Suddenly smoke could be seen, and then a hamlet of thirty houses
loomed up. Forder opened a door and a voice came calling, "Welcome!"
He went in and saw some Arabs crouching there out of the rain. A fire
of dried manure was made; the smoke made Forder's eyes smart and the
tears run down his cheeks. He changed into another man's clothes, and
hung his own up in the smoke to dry.
"Where are we?" he asked. The men told him that he was about two and
a half hours' ride from the castle and two hours off the track that he
had left in the mist. The men came in from the other little houses to
see the stranger and sip coffee. Forder again brought out an Arabic
New Testament and found to his surprise that some of the men could
read quite well and were very keen on his books. So they bought some
of the Bibles from him. They had no money but paid him in dried figs,
flour and eggs. At last they left him to curl up on the hard floor;
and in spite of the cold and draughts and the many fleas he soon fell
asleep.
As dawn came up he rose and started off: there (as he climbed out of
the hollow in which the hamlet lay) he could see the Castle Sulkhund.
He knew that the Turks did not want any foreigner to enter that land
of the Arabs, and that if he were seen, he would certainly be ordered
back.
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