Her forehead was wrinkled, characteristically. "I suppose it has to be done, but frankly, I'm not too sure just what we are doing. Here we go about pushing these supposed teachings of El Hassan and when we're taken up by the people and they actually attempt to accomplish what we taught them, we draw in on the reins."
"Man, you're right," Abe said unhappily. He looked at his chief. "What'd you say, Homer?"
"Of course she's right," Crawford growled. "It's just premature, is all. There's no program, no plan of action. If there was one, this thing here in Mopti might be the spark that united all North Africa. As it is, we have to put the damper on it until there is a definite program." He added sourly, "I'm just wondering if the Reunited Nations is the organization that can come up with one. And, if it isn't, where is there one?"
The mosque loomed up before them. The square before it was jam packed with milling Africans.
"Great guns," Isobel snorted, "there're more people here than the whole population of Mopti. Where'd they all come from?"
"They've been filtering in from the country," Crawford said.
"Well, we'll filter 'em back," Abe promised.
They spotted a ruckus and could see Elmer Allen in the middle of it, his quarterstaff flailing.
"On the double," Homer bit out, and he and Abe broke into a trot for the point of conflict. The idea was to get this sort of thing over as quickly as possible before it had a chance to spread.