English gold commanded the allegiance of an Arab army, but every last man in that army was ready to follow the German standard at the proper time.

That only shows how ignorant these people are.

As soon as it became evident that the Arab destiny lies in the hands of Arabs themselves most of them immediately began to clamour for an American mandate, because that would give them temporary masters who could protect them, yet at the same time who would be too ignorant of real conditions to prevent secret preparations for a pan-Arabian revolt.

All very absurd, of course." He had no idea how absurd he himself appeared.

He launched into a tirade designed to make him seem a super-statesman in the eyes of a stranger who did not care what he was.