Kaid

“ Kaid shrugged his shoulders.
"Let me answer for thee, Effendina. Again and again he has defeated conspiracy. He has blotted it out—by the sword and other means. He has been a faithful servant to his Prince at least. If he has done after the manner of all others in power here, the fault is in the system, not in the man alone. He has been a friend to thee, Kaid."
"I hope to find in thee a better."
"Why should he not live?"
"Thou hast taken his place."
"Is it, then, the custom to destroy those who have served thee, when they cease to serve?" David rose to his feet quickly. ”

“ The Kaid’s agitation increased; unconsciously his body swayed in time to the movements of the Hamadsha.
Quicker and yet quicker moved the measure of the drums. The Kaid dashed aside his turban, exposing his bare skull. A few more moments passed and the strain became too great: the fat commander leapt to his feet, and, casting his garments from him, naked to the waist, he joined the circling, rocking fanatics.
At one side of the courtyard, near a fountain which spouted from the wall, were placed several monster earthen jars, intended for keeping drinking water clear and sweet. ”

“ Suddenly Kaid sat down again among his cushions. “Inshallah! In the name of God, be it so. Thou art not as other men. There is something in thee above my thinking. But I will not sleep till I see thee again.”
“I shall see thee at midnight, Effendina. Give me the ring from thy finger.”
Kaid passed it over, and David put it in his pocket. Then he turned to go.
“Nahoum?” he asked.
“Take him hence. Let him serve thee if it be thy will. Yet I cannot understand it. The play is dark. Is he not an Oriental?”
“He is a Christian.”
Kaid laughed sourly, and clapped his hands for the slave. ”

“ Hast thou done well, oh, Effendina, to turn from thine own people? Did not thine own father, and did not Mehemet Ali, live to a good age? Who were their physicians? My father and I, and my father’s father, and his father’s father.”
“Thou canst cure me altogether?” asked Kaid hesitatingly.
“Wilt thou not have faith in one of thine own race? Will the infidel love thee as do we, who are thy children and thy brothers, who are to thee as a nail driven in the wall, not to be moved? Thou shalt live—Inshallah, thou shalt have healing and length of days!” ”

“ Kaid chuckled to have this tribute, as he thought, from a Christian, who did not blink at Oriental facts, and was honest.
David bowed his head to Kaid’s words.
“Then if it be my hand that lifts up or casts down, that rewards or that punishes, shall my arm not stretch into the darkest corner of Egypt to bring forth a traitor? Shall it not be so?”
“It belongs to thy power,” answered David. “It is the ancient custom of princes here. Custom is law, while it is yet the custom.” ”

“ A scornful, fateful smile passed over his face. “‘Hast thou never killed a man?’ said Kaid. ‘Never,’ said he—‘by the goodness of God, never!’ The voice of Him of Galilee, the hand of Cain, the craft of Jael. But God is with the patient.”
He went hastily and noiselessly-his footfall was light for so heavy a man-through the large room to the farther side from that by which David and Kaid had first entered. Drawing behind a clump of palms near a door opening to a passage leading to Mizraim’s quarters, he waited. ”

“ Europeans or Christians would be admitted to the ceremony of the Sacred
Carpet.
Thus it was that Kaid looked out on a vast multitude of Muslims, in which not one European face showed, and from lip to lip there passed the word, "Harrik—Harrik—remember Harrik! Kaid turns from the infidel!"
They crowded near the great pavilion—as near as the mounted Nubians would permit—to see Kaid's face; while he, with eyes wandering over the vast assemblage, was lost in dark reflections. For a year he had struggled against a growing conviction that some obscure disease was sapping his strength. ”

“ But thou—wilt thou not come also to the lord Mahomet’s tomb? Or”—he paused and raised his voice—“or wilt thou stay and lay thy lips upon the cross of the infidel? Wilt thou—”
He could say no more, for Kaid’s face now darkened with anger. He made a gesture, and, in an instant, the man was gagged and bound, while a sullen silence fell upon the crowd. Kaid suddenly became aware of this change of feeling, and looked round him. Presently his old prudence and subtlety came back, his face cleared a little, and he called aloud, “Unloose the man, and let him come to me.” ”

