet, cook and housemaid, and they together woefully narrated of the money that had been and was not, and told us scandalous tales about Achmet{92} concerning his weakness for cemeteries. ”

“ Behind, Schwab was imploring him to explain what the sheikh had said. It turned out as he had feared. His former companion with a few others left the sheikh and disappeared; the rest made themselves comfortable within a few yards of the foot of the hill. Abdul had little doubt that he would soon have to reckon with an attack from above; not an easy matter, in truth, but far more likely to succeed than any attempt from below. ”

“ Threatened men live long, and Abdul was in some ways wise in his generation. There seemed no need to take the warning too seriously and, besides, he was too deeply imbued with the fatalism he had learned in the desert to dread death that was always more or less imminent in the hazardous life he led. ”

“ He’s a big fellow,”
“We’ll do our best with Abdul’s help. One of the caves is more easy to get at than the others, Abdul says.”
“By Jove, we’ve forgotten that fellow who got away!”
“Hang it, so we have. It can’t be helped. We clearly can’t catch him now without showing ourselves to the people of Ain Afroo. Perhaps he didn’t make for the village after all. We must dispose of Salathiel, at any rate.” 150
Tom and Oliphant had been talking apart, while Abdul kept watch over the Jew. The former now went up to the man. ”

“ Abdul, ar: the slave of – from the arabic word abd slave. Many Mohammedan names begin with these words, as Abdul-Rachman the slave of the compassionate (God) – Abdul Rahim, the slave of the merciful (God) .
Abdullah, ar: a common name for a man, means "the slave of God". All Chinese who become converts to Mohammedanism get the name of Abdullah. ”

“ On his way to Abdul's abode he passed the bazaar and entered the shop of the perfumer to obtain the flasks of attar of rose; there he found a beautiful lady, wrapped in a long white veil that concealed all her person excepting her left eye. That left eye incontinently betrayed to Mahmoud-Ben-Ahmed the lady of the palanquin. His emotion was so great that he was compelled to support himself against the wall. ”

“ They had a long conversation in the cabin, the result of which was entirely satisfactory to Tom. Abdul’s one object in life was to wreak vengeance on the sheikh for the wrongs his family had suffered, and it was to be a thorough vengeance. He would not be satisfied merely with the death of his enemy; that might have been achieved already. But he was determined to ruin the sheikh’s family, just as his own had been ruined. He had hoped to save enough money in course of time to gather about him a band of trusty 88 Riffians who would raid the oppressor’s stronghold. ”

“ And secondly Abdullah made himself sheikh unjustly, for our sheikh should be Abdul Kerim's son.'
'Yet you accepted Abdullah and promised him allegiance.'
'Does the camel say to his driver: "I do not like to carry a load of barley, I would rather bear a basket of dates"? "Eat what you please in your tent, but dress as other men," says the proverb. Hear me, for I speak wisdom. Abdullah will come into the city and go to his house, intending to prepare the way for evil. ”

“ I have heard it twice from Abdul."
"They seem very quick to grasp the point. How far have you got, Abdul?"
"All about the beatings, sar. They are highly interested."
"Don't forget about the local self-government, and please hold the umbrella over me. It is hopeless to destroy unless one first builds up."
"He may not have the Evil Eye," Farag's uncle grunted, "but his devil led him too certainly to question my land-title. ”

“ I was in that hospital for three months, and I verily believe that if it had not been for Abdul I should have been in three months more. He had his own way of doing things and people, but he modelled himself unconsciously on some personality half-way between Florence Nightingale and Fagin's most promising pupil. ”

“ It was Millicent who saw it in the sunlight."
In despair Abdul recited a sura from the Koran. "The God Who gives a good reward for the good deeds of His creatures, and does not waste anyone's labour."
Michael took up the last words of Abdul's prayer, in the way in which a delirious mind will often carry on a sentence which drifts to the brain.
"Nothing is ever wasted, Freddy—I've told you that over and over again. You say I waste my time. You won't say so, when you see the jewels. The saint kept it in his ear, Abdul—wasn't that clever for a child of God? Look, look, Abdul!" ”

“ He took his grandfather's ink-horn, the paper his father bought, got himself a box and began his career as a scribe.
Abdul was a child, he knew nothing, but deeming himself wise he sought to surpass the counsel of his father.
"To look wise," he said, "is not sufficient; I must have some other attraction."
And after much thought he hit upon the following idea. Over his box he painted a legend: "The wisdom of man is greater than the wisdom of woman." People thought the sign very clever, customers came, the young Hodja took in many piasters and he was correspondingly happy. ”

“ He chipped a piece of the lid away to make sure that he had the right end, and then, setting it upright, wrenched off the top with his knife and there faced us leaning against the coffin lid, the small shrivelled figure of the dead Abdul, swathed like a baby in white.
I was just about to motion the spirit of Black Magic to make his appearance, when Machmout's words came into my head: "He has with him the Black Magic which can raise the dead," and sudden overwhelming curiosity, which froze disgust and horror into chill unfeeling things, came over me. ”

“ Still am I Jarman sobjeck; zey vill respeck our Kaiser who is in Berlin.”
Abdul expostulated, striving in his imperfect English to warn the German of the risk he ran. He knew the sheikh; he was a terrible enemy; he would care nothing who or what his prisoner was. Who in Europe would be any the wiser if in this remote mountainous region a man were slowly done to death in the dungeons of a kasbah? But Schwab would not listen; he craved for food; “Let us eat, for to-morrow we die,” exactly expresses his state of mind. ”

“ The Sultan is an expert pistol-shot and has killed many native visitors without the slightest proof that they were about to do him harm; if they made a suspicious movement of any kind he shot them down in cold blood and had them thrown into the Bosphorus. Abdul had an eye on the main chance and did not consider it wise to have all his eggs in one basket, so he deposited the hundred million dollars he wrung from his people—what is called his "private fortune"—in banks all over the world. ”

“ He preferred to ply Abdul diligently with questions about the airship: where it came from; how it was driven; what was the composition of the fuel.
“Already is it partly known to me,” he said. “It contain large quantity Photographic Sensitizer Preparation Number Six. But zat is not all. I know it! Vy? Because my Jarman intellex tell me so. But vizout doubt I discover it; zen zere shall be business for Schlagintwert. You do not know vat ze ozer zink is?”
Abdul shook his head.
“Zen you vas never made for business. Vun cannot learn it; it is born. So vas I born!” ”