At all hazards, safeguards against attack must be taken. Once more the
Master addressed Bara Miyan:
"_Effendi_! Our gifts are great to thee and thine. Great, also, is our
magic. Let thine _imams_ do their magic, and we ours. If the magic
of El Barr exceeds ours, we will depart without exchange of gifts. If
ours exceeds thine, then let the salt be in our stomachs, all for all,
and let the gifts be exchanged!
"Thy magic against our magic! Say, O Sheik, dost thou dare accept that
challenge?"
The old man's head came up sharply. His eyes gleamed with intense
pride and confidence.
"The magic of the unbelievers against that of the People of the
Garment!" (Moslems!) cried he. "_Bismillah_! To the testing of the
magic!"
CHAPTER XXXIX
ON, TO THE GOLDEN CITY!
The Spartan simplicity of the proceedings impressed the Master far
more than any Oriental ceremony could have done. Here was the Olema,
or high priest and chief, of a huge city carved of virgin gold, coming
to meet him on horseback and speaking to him face to face, like a man.
It was archaic, patriarchal, dramatic in the extreme. No incensed
courts, massed audiences, tapestried walls, trumpeting heralds,
genuflexions, could have conveyed half the sense of free, virile power
that this old Bara Miyan gave as he stood there on the close turf,
under the ardent sun, and with a wave of his slim hand gave the order:
"The magic! To the testing of the magic!"
Thoroughly well pleased with progress thus far, the Master turned back
to give final instructions to his men and to examine the apparatus.
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