And on my answering in the affirmative,
“I see,” continued he, “that your actions are much greater than your stature.”
“A musket-ball,” I replied, “is small, yet it kills great men.”
He smiled.
“I find it very difficult,” he resumed, “to credit all that I hear of you: I would have you answer me frankly; what is the object of the alliance which you have been labouring so many years to accomplish?”
“Its object is very simple,” answered I. “We are desirous to unite all the Bedouins of Syria under the command of the Drayhy, to resist the Turks; you may perceive that we are by these means forming an impenetrable barrier between you and your enemies.”
“Very well,” said he; “but that being your object, why did you endeavour to destroy my armies before Hama?”
“Because,” I replied, “you were an obstacle to our projects. It was not for you, but for the Drayhy, that we were labouring. His power once established in Syria, Mesopotamia, and to the confines of Persia, we were willing to enter into alliance with you, and become by that means invulnerable in the possession of our entire liberty. Children of the same nation, we have but one cause to defend: for this purpose we came here to cement an indissoluble union with you. You received us in an offensive manner, and the Drayhy on his part has reproached you in offensive terms; but our intentions were sincere, and we have proved them so by confiding ourselves unarmed to your good faith.”
The king’s countenance cleared up more and more as I spoke; and when I had ceased, he said,
“I am satisfied.”