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Page 1
Copyright, 1922,
By The Macaulay Company
_Printed in the United States of America_
"IN LOVE AND GRATITUDE
TO
THE DEAREST OF WOMEN
'MIVES'
MY MOTHER"
THE HAWK OF EGYPT
Author's Note: All names in this book are fictitious.
[Transcriber's note: A number of words in this book are Arabic, using
characters that require Unicode to render properly. Refer to the
transcriber's note at the end of this book for more information.]
THE HAWK OF EGYPT
CHAPTER I
"_For in the days we know not of
Did fate begin
Weaving the web of days that wove
Your doom_."
SWINBURNE.
". . . allahu akbar--la ilaha--illa 'llah!"
Across the golden glory of the sky floated the insistent call of the
_muezzin_ just as Damaris, followed closely by Wellington, her bulldog,
turned out of the narrow street into the Khan el-Khalili. Shrill and
sweet, from far and near it came, calling the faithful to prayer,
impelling merchants to leave their wares, buyers their purchases,
gossips their chatter, and to turn in the direction of Mecca and offer
their praise to Allah, who is God.
As the entire male population of the native quarter knelt, the girl
drew back beneath an awning of many colours which shaded silken goods
from the rays of the sun, whilst curious eyes peeped down upon her from
behind the shelter of the _masharabeyeh_, the harem lattice of
finely-carved wood. Yards of silk of every hue lay tumbled inside and
outside the _dukkan_ or shop in the silk-market; silken scarves, plain
and embroidered, hung from strings; silk shawls were spread upon
Persian carpets; a veritable riot of colour against the yellow-white
plaster of the shop walls, above which flamed the sky, a cloak of blue,
embroidered in rose and gold and amethyst.
The native women behind the shelter of the wood lattice or the
_yashmak_ or the all-enveloping _barku_, talked softly together as they
watched the beautiful girl who serenely and quite unveiled walked
amongst men with an animal of surpassing hideousness at her heels.
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