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Lost Pages from The Black Diamonds
This is the text:
Lost Pages from The Black Diamonds
[This passage goes at the end of Chapter XVII (page 126). The manuscript consists of
two 8- by 12.5-inch leaves closely written in pencil on both sides. The sheets are numbered
on one side only, 167 and 169.]
"That is no mean comfort," said Mustapha. "The profit last year was
only 11,000 pieces of gold, but trade was bad, the weather bad, and I had
only eight ships. It was 9,000 pieces of gold the year before that, and I had
only seven ships. The coming year I intend to buy five more ships and
then I will have, at least, if trade is good, and the weather good, 30,000
pieces of gold. If things go on like this from year to year I will soon be one
of the richest merchants in Bagdad."
"You are a fortunate man, Mustapha."
"Perhaps you think so, but at the present time I shall bother myself little
about fortunes. My mind is too full of plans for revenge to have much
time to give to thoughts of gain."
"Well, I am not as rich as you, Mustapha, but my trade increases more
and more every year, though I have only four ships. I possess 20,000 pieces
of gold at the present date and I hope to have 5,000 more next year. Besides
my ships and stores, I am the master of a tailoring establishment, that
is, a number of tailors working for me, and in my pay, and from that I
make 500 pieces of gold a year. I supply them with the cloth, they make
the clothes and sell them, I receive the profit, and pay them out of it."
"Well, you are quite prosperous. I can remember a time when my father
was no richer than you. But trade gets better every year and the merchants
of Bagdad get richer year by year. The whole country is more
prosperous too, and I intend to start a caravan or two, to trade with the
Arabians and Persians. Heretofore I have done all my trading with the distant
lands of China and other countries in that part of the world, but next
year I shall follow the example of most of the merchants of this great city
and trade more at home. The risk is not so great, and neither is the time
and expense, and I have heard that the profit is just as good as that earned
by trading by the sea. I shall also trade with Arabia and Persia by ship
which is much quicker than caravan-trading, and I would advise you to do
the same. You will make nearly as much out of it as I."
"I have long intended to do it, Mustapha, but I could not quite make
up my mind to such a course. I shall do so next year, though, and as soon
as I can spare the money. I owe several debts and they will not leave me
more than half my fortune when I have squared them. The rest of the
money will be for provisioning my ships and paying the officers and sailors,
and when I am all thru, I fear I shall have only a few thousand."
170 The Sword of Zagan and Other Writings
"Why don't you borrow? I will lend you ten thousand just for friendship's
sake and give you ten years to pay it back in, with no interest."
"What a friend you are, Mustapha. It is just what I shall do if you will
lend me the money. When can you do so?"
"Any time you want it. To-morrow afternoon will be a good time. I
shall be at my home then. Can you be there at two o'clock?"
"Certainly, I shall be there right on the minute."
"Then it is agreed. Hand me parchment and ink and I will give you a
written agreement."
The parchment and other necessary things were brought, and Mustapha
seated himself and wrote the following:
"I, Mustapha Dagh, do hereby lend to my friend, Balbec Khan,
the sum of 10,000 pieces of gold. This amount is to be paid back
within ten years, and there is to be no interest upon the same.
"Signed,
"Mustapha Dagh"
Then Balbec wrote below in his own handwriting:
"I, Balbec Khan, do hereby agree to Mustapha Dagh's agreement
above. I promise to pay back the ten thousand pieces of gold within
the agreed the ten years.
"Signed,
"Balbec Khan."
"Put this away and see that nothing happens to it," said Mustapha
when the document was finished. "When you have paid back the money
you will write below what is already written: 'I, Balbec Khan have paid
back the ten-thousand pieces of gold lent to me by Mustapha Dagh, within
the given time.' Then you can destroy the record if you wish."
"Well, it is time to go to bed," said Balbec. He then deposited the
document in a safe place and led his guest to the room where he was to
sleep for the night.
It was long after midnight when Mustapha fell asleep and he did not
awaken till seven of the following morning. He arose and dressed and went
downstairs to the dining-room where he found Balbec awaiting him before
sitting down to breakfast. Balbec was a bachelor and led a somewhat lonely
life, eating breakfast alone, except when he had company or some of his
friends stopped in.
"Well, you are not an early riser," said Balbec, impatiently. "I always make
a point of rising at six, no matter what time I go to bed the night before."
"I always sleep till I awake," was Mustapha's quiet answer. "I do not
see how you can awake at six in the morning if you go to bed at 2 o'clock
of the previous night, unless you have somebody to wake you up."
Clark Ashton Smith 171
"That explains it, my dear Mustapha. It is nothing but habit that make
me awake at six."
"I have never formed such a habit, so you see I awake at the time I
have had enough sleep. I let nature take care of my sleeping and waking,
not my habits."
"Of course, everybody doesn't have the same methods. It would be
madness to expect such a state of affairs. Every door has two sides, as
anyone knows, and a square box has four. If one has two sides, and the
other four sides they can't turn it around without making the door as thick
as it is wide, and taking the box to pieces and making a door out of it. You
can't wash off a leopard's spots, no matter what you use, nor can you make
silk out of wool or cotton."
"Quite an admirable argument, my dear Balbec. You have defeated
yourself by your own reasoning. Some swords have two edges, you know,
and each edge is equally sharp."
"Come now, no more of this fine talk. Our breakfast is growing cold."
With that they seated themselves at the table and ate a hearty breakfast.
When the meal was finished, Balbec said, "I have the disguise ready for you
and if you will come with me you may put it on now and see if the fit is good."
He led the way to another room where a wig, false whiskers, and a suit
of clothes resembling those worn by the middle class of Arabians lay on a
chair. The wig was coal-black in color, and the hair was long and rough. So
were the whiskers. The clothing consisted of a white turban, a long Arabian
cloak, sandals, and the other articles of desert clothing.
When Mustapha had dressed himself in these articles, wearing his real
clothes beneath, except his shoes, as he had to put on the sandals in their
place, and his red turban, which he exchanged for the white one, Balbec
told him that he would have to paint his face a darker hue. This was done
with a kind of pigment, and the same was applied to his hands and feet.
Balbec then gave him a long staff like those carried by the Arabians
and an Arabian sword which was little different from the Turkish scimitar.
"Now you are all right," said Balbec, surveying Mustapha's make-up
with the eye of an artist. "I give myself credit for what I have done. The
rest you'll have to manage for yourself. I shall not try to give you any more
advice. You yourself know just how to act in what you are to do today."
"Yes, you have done well, and I shall not forget it. Send a messenger
to my home to tell them that I have returned. Do not forget that you must
be there this afternoon. Good-bye."
"Good-bye, and good luck go with you, Mustapha," said Balbec, as
Mustapha walked out of the room and into the street. The merchant stood
in his doorway watching his young friend, till he was out of sight, and then
turned and went in, closing the door behind him.