TIIIRTYTIVE YEARS IN THE EAST* 35 



i%vo o'clock after midnight, entrusting our Agoo with our 

 wallet, ia which our provisions ( roast meat and bread ) were 

 packed ; we put also the horses' provender under his care, 

 and left the place, hoping to reach a watering-place about 

 nine or ten in the morning, where we might likewise meet 

 with some Arab tents, and breakfast, and allow our horses 

 to rest; but the Agoo missed the road, and it was -not till 

 the afternoon that we became aware of the fact, when we 

 observed him deviating first to the right and then to the 

 left. The Tartar, in a rage, menaced the guide continually, 

 and added that he would cut off his nose and ears. I did 

 my best to appease him, making him understand that the 

 guide, who was already perplexed, would get still more 

 puzzled by his continued threats, and that he ought to 

 consider that he had not intentionally misled us ; but my 

 admonitions were of no avail. The evening was now draw- 

 ing near, and in the darkness of the night our guide de- 

 camped. Imagine our state ! in a desert, without a guide, 

 not knowing the way, even by daylight, no human being 

 visible, forsaken by all the world, riding hungry, thirsty and 

 exhausted horses, without nutriment for either man or beast, 

 and, above all, the anxiety as to whether we should ever get 

 out of that maze. The sky was clouded, it was raining, and 

 we were chilled by the cold, it being the end of the year. I a 

 the heavens not a star was visible, to guide us ; we were like 

 blind men, not knowing whither to direct our steps. We 

 left the horses to their own instinct, but, like ourselves, they 

 did not know the way. In this desperate dilemma, ray 

 happy star, beneath whose influence, perhaps, I was born, 

 and which has often guided me in difficulties, shone again. 

 We observed at some distance, a small fire, towards which 

 we directed our steps with renewed courage ; but it appeared 

 and disappeared, as the rain and wind either extinguished 

 or revived it. We heard, also, in the stillness of the desert, 

 the barking of a dog. We followed the sound till we 

 arrived at a thicket, which we had some trouble in getting 

 through, found a river, and perceiving that the fire and the 

 barking came from the opposite bank, to which we could 

 9 



