"He was the most extraordinary man I ever knew." "Did you know him well?" "I knew him." "Well, nil nisi bonum." "But did he really deserve a place in here?" "Lord Allenby, could you give a few words about Lawrence?" "What, more words?" "The revolt in the desert played a decisive part in the Middle Eastern campaign." "Yes, sir, but about Colonel Lawrence himself." "No, no." "I didn't know him well, you know." "Mr. Bentley, you know as much about Lawrence as anybody." "Yes, it was my privilege to know him." "And to make him known to the world." "He was a poet, a scholar and a mighty warrior." "Thank you." "He was also the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum and Bailey." "You, sir." "Who are you?" "My name is Jackson Bentley." "I overheard your last remark and take the gravest exception." " He was a great man." " Did you know him?" "No, I can't claim to have known him." "I had the honour to shake his hand in Damascus." "Knew him?" "I never knew him." "He had some minor function on my staff in Cairo." "Michael George Hartley this is a nasty, dark little room." "That's right." "We are not happy in it." "I am." "It's better than a nasty, dark little trench." " Then you're a big noble fellow." " That's right." "Here is William Potter with my newspaper." " Here you are, Tosh." " Thanks." "Would you care for one of Corporal Hartley's cigarettes?" " Is it there?" " Of course." "Headlines." "But I bet it isn't mentioned in the Times." ""Bedouin tribes attack Turkish stronghold."" "I bet that no one in this headquarters even knows it happened." "Or would care if it did." "Allow me to ignite your cigarette." " Mr. Lawrence?" " Yes." " Flimsy, sir." " Thank you." "You'll do that once too often." "It's only flesh and blood." "Michael George Hartley, you're a philosopher." "And you're balmy!" " It damn well hurts!" " Certainly, it hurts." "What's the trick, then?" "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts." "By the way, if Captain Gibbon should enquire for me tell him I've gone for a chat with the general." " He's balmy." " He's all right." "Lawrence." "Yes?" "You're supposed to be..." "Do you usually wear your cap in the mess?" "Always." "You should be on duty." "Where are you going?" "Mustn't talk shop, Freddie, not in the mess." "I'm going for a powwow with the general." "I'm not asking as your superior, but as the secretary of this mess." "We don't want chaps in here who should be on duty." "Where are you going?" "I must say, Lawrence!" " Sorry." " You're a clown, Lawrence." "Ah, well, we can't all be lion tamers." "Sorry." "It's an intrigue, Dryden." "I do not propose to let an overweening, crass lieutenant thumb his nose at his commander and get away with it." "It doesn't sound as though he'd be any great loss, sir." "Don't try that, Dryden." "There's a principle involved." "There is, indeed." "He's of no use here in Cairo." "He might be in Arabia." "He knows his stuff, sir." "Knows the books, you mean." "I've already sent out Colonel Brighton, who's a soldier." "If Brighton thinks we should send some arms, we will." "Well, what more do you want?" "That there would be no question of Lieutenant Lawrence giving military advice." "By God, I should hope not." "It's just that the Arab Bureau would like its own man on the spot to..." "To what?" "To make our own appraisal of the situation." "I'll tell you, it's my considered opinion and that of my staff that time spent on the Bedouin will be time wasted." "They're a nation of sheep-stealers." "They did attack Medina." "And the Turks made mincemeat of them." "We don't know that." "We know that they didn't take it." "A storm in a teacup, a sideshow." "In my opinion, this whole theatre of operations is a sideshow." "The real war's being fought against Germans, not Turks." "Not here, but on the Western front in the trenches." "Your Bedouin Army, or whatever it calls itself would be a sideshow of a sideshow." "Big things have small beginnings, sir." "Does the Arab Bureau want a big thing in Arabia?" "Does the bureau think they'll sit down under us when this war is over?" "The bureau thinks the job of the moment, sir, is to win the war." "Don't tell me my duty, Mr. Dryden." " Lawrence, sir." " Send him in." "Good morning, sir." "Salute." "If you're insubordinate, I shall put you under arrest." " It's my manner." " Your what?" "My manner." "It looks insubordinate, but it isn't." "I can't make out whether you're bad-mannered or just half-witted." " I have the same problem, sir." " Shut up." "The Arab Bureau thinks you would be of use to them in Arabia." "Why, I can't imagine." "You can't perform your present duties properly." ""I cannot fiddle, but I can make a great state from a little city."" " What?" " Themistocles, sir." " A Greek philosopher." " I know you've been well-educated." "It says so in your dossier." "You're the kind of creature I can't stand, Lawrence." "But I suppose I could be wrong." "All right, Dryden." "You can have him for six weeks." "Who knows?" "It might even make a man of him." "Come in!" "Yes, what is it?" "The convoy will be in Port Said tomorrow night." " Is that certain?" " Yes, sir." "There doesn't seem to be any artillery." "But there must be artillery!" "Sir, this is something of an expedition." "He has to get to Yenbo, find a guide, find the Arabs and then get back." "He can't do that in six weeks." " Two months, then." " Three." "All right, three." "Now, will you let me do some work, Mr. Dryden?" "Thank you, sir." "I'd like to say, sir, that I am grateful for this." "Shut up and get out." "Sir?" "How can I fight a bloody war without bloody artillery?" " How did you do it?" " Might better ask why I bothered to." " Because I'm the man for the job." " I just wonder about that." "Of course I am." "What is the job, by the way?" "Find Prince Feisal." "Good." "And when I've found him?" "Find out what kind of a man he is." "Find out what his intentions are." "Not his immediate intentions." "That is Colonel Brighton's business, not yours." "I mean, his intentions in Arabia altogether." "That's new." "Where are they now?" "Anywhere within 300 miles of Medina." "They're Hashemite Bedouins." "They can cross 60 miles of desert in a day." "Thanks." "This is going to be fun." "Lawrence, only two kinds of creature get fun in the desert:" "Bedouins and gods, and you're neither." "Take it from me." "For ordinary men, it's a burning fiery furnace." "No, Dryden." "It's going to be fun." "It is recognised that you have a funny sense of fun." "Here you may drink." "One cup." "You do not drink?" "No." "I'll drink when you do." "I am Bedu." "Truly, now, you are a British officer?" "Yes." "From Cairo?" "Yes." " You did not ride from Cairo?" " No." "Thank heaven." "It's 900 miles." "I came by boat." "And before?" "From Britain?" "Yes." "Truly?" "From Oxfordshire." "Is that a desert country?" "No." "A fat country." "Fat people." "You are not fat?" "No." "I'm different." "Here take it." "First I take you to Lord Feisal, then you give it to me." "Take it now." "Bedu food." "Good." "More?" " Bedu." " Where?" "From here to Lord Feisal's camp is Harith country." "Yes, I know." " I am not Harith." " No." "Hazimi, of the Beni Salem." "Put the right foot in tight." "Lock it with your left foot." "When you are ready to go hit her on the shoulder and say, "Hut-hut-hut."" "Today will be difficult, but tomorrow, good riding." "I think we reach Masturah Well tomorrow." "Yes." "And from Masturah Well to Lord Feisal's camp, one day more." "Now!" "Good?" "It's all right." "This is a Harith well." "The Harith are a dirty people." "Turks?" "Bedu." "Who is he?" "He is dead." "Yes." "Why?" "This is my well." "I have drunk from it." "You are welcome." "He was my friend." " That?" " Yes, that." " This pistol yours?" " No, his." "His?" "Mine." "Then I will use it." "Your friend