Said Fattûḥ: “What is that?” But none of us could answer. We went on through the smiling sunny landscape and the green corn, where the peasants stood by the irrigation trenches, their work suspended, their faces turned towards that ominous sound, and presently we met an old man. He too listened. “Why are they firing cannon in Môṣul?” I asked. “God knows!” he answered, and wrung his hands together. “Perhaps it is news from Stambûl. One man says one thing and one another, and God knows what is true.” A little further a ragged pair came down the road toward us. “When did you set out from Môṣul?” said Fattûḥ. “At the first dawn,” they answered, and fear was in their eyes. “What was happening there?” asked Fattûḥ. “Nothing,” they replied. “When we set out, wallah! there was nothing.” We left them standing in the road with anxious faces turned towards the town. And still the cannon boomed over the hill. “Môṣul is an evil city,” said Fattûḥ to the zaptieh. “It is evil,” he answered. “Blood flows there like the water of the Tigris.” After a few minutes two Arabs galloped up behind us on their mares, and one carried a great lance. “Whither going?” cried Fattûḥ. “To Môṣul,” they shouted. “What is your business?” he called out. “We heard the cannon,” they replied, and galloped up the hill. The zaptieh went with them. “He will be little use if Môṣul is up,” observed Fattûḥ. At this moment the cannon ceased, and we saw a party of four or five soldiers riding over the brow. The Arabs and my zaptieh stopped to speak to them, and then turned back with them, coming slowly towards us down the ridge. “These know,” said Fattûḥ. They stopped when they reached us, and the moment was big with Fate. “Peace be upon you,” they said. “And upon you peace,” I returned. “What is the news?” And one answered: “Reshâd is Sultan.” “God prolong his existence!” said I. Upon this we parted, and they went down the hill, and we in silence to the top of the ridge. The silver Tigris and the green plain lay before us, and in the midst the city of Môṣul, which had published the accession of another lord. “Praise God!” said I, looking down upon that fair land. “To Him the praise!” echoed Fattûḥ. And then the zaptieh gave voice to his thought. “All the days of ’Abdu’l Ḥamîd,” he said, “we never drew our pay.” THE RUINS OF SÂMARRÂ[129] The ruined mosque at Sâmarrâ has an interior measurement of 240 × 157·60 m., the greater length being from [Illustration: FIG. 137.--SÂMARRÂ, MOSQUE.] [Illustration: FIG. 141.--SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE, SOUTH-WEST ANGLE TOWER.] [Illustration: FIG. 142.--SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE, WINDOW IN SOUTH WALL.] [Illustration: FIG. 143.--SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE, BIG DOOR IN NORTH WALL.] [Illustration: FIG. 144.--SÂMARRÂ, EL ’ASHIḲ, WEST END OF NORTH FAÇADE.] [Illustration: FIG 139.--SÂMARRÂ, MOSQUE. DETAIL OF PIER, SOUTH DOOR.]