That in holy Koran stand;
Famous shalt thou be, my baby,
Wealthy, mighty, handsome, grand.
Hushaby, thou breathest smoothly,
And thine eyes like daisies close;
Sleep hath caught thee to her bosom
Rest, my baby, sweet repose.
CHAPTER IX
ARAFAT DAY: NIGHT[2]
[2] In the East the night precedes the day, thus our Sunday night is their Monday night.
It has always been difficult, if not impossible, to satisfy the cravings of an inquisitive nature; and when Seyyid ’Alí left the tent, singing the Persian lullaby, my curiosity was not long in overcoming my desire to sleep. It was not the prayerful hum of the canvas city that kept me awake; it was the undevotional uproar, with the appeal it made to my love of adventure. I lay there for some time thinking, as men active and alert in body and mind will, of the chances I might miss of witnessing some deed of heroism or of violence, were I to allow myself to count the possible cost of the risk, rather than the certain opportunities of distinction which its dangers would present to a man of an enterprising spirit.