The Throne of Solomon
way down the poles and just covered my bed, keeping off
water though not dampness, and giving me a useful shelter
for dressing when no other was available.
*Aziz and the Refuge now arranged it as snugly as possible
for the night, while I sat with my collar turned up in the rain,
wondering why on earth I was there when I had a comfort-
able home of my own. I remembered my godfather who,
being asked by some enthusiast what his thoughts were during
lonely nights in the beauty of the mountains answered: " I
usually think: Why the devil did I come?"
Presently a fire was enticed into life in our enclosure.
There was no wind, only a gentle dropping of water which
fell harmlessly on the men's skaulars, as they moved about
attending to the straying mules in the dusk. They looked
scarcely human in those stiff felt things in the gathering night.
Having warmed myself with hot tea I undressed quickly,
put my clothes under my pillow to keep them dry, slipped
into a loose fur lining and felt happy again. As for 'Aziz
and the Refuge, they wrapped themselves in a shaular and
a Mazanderani carpet respectively, and were asleep on the
ground in no time.
The Throne of Solomon
Next morning a rim of big drops hung from the suspended
edge of my tent like a fringe and, peering out from beneath it,
I looked on to a grey world apparently dead. A few motion-
less heaps of greyness among the stones was all one saw of the
visitors to the watering resort. Presently a faint stir began
among them. The women, their cotton rags and ballet skirts
very limp after the wet night, began to move about and seek
the stream of water. A slight morning breeze brought life
into the air. And when the sun rose over the mountain-side,
the Caspian sea mist broke and vanished. It comes up, they
[294]