was a Hazimi of the Beni Salem." "I know." "I am Ali ibn El Kharish." "I have heard of you." "So what was a Hazimi doing here?" "He was taking me to help Prince Feisal." " You've been sent from Cairo." " Yes." "I have been in Cairo for my schooling." "I can both read and write." "My Lord Feisal already has an Englishman." "What is your name?" "My name is for my friends." "None of my friends is a murderer." "You are angry, English." "He was nothing." "The well is everything." "The Hazimi may not drink at our wells." "He knew that." "Salaam." "Sherif Ali." "So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe so long will they be a little people a silly people." "Greedy, barbarous and cruel, as you are." "Come." "I will take you to Feisal." "I do not want your company, sherif." "Wadi Safra is another day from here." "You will not find it, and you will die." "I will find it with this." "Good army compass." "How if I take it?" "Then you would be a thief." "Have you no fear, English?" "My fear is my concern." "Truly." "God be with you, English." "Hey, you!" " I've been waiting for you." " Did you know I was coming?" "I knew someone was coming." "Feisal told me." "How did he know?" "Not much happens within 50 miles of Feisal that he doesn't know." "I'll give him that." "No escort?" "My guide was killed at the Masturah Well." " Turks?" " No, an Arab." "Bloody savages." " This is Wadi Safra, isn't it?" " Yes, they're over there." "Just a minute." "What's your name and who sent you?" "Lawrence." "I've been seconded to the Arab Bureau." "What are you to do for the Arab Bureau?" "Well, it's rather vague, sir." "I'm to appreciate the situation." "Well, that won't be difficult." "The situation's bloody awful." "Their morale, if they ever had any, which I doubt the Turks knocked out of them in front of Medina, with howitzers." "They're fading away by dozens every night." "What I want to say is this:" "Wherever you are and whoever you are with you're a British officer." "Here's an order." "When we get into that camp, you're to keep your mouth shut." " Do you understand what I'm saying?" " I understand what you're saying." "You'll make your appreciation and get back to" "Oh, my God." "Not again." "I've told him!" "God knows I've told him." ""Move South," I've said." ""You're still in range."" "They simply will not understand what modern weapons do!" "Stand and fight." "Stand and fight." "Fire back at them." " Who are you?" " Lieutenant Lawrence, sir." "Seconded to the Arab Bureau." "This is a bloody mess, sir." "We'll have to move south." "Yes, colonel, 50 miles south." "You were right and I was wrong." "We must take some thought for the wounded." " We can take care of them at Yenbo." " If they can get to Yenbo." "They can hardly come with us." "No." "They must try to reach Yenbo." "Lieutenant...?" "Lawrence." "You understand, Lieutenant Lawrence my people are unused to explosives and machines." "First the guns, and now this." "Cigarette?" "I'm sorry." "Cigarette, Your Excellency?" "Umph off." "Please, Your Excellency." "Just one for two?" "Hold it, Jenkins!" "Jenkins!" "Lawrence?" "You have no servant." " I don't need a servant." " No?" "We can do everything." "Light fires, cook food, wash clothes." " Yes, everything." " I don't doubt it." " It will be very nice for you." " I can't afford it." "Recite, then, as much of the Koran as may be easy to you." "God knoweth that there be some among you sick while others travel through the Earth in quest for the bounties of God." "Others do battle in his cause." "Recite, therefore, as much as may be easy." "And observe the prayers." "This will be best and richest in the recompense." "Seek ye the forgiveness of God." "Verily, God is forgiving, merciful" "Greetings, Ali." " My lord." " Sherif Ali." "Lieutenant Lawrence, you have met Sherif Ali, I think." "Yes, my lord." "And now, Selim, "The Brightness."" ""By the noonday brightness and by the night when it darkeneth thy Lord hath not forsaken thee neither hath He been displeased." "And surely the future shall be better for thee than the past."" ""And in the end shall your Lord be bounteous to thee and thou be satisfied."" "So?" "Yes, colonel." " I want a decision, sir." " You want me to fall back on Yenbo." "Well, you're not doing much good here, sir." "I'm sorry to rub it in, sir, but we can't supply you here." "You could supply us through Aqaba!" "Aqaba!" "If you can get ahold of Aqaba, we can supply you." " But you can't!" " You could." "You mean, the navy?" "The Turks have 12-inch guns at Aqaba, sir." "Can you imagine what that means?" "Yes, I can imagine." "Put that out of your mind, sir." "The navy's got other things to do." "Oh, yes." "Protecting the Suez Canal." "The one essential sector of this front is and must be the canal." "You can see that, sir, surely." "I see that the canal is an essential British interest." "It is of little consequence to us." "I must ask you not to speak like that." "British and Arab interests are one and the same." "Possibly." "Upon my word, sir, you're ungrateful." "Fall back on Yenbo and we will give you equipment." "Give you arms, advice, training, everything." " Guns?" " A modern rifle for every man." "No." "Guns." "Artillery." "Guns like the Turkish guns at Medina." "Yes, give us guns and keep the training." "Your men need training far more than guns, sir." "English will teach Bedu to fight?" "We will teach them, Sherif Ali, to fight a modern mechanised army." "Yes, lieutenant?" "What do you think about Yenbo?" "I think it is far from Damascus." "We'll have you in Damascus, sir." "Never fear." "Have you been in Damascus, Mr. Lawrence?" "Yes, my lord." "It is beautiful, is it not?" " Very." " That will do, Lawrence." "Dreaming won't get you to Damascus, but discipline will." "Look, Great Britain is a small country, much smaller than yours." "Small population compared with some." "It's small, but it's great." "And why?" " Because it has guns." " Because it has discipline." "Because it has a navy, because of this the English go where they please and strike where they please." "This makes them great." " Right." " Mr. Lawrence, that will do!" "Lawrence is not your military adviser." "But I would like to hear his opinion." "Damn it!" "Who do you take your orders from?" "From Lord Feisal, in Feisal's tent." "Old fool!" "Why turn from him to him?" "They are master and man." "My lord, I think..." "I think your book is right." "The desert is an ocean in which no oar is dipped." "On this ocean, the Bedu go where they please and strike where they please." "This is the way the Bedu has always fought." "You're famed through the world for fighting this way." "And this is the way you should fight now." "I don't know." "I'm sorry, sir, but you're wrong." "Fall back on Yenbo, the Arab Rising becomes one unit in the British army." " What is this to you?" " You're a traitor." "No, colonel." "He is a young man, and young men are passionate." "They must say their say." "But wiser people must decide." "I know you are right." "Very well." "When shall we move?" "The sooner the better." "You'll lose another 50 men tonight." "You tread heavily but you speak the truth." "I will give you my answer tomorrow." "And now it is late." "Colonel Brighton means to put my men under European officers, does he not?" "In effect, my lord, yes." "And I must do it because the Turks have European guns." "But I fear to do it upon my soul I do." "The English have a great hunger for desolate places." "I fear they hunger for Arabia." "Then you must deny it to them." "You are an Englishman." "Are you not loyal to England?" "To England and to other things." "To England and Arabia both?" "And is that possible?" "I think you are another of these desert-loving English." "Doughty, Stanhope Gordon of Khartoum." "No Arab loves the desert." "We love water and