Reappearance of Hujjat Allah
In the face of this innate conservative instinct of the human
animal, the force that yet makes us do new things in spite of ail
is very amazing, an energy for exploration whose power must
truly be incalculable when we consider what a mass of inertia
it is always attacking. And let us not think too strangely of
the village where potatoes were not grown. Any civilized
British community would provide half a dozen things and
more that are either " done " or " not done " with just so
small a show of reason.
The day after the wedding is devoted to a feast, and every
guest brings an offering of cash and presents it when he sits
down to the pilau. I, however, was growing more and more
impatient for my mountains. I presented my contribution on
the day of the wedding itself, and decided to start next morning
for the Salambar, in spite of 'Aziz's reluctance, torn from the
arms of his bride. I was afraid that, if once I allowed him to
settle down, he would never be induced to start at all.
He had now got his servant from the year before, Hujjat
Allah, The Refuge of Allah, a tall, handsome, simple creature
who would walk with the mule's halter in his hand from 3 a.m.
to midnight, and still be ready to perform every sort of service.
'Aziz gave him eighty shillings a year and his food, and treated
him like an equal, for he was a distant cousin. And during
nearly a month which I now spent with these two, I never
had a word of complaint to make to either of them.
We had decided—but we did not get away till eight-thirty
next morning, and then it was by a great effort, and half the
forgotten necessities for our journey were carried along after
us by panting relatives, and slung about the packs as we moved
along.
" Keep him away a long time," 'Aziz's wife murmured as
she said good-bye. " I do not want to see him back at that
house across the river."
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