PLANS FOR THE FLIGHT 31 



Sayed's orders. You may go safely where you like 

 among us, for it is the Sayed's wish." Mustapha listened 

 eagerly. "It is true," he said. "The Sayed is great. 

 All the people fear him. Otherwise they would kill every 

 Christian in the country." 



I began to realise the vast problem with which Italy 

 is faced and to admire more than ever the way she is 

 dealing with it. For the moment Europe has no message 

 for the fierce fanatics of Libya, but the fertile altipiano 

 of Cyrenaica, only a few miles from the sea, will have a 

 prosperous future. Italian workmen have done so much 

 to build up the prosperity of Egj^pt and Tunis. There 

 is a wide field opening for them from Zuetina to Tobruk 

 in which their industry and thrift may benefit their own 

 country. Cyrenaica, once the granary of the Roman 

 Empire, will be fittingly colonised by the descendants 

 of those legionaries who left their trace from Cyrene 

 to far-off Misda. The budding colony should have a 

 splendid agricultural future and the friendship between 

 Italy and the Senussi, recently cemented at Regima, 

 should open up the old trans- Saharan caravan routes. 

 The Sultan used to confide his most precious merchandise 

 to the protection of Sidi Ben Ali es Senussi on its long 

 journeys to Wadai. Why should not the same arrange- 

 ment be made between the Governor of Cyrenaica and 

 the hereditary Emir of the Senussi ? 



The sun was setting as I left the suq, a blaze of deep, 

 flaming orange that we never see in Europe. The sky 

 was molten in the crucible. I sent away the pony and 

 sat crouched on the sand to watch the glory fade. A 

 camel or two passed like huge distorted shadows across 

 the burning west. A few white shrouded figures went 

 by me with a soft "Bismillah!" I ached for a horse, 

 a camel, an5i;hing that would take me away into the 

 wide spaces beyond Jedabia. The strain of suspense 



