MY QUEST OF THE ARAB HORSE 



at once that if he said that the picture was not 

 a good Hkeness, then my confidence in it as a 

 likeness would be destroyed. But soon he 

 closed the sketch book and handed it to me with 

 a whisper: "It is the only picture of him ever 

 made. If it is ever known that you have it 

 your visit to the Ottoman Empire will be a 

 sad one." He implored us not to write to 

 America about it, but to keep it always in an 

 inside pocket tightly buttoned. 



We thought we had carried out these instruc- 

 tions. In Aleppo it was shown to only one 

 man, and out in the desert only Akmut Hafez 

 and Hashem Bev saw it. Yet when we ap- 

 proached Alexandretta, on the way back, an 

 American came three hours ride into the moun- 

 tains to meet us and tell us that the Turkish 

 spies in Alexandretta knew, or thought they 

 knew, that I had a picture of the Sultan with 

 me. He told us that if this picture was dis- 

 covered all my horses and mares would be con- 

 fiscated, that the Irade would be taken away 

 and that the trip would count for nothing. So 

 we put the sketch-book containing the Sul- 

 tan's picture, in the middle of a bale of hay, 

 which was secretly marked. Then we took two 

 Arab soldiers into our confidence and told them 



[48] 



