He was silent for a moment and then he continued in agonized tones, 'He's got his eyes on your position, my son, and that accursed sheikh is encouraging him! I warned you they were plotting something.'
I laughed as I said,'District commissioner? At his age? Why not? The sooner the better, Ibraheem. If it were in my hands, I'd make him commissioner today and go back to…'
He interrupted me angrily. 'A pox on anyone who wants Your Excellency's position!'
To calm him down, I said, 'So there's nothing to worry about. And it's not Sheikh Sabir who appoints the district commissioners. Dismiss now.'
He left muttering, and I looked at the envelopes from the ministry placed on my desk. I knew well what was inside each — receipts for the ammunition, which I would have to sign, pay lists, new instructions from the ministry, promotions and transfers, etc.
Most of them were papers that I'd glance at and then file away for ever.
I opened the large yellow envelope and found in it only what I expected, though something in the middle of the list of incoming ammunition did catch my eye. Next to so many new rifles, so many boxes of cartridges, etc., there was 'I (one) box, dynamite'. Dynamite?
What use could that be in the middle of the sands? Perhaps the ministry stores had wanted to get rid of it so they'd sent it to the desert, probably so they could buy more!
There was a final letter that was not in the large envelope. I opened it and found lines uninterrupted by any figures. I went back to the top and saw that it was addressed to Captain Wasfi, and that it was his name on the envelope too. I almost reseated it to give to him when he returned, but I saw my name repeated often among the lines. So, it concerned me too.
I read the letter twice, and laughed.
What call was there for surprise? Even Ibraheem had been able to predict it!
Despite all the facts and figures that reached me from the ministry, I was unfamiliar with this department called the Directorate of the Special Order, and neither could I guess who might be its head, who signed himself only 'S.H.' He thanked Captain Wasfi for his well-documented report and said that His Excellency the advisor to the ministry was very pleased with his accuracy and congratulated him on his success in gaining the affection and trust of the agwad. His Excellency had been particularly interested in what the report had to say about the deterioration in the relations of the district commissioner with the inhabitants of the oasis and their attempt to attack the police station with rifles and the recklessness shown by the district commissioner in firing a cannon shell in the direction of the town without first consulting the ministry and without informing it of what had happened. His Excellency the advisor believed that, to quote him word for word, 'these are very serious developments in the wrong direction' and he was following the results with the greatest concern, asking, at the same time, that the captain continue to be entirely correct in his dealings with His Excellency the district commissioner as his superior officer. He should obey his commands according to standing instructions and rules until such time as the ministry was able to take the appropriate steps. His Excellency also confirmed his confidence in Wasfi Effendi and requested that he continue his contacts with the sheikh of the Easterners who sought to be appointed to the position of mayor. The man was to have hope without the captain's giving him any specific promise and without this harming his relations with the sheikhs of the Westerners. In closing, S.H. congratulated Captain Wasfi on Mr Harvey's confidence and instructed him to continue to send similar reports on all matters that might reach his ears concerning the agwad, the local inhabitants and His Excellency the district commissioner, and to take care to keep the correspondence secret. After this there was a postscript to the effect that His Excellency the Basha, Wasfi's respected father, had contacted him and that he could reassure the captain as to his health and that he was in the best of states, praise God.
I put the letter back in its envelope and placed it in front of me on the desk, laughing again.
What had happened to me? Why didn't I feel the slightest anger? Why didn't I feel anything at all? Did I deserve this punishment? Perhaps!
I heard horses approaching at a gallop and entering the courtyard of the station, followed, faster than I expected, by a knocking on the door. Wasfi came in.
He waved Ibraheem away as he entered, and closed the door. He hadn't changed his uniform and for the first time I saw him in front of me in a tarboosh topped with dust and clothes smudged with sand. He saluted, his face pale, and accompanied the salute with an anxious question: 'Was there anything, Your Excellency…'
Before he could continue, I held out my hand to him with the opened envelope, saying, 'This letter is for you, Captain. I opened it because it was with the official correspondence from the ministry, but you can regard it as unread. Dismiss.'
He stood there hesitating, turning the envelope over in his hands, but I repeated, in a tone that brooked no refusal, 'Dismiss!'
Only a few minutes had passed after he had left when there was an urgent knocking on the door. I gave permission to enter and Corporal Salmawi rushed in, his face like thunder.
'I wish to make a complaint, Your Excellency!' he said in that same tremulous voice that seemed always to be on the verge of tears.
'Calm down, Corporal. Who do you want to make a complaint against?'
'Captain Wasfi. He ran into me at the bottom of the stairs as he was coming down from Your Excellency and he slapped me in the face for no reason.'
'On the contrary,' I said to myself, 'there was a reason, Salmawi. He had to slap someone!'
I answered him, however, by asking, 'Had you committed any offence, Corporal? Had you done anything to make the captain angry?'
Trying to control his anger, he said, 'Not at all. He saw me at the foot of the stairs and he slapped me in front of the troops. Then he left without a word. He slapped me in front of the troops, Your Excellency.' Then Salmawi raised his bowed head and said, 'I want my rights, Your Excellency. We are Bedouin and do not accept humiliation. He would pay dearly if I sought satisfaction with my own hand.'
'Don't say that again, Corporal. Don't say it in my presence or behind my back. You have made your complaint and I will investigate it. If you are in the right, you will be given satisfaction.'
I didn't, however, see Captain Wasfi during the day. He sent a soldier to inform me that he felt tired and to ask permission to stay in his room, a request to which I immediately agreed. At least, he will relieve me on this one day, when I'm destroyed with fatigue, of having to listen to the racket of the training, his shouted commands, the yells of the soldiers as they run and jump.
I left the office and took Sergeant Ibraheem with me. His eyes were full of curiosity about what had gone on in the closed office with Wasfi and Salmawi, but I didn't give him an opportunity to ask. I said, 'We have work before us, Sergeant Ibraheem.'
I called the sergeant in charge of the stores and the three of us went to the stores and together checked the arms and ammunition that the ministry had sent us. Then the storekeeper signed the receipts and I took them and returned to my office, where I finished replying to the letters from the ministry. I could have put that job off until later but I needed to keep myself busy with something. I needed not to think.
As I left the office in the afternoon, Sergeant Ibraheem told me he felt tired and asked permission to take the rest of the day off. I examined his face and he did indeed look exhausted, but I asked him jokingly whether he was jealous of Captain Wasfi.
Disgustedly, he said, 'God forbid!'
'Naturally you can take as much time off as you like. Anyway, I'm not coming back later.'