“Mr. Crookshanks Baker said, “would you send someone for Douglass, please?”
Ksar es Souk, Morocco December 22, 1941
Eric Fulmar, el Ferruch was surprised to see, was not at all unhappy at the palace at Ksar es Souk. He had expected him to almost immediately grow bored with life in the middle of the desert and to promptly start wheedling to be taken to Rabat and put safely into the hands of American diplomatic personnel.
He had to be watched around the clock, of course, in case it should enter his mind to take his chances and make for Rabat on his own. That would involve stealing a car, as well as breaking his word, and el Ferruch thought that was unlikely. But he was a prudent man, and it was not difficult to have Eric watched by the Berbers, discreetly, “for his own protection.”
Since they had not been able to walk out of the Hotel d’anfa carrying suitcases, the only Western clothing Eric had with him was what he had worn under his burnoose. Once in the palace at Ksar es Souk, he had no choice but to dress in Moroccan clothing, and from the third day, not by intention, he had grown a beard. With his rnodern American safety razor in Casablanca with his clothing, he had borrowed el Ferruch’s English straight razor. One slice in his cheek was enough to encourage him to let his beard grow.
But before long his golden-blond beard pleased him, so he have it off when his things finally arrived from Casablanca. didn’t S And because that amused him too, he continued to wear Moroccan clothing.
They rose early in the morning, when it was still quite cool, mounted horses, and hunted (quail, with shotguns and dogs, and peccary-a type of wild pig-with machine pistols borrowed from the guards) until the sun sent the temperature up. Then they returne dto the palace and spent the rest of the day deep inside, where the thick stone-and-mud walls kept the temperature comfortable.
One afternoon Fulmar came across a book by T. E. Lawrence in the small collection of European-language books el Ferruch had inherited from his father. There was a faded photo of Lawrence at the front wearing Arab garb and sitting cockily astride a horse.
“You will henceforth refer to me as Lawrence the Second,”Fulmar said, showing the book to el Ferruch, “and treat me with the appropriate respect.”
“When the Turks caught Lawrence,” el Ferruch said, “they buggered him.”
“You’re kidding,” Fulmar said, disgusted.
“No9” el Ferruch said. “And he finally killed himself riding a motorcycle drunk.”
“Forget I brought it up.” Fulmar laughed.
El Ferruch thought-but did not say-that astride a stallion, in flowing robes and burnoose, carrying a machine pistol and bandoliers of ammunition, Eric looked more capable of taking on the Turkish Army than Lawrence, who had been a small, slight, sickly faggot.
In his role as pasha of Ksar es Souk, each afternoon el Ferruch had to receive his subjects in the main hall of the palace. He sat on cushions and drank (and offered) tea while hearing his Berbers’ Complaints and giving (or denying) his permission for marriages and business transactions. After these audiences were over he evaluated with Ahmed Mohammed the information that had come into their possession, then dispatched a daily synopsis to Thami el Glaoui in Marrakech.
While el Ferruch was engaged in what cally but not inaccurately, Fulmar calledg sarcasti the discharge of his King Solomon du. ties, Fulmar himself, trailed by Berbers awed by his ability to handle (dead) electric mains that (live) knocked them down, pr c a ticed the profession he’d learned in Germany and went around the palace doing what he could to improve what he called the Edison Model #1 electrical system.
To do so required copper wire, transformers, switches, and other electrical devices. The Berbers were of course willing-even delighted-to acquire the necessary supplies by stealing them from the French and Germans. But after they kept bringing back the wrong equipment, and several of them were knocked unconscious grabbing the wrong wire, Fulmar asked permission to go along with them on their nightly forays.
At first el Ferruch wanted to say no. But then he realized that Fulmar was speaking fluent Arabic, and that while he was no Berber, still, in his blue robes and blond beard and deeply tanned skin, he could not be told from one.