green trees." "There is nothing in the desert." "And no man needs nothing." "Or is it that you think we are something you can play with because we are a little people, a silly people greedy, barbarous and cruel?" "Or do you know, lieutenant, in the Arab city of Cordoba were two miles of lighting in the streets when London was a village." "Yes, you were great." "Nine centuries ago." "Time to be great again, my lord." "Which is why my father made this war upon the Turks." "My father, Mr. Lawrence, not the English." "But my father is old and I I long for the vanished gardens of Cordoba." "However, before the gardens must come the fighting." "To be great again, it seems that we need the English or..." "Or?" "What no man can provide, Mr. Lawrence." "We need a miracle." "Aqaba." "From the land." "You are mad." "To come to Aqaba by land we should have to cross the Nefud Desert." "That's right." "The Nefud cannot be crossed." "I'll cross it if you will." "You?" "It takes more than a compass, Englishman." "The Nefud is the worst place God created." "I can't answer for the place." "Only for myself." "Fifty men?" "Fifty?" "Against Aqaba?" "If 50 men came out of the Nefud they would be 50 men other men might join." "The Howeitat are there, I hear." "The Howeitat are brigands." "They'll sell themselves to anyone." " Good fighters, though." " Good" "Yes." "There are guns at Aqaba." "They face the sea, Sherif Ali, and cannot be turned around." "From the landward side, there are no guns at Aqaba." "With good reason." "It cannot be approached from the landward side." "Certainly the Turks don't dream of it." "Aqaba's over there." "It's only a matter of going." "You are mad." "And where are you going, lieutenant?" "With 50 of my men." "To work your miracle." "Blasphemy is a bad beginning for such a journey." " Who told you?" " Ali did." "Why not you?" "You are falling back from Yenbo, sir?" "Yes, I must." "But I will spare these to you." "Did Ali break confidence to tell me?" "Sherif Ali owes you his allegiance, my lord." "Yet you did not tell Colonel Brighton." "No." "Since you do know we can claim to arrive in the name of Feisal of Mecca." "Yes, Lieutenant Lawrence, you may claim it." "But in whose name do you ride?" "Sherif, I caught them." "They have tracked us." "They were here." "I caught them." "Why are you here?" "Boy!" "To serve Lord Lawrence, sherif." "This is true, Lawrence." "They do wish it." "You have been tracking us." " You were told to stay." " No, sherif." "Our camel strayed." "We followed her." "She led us here to be Lord Lawrence's servants." " It is the will of Allah." " Blasphemy." "Don't do that." "No, Lawrence, these are not servants." "These are outcasts, parent-less." "Be warned." "They are not suitable." "They sound very suitable." "You can ride with the baggage." "These are not servants." "These are worshippers." "One shilling, every week?" "That is fair." " Each?" " No." " That is too much." " All right." "They will be lucky for you." "Allah favours the compassionate." "There is the railway." "And that is the desert." "From here until the other side, no water but what we carry." "For the camels, no water at all." "If the camels die we die." "And in 20 days they will start to die." "There's no time to waste, then, is there?" "I was thinking." "You were drifting." "Yes." "It will not happen again." "Be warned, you were drifting." "It will not happen again." "That water is wasted." "From now on, we must travel by night and rest while it is too hot to travel." "A few hours each day." "Why don't we start now?" "No." "We will rest now." "Three hours." "Fine." "I'll wake you." "Do we rest here?" "There is no rest now short of water." "The other side of that." "And how much of that is there?" "I'm not sure." "But however much, it must be crossed before tomorrow's sun gets up." "This is the sun's anvil." "Have we done it?" "No, but we're off the anvil." "Thank God for that anyway." "Yes, thank him." "Lawrence, I do not think you know how you have tempted him." "I know." "We've done it." "God willing." "When do we reach the wells?" "God willing, midday." " Then we've done it." " Thank him, Lawrence." "Thank him." "Gasim's." "What's happened to him?" "God knows." "Why don't you stop?" "For what?" "He will be dead by midday." "We must go back." "What for, to die with Gasim?" "In one hour comes the sun." "In God's name, understand!" "We cannot go back!" "I can." "Take the boys." "If you go back, you kill yourself, is all." "Gasim you have killed already." "Get out of my way." "Gasim's time is come, Lawrence." "It is written." "Nothing is written!" "Go back, then!" "What did you bring us here for with your blasphemous conceit?" "English blasphemer!" "Aqaba?" "Was it Aqaba?" "You will not be at Aqaba, English!" "Go back, blasphemer but you will not be at Aqaba." "I shall be at Aqaba." "That is written." "In here." "English!" "Lawrence!" "Daud!" "Nothing is written." "Al Lawrence." "Farraj." "Wash." "Al Lawrence." "Truly, for some men nothing is written unless they write it." "Not Al Lawrence." "Just Lawrence." " Al Lawrence is better." " True." "Your father too, just Mr. Lawrence?" "My father is Sir Thomas Chapman." " Is that a lord?" " A kind of lord." "Then when he dies, you too will be a lord." "No." "You have an elder brother." "No." "But then, I do not understand this." "Your father's name is Chapman." "He didn't marry my mother." "I see." "I'm sorry." "It seems to me that you are free to choose your own name, then." "Yes, I suppose I am." "Al Lawrence is best." "All right, I'll settle for Al Lawrence." "They are the robes of a sherif of the Beni Wejh." "Very fine." " Great honour." " The honour is to us." "Salaam, sherif." " Is it permitted?" " Surely." "He for whom nothing is written may write himself a clan." "They are good for riding." "Try." "What are you doing, Englishman?" "As you see." "Are you alone?" "Almost." "Are you with those dogs drinking at my well?" "Yours?" "I am Auda Abu Tayi." "I've heard of another man of that name." "Other?" "What other?" "The Auda I'd heard of wouldn't need to summon help to look after his wells." "He must be a great hero." "He is." "He wouldn't refuse water to men coming out of Nefud Desert." "Now, would he not?" "No, that must be some other man." "Here is my help." "Son, what fashion is this?" " Harith, Father." " What manner of Harith?" "A Beni Wejh sherif." "And is he Harith?" "No, Father, English." "Son they are stealing our water." "Tell them we are coming." "Tell them." " Empty that!" " Do not!" "It is Auda of the Howeitat who speaks." "It is Ali of the Harith who answers." "Harith." "Ali." "Does your father still steal?" "No." "Does Auda take me for one of his own bastards?" "No." "There is no resemblance." "Alas, you resemble your father." " Auda flatters me." " You are easily flattered." "I knew your father well." "Did you know your own?" "We are 50, you are two." "How if we shot you down?" "Why, then you have a blood feud with the Howeitat." " Do you desire it?" " Not the generals in Cairo nor the sultan himself desire that." "Call off your men." "This honours the unworthy." "I've only just begun to teach him." "And what are you teaching him today?" "Howeitat hospitality?" "Be not clever with me, English." " Who is he?" " A friend of Prince Feisal's." " So you desire my hospitality?" " Yes." "Is he your tongue?" "We do desire it." "Then it is given, if you will take it." "I'm at my summer camp, a poor place." "Well, to me it seems a poor place." "Some men find it marvellous." "Tomorrow, maybe I will allow the Turks to buy you, friends of Feisal." "But dine with me." "Dine with Auda, English." "Dine with the Howeitat, Harith." "It is my pleasure that you dine with me in Wadi Rumm!" "This thing you work against Aqaba what profit do you hope from it?" "We work it for Feisal