The Treasure of the Tigris: A Tale of Mesopotamia

by A. F. Mockler-Ferryman

I looked at my companion, whose face was ashy white, but who kept himself under perfect control. Addressing the Governor quietly, he told him that he thought it would be injurious to the health of his son if any further discussion took place in the sick-room, and he begged that he would permit us to adjourn to another apartment, as he wished to make a disclosure to him in the presence of the Arab physicians. The Governor agreed to the proposal, and, bidding the doctors and ourselves follow him, led the way to his private audience hall.

"What is it, my friend," he asked, "that you wish to say?"

"Great Lord of the Arabs and Protector of the Poor," said Edwards, standing forth boldly, "it is most unpleasant for me, who have received the greatest hospitality at your hands, to lay a complaint against the members of your household. But I would beg of you to bear in mind that I have only at heart the welfare of your sick child, and that anything I say is solely for his good. You yourself did me the honour to place confidence in me and seek my advice; yet, when I gave that advice, you pretended to be satisfied with it, but, unbeknown to me, you rejected it, because your mulla, who is in league with your court physicians, pretended that your sacred book forbade the application of my remedies."

I trembled at Edwards's temerity, and the Arabs looked at Ali Khan as if they expected him to rise in his wrath and destroy us both, but our host merely bowed his head and told Edwards to proceed, which he did with increased warmth.

"I am aware," he continued, "that I am not of your Faith, but I hold to as great a belief in the powers of Allah as do yourselves. I maintain, however, that although I am younger than the youngest of your physicians, I have had far greater experience in the treatment of diseases than he or any of his brethren. From the first I prescribed such medicines as I considered likely to benefit the patient. You yourself know that those medicines were thrown away. I knew it for certain some few hours ago, though I had suspected it earlier. I only discovered the truth on visiting the patient when he was alone this afternoon. Then I understood that he had never been given my medicines, and, in your absence, I took it upon myself to administer at once a strong dose, the result of which is now apparent."

"Sire," broke in the chief physician excitedly, "believe not a word that he says. He is seeking to misappropriate to himself the good that your own physicians have accomplished. What proof is there that the child had any of his medicines?"

"One person," said Edwards, "was present, and saw everything. It was the waiting-woman, Habisha, but I made her swear to reveal what she saw to no one."

The Arab doctors, evidently still believing that they had treated the child successfully, openly derided Edwards's assertion, and Ali Khan, wavering between loyalty to his own men and politeness to his guest, thought to settle the matter by interviewing the waiting-woman. Edwards at once realised the difficulty, for it was improbable that the woman, with the foreigner's Evil Eye in her mind, would disclose anything; so he volunteered to accompany the Governor, in order that the woman might be assured that she could now speak. The quarter of an hour that the two were absent was an uncomfortable one for me, left alone with the physicians; but, to my relief, they ignored my presence, and conversed amongst themselves.

The expression on Edwards's face, on his return, conveyed to me plainly that all had gone well; and a moment later Ali Khan told the Arabs that he had convinced himself that what his guest had said was true, that he had actually administered a dose to his son, but that fortunately it had been given in the cup which was inscribed with a text from the Koran. Ali Khan now assumed a judicial air, as if pronouncing judgment in his hall of justice, and he said that, after due consideration, he had come to the conclusion that, although the foreigner had acted wrongfully in secretly administering the medicine, nevertheless he had been requested to treat the child, and that having once given the child his medicines, it would be most dangerous to alter the course which had been commenced. He therefore decreed that the foreigner should continue to treat his son, and that his own wise and worthy physicians should refrain from visiting the sick-room, until such time as he should invite them. I could see that the decision was a terrible and an unexpected blow to the Arab gentlemen, but they bowed politely to their master, asked permission to retire, and pompously sailed from the room.

No sooner were we alone than Ali Khan, throwing off all reserve, seized Edwards by the hand, thanked him fervently for what he had done, and apologised for his own weakness in allowing himself to be influenced by his doctors. Henceforward, he said, Edwards should have sole charge of the sick boy, and he begged him to forget the past and to do all that lay in his power to bring about his recovery. Edwards, of course, agreed to do his best, on the condition that he was not interfered with in any way, and he returned to his patient, with whom he now decided to spend the night.