Page:Alien Souls by Achmed Abdullah (1922).djvu/146

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"No, Mohammed Yar. I am willing to stuff my mouth with silence for a consideration, supplemented by an oath."

"Name the oath first," the Kurd had laughed. "It is cheaper than the consideration—when dealing with an Armenian, O Father of Compound Interest!"

"Possibly cheaper." Krelekian had inclined his head. "Here it is, for you to take or leave, according to how you prefer life or death. You must swear on the Koran, by your own salvation and that of your parents, by the honor of your mother and your sisters, by the blood of the Prophet and the horns of the Archangel Gabriel—you must swear a most sacred oath that, as long as you live, there shall be no killing nor beating in revenge of what I shall ask of you, that never for what is happening to-day between you and me will you take toll with steel or bullet or whip or fist—with blood—nor with pain—neither you nor your tribesmen nor your friends! My life must be sacred to you, and inviolate."

"Good! I swear it. Yes, yes, yes"—as the Armenian had insisted on the exact phraseology. "Never shall I take toll, neither I nor my friends nor my tribesmen, neither with steel nor bullet nor whip nor fist. I swear it on the Koran, by my own and my parents salvation, by the honor of my mother and my sisters, by the blood of the Prophet and the horns of the Archangel Gabriel! May my right hand dry on my body—may I eat dirt—may God strike me dumb and deaf and blind—if I break this solemn oath! And now—what is the consideration for your silence in that little killing matter?"

"It is simple, Mohammed Yar. Only a woman whom you love and whom I love, but who, being a

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