"I have been hoping to find you," said I, "for I know the sheikhs in the Ḥaurān, and they have shown me much kindness. Therefore I desire to salute all Druzes wherever I may meet with them."
"Allah!" said he. "Do you know the Turshān?"
THE APSE, ḲALB LŌZEH
"By God!" said I.
"Shibly and Yaḥya his brother?"
"Yaḥya I know, but Shibly is dead."
"Dead!" he exclaimed. "Oh Merciful! Shibly dead!" And with that he drew from me all the news of the Mountain and listened with rapt attention to tales for which I had not thought to find a willing ear so far from Ṣalkhad. Suddenly his questions stopped and he swerved off the path towards a vineyard in which a young man was pruning the vines.