298 AMONG THE YEZIDEES

fore sundown, and returned to Katie, who was sound
asleep.

I was feeling remorseful about Daoud. As a matter of
fact I had cursed him with every foul word I knew in
Arabic and the few English ones I thought he would
understand; so I had him sent for and let him superintend
our dinner and share it with us—tinned stuff from our
own basket, supplemented by a big bowl of mutton stew
from the kitchen downstairs, and more beer which he
sent a little rag-tailed girl running to get. He had
brought in a low table, and we sat on our cots.

He was happy to be restored to favor, and promptly
annoyed us by throwing bones, cucumber peelings, sardine
tins, and other litter on the floor. But he knew the cus-
toms better than I, for when we had finished, the boy
came again with water-jar and broom, cleaned up the
debris, deluged the floor a second time, and swept it out
thoroughly. We expected to be bothered by bugs—but
as a matter of fact both of us were so tired that an army
of them couldn't have kept us awake.

At Deir the river made a great loop northward, and
instead of following it next morning, we struck out cross-
country, so that the day's run was real desert, hard gravel
and clay, sometimes level, sometimes broken by gullies
and ridges so abominably rough that we had to low-
speed.

The sun beat down until the leather cushions and the
metal braces of the car-top were so hot it was painful to
touch them. A wind like the breath of a furnace blew
from the south. I had been in knickers and shirt-sleeves,
but had to put on my coat, preferring to be dry-baked
than grilled. Katie had long since been forced to put