of Mecca." "The Harith do not work for profit." "Well, if it is in a man to be a servant, Sherif Ali he could find worse masters than Feisal." "But I..." "I cannot serve." "You permit the Turks to stay in Aqaba." "Yes, it is my pleasure." "We do not work this thing for Feisal." "No?" " For the English, then?" " For the Arabs." "The Arabs?" "The Howeitat, Ageyil, Ruala, Beni Sahkr, these I know." "I have even heard of the Harith." "But the Arabs?" "What tribe is that?" "They're a tribe of slaves." "They serve the Turks." "Well, they are nothing to me." "My tribe is the Howeitat." "Who work only for profit." "Who work at Auda's pleasure." "And Auda's pleasure is to serve the Turks." "Serve?" "I serve?" "It is the servant who takes money." "I am Auda Abu Tayi." " Does Auda serve?" " No!" " Does Auda Abu Tayi serve?" " No!" "I carry 23 great wounds, all got in battle." "75 men have I killed with my own hands, in battle." "I scatter, I burn my enemies tents." "I take away their flocks and herds." "The Turks pay me a golden treasure, yet I am poor!" "Because I am a river to my people." "Is that service?" "No." "And yet now it seems Auda has grown old." "And lost his taste for fighting." "It is well you say it in my tent, thou old tulip." "Yet this is a tulip that the Turks could not buy." "Why should they wish to?" "Now..." "I will tell you what they pay me, and you will tell me if this is a servant's wages." "They pay me, month by month 100 golden guineas." "150, Auda." " Who told you that?" " I have long ears." "And a long tongue between them." "100, 150, what matters?" "It's a trifle." "A trifle which they take from a great box they have." "In Aqaba." " In Aqaba?" " Where else?" "You trouble me like women." "Friends, we've been foolish." "Auda will not come to Aqaba." " For money?" " No." " For Feisal?" " No!" "Nor to drive away the Turks." "He will come because it is his pleasure." "Thy mother mated with a scorpion." "Make God your agent!" "Aqaba!" "God be with you." "Yes." "Aqaba." "Tomorrow we will go and get it." " Do you think we shall?" " Yes." "If you are right about the guns." "He killed." "He dies." "This is the end of Aqaba." "One of our men murdered Auda's man." "Why?" "Theft?" "Blood feud?" "It makes no matter why." "Ali!" "It is an ancient wound." "I didn't come here to watch a tribal bloodbath." "It is the law, Lawrence." "The law says the man must die." "If he dies, will that content the Howeitat?" "Yes." "Sherif Ali!" "If none of Lord Auda's men harms any of yours..." " ...will that content the Harith?" " Yes." "Then I will execute the law." "I have no tribe." "And no one is offended." "Gasim." "Did you do it?" "Well, Lawrence..." "What ails the Englishman?" "That that he killed was the man he brought out of the Nefud." "It was written, then." "Better to have left him." "It was execution, Lawrence." "No shame in that." "Besides, it was necessary." "You gave life and you took it." "The writing is still yours." "Auda Abu Tayi!" "The miracle is accomplished." "Garlands for the conqueror." "Tribute for the prince." "Flowers for the man." "I'm none of those things, Ali." " What, then?" " Don't know." "Thanks." "My God, I love this country." "What!" "No gold in Aqaba!" "Auda, I found it!" "That's a pity." "Ali, get a message down the coast to Yenbo." "Tell Feisal to find boats, any boats and bring the Arab army here to Aqaba, quickly." "And you?" "I'm going to tell the generals in Cairo." "Yes, cross Sinai." "Come on!" "Sinai?" "Yes." " With these?" " They'll be all right with me." "Look, Ali." "If any of your Bedouin arrived in Cairo and said:" ""We've taken Aqaba," the generals would laugh." "I see." "In Cairo you will put off these funny clothes." "You'll wear trousers and tell stories of our quaintness and barbarity and then they will believe you." "You're an ignorant man." "Paper." "Paper!" "There is no gold in Aqaba." "No gold." "No great box!" "Did Auda come to Aqaba for gold?" "For my pleasure, as you said." "But gold is honourable and Lawrence promised gold." "Lawrence lied." "See, Auda." ""The Crown of England promises to pay 5000 golden guineas to Auda Abu Tayi."" "Signed in His Majesty's absence by me." "In 10 days I'll be back with the gold." "With gold, with guns, with everything." "Ten days." "You'll cross Sinai?" "Why not?" "Moses did." "And you will take the children?" "Moses did." "Moses was a prophet and beloved of God." "He said there was gold here." "He lied." "He is not perfect." "Lord, can we not rest?" "I told you, no rest till they know that I have Aqaba." "Have you two slept in beds?" "Farraj?" "Daud?" "With sheets?" "Tomorrow the finest sheets in the finest room and hotel in Cairo." "I promise." "Then it shall be so, lord." "Look!" "Pillar of fire." "No, lord." "Dust." "My compass." "No matter." "If we ride west, we must strike the canal." "Due west." "Come on!" "Lawrence!" "Farraj!" "Farraj, don't!" "Don't!" "Don't!" "Why do you walk?" "But why, lord?" "There is room for both." "It serves no purpose." "Lawrence, look!" "It's all right, Farraj." "It's all right." "Who are you?" " Daud!" " We're here, sir." "You taking him in there?" "Yes." "Here!" "Here." "You!" "And where the hell do you think you're going to, Mustapha?" "We are thirsty." " Mr. Lawrence, is it?" " Yes." " Are you going to the officers' bar?" " Yes." "You can't take him in there, sir." "What do you think you look like?" "No, no." "You must go." "No, no." "Go, effendi, go!" "Get out!" "You must get out!" "Get out!" "We want two large glasses of lemonade." " This is a bar for British officers." " We are not particular." " Are you off your head?" " No." "Oddly enough I'm not." " Just clear out of here, will you?" " Get that boy out of here." "Corporal, we'll have this one out anyway." " Get that wog out of here." " Clear off." "What's going on?" " It's Lawrence, sir." " Lemonade with ice." "Explain yourself." "We've taken Aqaba." " Taken Aqaba?" "Who has?" " We have." "Our side in this war has." "The wogs have." "We have." "He likes your lemonade." "You mean the Turks have gone?" "No, they're still there but they've no boots." "Prisoners, sir." "We took them prisoners." "The entire garrison." "That's not true." "We killed some." "Too many, really." "I'll manage it better next time." "There's been a lot of killing one way or another." "Cross my heart and hope to die, it's all perfectly true." " It isn't possible." " Yes, it is." "I did it." "You'd better talk to Allenby." " General Allenby?" " He's in command." "Murray's gone." "That's a step in the right direction." "First I want a room." "With a bed, with sheets." " Yes, of course." " It's for him." "Right." "You want a bed yourself, don't you?" "See Allenby first, though." "Will he see me?" "I think so." "Do that, then." " I'd better shave." " Yes, you had." "You'd better get into some trousers too." ""Undisciplined." "Unpunctual." "Untidy." "Several languages." "Knowledge of music literature." "Knowledge of..." "You're an interesting man, there's no doubt about it." " Who told you to take Aqaba?" " Nobody." " Sir." " Sir." "Then why did you?" " Aqaba's important." " Why is it important?" " It's the Turkish route to the canal." " Not anymore." " They're coming through Beersheba." " I know, but we've gone to Gaza." " So?" " So that left Aqaba behind your right." "True." "And it will be further behind your right when you go for Jerusalem." "Am I going for Jerusalem?" "Yes." "Very well." "Aqaba behind my right." "It threatened El' Arîsh and Gaza." "Anything else?" "Yes." "Aqaba's linked with Medina." "Do you think we should shift them out of Medina now?" "No." "I think you should leave them there." "You acted without orders, you know." "Shouldn't officers use their initiative at all times?" "Not really." "It's awfully dangerous." "Yes, I know." "Already?" "Yes." "I'm