'A ruler of the desert' [‎108r] (3/8)

•but before the difficult question of his precise relationship to
Constantinople had been adjusted, the outbreak of war with Turkey
released us from all obligation to preserve a neutral attitude. In
the winter of 1914-15 Captain Shakespear, formerly our Political
Agent at Koweit, made his way into Hajd and joined Ibn Sa'ud , who
was marching north to repel the attack of Ibn Pashid, engineered
and backed by the Turks. The two forces met towards the end of
January in an indecisive engagement in which Captain Shakespear,
though he was present as a non-combatant, was wounded and killed.
We lost in him a gallant officer whose knowledge of Centra'
Arabia and rare skill in handling the tribesmen marked him out for
a useful and distinguished career. His deeds lived after him.
Lees than a year later Ibn Sa'ud met Sir Percy Cox, Chief
Political Officer of the Occupied Territories, and Chief
Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. of the Gulf and concluded a formal agreement with
Great Britain. Hie close connection with us has received public
confirmation in a durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). of Arab Shaikhs held at Kuwait on
Hovember 20th. where he was invested with the K.C.I.S- On that
memorable occasion three powerful Arab chiefs, the Shaikh -
Uuhammarah, who though a Persian subject is of Arab stock, the
Shaikh of Kuwait and Ibn Sa'ud, Hakim of Hajd, stood side by side
in amity and concord and proclaimed their adherence to the
British cause. In a speech as spontaneous as it was unexpected.
Ibn Sa'ud pointed out that whereas the Ottoman Government had
sought to dismember and weaken the Arab nation, British policy
aimed at uniting and strengthening their leaders, and the Chief
Political Officer as he listened to words which will he repeats
and discussed round every camp fire, must have looked back on
years of patient work in the Gulf and seen that they were good.
Ibn Sa'ud is now barely forty, though he looks some years
older. He is a man of splendid physique, standing well over six
feet, and carrying himself with the air of one accustomed to
command. Though he is more massively built than the typica
nomad Shaikh, he has the characteristics of the well-bred Ara ,
the strongly marked aquiline profile, full-fleshed nostrils,