But now a third difficulty arose, from the fact that the lawful executioner refused to act. Like Koko in "The Mikado," this _Monsieur de Strasbourg_ declared that he "had never cut off a gentleman's head in his life, and did not know how it was done." Under these circumstances, there was nothing for it but to call for a volunteer; and another relative of the murdered man generously offered to do his best, if they would lend him a sabre. "You had better do your best," said some official, "for if you fetch the head off with one chop you shall have thirty pounds, but if it takes a second blow you go to prison for five years!" Under this stimulus the amateur executioner did his part to admiration, and took the head off finely.
Even so there was an afterpiece to the play, for many folk made the conduct of this murderer a ground for a most unfair attack on the Patriarch of the Chaldaean Church, saying, "Now we see what sort of Christian Mar Immanuel trains." The retort that his Grace made, if not exactly scrupulous, was at least effective. Ignoring the offer to turn Moslem altogether, he declared, "Pupil of mine? He certainly was, and I am proud of him. He is a Christian martyr, for he would not have been executed if it had not been for that wicked Nestorian heretic!" And he cited in proof of his saintliness the "miraculous" light above the grave.
The light was there certainly, a form of phosphorescence that is seen at times above a fresh grave in that dry air, and which is usually taken as a proof of the sanctity of the occupant. We suppose that we may be thankful that this rather doubtful character was not enrolled among the saints.
It will be inferred from the foregoing incident that religion in Mosul is of a somewhat militant type. It is in fact one of the most fanatical towns in the empire; and was surely the only place where men wept openly in the streets on hearing of the deposition of Abdul Hamid, and exclaimed, "Now is the pillar of Islam fallen."
The establishment of a British Consulate there, after a long interregnum, was either the cause or excuse for an outbreak. Certain Dervishes fastened on the fact that the flagstaff on the Consulate was higher than the crescent on the dome of a certain tomb, called the tomb of Cassim, where a descendant of the Prophet was interred. It was, of course, intolerable that the accursed red-cross flag should flaunt itself above the crescent, and a mob assembled at the Consul's gates, shouting under the leadership of a Dervish of some fame, "O Fatima, Fatima, daughter of the Prophet, will you not avenge the shame of your descendant?"