CHAPTER IV
ENTITLED AL-KANTARA, OR THE BRIDGE
When the hour of public executions had arrived and the boys were assembled once more at their uncle’s feet to hear the story of his fortunes, (their minds full of his last success), the old man, still occupied with that pleasing memory, began at once the continuation of his life.
“I left the valley, as I told you, my dear nephews, nourished by the memory of a whole people’s gratitude and giving thanks to God who had made me the humble instrument of so great a good. They err who think that great wealth is marked with oppression, or that the rich man has despoiled the populace. Upon the contrary, the fortunes of the wealthy are but an index of what excellent work they have done for all; and I, for my part, equally joined in my heart the memory of all the benefits I had conferred upon my kind in the matter of Pipkins, and my overflowing satisfaction at the heavy bags of coin which swayed upon the backs of my camels.
“Day after day we proceeded, my caravan and I, through the high hills, pitching our camp each evening by some wooded torrent side and nourishing ourselves with the provisions with which I had amply stored my company at my departure.
“Such scenes were solemn and inclined the mind to reverence. Never had my prayers been more sincere and deep than they were during the long watches I passed in the cloudless nights of those mountains, in the solemnity of their vast woods; and the holy thoughts of grateful affluence harmonized with the ceaseless voices of the forest.
“I had during this long journey through the barrier range but little opportunity to exercise those gifts in which I may humbly say I excel. For these villages were few and poor and the opportunities for talent were rare. It was indeed my duty to keep my hand in, as the saying goes, and not to let my wealth diminish as I passed. Thus I would, for mere practice, strike some little bargain from time to time. I would purchase obsolete arms from some village less backward than the rest and sell them at some further stage onward to rude mountaineers who had not even heard of such ancient weapons. I was not above offering to carry, as my caravan passed, sundry goods from one farm to another at an agreed price, and these (after selecting what from among them seemed to me best worth keeping) I would punctually deliver to their consignees.
“I amused myself at my leisure, also, when I was in no haste, with occasional experiments in engineering such as suit the more educated man among his fellows. Thus I would let the water out from a dam as I passed it and then, at a considerable price, repair the ravages the escaping water might have made in the valley below. And I was even agreeable to retrace my steps and repair the damage which the flood had inevitably occasioned to the barrier itself: charging a suitable sum for both operations.
“Sometimes—when the occasion offered—I did business on a somewhat larger scale. I remember purchasing a whole train of wheat which was on its way to one of the larger hamlets, and when I arrived there keeping the people in some suspense (but not to the point of actual famine) until their necessity very naturally produced an excellent price for the grain. I also negotiated ransoms from time to time upon commission when I found myself in a district of brigands—simple folk—and I picked up some very curious carvings and pieces of metal work at a price satisfying to their rude owners yet promising an enormous profit when I should reach the plains.