“ First there came a lull in the general clamour, and then a coarse, jarring, stridulous voice rose in the air. Naomi knew whose voice it was—it was the voice of old Abraham Pigman, the usurer.
“Brothers of Tetuan,” the old man cried, “what are we waiting for? For the verdict of the judges? Who wants their verdict? There is only one thing to do. Let us ask the Kaid to remove this man. The Kaid is a humane master. If he has sometimes worked wrong by us, he has been driven to do that which in his soul he abhors. ”

“ And over the muttered oaths and pitiless curses, the yelping and barking of the cruel voices of the crowd, as the procession moved along, came still the cry of the crier, “So shall it be done to every man who is an enemy of the Kaid, and to every woman who is a play-actor and a cheat.”
Then the mood of the multitude changed. The people began to titter, and after that to laugh openly. They wagged their heads at Israel; they derided him; they made merry over his sorry plight. Where he was now he seemed to be not so much a fallen tyrant as a silly sham and an imposture. Look at him! ”

“ David looked into his eyes. “Not in a month shall thy work be completed, Effendina. Thou shalt live. God and thy strong will shall make it so.”
A light stole over the superstitious face. “No device or hatred, or plot, has prevailed against thee,” Kaid said eagerly. “Thou hast defeated all—even when I turned against thee in the black blood of despair. Thou hast conquered me even as thou didst Harrik.”
“Thou dost live,” returned David drily. “Thou dost live for Egypt’s sake, even as Harrik died for Egypt’s sake, and as others shall die.” ”

“ Nahoum shook his head. “And if I went to Kaid, and said, ‘This is the work of the Inglesi,’ would he believe? Kaid would hang me for the lie—would it be truth to him? What proof have I, save the testimony of mine own eyes? Egypt would laugh at that. Is it the time, while yet the singers are beneath the windows, to assail the bride? All bridegrooms are mad. It is all sunshine and morning with the favourite, the Inglesi. Only when the shadows lengthen may he be stricken. Not now.”
“Why dost thou hide this from Kaid, O thou brother of the eagle?” ”

“ Wilt thou desert it?"
"The West lured me—by things that seemed. Now I know things as they are."
"They will lure thee again to-morrow," said David firmly, but with a weight on his spirit. His eyes sought and held Kaid's. "It is too late to go back; we must go forward or we shall lose the Soudan, and a Mahdi and his men will be in Cairo in ten years."
For an instant Kaid was startled. The old look of energy and purpose leaped up into his eye; but it faded quickly again. If, as the Italian physician more than hinted, his life hung by a thread, did it matter whether the barbarian came to Cairo? ”

“ He was convinced.
"There is only one guilty," returned Nahoum. Their eyes met. Oriental fatalism met inveterate Oriental distrust and then instinctively Kaid's eyes turned to David. In the eyes of the Inglesi was a different thing. The test of the new relationship had come. Ferocity was in his heart, a vitriolic note was in his voice as he said to David, "If this be true— the army rotten, the officers disloyal, treachery under every tunic— bismillah, speak!"
"Shall it not be one thing at a time, Effendina?" asked David. He made a gesture towards Nahoum. Kaid motioned to a door. ”

“ Escape, he knew, there was none, if his death was determined on; for spies were everywhere, and slaves in the pay of Kaid were everywhere, and such as were not could be bought or compelled, even if he took refuge in the house of a foreign consul. The lean, invisible, ghastly arm of death could find him, if Kaid willed, though he delved in the bowels of the Cairene earth, or climbed to an eagle's eyrie in the Libyan Hills. Whether it was diamond-dust or Achmet's thin thong that stopped the breath, it mattered not ”

“ I only know that the Saadat saved your life, and got you started again with Kaid. I only know that you called yourself a Christian, and worked on him till he believed in you, and Hell might crackle round you, but he'd believe, till he saw your contract signed with the Devil—and then he'd think the signature forged. But he's got to know now. We are not going out of Egypt, though you may be going to the Nile; but we are going to the Soudan, and with Kaid's blessing, too. ”

