"In the name of my country," he said proudly, "we agree!"
The word "agree" had not been heard in this chamber for many months, and General O'Reilly wondered if he had heard aright. "Agree?" he stared. "Agree to what?"
"To toss a coin for it, as the chairman has proposed," the Arab said. "That is, it the Israeli delegation has the courage, the sportsmanship to agree." He looked tauntingly to his rivals across the room.
The Israeli leader sprang to his feet, indignant. "I protest, Mr. Chairman, to this frivolous treatment of a serious matter, which will affect the future of—"
He felt silent, aware of the contemptuous smiles on the faces of the Arabs.
General O'Reilly kept his countenance. He said mildly: "Of course, if you are not willing to risk the luck of—"
"We are afraid of nothing, sir!" the Israeli snapped. "We are as sporting as anyone else, but—" One of his fellow delegates whispered something to him. Then the whole Israeli delegation talked in low voices. Finally the leader rose again. "Will you permit me to telephone my minister?"
Gravely the general recessed the meeting for thirty minutes. In his own room, he stared at himself in the mirror, still dazed.
"My God!" he breathed. "They can't be taking it seriously!"
But why not? If the arguments were so evenly balanced that not even Solomon could have chosen, if they really wanted a settlement, if they could never give in without losing "face"—why, what better method than to trust it to the fall of a coin? Still—things just didn't happen that way.