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Affair in Araby, by Talbot Mundy
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Affair in Araby, by Talbot Mundy This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Affair in Araby
Author: Talbot Mundy
Release Date: December 31, 2003 [EBook #10551]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFFAIR IN ARABY ***
AFFAIR IN ARABY
CHAPTER I
"I'll make one to give this Feisul boy a hoist"
Whoever invented chess understood the world's works as some men know clocks and watches. He recognized a fact and based a game on it, with the result that his game endures. And what he clearly recognized was this: That no king matters much as long as your side is playing a winning game. You can leave your king in his corner then to amuse himself in dignified unimportance. But the minute you begin to lose, your king becomes a source of anxiety.
In what is called real life (which is only a great game, although a mighty good one) it makes no difference what you call your king. Call him Pope if you want to, or President, or Chairman. He grows in importance in proportion as the other side develops the attack. You've got to keep your symbol of authority protected or you lose.
Nevertheless, your game is not lost as long as your king can move. That's why the men who want to hurry up and sta