“ And when, afterwards, he came to know the truth, and of her innocence, from the chief eunuch who with his last breath cleared her name, a terrible anger and despair had come upon him. Time and intrigue and conspiracy had distracted his mind, and the Jehad became the fixed aim and end of his life. Now this was gone. Destiny had tripped him up. Kaid and the infidel Inglesi had won.
As the one great passion went out like smoke, the woman he loved, whom he had given to the lions, the memory of her, some haunting part of her, possessed him, overcame him. ”

“ Under the gleaming moon, the exquisite temple of Philae perched on its high rock above the river, the fires on the shore, the masts of the dahabiehs twinkling with lights, and the barbarous songs floating across the water, gave the feeling of past centuries to the scene. From the splendid boat which Kaid had placed at his disposal David looked out upon it all, with emotions not yet wholly mastered by the true estimate of what this day had brought to him. ”

“ On every side eyes burned with religious zeal, and excited faces were turned towards the Effendina. At a certain point there were little groups of men with faces more set than excited. They had a look of suppressed expectancy. Kald neared them, passed them, and, as he did so, they looked at each other in consternation. They were Sharif’s confederates, fanatics carefully chosen. The attempt on Kaid’s life should have been made opposite the spot where they stood. They craned their necks in effort to find the Christian tent-maker, but in vain. ”

“ You, Fatimah, and you, Habeebah, being given to me as bondwomen by the Kaid in the old days when my power, which now is little and of no moment, was great and necessary—you belong to me. Well, I give you your liberty. Your papers are in the name of Ben Aboo, and I have sealed them with his seal—that is the last use but one that I shall put it to. Here they are, both of them. Take them to the Kadi after prayers in the morning, and he will ratify your title. Then you will be free women for ever after. ”

“ When Nahoum stopped speaking David said: "But if I would have it, if it were well that it should be, I doubt I have the power to make it so."
"Saadat-el-bdsha, Kaid believes in thee to-day; he will not believe to-morrow if thou dost remain without initiative. Action, however startling, will be proof of fitness. His Highness shakes a long spear. Those who ride with him must do battle with the same valour. ”

“ He will dig thy grave deep, and wait long.”
“He will work with me for Egypt, Effendina.” Kaid’s face darkened.
“What is thy meaning?”
“I ask Nahoum’s life that he may serve under me, to do those things thou and I planned yesterday—the land, taxation, the army, agriculture, the Soudan. Together we will make Egypt better and greater and richer—the poor richer, even though the rich be poorer.”
“And Kaid—poorer?”
“When Egypt is richer, the Prince is richer, too. Is not the Prince Egypt? ”

“ The kaid Abd-el-Cadik, who was caliph of the King of Taroundant, hastened to send against them forty-five horsemen, and said to them: "You must give me six thousand livres of silver, and a slave, a servant, and a horse in addition." They refused and drove away the cavalry, saying, "Return to the kaid who sent you against us, and say to him that we will not increase our tribute as he demands." The horsemen returned and arrived at Taroundant. ”

“ Kaid chuckled to himself at that. To make the rich poorer would suit him well, so long as he remained rich. And, if riches could be got, as this pale Frank proposed, by less extortion from the fellah and less kourbash, so much the happier for all.
He was capable of patriotism, and this Quaker dreamer had stirred it in him a little. Egypt, industrial in a real sense; Egypt, paying her own way without tyranny and loans: Egypt, without corvee, and with an army hired from a full public purse ”

“ The kaid, who evidently wished to make up for his former inattention, immediately answered, “Yes, yes! plenty; and they also would like to come and look at you, if you will give them leave.” This I was not disposed to refuse; and the kaid, sitting by me, and Maraymy keeping the door, so that not more than three or four came in at a time, I received upwards of one hundred of the softer sex. [103] Some of them were beautiful unaffected children of nature. ”

“ I’m no good, no real good. I’m only fit to run the commissariat, and see that he gets enough to eat, and has a safe camel, and so on. Why doesn’t some one else help him? He’s working for humanity. Give him half a chance, and Haroun-al-Raschid won’t be in it. Kaid trusts him, depends on him, stands by him, but doesn’t seem to know how to help him when help would do most good. The Saadat does it all himself; and if it wasn’t that the poor devil of a fellah sees what he’s doing, and cottons to him, and the dervishes and Arabs feel he’s right, he might as well leave. ”