THE WAR MARE IN THE DESERT 



heard of the failure of the Italian Government 

 to secure the horse, although a large price had 

 been offered for him. But the Governor was 

 firm. 



"You have accepted," said he, "the present of 

 the war mare, Wadduda, from Akmet Haffez; 

 you must accept this horse as a present from 



me." 



So I did, but later in the day I sent to Hick- 

 mut Bey, the Governor's son, as a present, a 

 check for one hundred French pounds. 

 Honors were therefore easy, but nevertheless 

 I had had presented to me on the eve of my 

 start for the desert, a mare and a stallion which 

 I could not have purchased with all my letters 

 of credit. 



The rest of the day was taken up in pre- 

 paring for the journey to the desert with Haf- 

 fez. At five o'clock we had left Aleppo. I 

 rode Wadduda; Haffez was on a bay, four 

 years old, a Hamdani Simri; Thompson con- 

 tented himself with his gray, and Moore strad- 

 dled an Abeyeh Sherrakieh mare. One of 

 Haffez's sons rode the "Pride of the Desert." 

 A priest was sent as a secretary, and Ameene, 

 of course, accompanied us. 



The Governor had picked twelve soldiers to 



[93] 



