So, upon the house-top system I resolved to go straight to Tahir Beg, pretend a high and mighty resentment of such treatment of a guest, and bid him an abrupt farewell. By this means I should be able to tell exactly by his manner what his thoughts were. If he suspected me, he would raise no objection to my departure.
So, groping my way along the dark verandah, I found him upon his roof among the usual cronies, and took my place upon his right among the silent throng. After some time he asked whether I had made any arrangement for staying here awhile, as he was very anxious to study French with me. I put on a resentful air, and answered that I was leaving Halabja in a very few days; and in reply to his question why, told him that a guest was not accustomed to receive night messengers of evil, speaking evil of his host, and that if the ancient Kurdish law of hospitality were to be thus violated I had better leave at once. At this the company pricked up their ears, and at the mention of Kurdish hospitality a black look crossed their faces, and a murmur went around, partly of astonishment at my audacity, and partly of censure and resentment at such a statement in the Jaf house. It also roused Tahir Beg, and he not unnaturally demanded immediate explanation of such statements, whereupon I frankly told him all that had occurred.
To my surprise the company showed considerable amusement, and even Tahir Beg himself nearly smiled; but before he could offer any reply, old Sayyid of Barzinjan, a privileged elder, said: “Dost thou not know this foolish creature Amin Effendi, nor know that this is what he does for every stranger here, thereby ruining our name and alarming our guests. Take no notice. He is a mean man among the meanest, and being an incompetent fool, naturally fears that you, whom he knows only as a doctor, will cut the ground from under his feet, and gain his dismissal. Wait till to-morrow, go to see Lady Adela, but do not mention the affair to her.”
THE RENEGADE’S DISGRACE
Tahir Beg, making no assertion contrary to this, added that I must take no notice of the creature—a renegade, the meanest of the mean, a deceitful and little-minded individual who could only disgrace those who supported him. He then, as if to make up for the resentment I had felt, devoted himself to a long and cordial conversation upon various subjects, and showing me such attention that it was clear from the behaviour of the company when I left that Amin Effendi’s attempt to get rid of me had but improved my position, with Tahir Beg at any rate.
FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER X:
[58] Yuzbashi = major.
[59] Bash chaush = sergeant.
[60] The Kurds have corrupted the name, in an appropriate way, to “Khwolmur,” “the Dead Land.”
[61] The district is mentioned in some ancient works as Siazurus, and was an important district of Holwan in Sasanian times.