I did not tell him what was passing through my mind. I was ravenously hungry, and would gladly have had that chicken brought back again; but it was already in the hands of the servants outside. They were devouring the contents.
"You are a great hakim," now observed the proprietor.
"Who told you that?" I remarked, surprised that the reputation acquired in the Kurd's house had thus preceded me.
"The Usebashe knows it. Mohammed, too, has told my servant. Praise be to Allah who has sent you here!"
"I am not a hakim!" I hastily replied. "I am an officer."
"Do not say that," said the Persian, who spoke Turkish fluently. "Do not deny the talents that Allah has given you. Your arrival has cast a gleam of sunshine on our threshold, and you will not go away without gladdening the hearts of my family."
"What do you want me to do?" I inquired.
"My wife is poorly: I ask you to cure her."
"But really I know very little about medicine. I have only a few simple remedies with me."
"Simple remedies indeed!" said the Persian. "A man who can set a person's shoulder on fire with a piece of wet paper!"