“Go on—on to the khan! Destroy that beast!—hide him!—drown him. Y’ Allah!” hissed the same voice of authority and anger.
More and more alarmed, Shems-ud-dìn faced Milhem. The latter seized his arm.
“Come away! This way or that, what recks it?... And now, peradventure, thou wilt deign to inform me why, in the Holy Name, thou masqueradest as a jester, riding upon an ass, preceded by three old men, all on one pattern, all of them also riding upon asses; so that people, deeming it a portent, ask: ‘What means this strange riding?’ Thou couldst well afford a fine horse apiece for thyself and thy servant. What ails thee that thou must needs play the mountebank?”
“I must return to my friends,” said Shems-ud-dìn, disengaging his arm. “They will wonder what has befallen me.”
“Thy friends!... That absurd procession!... Allah witness, it is a child!—a little child!” Milhem raised eyes to heaven, while his laugh rang out. “Must I tell thee that thou art a great man here? All the learned await thy visit with impatience. They would have ridden forth to meet thee. And behold thee seated upon the sorriest scrub of an ass that ever I saw; preceded by three old men, all the sons of one mother, all born at one birth, all as like as camels. What can one say? It is a miracle, perhaps!”
“They are not brothers, neither do they in aught resemble one another,” said Shems-ud-dìn, much aggrieved. “They are my good friends. Howbeit, to please thee, I will sell my donkey and buy me a good horse before we ride together.”
“That is well. For didst thou come riding upon an ass, attended by three old men with but one face between them, I should know thee for a wizard and depart quickly.”
With that Milhem went off, chuckling; leaving his brother, crestfallen and mystified, to find his own way to the khan of Ahmed Effendi.
Milhem’s words proved true. Shems-ud-dìn found himself in high request among the erudite of Damashc-esh-Shâm. During the weeks spent there, he was constantly visiting and being visited; twice was he called upon to preach in the great mosque; and a general meeting of the doctors was convened on purpose to debate with him upon certain knotty questions of religious law. To his vast surprise, Milhem attended him everywhere, lending a disciple’s ear to his disquisitions, and treating him in public with a new respect. In private, he condescended to explain:
“O my dear, it is well for one like me to secure the good word of these reverend ones; who, as a rule, hate the government and its servants. I would have them perceive that I am not irreligious in the likeness of other officials. And I thank Allah for thy great holiness, O my brother!”