TIIIRTY-FIVE YEARS IX THE EAST. 29 



to the purse, and rattling when I handed it to the man, be- 

 trayed us, and they seized the servant, laid hold of the 

 purse, and struggled to get it. Tlie obstinate resistance of the 

 poor man was in vain, for the rascals kicked him into the river, 

 and succeeded in getting possession of the purse. But the 

 owner of the boat, when all the robbers were out of 

 it, profited by the circunnstance, cut the ropes by which it 

 was fastened, left his man behind, and made an effort to 

 gain the opposite bank of the river. 



Scarcely were we in the middle, when we heard them 

 vociferating, and calling us back, with a promise to return 

 ail they had taken, swearing, even by the name of their 

 prophet, that they had a patient among them whom they 

 wished to^be cured by us. But we could not rely on their 

 oaths, as we believed them to be Agelis, and so we rowed to- 

 wards the opposite bank. Scarcely, however, had we arriv- 

 ed there, when one of them came swimming upon an inflated 

 goat-skin, in order to persuade us to come back to the 

 patient, who was his brother, and we were so embarrassed, 

 and driven to such extremes, that we felt ourselves obliged 

 to soothe him with the promise that we would come to them 

 early in the morning. As he remained with us, we passed 

 another sleepless night. At break of day, we perceived 

 a few black tents, not far from the place where we were, 

 which gave us some consolation. Accompanied by the sol- 

 dier, whom the Agha of Hit had sent with us, my com- 

 panion went into one of these Arab tents, to convince 

 himself of the truth of the man's statement. He soon came 

 back, and told me that the robber was the Sheikh Dendal, the 

 chief of the country on the other side of the river ; that he 

 was assured that the elder brother had been for some time 

 sick and swollen, and he added that he was ready to go 

 there on horseback to see the patient. They then led him 

 to a fordable part of the river, and I remained with the boat ; 

 and whilst I was musing on this barren, but still somewhat 

 cultivated ground of the desert, calculating what da,y of the 

 week we were in, and guessing that it might be Sunday of 

 the second week of November, probably St. Martin's day 



