Direct from the Mark Steyn Club Cruise at beautiful Prince Edward Island, where the gables are green but the mantles aren't, welcome to Part Nineteen of our current Tale for Our Time, John Buchan's Great War thriller of intrigue and Islam. In tonight's episode ...behold!
I am Greenmantle. I am the Kaaba-i-hurriyeh for all Islam. In three days' time I will reveal myself to my people and wear on my breast the green ephod of the prophet.
If you know your scripture, you'll be au fait with the ephod:
And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
This being Islam, Greenmantle's ephod is presumably rather less flashy.
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read Part Nineteen of Greenmantle simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
A Steyn Club Utah member, Virginia Clinton, is worried that her Greenmantle is about to be dismantled:
Now that I'm hooked on Tales for our Time and wait eagerly for each episode of Greenmantle I find myself in a dilemma: It's hunting season and shortly we'll be off to a remote area with no Internet connection for a several weeks. Should I - Get a copy of Greemantle from a library or bookstore? Should I download another story to listen to? Should I sneak away from camp each night to the nearest town (miles and miles away) to find a signal? Should I convince my husband we need some kind of humongous satellite communications dish to take with us? How can I concentrate on hunting if I'm trying to anticipate the next moves???
Relax, Virginia. I'm happy to come round to the edge of camp, shin up a tree, and declaim the remaining chapters at dusk every night. But you have to upgrade to Super-Elite-Prestige-Platinum Membership first.
If you've yet to hear any of our Tales for Our Time, you can do so by joining The Mark Steyn Club. For more details, see here - and don't forget our special Gift Membership. Please join me tomorrow evening for Part Twenty of Greenmantle.
