It was on the second floor of one of the old houses with which the street was filled. The brick wall on the street side had largely been removed, and great glass windows put in, making the place light and pleasant. The room was not large. It was furnished with small, round tables. On the walls were various printed cards and placques, but Willie could read none of them. He judged that they were printed in Turkish characters. There were a few tapestries hung about, but otherwise little attempt had been made at ornamentation.
Willie’s attention was instantly riveted by the men in the place. Slight of build, dressed in dark clothes, and displaying considerable jewelry, with swarthy skins, black hair, and piercing eyes, they sat indolently in groups, conversing in their native tongue. All of them were smoking, mostly cigarettes; but two of the groups were gathered about Turkish hookahs, from which all of those in the groups were smoking.
Willie had never before seen hookahs, but he had read about them, and he knew instantly that the strange things he was looking at were hubble-bubbles or water-pipes, so extensively used in the Orient. The thing made him think of a large water carafe with a gaudy, handleless teacup set atop of it. The teacup was a highly ornate tobacco-bowl. From it a tube descended into the carafe-like water container, which was of glass, also ornamented. Leading from this water bowl were several pliant tubes of some length, that terminated in mouthpieces like pipes. Each of the smokers held one of these tubes in his hand. From time to time each smoker raised his mouthpiece to his lips and drew smoke through the tube. At each inhalation the smoke was sucked down from the glowing tobacco-bowl through the water, which bubbled and bubbled.
At the entrance of the three Americans a sudden hush fell on the place. Every eye in the room was directed toward them. But when the purser and his companions returned the gaze, eyes were turned away again. Yet Willie saw well enough, that though no one was staring at them, not a move of theirs escaped observation. The observation was sly, furtive. It made Willie think of a cat watching for a mouse, apparently half asleep, with eyes all but closed, yet intensely alert and ready to spring at the appearance of so much as a whisker. In the same way Willie felt that the purser, Roy, and he were being watched. The various groups in the place resumed their talk. The men lounged in their chairs in an indolent, indescribably lazy way, not unlike a cat stretched out by a kitchen fire. And indolently they puffed at their cigarettes and hookah tubes.
Soon the feeling of uneasiness wore off. The purser seemed to feel perfectly at home, and Roy likewise paid small attention to those about him. He was continuing his discussion with the purser.
The latter picked up a bill of fare and shoved it across the table to his companions. “What shall it be?” he inquired.
“You might as well ask me what the people of Mars look like,” laughed Roy, examining the card. “I could answer just as intelligently. These names don’t mean a thing to me.”
“How would it be if I order?” inquired the purser. “We can have several large orders, from which we can all be helped. We’ll find some things that way that we shall all like, I’m sure.”
“That suits us,” said Roy and Willie together.
The purser consulted his card and then talked to the waiter, who presently returned with a huge tray full of curious foods. He brought rice with cooked tomatoes and meat and spice in it, called pilau; and meat rolled into a hollow cylinder and filled with unnamable but delectable vegetables and savory spices and raisins; and cucumbers, hollowed out and stuffed, then baked; and curious forms of bread; and pastries; and dishes composed of baked fruits with raisins; and other strange delicacies, so that the little table was filled to overflowing. But the party did not object to that. Each was hungry by this time and they attacked the food vigorously. After a single mouthful they needed no urging. “Yum! Yum!” said Roy, sampling the stuffed meat roll. “This sure is great!” Then he fell to with a will. The purser smiled with pleasure. For a few moments there was little conversation among the three. They were too busy to talk. When they had ended, the platters were bare. Turkish coffee was served in tiny cups. When they were entirely through with their meal, the purser paid the bill, and the three went out.