And because my appeal was well-timed it met with approval.

A letter such as I asked for was written on Feisul's paper, sealed with his seal, and sent!' "'But does it bear his signature ?' a man asked.
"'How could it, since he never saw the letter ?' Yussuf Dakmar answered.
"'Then few will pay heed to it,' said the other.
"'Perhaps if we were all such fools as you that might be so,' Yussuf Dakmar retorted.

'However, fortunately the rest of us have readier wits! This letter is signed with a number, and the number is that of Feisul's generation in descent from the Prophet Mohammed.

Let men be told that this is his secret signature, and when they see his seal beside it, will they not believe?
Every hour in Jerusalem, and in all the world, men believe things less credible than that!' "But at that, sahib, another man asked him how they might know that the letter really came from Damascus.

'It well might be,' said that one, 'a forgery contrived by Yussuf Dakmar himself, in which case though they might stir many Moslems into action by showing it, the men in Damascus would fail to follow up the massacre by striking at the French.