ingly, he had made no effort which, however sure one might to trace the thief, but had be that he was in was in reality simply confiscated from Haji grinding out their last penny, Sa'ad a number of buffaloes was difficult to disprove; for to the value of £T400. The we were still new to the coununfortunate headman, thus sud- try, and moreover at this time, denly, through no fault fault of when matters were looking very his own, deprived of his all, black round Kut, our policy now appealed to a beneficent was one of non-intervention and merciful Government to between the shaikh and his restore his buffaloes. tribes. 66 Hakim," said the old man earnestly, "your Honour knows that the robbing of a guest brings bitter disgrace upon us. If this Jaafer had entrusted his wealth to me, all would have been well; but, even though I knew not how great a sum he had, I would pay it back in full, rather than that dishonour should come upon my village. But, Sahib, the sum is too large. Our shaikhs " -he dropped his voice" are tyrannous, and leave us barely enough for the needs of life. And now Shibal, to repay this theft, has taken away all my buffaloes, and I am ruined. I beseech your Honour to save me from this injustice." I was sorry for Haji Sa'ad, but I hardly felt in a position to help him much, owing to Shibal's cunning move. If I ordered him to restore the buffaloes, on the ground that his lands were granted him at an absurdly low figure, on the sole condition that he alone was responsible for order, his reply might well be that he, in his turn, adopted the same principle in dealing with those under him-a statement It was clear that I could do nothing for the old man, short of recovering the money somehow from the thieves themselves. I told him to go back to his village, and send out men to make full inquiry as to any stranger who might have been seen in the neighbourhood at the time of Jaafer's visit. A week later Haji Sa'ad came back, not very hopeful, to inform me that a certain Daghar, a man of doubtful reputation belonging to the Metafar tribe, had been seen not far from the village on the day before the theft. Inquiries had shown that he was absent from his home, and was said to have taken a long journey over a fasl case, into that part of the country still under Turkish domination. This was not much to go upon. I had no proof that Daghar was guilty, nor had I the man himself to interrogate; and heartily I wished that I had never given Haji Sa'ad's buffaloes to the fat Basrawi-for that was what it amounted to. Hoping, Micawber-like, that something would turn up, I sent the old man home, telling him to be ready to come in when sent for. Nothing did turn up, however, except an idea in my mind that, as Ali bin Musa had lent a hand once in this case, he might do so again. Accordingly, I called in the headmen of the Metafar tribe, who were living under a neighbouring shaikh, and told them that a member of their Bait, by name Daghar, was suspected of stealing £T400. Loud were their denials and indignant their protestations of complete ignorance of any such robbery. Were they prepared to swear, I asked, that they knew nothing of it? Still louder cries of outraged innocence greeted the question. "A curse be upon me if I am even acquainted with this man Daghar," cried one. wa "W'Allah wa b'Illah t'Illah-I know nought of the matter," swore another, while a third lifted hands of pious horror to heaven. Waiting until the hubbub had subsided, I played my only card. Either they must swear, at the tomb of the holy son of Musa, that they knew nothing of the theft, or one of their number must remain in prison until the culprit and the money were produced. Ali did not fail me. Amid silence and downcast looks one of the headmen spoke. We cannot swear," he said. "Then you," I answered, pointing to the man nearest me, "must stay in jail while the others return to send me the thief and the money.” "Let me stay in his stead," said one of the others. Why?" I asked, and the answer was a definite admission. "Daghar is my cousin, and will be willing more readily to restore the money on my behalf." The headmen departed, and a few days later produced before me the thief, and a bundle of coins tied up in a red-checked kafiyah. Daghar was a good-looking scoundrel, tall, and well set up. He smiled engagingly, showing a flawless set of white teeth, when I asked if he had had any other motive for the theft than that of mere cupidity. "What would you?" he said. "My father was a thief, and my grandfather, and the grandfather of my grandfather. But now, O Hakim," he added, making a virtue of necessity, "I have brought back what I stole." I let him off lightly, for I always had a feeling that it was taking a mean advantage to inflict full punishment on a man whom I could not have convicted without supernatural assistance. But the sanctity of Ali's bones had none the less availed to settle the case satisfactorily, from the point of view of every one con cerned. Jaafer's loss had already been made good. Shaikh Shibal now returned the confiscated buffaloes to Haji Sa'ad, and in his turn was compensated by the money retrieved from the thief-and all was well. "The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones." Certainly, in a sense other than that intended by Mark Antony, the second line is true of Ali bin Musa ! 