Money--ah, but enough for this expedition!
That over, order, quiet yonder, my own chosen men as governors, and I
could"--he pointed towards the southern horizon--"I could plant my foot
in Cairo, and from the centre control the great machinery--with Kaid's
help; and God's help. A sixth of a million, and Kaid's hand behind me,
and the boat would lunge free of the sand-banks and churn on, and churn
on. . . . Friend," he added, with the winning insistence that few found
it possible to resist, "if all be well, and we go thither, wilt thou
become the governor-general yonder? With thee to rule justly where there
is most need of justice, the end would be sure--if it be the will of
God."
Ebn Ezra Bey sat for a moment looking into the worn, eager face,
indistinct in the moonlight, then answered slowly: "I am seventy, and the
years smite hard as they pass, and there or here, it little matters when
I go, as I must go; and whether it be to bend the lance, or bear the flag
before thee, or rule a Mudirieh, what does it matter! I will go with
thee," he added hastily; "but it is better thou shouldst not go.
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