promoting you major." "I don't think that's a very good idea." "I didn't ask you." "I want you to go back and carry on the good work." "No." "Thank you, sir." " Why not?" " Well, I, it's..." "Let me see now..." "I killed two people." "I mean, two Arabs." "One was a boy." "That was yesterday." "I led him into a quicksand." "The other was a man." "That was before Aqaba, anyway." "I had to execute him with my pistol." "There was something about it I didn't like." " Well, naturally." " No." "Something else." "That's all right." "Let it be a warning." "No." "Something else." "What, then?" "I enjoyed it." "Rubbish." "Rubbish and nerves." "You're tired." "What do you mean coming dressed like that?" "Amateur theatricals?" "Yes." "Entirely." "Let me see that hat thing or whatever it is." "Fascinating gear they wear." "How would I look in this, Harry?" " Damn ridiculous, sir." " Here, you keep it." "What I'm trying to say is I don't think I'm fit for it." "Really?" "What do you think, Dryden?" "Before he did it, sir, I'd have said it couldn't be done." " Brighton?" " I know what he thinks." "I think you should recommend a decoration, sir." "I don't think it matters what his motives were." "It was a brilliant bit of soldiering." " Mr. Perkins!" " Sir!" "Let's have a drink, gentlemen." " You've heard about this, Mr. Perkins?" " Yes, sir." " What do you think about it?" " Bloody marvellous, sir." "Well done." " Thank you, Mr. Perkins." " Sir!" "Come on, then." "You're a clever man, sir." "No, but I know a good thing when I see one." "That's fair, surely?" "If I need a breakthrough to Jerusalem, I must concentrate, not dissipate." " Bravo." " You know better?" "I fight like Clausewitz, then you fight like Saxe." "We should do very well indeed, shouldn't we?" "Easy, gentlemen, please." " Give us something to drink." " Of course, sir." "I'm here at the invitation of Major Lawrence." "Tracy." "Shall we go outside?" "So you hold bound the Turkish desert army?" "Yes." "With 1000 Arabs?" "1000 Arabs means 1000 knives." "Delivered anywhere, day or night." "It means 1000 camels." "That means 1000 packs of high explosives and 1000 crack rifles." "We can cross Arabia while Johnny Turk is still turning round." "I'll smash his railways." "While he mends, I'll smash them somewhere else." "In 13 weeks I can have Arabia in chaos." "You are going back, then?" "Yes." "Of course I'm going back." "Well, if we can see it, so can the Turk." "If he finds he's using four divisions to fend off a handful of bandits he'll withdraw." "He daren't withdraw." "Arabia's part of his empire." "If he gets out now, he'll never get back again." " I wonder who will." " No one will." "Arabia's for the Arabs now." "That's what I've told them anyway." "That's what they think." " That's why they're fighting." " Oh, surely." "They've only one suspicion." "That we'll let them drive the Turks out and then move in ourselves." "I've told them that that's false, that we have no ambitions in Arabia." "Have we?" "I'm not a politician, thank God." "Have we any ambition in Arabia, Dryden?" "Difficult question, sir." "I want to know, sir, if I can tell them in your name that we've no ambitions in Arabia." "Certainly." "2000 small arms, not enough." "I need five." "Right." "Money." "It'll have to be sovereigns." "They don't like paper." " Instructors for the Lewis guns." " Right." "More money." " How much more?" " 25,000 now." "A lot more later." " Dryden?" " It can be done, sir." "A couple of armoured cars." "Right." "Field artillery." "Right." "I'll give you every blessed thing I can because I know you'll use it." "Congratulations." "Thank you for your hospitality, gentlemen." "Congratulations!" "Are you really going to give them artillery, sir?" "I was wondering that, sir." "Might be difficult to get it back." "Give them artillery and you've made them independent." "Then I can't give it to them, can I?" " For you to say." " No, it's not." "I've got orders to obey, thank God." "Not like that poor devil." "He's riding the whirlwind." "Let's hope we're not." "Excuse me, friend." "Who do these bags belong to?" "To Prince Feisal." " You're not Prince Feisal?" " No." "You know him though?" "He is my master." "I am his servant." "Can you read?" "Chicago Courieris my paper, but my work is syndicated in America." "I understood so from your letter, Mr. Bentley." "Now..." " Where can I find Major Lawrence?" " Is that what you have come for?" "Not altogether, sir, no." "Well, Mr. Bentley, you will find Major Lawrence with my army." "That's what I meant, sir." "Where can I find your army?" "I don't know." " Last week they were near El Ghira." " Ghira?" "Yes, I fear you have a long journey." "Can you ride a camel?" " I've never tried." " Take a mule." "Avoid Mellaha, the Turks are there." "In Mellaha now?" "They move fast." "They do." "But not so fast as we do, you will find." "Myself I am going to Cairo." " As you know." " Yes." "There's work for me there of a different kind." "Yes." "I understand you've been given no artillery." " That is so." " You're handicapped?" "It restricts us to small things." "It's intended to." "Do you know General Allenby?" "Watch out for Allenby." "He's a slim customer." " Excuse me?" " A clever man." "Slim customer." "It's very good." "I'll certainly watch out for him." "You're being very sympathetic." "Your Highness, we Americans were once a colonial people." "We naturally feel sympathetic to any people who struggle for their freedom." "Very gratifying." "Also, my interests are the same as yours." "You want your story told." "I badly want a story to tell." "Ah, now you are talking turkey, are you not?" "I will give you a guide and a letter." "And before I leave here which must be presently I will have some facts and figures put on paper for you." "You know that we are destroying the Turkish railways." "I do, sir." "Major Lawrence is in charge of all this, is he?" "My army is made up of tribes." "The tribes are led by the tribal leaders." "Your people do think very highly of Major Lawrence?" "Oh, yes." "And the rightly." "In this country, Mr. Bentley the man who gives victory in battle is prized beyond every other man." "One figure I can give you from my head because it never leaves my head." "Since starting this campaign four months ago, we have lost 37 wounded 156 dead." "You remark the disproportion between our dead and wounded." "Yeah." "Four times as many." "That's because those too wounded to bring away, we ourselves kill." "We leave no wounded for the Turks." " You mean...?" " We leave no wounded for the Turks." "In their eyes, we are not soldiers but rebels." "Rebels, wounded or whole, are not protected by the Geneva Code and are treated harshly." "How harshly?" "More harshly than I hope you can imagine." "I see." "Our own prisoners are taken care of until the British can relieve us of them, according to the Code." " I should like you to notice that." " Yes, sir." "Is that the influence of Major Lawrence?" "Why should you suppose?" "It's just that I heard in Cairo that Major Lawrence has a horror of bloodshed." "That is exactly so." "With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion." "With me, it is merely good manners." "You may judge which motive is the more reliable." " And now, perhaps..." " Oh, sure, sure." "Thank you, sir." "Can you manage the letter--?" "I'll do everything I have said if you will tell me truly the nature of your interest in my people and Major Lawrence." "It's very simple, sir." "I'm looking for a hero." "Indeed." "You do not seem a romantic man." "Oh, no." "But influential men back home believe it's time for America to lend her weight to the struggle against Germany." "And Turkey." "I've been sent to find material to show our people that this war is..." " Enjoyable?" " Hardly that, sir." "But to show it in its more adventurous