In the same way I dislike
having waiters put down in my bill. I find that I pay them twice
over, and thus lose money; and as they do not expect to be so
treated, I never have the advantage of their civility. The world, I
fear, is becoming too fond of tariffs.
"A tariff!" said I to the consul, feeling that the whole romance of
my expedition would be dissipated by such an arrangement. "Then
I'll go alone; I'll take a revolver with me."
"You can't do it, sir," said the consul, in a dry and somewhat angry
tone. "You have no more right to ride through that country without
paying the regular price for protection, than you have to stop in Z-
's hotel without settling the bill."
I could not contest the point, so I ordered my Bedouins for the
appointed day, exactly as I would send for a ticket-porter at home,
and determined to make the best of it. The wild unlimited sands,
the desolation of the Dead Sea, the rushing waters of Jordan, the
outlines of the mountains of Moab;--those things the consular tariff
could not alter, nor deprive them of the glories of their
association.
I had submitted, and the arrangements had been made.
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