MY QUEST OF THE ARAB HORSE 



10 o'clock the following morning, he drew from 

 his inside pocket, carefully, all the time smil- 

 ing more and more broadly, my Irade, with offi- 

 cial attachments pinned to it and with the add- 

 ed information from the Sultan, that, on this 

 occasion, I could export with the mares what 

 stallions I chose to purchase. 



Things were different then; the dogs in the 

 street looked a little better to us, and we fig- 

 ured out that Constantinople would not be such 

 a bad place if they spent five or six years try- 

 ing to clean the streets. We were jubilant; 

 we went to see a polo match, saw the first Arab 

 polo horses, and heard evidence from an En- 

 glish naval officer that to play polo nowadays, 

 and play it right, one should be mounted on an 

 Arab. 



We were restless to get on our journey. 

 The Sultan indeed had sent word to us from 

 the Palace that it would be impossible, owing 

 to the heat, to go to Aleppo and the desert at 

 that time of the year, but we smiled, and sent 

 word back with the royal messenger, that we 

 were not on a pleasure trip, but on business 

 only. 



[18] 