aspects." "You look for a figure who will draw your country towards war." "All right." "Yes." "Lawrence is your man." "Stop!" "Stop it!" "Come on, men!" "Lawrence!" "Good God!" "God!" "Jiminy!" "Never seen a man killed with a sword before." "Why don't you take a picture?" "Wish I had." "How is it with thee, Lawrence?" "Am I in this?" "Did you take his picture?" "Yeah." "You are using up your nine lives very quickly." "Charming company you keep." "Auda?" "He's a bit old-fashioned." "He thinks these things will steal his virtue." "He thinks you're a kind of thief." "It's all right to take your picture?" " All right." " Okay." "Just walk." "Major Lawrence!" "Yes, sir, that's my baby." "This looting has got to stop!" "It is customary." "It's theft." "And theft makes thieves." "I would not say that to Auda." " It is their payment, colonel." " Payment." "Truly." "Are not British soldiers paid?" " They don't go home when being paid." " They are not free to." "Well, there's another lot you've seen the last of." "They'll come back." "He says they'll come back." "Will they?" "Not this year, Lawrence." "Look, Lawrence, how many men do you think you'll have left?" "200?" " Less." " Well, then?" "I said, they'll come back." "You badly hurt?" "Not hurt at all." "Didn't you know?" "They can only kill me with a golden bullet." "It is for children." "I have set myself to learn again." " What are you learning from this?" " Politics." "You'll be a democracy in this country?" "You gonna have a parliament?" "I will tell you that when I have a country." "Did I answer well?" "You answered without saying anything." "That's politics." "You learn quickly." "I have a good teacher." "Yeah." " How's your hurt?" " Fine." "Before I return to the fleshpots, which I shall be very glad to do may I put two questions to you, straight?" "I'd be interested to hear you put a question straight." "One." "What, in your opinion, do these people hope to gain from this war?" "They hope to gain their freedom." "Freedom." ""They hope to gain their freedom."" " There's one born every minute." " They're going to get it." "I'm going to give it to them." " The second question?" " Well, I was going to ask what is it that attracts you personally to the desert?" "It's clean." "Well, now that's a very illuminating answer." "May I take one farewell picture?" "I gave Math Budad two lamps for it." "One clock for two lamps." "A fair bargain." "Fair?" "I robbed him." "Trash." "I must find something honourable." "Honourable?" "The year is running out, Brighton." "I must find something honourable." "Now you may blow up my train." "And what will you do now?" "Now I go home." "They will carry my toys." "They will carry my toys too, see?" "Major Lawrence will campaign this winter." "But you got what you wanted, so you're going home, is that it?" "Of course." "When Lawrence has got what he wants, he will go home." "When you've got what you want, you will go home." "No, I shan't, Auda." "Then you are a fool." "Maybe." "But I am not a deserter." "Give thanks to God, Brighton that when he made you a fool, he gave you a fool's face." "You are an impudent rascal." "I must go, Lawrence, before I soil myself with a fool's blood." "Like talking to a brick wall." "So what will you do now?" "What can you do?" "I'll go north." "That's what Allenby wants." "Allenby wanted the Arab army behind Deraa." "Then that's where I'll take it." "Tell Allenby to hurry up, or we'll be in Deraa before he's in Jerusalem." "Won't we?" "Train, Farraj." "Yeah, Lawrence." "Hide yourself, my friend." "Detonator." "All right, fetch another." " Pardon, Lawrence." "I put" " Plenty of time." "Fetch another." "Farraj?" " What happened?" " Detonator." "A detonator!" "He cannot ride, Lawrence." "Look." "If they take him alive, you know what they'll do to him." "Daud will be angry with you." "Salute him for me." "What will you do now?" "Go north." "With twenty?" "What would you recommend me to do?" "What would you recommend?" "He hasn't 1/10 so many men, sir." "He's lied, in fact." "Yes and no." "He doesn't claim to have done anything he hasn't done." "Then there is an Arab north army." " No, sir, he has lied about that." " Any idea why?" " It's his army, I suppose." " It's Prince Feisal's army." "Do you think he's gone native, Harry?" "No." "He would if he could, I think." " Not my line of country." " It doesn't matter." "Just curious." "What matters is I believed it." "The Turks believe it." "They are offering 20,000 pounds for him." "Good heavens." " Shouldn't say he had long to live." " Whatever else, he's a brave man" "Surely, surely." "If he's still going north with 50 men, he doesn't lack guts." "I wonder if they'd offer that much for me." "What about next year?" "Will they still come back?" "I wouldn't be surprised." " They think he's a kind of prophet." " They do or he does?" " Now may I speak?" " Yes." "One more failure and you will find yourself alone." " I do not include myself." " I do not include the others." "So say they love you." "The more reason to be thrifty with them." "Give them something to do that can be done." "But you, no." "They must move mountains, walk on water." "That's right." "That's right." "Who are you to know what can be done?" "If we'd done what you thought could be done, we'd be in Yenbo now." "Whatever I ask them to do can be done." "They know that if you don't." "Do you think I'm just anybody?" "Do you?" "My friends, who will walk on water with me?" " Who will come with me into Deraa?" " Deraa is garrisoned." "Will you take 20 against 2000?" " I'll go by myself if I have to." " Why?" "Because I told the English generals the Arab revolt would be in Deraa when they'd be in Jerusalem." "Or perhaps you are here for the English generals." "Who says this?" "Rumour." "That is not an argument." "Oh, argument." "This afternoon I will take the Arab revolt into Deraa while the Arabs argue." "Can you pass for an Arab in an Arab town?" "Yes." "If one of you would lend me some dirty clothes." "It's madness." "What are you looking for?" "Some way to announce myself." "Be patient with him, God." " Do you not see how they look at you?" " Peace, Ali, I am invisible." "Halt!" "Walk on." " Halt!" " Walk on." "You and you." "You." "You have blue eyes." " I say you have blue eyes." " Yes, effendi." " Are you Circassian?" " Yes, effendi." "How old are you?" "Twenty-seven, effendi." "I think." "You look older." "You have had a lot of experience." "It's an interesting face." "I am surrounded by cattle." "He wouldn't know an interesting face from a sow's belly." "I have been is Deraa now for three and a half years." "If they posted me to the dark side of the moon, I could not be more isolated." "You haven't the least idea what I'm talking about." "No, effendi." "Have you?" "No." "That would be too lucky." "Where did you get that?" " It's old, effendi." " No, this is recent." " You are a deserter." " No, effendi." "Yes, you are a deserter." "But from which army?" "Not that it matters at all." "A man cannot be always in uniform." "Your skin is very fair." "Beat him." "To me!" "Sleep." "Eat." "You have a body, like other men." "Good." "Then sleep." "Better?" "Much better." "You were right." "Rest, rest." "Can you not learn?" "Oh, I've learned all right." "I'm going, Ali." " Why?" " Why?" "Heavens." "Why?" "I've come to the end of myself, I suppose." "And the end of the Arab revolt?" "I'm not the Arab revolt, Ali." "I'm not even Arab." "A man can be whatever he wants." "You said." "I'm sorry." "I thought it was true." "You proved it." "Look, Ali." "Look." "That's me." "What colour is it?" "That's me." "And there's nothing I can do about it." "A man can do whatever he wants." "You said." "He can but he can't want what he wants." "This is the stuff that decides what he wants." "You may as well know." "I would've told