Page 76 - Life of Gertrude Bell

64 GERTRUDE BELL
was a Turk and had to speak to Gertrude in very inadequate
French. She was able to convey to them, however, her urgent
desire to see the Mudir, the governor of Bosrah. They took coffee
and engaged in the customary polite exchanges and she told him
that she wished to look upon Salkhad in the heart of the Druse
country.
c Salkhad T said the Mudir. ‘There is nothing there at all, and the
road is very dangerous. It cannot happen.’ ‘It must happen,’ said
Gertrude uncompromisingly. ‘The Mutasarif fears for the safety
of your Presence.’ ‘I wish to look upon the ruins.’ After two days
of fruitless exchanges she decided to make a dash for it. She was
taken to see the military commander, the Rais al Askar, who was
being shaved while Gertrude sipped coffee, and put her case to
him and he promised to let her know his decision. He did not
come to her by nightfall. Next morning she had gone. ‘I’ve
slipped through their lingers, and as yet I can hardly believe my
good fortune.’ Gertrude decided that she had better avoid
Salkhad as the Turks were sure to pursue her there. Instead she
made for a place called Areh where, according to her information,
a powerful Druse shaikh lived. They made a long journey
through the night, bitterly cold in contrast to the hot day, by a
well-made Roman road. At last they saw a man in a cornfield
with the white turban and black kaffiyah of the Druse and
Gertrude practised the formal address she had learnt, ‘Peace be
upon you! oh, son of my uncle 1’ He put them on the road to
Little Heart, the highest point of the Jabal Druse, on the way to
which they found the little village of Miyemir. Druse women in
their blue and red robes and white veils drew water from the I
pump, and by them stood a ‘most beautiful boy of 19 or 20’. His
name was Saif al Din and at first he dismissed the pleas of Gertrude
and her party to guide them to Areh, but after a while he touched
his heart and his forehead in token of obedience and set off with
them. They sang on the way and Gertrude ‘laughed with joy’ as
they passed through meadows and cornfields and vineyards.
‘Are you German?’ she was asked as soon as she met the
villagers of Areh, and when they learnt that she was English she
was invited to the house of one Hammad, who piled up cushions
for her to recline on and with many words of gratitude to Allah
put a stool at her feet and water by her side to wash her hands,
and plied her with endless cups of coffee. It was a hospitable
beginning to a propitious stay. She was taken to see Yahya Beg,

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