1 MUSINGS WITHOUT METHOD. PEACE IN IRELAND-KIDNAPPING AND MURDER- " REGRETTABLE his business, he believed, to Already there was more than one candidate in the field WHEN the Houses of Parliament met in the early days of February, there were already signs of disagreement in the country. The persistent policy of self-praise had not wholly succeeded. We had been told by Mr Lloyd George's faithful henchmen that their revered leader was the greatest man against him. Mr Asquith was in Europe, that his influence offering in the market-place dominated the councils of Eu- to any one who would accept rope, and the rest of it, and them the timid platitudes which we had been told these things have served him for many a in vain. The Coalition has long year. He was resolute to been in office for more than wait and see as ever he was in three years, and it has given his life. Viscount Grey and its proofs, which few save the Lord Robert Cecil, carrying far office-seekers deemed satisfac- more weight than Mr Asquith, tory. On a sudden it became were prepared to coalesce with clear that whatever Mr Lloyd whomever would follow them. George's Government had But they were all three like touched had been besmirched deserted cheap-jacks at a fair. with failure. Elsewhere than They acclaimed the virtue of at Washington, where Mr Bal- their wares, but none would four's authority and sound exchange his penny for their method met with their due wisdom. They produced but effect: they sucSir George ceeded in putting into a bad success, was writ large a record of disaster. one solid Lord Birkenhead The one Younger's refusal to permit a temper Mr Lloyd George and General Election was a blow his braves. both to the hopes and the and Mr Churchill were abusive, prestige of Mr Lloyd George, after their wont. who, deeming himself an un- made an attack upon Viscount trammelled autocrat, thought Grey, which might with equal that no dog should bark when justice have been aimed at he oped his mouth. It was Mr Lloyd George, while Mr Churchill attempted to dismiss ment. They kidnapped sixty Lord Robert Cecil with a sneer, loyal citizens and killed at least and was properly trounced for one policeman, they have his pains. The greatest leader added to their bag since. And of all time, the one eminent their crimes were described in man in Europe and the world, such terms as prove how deepour Prime Minister himself, ly we have sunk into the bog mingled apologies with his of cowardice and condonation. anger. He pleaded in excuse Michael Collins, of course, confor his failures the high-strung sidered the assault "natural." nerves which were the result We suppose that means that of the war. He insisted that he would have done the thing good would speedily come of himself had he not been endued the discussions which were be- with a brief authority. At ing held by Sir James Craig any rate, this is what he said: and Michael Collins. His optim- "It was what I feared, and ism was as futile as his apology. what any sensible person would The whole virtue, which con- expect. Naturally the people, sisted not in policy, not in whose feelings were outraged understanding, but in the man- by the impending executions, agement of the House of Com- would take some action of this mons, seemed to have gone out kind. The blame lies with the of him. And even if he had people who delayed until the had any chance of restoring last moment giving a decision confidence in himself, that as to the fate of these men in chance was destroyed by the Derry gaol." How swift has attack made upon the tire- been our descent! It comes some loyalists loyalists of Northern to this, that no "sensible man Ireland by his friends of the could have doubt that the I.R.A. would forbid the proper punishment of murderers. The slaughter of the warders in Derry gaol was a peculiarly brutal crime, even for the Sinn Feiners. But the murderers must be enlarged at the mere threat of revenge. No thought must be given to the victims, who were merely doing their duty. They should not have interfered with the imperious orders of their prisoners. And the Lord-Lieutenant, "naturally "also, should not have been guilty of an hour's delay_in setting free the murderers. We believe that he was not guilty I.R.A. That the Sinn Feiners should thus imperil the "Treaty which was to cut them adrift from Great Britain must have been indeed mortifying to the politicians, who, in the devout belief that they were constructive statesmen, had exchanged telegrams with one another and with the Dominions oversea. The scoundrels who thus chose to prove themselves incapable of governing Southern Ireland or anything else crossed the Ulster frontier in cars, which seem to have been supplied by the British Govern |