The Eye of Zeitoon

The Eye of Zeitoon

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eye of Zeitoon, by Talbot Mundy
(#4 in our series by Talbot Mundy)
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Title: The Eye of Zeitoon
Author: Talbot Mundy
Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5241] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [Most recently updated June 29, 2002]
Edition: 10

Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE EYE
OF ZEITOON ***

This eBook was transcribed by M.R.J.

THE EYE OF ZEITOON By Talbot Mundy
Author of Rung Ho, King--of the Khyber Rifles, Hira Singh, The Ivory
Trail, etc.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I Parthians, Medes and Elamites .............................. 1 II "How did
sunshine get into the garden? By whose leave came the
wind?" .............................................. 21 III "Sahib, there is always work
for real soldiers!" ......... 40 IV "We are the robbers,
effendi!" ............................ 52 V "Effendi, that is the heart of Armenia
burning!" ........... 74 VI "Passing the buck to Allah!" .............................
91 VII "We hold you to your word!" .............................. 118 VIII "I go
with that man!" ................................... 128 IX "And you left your friend
to help me?" ................... 142 X "When I fire this
pistol--" ................................ 163 XI "That man's dose is death, and he
dies unshriven!" ....... 176 XII "America's way with a woman is beyond
belief!" .......... 195 XIII " 'Take your squadron and go find him, Rustum
Khan!' And I, sahib, obeyed my lord bahadur's orders." ......... 211 XIV
"Rajput, I shall hang you if you make more trouble!"...... 229 XV
"Scenery to burst the heart!" ............................. 243 XVI "What care I
for my belly, sahib, if you break my heart?" 257 XVII "I knew what to
expect of the women!" .................. 277 XVIII "Per terram et
aquam" .................................. 290 XIX "Such drilling as they have
had--such little drilling!" .. 303 XX "So few against so many! I see
death, and I am not sorry!" 316 XXI "Those who survive this night
shall have brave memories!". 333 XXII "God go with you to the States,

effendim!" .............. 349

Chapter One
Parthians, Medes and Elamites
SALVETE!
Oh ye, who tread the trodden path And keep the narrow law In
famished faith that Judgment Day Shall blast your sluggard mists away
And show what Moses saw! Oh thralls of subdivided time, Hours
Measureless I sing That own swift ways to wider scenes, New-plucked
from heights where Vision preens A white, unwearied wing! No creed I
preach to bend dull thought To see what I shall show, Nor can ye buy
with treasured gold The key to these Hours that unfold New tales no
teachers know. Ye'll need no leave o' the laws o' man, For Vision's
wings are free; The swift Unmeasured Hours are kind And ye shall
leave all cares behind If ye will come with me! In vain shall lumps of
fashioned stuff Imprison you about; In vain let pundits preach the flesh
And feebling limits that enmesh Your goings in and out, I know the
way the zephyrs took Who brought the breath of spring, I guide to
shores of regions blest Where white, uncaught Ideas nest And Thought
is strong o' wing! Within the Hours that I unlock All customed fetters
fall; The chains of drudgery release; Set limits fade; horizons cease For
you who hear the call No trumpet note--no roll of drums, But quiet,
sure and sweet-- The self-same voice that summoned Drake, The
whisper for whose siren sake They manned the Devon fleet, More
lawless than the gray gull's wait, More boundless than the sea, More
subtle than the softest wind!
* * * * * *
Oh, ye shall burst the ties that bind If ye will come with me!
It is written with authority of Tarsus that once it was no mean city, but
that is a tale of nineteen centuries ago. The Turko-Italian War had not
been fought when Fred Oakes