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176 BY DESERT WAYS TO BAGHDAD
"X," I murmured softly, " what does this make you
think about ? "
X was one of those rare people who always know
what they are thinking about. She did not fail me
on this occasion.
"It reminds me of Scotland," she said without
hesitation. " Why, what does it make you think
about ? "
But I had stopped thinking about it, and agreed
that I had seen places like it in Scotland.
" Pasha," said Hassan, " the boatmen want you not
to sit so near the edge of the raft."
" Why," laughed X, " do they think I shall roll
over?"
" No," replied Hassan, pointing ahead, " but we
are going to shoot a rapid and they say you will be
frightened."
" I would sooner be frightened than go through the
awful exertion of moving on this raft," said X, and
she gazed placidly at the line of foaming waters which
we were rapidly nearing. There was only just room
for the raft to rush between hard, sharp-edged boulders
of rock, and it seemed as if we should inevitably be
dashed to pieces or stranded at an acute angle on one
of them.
The Zaptiehs helped with the oars, they and the
boatmen keeping up one prolonged yell of "Allah!
Allah!" They exerted themselves strenuously, a strange
thing for Easterns to do ; the raft creaked and rocked
and plunged; there was a very disturbing sense of
fuss and unseemly exertion on board; the cook was
saying his prayers inside; Hassan, with an air of
ENCOUNTER WITH ENGLISHMAN 177
total unconcern or even apparent perception of what
was going on, was laboriously adding up his accounts ;
and X, with equal unconcern, was mending her
gloves. On such occasions one thinks of one's past
sins and the future ; I thought of the future. I stood
up and leaned my back against the wall of the hut
to steady myself.
"X," I roared above the din, " I wonder what there
is for supper to-night."
X looked at me with a bored expression. " The
same, I should think," she said, " as we had last
night and the night before and the night before that.
Why this sudden interest in your food ? "
" Because," I said, " I have an idea I shall enjoy
my supper to-night."
" Yes," said X (she was always sympathetic), " this
sort of weather does make one hungry."
Further conversation was prevented by a sudden
leap of water and raft right into the air, and with
the leap went up a loud cry to Allah as the men
threw themselves, with one great determination, on
the oars. We shot head downwards into the dark
waters past the white froth of foam ; there was a
moment of turmoil, then everything became very
still; the men rested exhausted on their oars, the
roaring waters sounded faint in the distance. I looked
round; Hassan was still at his accounts; X had
finished her gloves and was lying back with her
eyes closed ; the cook's prayers had ceased ; we were
through. The cook came out rubbing his hands jocosely.
" Arten," I said, " your prayers have saved us from
some inconvenience."
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