“Well, Mr. Eisernstein?  Trouble again?  Sit down and let’s hear the worst,” said Grim.

Eisernstein remained standing and glanced at me over in the corner.

“I will wait until you are alone.”

“Ignore him—­deaf and dumb,” Grim answered.  “Half a minute, though—­have you had breakfast?”

“Breakfast!  This is no time for eating, Mister—­I beg your pardon, Major Grim.  I have not slept.  I shall not break my fast until my duty is done.  If it is true that the Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned, then I find him no worse than this Administrator!”

“Has he threatened to crucify you?” Grim asked.  “Take a seat, do.”

“He may crucify me, and I will thank him, if he will only in return for it pay some attention to the business for which he draws a salary!  I drove to Headquarters to see him.  He was not there.  Nobody would tell me where he is.  I drove down again from the Mount of Olives and luckily caught sight of his car in the distance.  I contrived to intercept him.  I told him there is a plot on foot to massacre every individual of my race in the Near East—­a veritable pogrom.  He was polite.  He seems to think politeness is the Christian quality that covers the multitude of sins.  He offered me a cigar!

“I offered him a telegram blank, with which to cable for reenforcements!  He said that all rumours in Jerusalem become exaggerated very quickly, and offered me a guard of one soldier to follow me about!  I insisted on immediate military precautions on a large scale failing which I will cable the Foreign Office in London at my own expense.  I offered to convince him with particulars about this contemplated pogrom but he said he had an urgent appointment and referred me to you, just as Nero might have referred a question regarding the amphitheatre to one of his subordinates!”

“Pogroms mean nothing in his young life,” Grim answered smiling.  “I’m here to do the dirty work.  Suppose you spill the news.”

“You must have heard the news!  Yet you ignore it!  The Moslems are saying that we Zionists have offered two million pounds, or some such ridiculous sum, for the site of Solomon’s Temple.  They are spreading the tale broadcast.  Their purpose is to stir up fanaticism against us.  The ignorant among them set such value on that rock and the mosque their cut-throat ancestors erected on it that Jews are now openly threatened as they pass through the streets.  Yet there is not one word of truth in the story of our having made any such offer.”

“There are plenty of troops,” said Grim.  “Any attempt at violence could be handled instantly.”

“Then you will do nothing?”

“What do you suggest ought to be done?”

“Here is a list.  Read it.  Those are the names of fifty Arabs who are active in spreading anti-Zionist propaganda.”

Grim read the list carefully.

“All talkers,” he said.  “Not a really dangerous man among them.”