THE FEAST WITH THE ANEZEH 



every horse sold out of the desert, he, in Alep- 

 po, got a commission of five pounds, just as 

 Hashem Bey, the Sheikh of the Anezeh did. 

 On this occasion he said he was not taking any 

 commission, and that he would not allow me 

 to buy any horse except at a fair price. 



We three Americans were astonished at this 

 performance, and so was Ameene. The lat- 

 ter had seen the miserable gang of cut-throats 

 around Bey rout that were trying to sell us 

 horses whose most exaggerated value would 

 have been about two pounds. Truly we were 

 in safe hands in the desert. 



When I heard that there was only $20 dif- 

 ference between Akmet Haff ez and Sheikh Ali 

 on the price of the gray, I told Haffez that we 

 were to be the guests of Sheikh Ali for three 

 days, and, as he would then have to feed all our 

 horses, camels and men I would like to buy 

 the horse, even against Haffez's will. So I 

 bought him. As I rode home, we found out, 

 as Akmet Haffez told us before we left Alep- 

 po, that the poorest horse we had, I had bought 

 against his wishes. 



Late that afternoon a man came riding a re- 

 markable gray mare. She looked so different 

 from the other mares that I could hardly wait 



[1171 



