4o6 Notes on Sport and Travel iv 



evident sincerity. I thought for a moment that he 

 was stricken with insanity ; but turning to the 

 spluttering candle, and scrubbing himself back- 

 handedly between the shoulders, he cursed it in set 

 terms ; and we discovered that a stream of scalding 

 tallow had quietly dribbled between his shirt and 

 himself, and given at least one individual a real 

 sensation. Savagely he blew the candle out, and 

 defiantly he squatted under it, bouncing up again 

 with a fresh yell as he brought his blistered back 

 into sharp contact with the wall. The black-haired 

 maniac still continued the principal performer, and 

 grew more and more mad ; a tenth of the energy 

 he used would have sufficed a navigator for a day's 

 hard work. On the sheik handing him a sword he 

 became dreadfully sorry for himself again, and 

 howled in agony of spirit. At last, placing the 

 pummel of the sword on the floor he cast himself 

 upon the point, he being naked saving and except- 

 ing a very scanty pair of cotton drawers. I confess 

 that the action did not seem as energetic and 

 determined as that of Saul in the picture Bible ; 

 and his hands fumbled with the point in a manner 

 which suggested the idea of his not wishing it to 

 penetrate too deeply. He did the thing very well 

 however, struggling with all his might apparently 

 on the sword, gyrating round and round and yelling 

 as furiously as ever. At last, raising himself 

 upright, foaming and raging, he presented the 

 disagreeable spectacle of the sword sticking in the 



