The direct, efficient way, however, in which Bara Miyan dealt with one held as an enemy, urged the Master to press forward the ceremony of giving and taking salt.
At all hazards, safeguards against attack must be taken. Once more the
Master addressed Bara Miyan:
"Effendi! Our gifts are great to thee and thine. Great, also, is our magic. Let thine imams do their magic, and we ours. If the magic of El Barr exceeds ours, we will depart without exchange of gifts. If ours exceeds thine, then let the salt be in our stomachs, all for all, and let the gifts be exchanged!
"Thy magic against our magic! Say, O Sheik, dost thou dare accept that challenge?"
The old man's head came up sharply. His eyes gleamed with intense pride and confidence.
"The magic of the unbelievers against that of the People of the Garment!" (Moslems!) cried he. "Bismillah! To the testing of the magic!"
CHAPTER XXXIX
ON, TO THE GOLDEN CITY!
The Spartan simplicity of the proceedings impressed the Master far more than any Oriental ceremony could have done. Here was the Olema, or high priest and chief, of a huge city carved of virgin gold, coming to meet him on horseback and speaking to him face to face, like a man.
It was archaic, patriarchal, dramatic in the extreme. No incensed courts, massed audiences, tapestried walls, trumpeting heralds, genuflexions, could have conveyed half the sense of free, virile power that this old Bara Miyan gave as he stood there on the close turf, under the ardent sun, and with a wave of his slim hand gave the order: