The Mamur Zapt and the Spoils of Egypt. Michael Pearce

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СКАЧАТЬ Even in the uproar of the Ataba-el-Khadra he heard the clanging of the little brass cups. They gave out a note as clear as a bell.

      And there he was, the brass cups slung round his neck in front of him, on his back a resplendent brass urn and, lower down, dangling from his waist, two black bulging water-skins.

      In the richer parts of the city the water-sellers sometimes wore the old national dress; in the poorer, they dressed in rags. This one compromised, wearing shirt-style tunic on top, rags below, so that it didn’t matter when he walked into the Nile to replenish his skins.

      As he moved through the crowd, slowly because of his burden, he gave the traditional cry: ‘May God compensate me!’

      Owen caught his eye and the man moved towards him.

      ‘Compensation is at hand, brother!’ he said.

      The man smiled, produced a cup, bent deftly and a cool, clear spurt of water leaped over his shoulder and into the cup without spilling a drop.

      ‘And there is yet more compensation if you can tell me what I seek to know.’

      He took the cup and sipped it.

      ‘If I know, then I will tell you,’ said the man.

      ‘Two days ago,’ said Owen, ‘you were at this spot at this time and you were able to help a lady when she fell.’

      The water-seller looked at him curiously.

      ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I remember the lady.’

      ‘What else do you remember?’ asked Owen. ‘Did you see her fall?’

      ‘I saw her fall and I saw her hit the tram and I thought: God protect her! And I think He did, for when I got to her she was lying beside the tram, hurt, I think, but not broken.’

      ‘This is good water,’ said Owen. ‘Give me some more.’

      The man bent again and refilled the cup.

      ‘She hit the tram,’ said Owen. ‘The tram did not hit her?’

      The water-carrier made a gesture with his hand.

      ‘Are they not the same?’

      ‘No,’ said Owen, ‘for you speak as if the tram might not have hit her had she not herself moved.’

      ‘She was falling,’ said the water-carrier. ‘She fell towards the tram.’

      ‘And hit its side?’

      ‘Yes. High up. Which is fortunate, I think, as it knocked her away, so that she did not fall beneath the wheels.’

      ‘She must, then, have been standing close to it?’

      The water-carrier nodded.

      ‘Yes, effendi, in the street, quite close to its path.’

      ‘But not actually in its path?’

      ‘No, not in its path.’

      Owen handed the cup back.

      ‘You speak as if you saw all clearly,’ he said.

      The water-carrier bowed his head.

      ‘I did see all clearly. I was standing not far from her and there was no one between us.’

      ‘Then perhaps,’ said Owen, ‘you can tell me how she came to fall?’

      The water-carrier hesitated.

      ‘I should be able to,’ he said, ‘but—’

      ‘Did she stumble?’

      ‘She stumbled, yes. But that was after—’

      ‘Yes?’

      The water-carrier hesitated for a long time and then looked Owen straight in the eye.

      ‘After she was pushed,’ he said.

CHAPTER 3

      ‘Hamidullah,’ said Owen, ‘this is a big thing that you have said.’

      He had taken the water-carrier over to the pavement by the arabeah stand and they were sitting down on the kerb. A yard or two away the cab-horses munched the green fodder spread for them in the gutter.

      ‘I know,’ said Hamidullah, ‘and it was not said lightly.’

      ‘Then say it again.’

      ‘She was pushed,’ said Hamidullah. ‘I saw it with my own eyes.’

      ‘Tell me what you saw.’

      ‘I saw her coming my way. And I said: “Hamidullah, that lady is not for you. She will not want your water.” For she was a splendid lady and had a mighty hat. I kept my eye on her, though, for she was coming in my direction and I did not wish to brush against her with my bags lest her fine dress be besmirched. And as she came towards me—’

      The water-carrier stopped and looked bewildered.

      ‘What as she came towards you?’

      The water-carrier hesitated.

      ‘I would not say it if I had not seen it. A hand reached out and thrust at her.’

      ‘Where did it touch her?’

      Hamidullah reached up under his urn and touched himself in the small of the back.

      ‘Here,’ he said. ‘Right here. I was amazed. I could not believe my eyes.’

      ‘It was a heavy push?’

      ‘Effendi, it must have been a heavy push to make her fall like that. One moment she was walking along mightily. Like this.’ This water-carrier stuck his nose in the air and mimicked marching. ‘The next, she had fallen like this.’

      The water-carrier sprawled along the pavement.

      ‘It was not then, oh, a little push such as one gives when one is impatient and someone is in the way?’

      ‘Oh no, effendi. One should not give a push, even a little one, for that is lacking in courtesy. But this was not a little push. It was … I stood amazed!’

      ‘You see, Hamidullah, if it was not a little push, such as one might give in passing if one is lacking in courtesy, but a big push, then someone must have meant to injure the lady.’

      ‘Well, yes, effendi. That is why I stood amazed. For this was not—not discourtesy, effendi, this was—well, wrong!’

      Hamidullah looked at him wide-eyed, still shocked.

      Over his shoulder Owen could СКАЧАТЬ