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TURKISH MILITARY OFFICERS 195
than Ighsan, but with infinite grace and courteBy.
These courteous sheikhs might be the most bigoted
and fanatical of zealots for aught I knew ; but seeing
them in these circumstances they compelled my
admiration. And if dignity, courtesy, and apparent
kindliness of heart count for anything at all, 1 cannot
imagine any one, who saw them as I did, being otherwise
than favourably impressed.
Quite different was the manner of Turkish military
officers whom we chanced to meet ; in them other
feelings were apparent. These men were always
mounted — I never once met an officer afoot in
Kaisariyeh— as if any other form of progression
were beneath them. Their chief concern seemed to
be the appearance they presented, but there was
also another cause for their manner. The impotence
of their country under Italian aggression in Tripoli
had cut Turkish officers to the quick, each felt that
his personal honour was affected, and with that became
inordinately sensitive. They saw in every foreigner
at least a silent critic who should be kept at arm'slength.
Meanwhile, to make the best of things
and impress the supposed critic favourably, they
individually presented the best appearance at their
command.
Here, therefore, I grew familiar with the sight of
Turkish officers stiffening in the saddle on seeing me,
and throwing into posture and aspect whatever of
hauteur and nonchalance they could combine with
showy horsemanship. Their stallion mounts would be
made to go restively, with tossing head and champing
of bit, while the rider, sitting erect, swayed with easy
grace, and was fiercely oblivious of the foreigner for
whose benefit the display was made. Ighsan never
took any notice of these fine horsemen. In khaki
uniform and gold-laced khaki-coloured fez they stood
for the new army, the new order of things, the Young
Turks—in short, for European ideas as he understood
them. Even at this early stage I gathered that he
preferred the times of Abdul Hamid to anything the