them anything." "I would've told them who I am." "I would've told them where you were." " I tried to." " So would any man." "Well, any man is what I am." "And I'm going back to Allenby to ask him for a job that any man can do." "Allenby's in Jerusalem." " I'll make easy stages." " You?" "Oh, yes." "Easy stages." "Look, Ali, I think I see a way of being just ordinarily happy." "Can I take this?" "It is not clean." "No, but it's warm." "And these having led them here, have you no care for them?" "You lead them." "They're yours." "Trust your own people." "And let me go back to mine." " I say, don't forget those form fives." " All right." "Mind if I join you?" "Honoured, sir." " Good to be back." " We heard you were, sir." " What's doing out there?" " Where?" " Arabia?" " Well, yes, sir." "Nothing much." "Wrong time of year." "What's doing here?" "We're settling in." "We built a squash court." "Jolly good." "Well, I have to go up there." "It's borrowed." "Someone pinched mine." "Bloody wogs." "Yes, probably." "Jolly good about the squash court." "Lays it on a bit thick, doesn't he?" "Morning." " Good morning, sir." " Good to be back." " I'll believe you, sir." " No, really it is." "Hello." "Morning." "You're to go right in." "Lawrence." "Or is it Major Lawrence?" "Sir." "Well, general, I will leave you." "Major Lawrence doubtless has reports to make about my people and their weakness and the need to keep them in the British interest." "And the French interest too." "We must not forget the French." "I told you, sir, no such treaty exists." "Yes, general, you have lied most bravely, but not convincingly." "I know this treaty does exist." "Treaty, sir?" "He does it better than you, general." "But then, of course, he is almost an Arab." "You really don't know?" "Then what the devil's this?" "It's my request for release from Arabia, sir." "For what reason?" "You sure you haven't heard of the Sykes-Picot Treaty?" "No." " I can guess." " Don't guess." "Tell him." "Well, now..." "Mr. Sykes is an English civil servant." "Monsieur Picot is a French civil servant." "Mr. Sykes and Monsieur Picot met, and they agreed that after the war France and England should share the Turkish Empire." "Including Arabia." "They signed an agreement, not a treaty, sir." "An agreement to that effect." "There may be honour among thieves, but there's none in politicians." "And let's have no displays of indignation." "You may not have known, but you certainly had suspicions." "If we've told lies, you've told half-lies." "And a man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth." "But a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it." "The truth is I'm an ordinary man." "You might have told me that, Dryden." "And I want an ordinary job, sir." "That's my reason for resigning." "It's personal." " Personal?" " Yes, sir." "Personal?" "You're a serving officer in the field." "And as it happens, a damned important one." "Are you mad?" "No, and if you don't mind, I'd rather not go mad." "That's my reason too." "Look, I'm making my big push on Damascus the 16th of next month and you are part of it." "Can you understand that?" "You're an important part of the big push!" "I don't want to be part of your big push!" "What about your Arab friends?" "I have no Arab friends!" "I don't want Arab friends!" "What in hell do you want, Lawrence?" "I've told you, I just want my ration of common humanity." " Lawrence." " Yes?" "Nothing." "Sorry I interrupted, sir." "That's all right." "Thank you, Mr. Dryden." "Thank you, sir." "Why don't we...?" "There's blood on your back." " Do you want a doctor?" " No." "Tell me what happened." "Say, what goes on in there?" " Nothing." " Oh, come on!" " No, really." "Nothing at all." " Is the man in trouble?" "I expect so." "We all have troubles." "Life's a vale of troubles." "Let me know if the man's in trouble." "I've got a claim in that man." " What claim?" " I've made that boy a hero." "When the war's over, he can be anything he wants." "Yes." "Well, at the moment he wants to be somebody else." "Will you kindly allow me to pass?" "Walk away, Dryden, walk away." "Always walking away, aren't you?" "Well, I'll tell you." "It's a clash of temperament that's going on in there." "Inevitably, one of them's half-mad and the other, wholly unscrupulous." "I believe your name will be a household word when you'd have to go to the war museum to find who Allenby was." "You're the most extraordinary man I ever met." "Leave me alone." " Leave me alone." " That's a feeble thing to say." " I know I'm not ordinary." " That's not what I'm saying." "All right, I'm extraordinary." "What of it?" "Not many people have a destiny, Lawrence." "It's a terrible thing for a man to flunk it if he has." "Are you speaking from experience?" "No." "You're guessing, then." "Suppose you're wrong." "Why suppose that?" "We both know I'm right." " Yes." "I said, yes." " After all" " The 16th?" " Can you do it?" "I'll give you a lot of money." " Artillery?" " I can't." "They won't be coming for money, not the best of them." "They'll be coming for Damascus." "Which I'm going to give them." "That's all I want." "All you want is someone holding down the Turkish Right." "But I'm going to give them Damascus." "We'll get there before you do." "And when we've got it, we'll keep it." "Tell the politicians to burn their paper now." "Fair enough." "Fair?" "What's fair got to do with it?" "It's going to happen." "I shall want quite a lot of money." "All there is." "Not that much." "The best of them won't come for money." "They'll come for me." "No pictures!" "It's not for you, it's for Major Lawrence." "He doesn't mind having his picture taken." "He doesn't mind at all." "Well, there's only one Lawrence." "Have you met Major Lawrence since he's come back?" "Yes." " Changed, hasn't he?" " No." "Oh, I'd say he had." "Different man, I'd say." "What did that Turkish general do to him in Deraa?" "He was the same man after Deraa." "The same man, humbled." "What did the English general do to him in Jerusalem?" "Search me." "Ask Lawrence." " I did." " What did he say?" "He laughed." "He told me to gather the Harith here." "He offered me money." "Did you take it?" "No." "But many did." " What is this?" " This is my bodyguard." "There is not a man without a price on his head." " There's a price on my head too." " But these are murderers." "The sheiks will hang these men." "These men are mine." "Lawrence, these things know nothing of the Arab revolt." " You, Ghitan of Aleppo." " Sherif?" " Where do we ride?" " Damascus, sherif." "Aye, but for what?" "Sherif, for Lawrence." " You have bought these things." " I bought half the men here, Ali." "That is different." "These are not ordinary men." "I don't want ordinary men." "Hut!" "Damascus!" "Damascus!" "Damascus!" "Very well, gentlemen." "The cavalry's gone through Mazril and Deraa." "Very good, by the way." "Very good indeed." "Now your turn." "If the enemy's retreating in any order, which we'll assume" "Certainly." "He can't be far from Mallud in which case I can have him within range by 0900 hours tomorrow." "Splendid." "Philip." "These are the last infantry supports going up now." "But Mallud, we could have the fusiliers there by Wednesday." "That'll do for now." "The guns are what matter." "Any questions?" "This Arab army on the right, sir, what's it consist of?" "Irregular cavalry, sir." "About 2000." "Where are they now?" " Can only know by being with them." " Then get with them." "I want to know." "Pound them, Charley." "Pound them." "God help the men who lie under that." "They're Turks." "God help them." "Well, he's got the bit between his teeth all right." "Cocky?" "More than cocky, sir." "He's got the bit between his teeth all right." "I tell you, sir, I think he'll get to Damascus before we do." " Unless..." " Unless?" "Well, there's