^iV ESCORT ARRANGED FOR. 61 



necessary ? " " He could not allow me to proceed 

 with less than six, and would arrange for a larger 

 number if I desired it." I groaned inwardly, desired 

 my interpreter to offer him my profuse thanks for his 

 kindness, and to beg him not to trouble himself by 

 making arrangements for sending more than the neces- 

 sary minimum. " He was at my service, and it should 

 be as I wished," and for the next half-hour we passed 

 those little absurdities — the Colonel seated on my only 

 chair, myself on the bed — which under such circum- 

 stances have perforce to do duty for conversation. 



In the vicinity of the town I found considerable care 

 being bestowed upon the construction of a metalled 

 road, which extended for three or four miles in the 

 direction of Aleppo. This I learnt was the work of a 

 syndicate of merchants, whose too sanguine subscribers 

 entertained the hope that it might some day be laid 

 with rails. Should it be successful in escaping the 

 usual fate of premature collapse, which overtakes most 

 schemes of regeneration in Turkey, it will no doubt be 

 of some service to wheeled traffic, especially if an 

 experience which I witnessed not far from Deir is of 

 common occurrence. Rounding a small spur of cliffs 

 which bound the river-plain, I was startled by vocifer- 

 ous shouting and a resounding crash, and the next 

 moment came in sight of an araha lying upside down 

 in front of me. It required the united efforts of the 

 spilt party, and of all the king's horses, and all the 

 king's men, in the shape of my escort, who arrived 

 upon the scene most opportunely, to set it up again. 



