CHAPTER XV 



WE SAY FAREWELL TO AKMET HAFFEZ AND 

 START FOR THE COAST — "tHE PRIDE OF THE 

 EUPHRATES" COMES TO US AT LAST AND MEETS 

 HER TWO SONS. 



That night brought the beginning of our 

 f arewejl to the desert, for we were to part with 

 Akmet Haffez and for the last time to break 

 bread under his hospitable roof. Crowds had 

 gathered around his house. Strange Bedouins 

 whom we had never seen, were there to say 

 good-bye in their solemn cordial way, but the 

 old man was all smiles (for us), as he per- 

 sonally superintended the spreading of the 

 bounteous feast. 



And so we too feigned light-heartedness, in 

 spite of an undertone of sadness. We would 

 eat his food — and then leave a friend, one of 

 the best we had ever met. Few men in any 

 country would have gone out of their way 

 so far as to have done for us what this diplo- 



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