a Turkish column in front of him, out of Mazril." " What do the Turks have in Mazril?" " A brigade, sir." "I wonder where they are now." "No prisoners." "Damascus, Lawrence." "Lawrence, not this." "Go round." "Damascus, Lawrence, Damascus." "No prisoners." "This was Talaal's village." "Talaal!" "No prisoners!" "God." "God!" "Enough." "Enough!" "Make them stop!" "Major!" "Major Lawrence!" "Jesus wept." "Does it surprise you, Mr. Bentley?" "Surely you know the Arabs are a barbarous people." "Barbarous and cruel." "Who but they?" "Oh, you rotten man." "Here, let me take your rotten bloody picture." "For the rotten bloody newspapers." "These were cut last night, Lawrence, in Damascus." "Damascus!" "Take them to Sherif Ali." "Tell him." "Remind him." " Is Allenby in Damascus?" " Near." "Tell Sherif Ali that." "They are not ripe." "General salute!" "Present arms!" "Port arms!" "Lawrence is behind it, sir." "The whole town is plastered with the Arab flag." " When?" " A day and a night, sir." "They've been here a day and a night." "They've occupied the town." "They've done it." "He's set up his own headquarters in the town hall." "What else beside the town hall?" "Telephone exchange, post office, powerhouse hospitals, fire station." "Everything, sir." "They call themselves the Arab National Council and they're in the town hall." "Well, they're your pigeon, Harry." "What should we do about it?" "Get them out of it, sir, quick time." "How about that, Dryden?" "Not unless you want a full-scale rising." " What, then?" " When will Feisal be in Damascus?" "By special train in two days' time." "Two days." "Two days is what you asked for." "I can't keep him out any longer." " Isn't it enough?" " Yes." " Ample, I should think." " We can't just do nothing." "Why not?" "It's usually best." "Get us something to drink, Tracey." "And Tracey, all troops to remain quartered until further orders." "Does that apply to technical units?" "Technical units particularly." "Yes, sir." "Medicals too, sir?" "I'm afraid so, Harry." "Medicals too." "We here are neither Harith nor Howeitat nor any other tribe, but Arabs of the Arab Council, acting for Prince Feisal." "He insulted me." "Sherif Ali said that the telephones are in the care of the Howeitat and they have ceased to work." "And this is true." "They will not work because they are given no electricity." "The electricity is in the care of the Harith." "If you answer, there will be bloodshed." "You speak to me of bloodshed?" "I ask pardon of Auda Abu Tayi." "Humbly?" "Humbly, Harith?" "Yes, humbly." "This is a new trick." "Why is there no electricity?" "I have been to that electrical house, Lawrence." "There are three large machines." "He means generators!" "So." "One of them is burning." "They are of an incredible size, but helpless." "It is so of all machines." "Let them burn." "What need of telephones?" " The need is absolute." " Then we need English engineers." "No." "Take English engineers and you take English government." "Take" "Fire has broken out." " Where?" " The Jinsibi district." " It is not a district that matters." " It will spread!" "Then use the fire brigade!" "We have tried, but there is no force in the water." "Then you must carry it." " The Ruala do not carry water." " What else are they good for?" "We will hear petitions this afternoon." "This afternoon!" " I'll take this up after the war." " Surely we should do something, sir." " It's an old man's sport." " Are you an old man, sir?" "All I can say is, sir, it's a heavy responsibility." "Sorry, sir." "Maybe it's the bulb." "No, sir." "It's the power." "They're leaving." "That's it, then." "Marvellous-looking beggars, aren't they?" "Leave it, Lawrence." "Come with me." " Come where?" " Back." "I know your heart." "What is it?" "Is it this?" "I tell you, this is nothing." "Is it the blood?" "The desert has dried up more blood than you could think of." "I pray that I may never see the desert again." "Hear me, God." "You will come." "There is only the desert for you." "What about you?" "No, I shall stay here and learn politics." "A very low occupation." "I had not thought of it when I met you." "You have tried very hard to give us Damascus." "It's what I came for." "And then it would be something." "Yes." "Much." " He is your friend?" " Take your hand away." " You love him." " I fear him." "Then why do you weep?" "If I fear him, who love him how must he fear himself, who hates himself?" "Take your hand away, Howeitat!" "So you are not yet entirely politician." "Not yet." "Well, these are new tricks, and I am an old dog." "And Allah be thanked." "I'll tell thee what being an Arab will be thornier than you suppose, Harith." "In all my years, I've never seen anything like it." "It comes within the jurisdiction of the Arab Council." "Under the circumstances, I think I must take over." "Immediately." "Under any circumstances at all, you must obey your orders." "No, sir, I will not." "Control yourself." "Now, go over to the town hall and see what they say." "We did what we could in the civic hospitals." "But you forgot the Turkish Military Hospital." "It has 600 beds." "There are about 2000 Turkish wounded in it." "All of whom are the responsibility of your precious Arab Council." "What's it like?" "This is outrageous!" "Outrageous!" "You filthy little wog!" "My friend Lawrence, if I may call him that." ""My friend Lawrence."" "How many men will claim the right to use that phrase?" "How proudly." "He longs for the greenness of his native land." "He pines for the Gothic cottages of Surrey, is it not?" "Already in imagination, he catches trout and all the activities of the English gentleman." "That's me you're describing, sir, not Colonel Lawrence." "You're promoted colonel." "Yes." "What for?" "Take the honour, colonel." "Be a little kind." "As a colonel, you'll have a cabin to yourself on the boat home." "Then, thank you." "Well, then Godspeed." "There's nothing further here for a warrior." "We drive bargains." "Old men's work." "Young men make wars, and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men." "Courage and hope for the future." "Then old men make the peace." "And the vices of peace are the vices of old men." "Mistrust and caution." "It must be so." "What I owe you is beyond evaluation." "The powerhouse, the telephone exchange, these I concede." "The pumping plant I must retain." "If you retain it, there will be no water." " I shall be glad of assistance." " Then you must bring down your flag." "I shall not, and if your men attempt it, my men will resist it." " Have you men?" " Enough for that." "It's a thing that makes an ugly incident." "I'm sure your government does not wish to appear at the peace conference as an aggressor." "I say!" "It's Lawrence, isn't it?" "May I shake your hand, sir?" "Just want to be able to say I'd done it, sir." "Haven't we met before?" "Don't think so, sir." "No, no, sir, I should remember that." "It is widely known the Arab Council took power in my name." "They have no power." "It's illusory." "Illusions can be very powerful." "Particularly when they take this form." "The world is delighted at the picture of Damascus liberated by the Arab army." "Led, may I remind you, by a British-serving officer." "Ah, yes." "But then Lawrence is a sword with two edges." "We are equally glad to be rid of him, are we not?" "I thought I was a hard man, sir." "You are merely a general." "I must be a king." "Excuse me, sir." "Well?" "Well it seems we're to have a British waterworks with an Arab flag on it." "Do you think it was worth it?" "Not my business." "Thank God I'm a soldier." "Yes, sir." "So you keep saying." "You, I suspect are chief architect of this compromise." " What do you think?" " Me, Your Highness?" "On the whole, I wish I'd stayed in Tunbridge Wells." "Well, sir." "Going home." "Home, sir."